Giant Saver

Growing up in China, the only toys I ever received were knockoffs of Transformers and other Japanese properties. Even up till the early 2000s, imported figures were generally difficult to come by and many of the larger department stores seemed to carry only the occasional Japanese Toy. The most common toys were domestic versions of Ultraman toys.

In the 22 years since I left Beijing, things have changed drastically in the Chinese toy market. The rapid economic growth meant that people had money for consumer goods. The one child policy certainly helped parents and grandparents spoil their children as well.

There is now a rather large market for imported Japanese toys, and the Chinese studios now have money to spend on creating higher-quality original works. While many of the television shows may be heavily “inspired” from other properties, I still think it’s moving in the right direction. A good example of this would be the show “Crystal Warrior”; a Chinese Sentai cartoon with toys produced by Bandai for the domestic market.

Jushen Zhan Ji Dui (translated loosely as Giant God’s Battle Attack Team) is an original Chinese Super Sentai series which debuted in 2012. It’s not the first original Sentai series produced in China, but I believe it’s the first live action Sentai series to be made domestically. I don’t know too much about the series itself and there doesn’t seem to be too much information about the show online in English. The show seems to be inspired from the Chinese epic “Journey to the West”, with the Rangers and Holy-Beasts based of characters from the story. There are three primary teams in the show, each with their own combining robot. The following review will focuses on the Ren (man) team and its robot, Jushen Yong Ji Wong (Giant Brave Strike King) aka Giant Saver:

Unfortunately, I didn’t have room for any of the boxes in my suitcase, but the box contains the five Ren Team Holy-Beasts and their combination scroll. The combination scroll seems to be the gimmick of the series, used as both the transformation device for the Rangers and forming the chest of their respective robots.

The Ren team consists of only 3 Rangers; Red, Blue, and Green.

The Red Ranger’s Red Ape has limited articulation in the arms and the visor can be flipped up. Red Ape forms the upper torso of Giant Saver.

The Blue Ranger’s Ocean Shark can transform from Shark mode into some type of submarine. Ocean Shark forms the arms of Giant Saver.

The Green Ranger’s Steel Tusk is rather lackluster, and really just looks like a set of legs with some wheels and bull-head attached. The horns on the head will move up and down when the wheels turn, and its secondary form simply involves flipping out the drills on the front wheels into some sort of attack mode. Steel Tusk forms the lower torso and legs of Giant Saver.

The combination scroll opens up with a press of a button. When opened, the Chinese symbol Ren is shown in the center and one of two light and sound effects will play.

These three primary Holy-Beasts combine with the scroll to form Giant Saver. Pressing down on the head will cause the combination scroll to open as well. Unfortunately, articulation is not Giant Saver’s strong point, and only the arms swivel at the shoulder.

Two additional Holy-Beasts are used to create the upgraded form Giant Braver, though neither have a corresponding Ranger.

Golden Bull has some basic articulation in the legs and can be pulled open for an attack mode that pops out the head a little bit while reveals a rocket pack on its back. Golden Bull also forms right arm of Giant Braver.

The final Holy-Beast is the Snow Bear, some sort of snow mobile. Transforming into assault mode just requires collapsing the body and flipping up the blades and honestly seems like some sort of afterthought. The Snow Bear transform into Giant Braver’s left arm.

With the addition of Golden Bull and Snow Bear, Giant Saver can be upgraded to Giant Braver. The process is rather simple, and involves moving Ocean Shark to the shoulders (which tends to droop a little bit) and attaching the new arms. Like Giant Saver, articulation is still limited to the shoulders.

Personally, I really love this figure. It’s the first Chinese toy I’ve owned that doesn’t have silly proportions and looks like a blatant rip off of an existing toy. The quality of the plastic is surprisingly high and the paint applications are very clean. The toy isn’t up to the standards most Japanese toys, but it also doesn’t cost an arm and a leg for a large toy that’s a lot of fun to play with.

Thanks for reading my first review and I do apologize for the wall of text at the beginning. I hope the context helps show why I found this toy so interesting. I do own Assault Saver and Crack Saver as well, which can merge into an 8-in-1 and 12-in-1 mess which I will hopefully review without the long pretext. Thanks!