Impmon, the
runaway Digimon who's little more than a nuisance to the Tamers
for the early part of the season, first raises his head in 3.06,
"O Partner, Where Art Thou?" but when he cuts a deal
with the Digimon Sovereign, he's given the power to
Warp-Digivolve into his Mega form of Beelzemon! Later, after
coming to terms with himself, Impmon evolves to Beelzemon on his
own, gaining wings and the ability to Mode Change to his Blast
Mode, where a gigantic cannon appears on his right arm. There's
currently no name known for the Blast Mode in the cartoon, and I
REFUSE to call it by the name that has appeared on the 1.5"
figure packs - "Bluster Mode" - until such time as it's
used in the dub.IMPMON
The toy comes packaged in Beelzemon mode, but for the purposes of this review, since it's easier, we're going to start with his less-impressive Impmon mode. Even in this mode, he stands taller than an average Digivolver, but he's got flaws. His arms are disproportionately short, and his feet are simply Beelzemon's boots with the spikes pointed down. If you turn him around, his Beelzemon arms are hanging off his back, and you can see inside his head, where the Beelzemon head and torso are neatly packed. He's missing a teensy amount of paint, in that the teeth and eyes on his smiley face chest symbol aren't painted, but still, he's FAR from the worst alt. mode we've seen Bandai of America produce. He's got articulation in his elbows and ankles. To be nitpicky, he's also got two teeth poking out over his lip, where he should only have one.
Transforming Impmon into Beelzemon is a fairly complex procedure. First, you rotate and flip up each of Impmon's toe claws, and then rotate his ankles. You pull down on his feet to extend his legs, then twist down the panels which form his shins from the backs of his legs, snapping them into place and flipping the holster out. Then you rotate up his Beelzemon arms, and open his thigh panels. You compress his Impmon arms, and fold them inside his thighs, then close the panels again. Next. You split
Impmon's head in two and
unfold the halves, forming Beelzemon's wings. You pull up on
Beelzemon's torso, which unlocks the tail from it's position, and
you swing it and Impmon's ears down, then rotate them around to
his back, and position them to be Beelzemon's secondary wings and
tail. To finish, you pull up on Beelzemon's head, and then extend
him arms, and fold them around, locking them into place at his
shoulders.BEELZEMON
Beelzemon towers over all my other Digivolvers (I haven't got any other Warp-Digivolvers at the time of this writing), and is an impressive sight. The mould detailing is fantastic, with all the wrinkles in his outfit clear, down to the markings on his zipper and the fuzz of his collar. He lacks paint in a few places, but it is limited to small, minor things like the interiors of his jacket buckles, the buckles on his boots, the small studs on his thighs, and the decals on his shoulders. In an absolutely *astounding* fit of accuracy and detail, Beelzemon's eyes are all individually painted green - the colour that they SHOULD be if he has his wings, which he does. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that the "fully painted" toy on the back of the packaging has RED eyes, like Beelzemon does in his early appearances, before he gains his wings. He has no extraneous kibble on his body, though you can see the Impmon face on his wings if you turn him around. I'd complain that his tail and secondary wings are far too loose - they just flop about everywhere. He has articulation in his shoulders, elbows (two joints), wrists, ankles, some slight movement in his hips, four points of articulation in each main wing, two in each secondary wing, and three in his tail. In the cartoon, he has two pistols, and the toy comes with one of them (which is entirely black, missing some grey decals), which can fit in his left hand, or in the holster on his left leg. It doesn't store anywhere in Impmon mode, and must be set aside.
The
toy also comes with the huge cannon that appears in the cartoon
when Beelzemon assumes his Blast Mode. To attach this to
Beelzemon, you open the panel on it, and fit the peg inside it
into the hole on his right forearm. You then snap the panel
closed, and open the cannon's barrel. Voila! Beelzemon Blast
Mode! This cannon doesn't store anywhere in Impmon mode either,
and has to be set aside as well. My main gripe with it is that
the barrel barely opens any distance. It would be nicer if it
would open wider.OVERALL
The Beelzemon mode is just awesome. The detail in the figure and complexity of the transformation is great. The Blast Mode cannon is a great bonus that isn't needed, but which improves the figure (and Bandai's standing) even more. The Impmon mode isn't really a mode to be played with, and doesn't look THAT hot, but even then it stands out as one of the better alt. modes for a toy where the other mode is of such a quality. I strongly recommend the figure.
Rating: 4 out of 5