Fire Dagwon
The late seventies/early eighties, was a fantastic time to be a child. It was, for many, the golden age of Japanese toys. We had Mattel’s Shogun Warriors toy line, Bandai’s Godaikin, Matchbox’s Voltron/Robotech and Takara’s original G1 Transformers. Transformers, in the USA, was arguably by far the most popular toy line of the era. Growing up in New England, my mother would shop at chain store called Osco Drug. Osco’s is where I saw my first Transformer, before they even were called “Transformers”, I think the package actually said Diaclone. I was smitten upon seeing a robot that turned into a car! What a concept for an impressionable young child! I absolutely loved the early G1 Transformers. I had many of them and played with them all til they were worn out. Unfortunately for me, every subsequent line of Transformers has never captured the magic of the original G1 line-up. Fast forward 20 or so years and you have a 30 something year old toy collector that has the means to collect high end Chogokin and such. I love all the modern Gokin that is available. Toy technology has come such a long way. Near perfect transformation, highly articulated and nice diecast content. Sounds great right? You would think so but somewhere along the way, the magic was lost. That was until I saw BigBadToyStore.com had pre-orders for re-issues of the 90’s Brave Series toys made by Sonokong/Takara. I contacted BBTS and soon received 2 very large boxes full of the Brave Series re-issues. The very first toy that I opened was a Jumbo Jet transforming toy called Fire Dagwon. Fire Dagwon is pivotal mecha from the anime Brave Command Dagwon. Let me say that the magic I spoke of earlier is back thanks to the Sonokong Brave Series re-issues. I want to share the magic with you, so today I will be reviewing Fire Dagwon DX. Fire Dagwon DX comes to you in a beautifully illustrated, heavy corrugated cardboard box shown below. The box is impressive, measuring 16.5″H x 14.25″ W x 4.25″D.
Upon opening the box you are greeted with an equally impressive Jumbo Jet measuring 15.25″ and weighing nearly 2lbs!
The Jet is packaged with 3 vehicles, missiles on sprues, and the instructions plus a nifty little catalog showing other must have Brave Series figures. All components Fire Dagwon are made of quality plastics that feel very sturdy and heavy.
The vehicles included are a Fire Engine aka Dag ladder (Right Fist), Ambulance aka Dag rescue (Left Fist), and a familiar looking Lancia Stratos Police Car aka Dag Stratos that transforms into a the robot Dag Fire. The Stratos was made popular in the transformers collectors community by G1 Transformer, WheelJack,
Both the Fire Engine and Ambulance are stored conveniently in the legs in Jet mode The Dag Stratos police car is stored in the fuselage which separates in the middle and has a ramp that deploys for the car to roll down.
Another feature that adds play value is a red lever on each side of the Jet (shown below). When the lever is lifted it will automatically deploy the Ambulance or Fire Engine from the legs.
As I mentioned above, The Police car can transform easily into the 4.25″ tall robot (Dag Fire) shown below. The articulation is very limited in Robot mode, only the elbows are poseable.
Dag Fire can fit neatly in Fire Dagwons chest when transformed. Or you can have Dag Fire fight independently alongside Fire Dagwon.
Onto the main Mecha! Fire Dagwon (aka Fire Jumbo), stands a whopping 13″ tall from the bottom of its feet to the tip of its wing. Even with articulation being limited to the shoulders and elbows, Fire Dagwon is still a very impressive figure. The toy, when in Robot mode, has undeniable shelve presence!
Some of the features of Fire Dagwon are a sword that is retractable from Dag Ladder (Fire truck) and actual firing missiles that fire from the Jet engines! Fire Dagwon really gives you bang for your buck!
Wait, the fun doesn’t stop there. Fire Dagwon is able to combine with Power Dagwon. This combination makes the ultra cool Super Fire Dagwon (shown below). I will be covering that combination as well as Power Dagwon, Gun Kid (Bazooka) and Lian (sword) in a future reviews.
All in all this toy is magical, having the power to bring someone back to their youth. A time when robot toys were not super complicated with crazy articulation, they were just fun. I strongly encourage you to visit BBTS and pick up one of these before they are sold out. Who knows, it may awaken long lost childhood memories for you too…..