Takara-Tomy Beast Saga Long Giraf Action Figure Takara-Tomy, 2012
Day #573: January 14, 2013
Long Giraf The Giraffe
Beast Saga Action Figures
Item No.: BS-06 Manufacturer:Takara-Tomy Includes:Sword, shield, 2 dice, trading card Action Feature:Dice launch out of stomach Retail:525 yen (or about $7) Availability: September 2012 Other: Early translation of name was "Long Tsurafu"
Depending on which Beast Saga translation you go with, Long Giraf is about a good of a name as any. It's pretty similar to "Longrack" which was a Transformers character from the late 1990s and was also a giraffe. This figure is a more realistic take on an armored giraffe figure, and the funny thing is that the name from the manga makes me think it might be the original Battle Beasts Rubberneck Giraffe character. It's tough to say, but he does have a new swell helmet this time around. If Toys R Us doesn't get this as some sort of US exclusive, then they have failed.
The articulation on this one is a mixed bag. The arms rotate freely, but are quite stiff. The legs are actually a bit restricted, his default standing position allows him no room to move his legs forward. They can go back a bit, but who wants to do that? The leg articulation is pretty much worthless here. I like the overall look of this figure a lot, and Rubberneck Giraffe was one of my first (and favorite) Beasts as a kid. This time around, the bulky figure is more of an armored knight with some sort of cross pattern sculpted into his shoulders. The blue armor has some great orange bits to make it come alive, and the shield is pretty slick too. The sword feels like a mutant version of Link's Master Sword, you may find yourself wishing to steal it for your other figures. His personality comes through nicely with a somewhat silly orange helmet and nice, glossy black eyes.
As always, you get a dice launcher, a bonus "3" die, and a card plus a sword, shield, and character-specific die. His weapons were later reused for the gorilla. For the right price (as in, retail) it's a great figure. Should anyone sell it in the USA for five bucks, you should get one. I'm not complaining at $7. Giraffanatics take note, there's a clear blue and yellow version of the figure sold in the BS-03 blind boxes. It's pictured below, and, of course, we'll look at him pretty soon.
I'm sort of bewildered that this line isn't already in American stores. It just seems like such a great fit for kids, once you get beyond the whole dice launcher small parts thing. I'm buying this line largely out of love of the classic 1980s Battle Beasts, but I gotta say the new guys are nifty in their own right too. There's no duplicating the bizarre colors, goggles, and cybernetic limbs of the originals but I can get into these as a new thing.
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