Dygenguar & Aussenseiter

Dygenguar & Aussenseiter (ダイゼンガー&アウセンザイター)come from the Super Robot Wars franchise, including the games and the spin-off anime series. these designs are original designs created for the series, unlike other robots who just make guest appearances.

The robots are massive, dynamic and powerful. I’ve never seen the series, or played the game, so most information I could give about the characters background is just assumption.

Really though we are here to talk about the toy.

The toy consists of two robots who could make complete great SOC releases unto themselves: Dygenguar & Aussenseiter.

First off – the box. The box is HUGE and appears to be one of the largest SOC boxes to date. The DX Raideen set may be bigger, but if so not by much. Inside is a styrofoam tray, and two plastic trays.

Dygenguar

Let’s start with Dygenguar. Pronounced “Daizengar” Dygenguar is a fantastic robot. It’s angular design may scare off super robot purists, but once you get him in your grubby little hands you will feel the love. Everything about this guy is tight. All the joints are great and stiff. The shoulders can swivel forward and backward as well as rotate, and elbows are double jointed. The chest has a fantastic ball joint with a collapsable chest panel to allow for more dynamic poses.

The hips have an odd joint in it. When I first took this out of the box I thought that Dygenguar did not have the ability to move his legs forward. Come to find out that there is an interesting joint that you have to swivel forward to enable forward motion. This joint is necessary to enable Dygenguar to ride Aussenseiter in horse mode. The video below explains it better, so watch to fully understand.

the skirt armor is fully articulated and does not feel like it will pop off – a common problem with skirt armor.

The legs are mostly metal, and click nicely. The knees are not double jointed, unfortunately, but the knee spikes are articulated. Also, the large red panels on the legs have a tendency to pop off easily, so be aware of that.

The feet are remarkably articulated, with the toes, heel, shin guard and ankle having a full range of motion. There are flip out clips on the bottom of the feet that I THINK are to secure it to the stirrups in combined mode.

Check out the pistons on the back of the feet.

Other neat little things about Dygenguar – There is a panel on the back that lifts up to reveal engines, the large shoulder spikes can move, and there is an interchangeable face.

Of course there are the required optional hands, and some of those hands can hold the big-ass swords.

Yeah, these swords are big – no not just big – ridiculous. Suprisingly Dygenguar has no problem holding any of the swords.

Aussenseiter

Aussenseiter (アウセンザイター) written as “Außenseiter” (the “ß” translates to SS in German) is the second part of the set, the companion robot to Dygenguar.

Aussenseiter is bigger and heavier than Dygengyar, and has more gimmicks, but is less poseable. This is laargely due to the complex transformation hidden inside, but it’s still reasonably articulate.

The head is on a ball joint and features a large removable plume of electric hair. There is no variant expression with this figure.

The chest is immovable. Each shoulder can move, and the elbows are double-jointed. At the end of each shoulder is a large disc shaped shield that can be removed an used as a weapon.

Alternate hands are also included, and can hold the thin angular sword with the hook at the end. One variant hand as a unique pointing pose, apparently a signature move for Aussenseiter.

The legs are hefty and feature thick metal parts. These legs have good articulation, nothing double jointed, but again the feet are fantastic. The feet have articulated rolling rubber wheels that really help the figure obtain a sturdy pose.

Moving the legs has a tendency to pop off the front panel on Aussenseiter, but it easily pops back into place.

The cape is made out of hard rubber and is divided into three pieces. Securing over that on the back is a backpack that holds the two large Lanze Kanone cannons.

The cannons fold up on the back, but can be removed and placed in both hands. You have to unfold the handles at the end, and there are also two small clips provided that attach to the shoulders for extra support.

Pferd Mode

Transforming Aussenseiter to Pferd Mode is challenging the first few times, but once you see all the connection points it becomes easier. Most of all the parts that are required to do the transformation are contained within Aussenseiter, save for the tail, mane and rear connection support.

So how is it done? Well, it is hard to explain in writing, so I did it on video for you. But I will go over some of the points.

First, the cape, shields, and the head need to be removed before transformation. Also, a plate on the top of the chest around the neck needs to be removed.

Each arm folds up into the shoulders, and then the shoulder sections fold down the sides, revealing the horse’s head. Remove the head and neck section, and re-attach Aussenseiter’s head with the new, larger mane.

From here it’s a bit of jumbled luck and a bit of origami to get the rest done, but it involves a rear connector part that the feet and rear section snapping into.

The front and rear legs are formed out of the cannons on the back of the figure. The front legs snap into the back of the grey panels in front, and the back legs snap into the former shoulder parts. Add the head to the front, and then the tail to the back, and there you go – Aussenseiter in Pferd mode.

Now, this is well and good, but things look a little small. Dygenguar can sit on it, but not well.

What Bandai has done is provided you with a second set of parts – a more anime-accurate set of limbs, head and saddle.

The new head is larger, with a larger mane, and is more articulated. The head moves around and the jaw can move as well.

The front legs are longer and smoother, with better range of motion. You can pull the legs out a bit at the hips to provide for a wider stance. The rear legs are also larger and smoother than the ones from the cannons but they connect in the same way.

The saddle is the best improvement to the horse mode. With this saddle, Dygenguar can mount Aussenseiter and create that iconic pose. It even has stirrups.

The special stand included can hold the combined pair up in the glorious attack mode.

Aussenseiter’s cape now gets re-purposed into a cape for Dygenguar, but the cape can only be used when in this combined mode. It’s meant to flow in only one direction, and it looks a little odd when not on the horse. An additional support stand is inserted in to the horse’s….uh.. hind quarter to brace the cape.

But wait, there’s more…

There’s another stand included that looks like a piece of rock. All of the leftover parts can be attached to this stand and displayed alongside Dygenguar & Aussenseiter.

At what cost?

Here’s the elephant in the room – the cost. The GX-46 set retails for 29,400 yen, which as of October 2009 converts to $324.37 – no small chunk of change. Bandai and Toynami teamed up to bring select Tamashii product to the states. US retailers such as Big Bad Toy Store have it for around $280. Considering that you would likely have to pay an additional $50 to ship this from Japan, that’s quite a discount of the Japanese retail.

But still, that $280 is a significant cost, especially in this economic climate. The number one question people ask me is is this worth the money?

Across the board prices on these high-end collector pieces have gone up. Considering that you get TWO full featured chogokin toys – one that transforms, and a ton of accessories, the $280 price seems about right. Also worth noting is that this is labeled as a DX Soul of Chogokin toy (the second since the DX Raideen Set), and thus commands a higher price tag.

The whole set is really fun, sturdy, and it has fantastic shelf presence. Combined its over a foot tall.

Recommended!