Fan-favourite
character Renamon makes her appearance in the premiere episode of
Tamers and quickly ingrained herself in the minds - and in the
cases of the more screwy members, the hearts - of the fandom. In
3.39, "Song of Sakuyamon," we're introduced to her
title-billing Mega form, Sakuyamon, who's up there with Angewomon
and LadyDevimon in the token buxom female character stakes.SAKUYAMON
The toy comes packaged in Sakuyamon mode, and I'm starting there 'cause I feel like it. To the tips of her headdress's ears, Sakuyamon stands at just over eight-and-a-half inches - quite the towering figure compared to most of the other Digivolvers. Sakuyamon has articulation in her shoulders, hips and knees, and her individual fingers move. And speaking of the finger, that's the first fault with the Sakuyamon mode - it's got three fingers, not the five it should have. This lends itself to the next problem. The toy comes with an eleven-and-a-half inch-long staff accessory - and it CAN'T HOLD IT WORTH SH!T. The finger all just rotate around on a ball joint, they can't be bent inward to grasp the staff in the *slightest.* It merely flops around in her hands, and constantly falls down, which is a serious bitch when she's in the back of a crowded toy shelf. As for the staff itself, the eight rings attached in various places to it are made of weak, rubbery plastic, and there's a notch cut in each of them, which allowed them to be attached in the first place. However, a spot of glue on each one to close up the notches wouldn't have gone amiss, as they fall off the thing quite regularly. Back the toy itself... it really wouldn't have killed them to put moveable joints in her elbows, as it wouldn't affect her transformation. Kibble is minimal, and it limited to Renamon's head-halves, chest-mane and ears on her back, but they're compacted up very nicely and don't get in the way. Oh, and those ain't Sakuyamon's feet. Missing paint is fairly minimal - aside from the decals on her chest, it's entirely down to the Tao symbols on her gloves and boots, and the flecks within the Tao symbols on her shoulders and stomach. Blargh. Anyway, despite the gripes, it's not actually THAT bad of a mode. I mean, you can tell it's Sakuyamon, and everything. Despite her lack of... er... feminine attributes.
To transform Sakuyamon into Renamon, you first open up her chest, then fold down the two halves of her headdress, folding the ears inside. Close the chest up again, pull the peg on Sakuyamon's hair out of the hole in the back of her neck, then rotate up the two halves of Renamon's head around, sliding her ears through the holes in them, and snap t
hem
together over the remainder of Sakuyamon's head, forming
Renamon's head. Next you fold out the panels on her shoulder, and
then rotate Renamon's chest mane around from either side of her
body, snapping it together over her chest. Rotate the legs around
at the waist, exposing Renamon's yellow thighs, then rotate each
leg around again at the knee. Detach Sakuyamon's shin guards, and
swing them up and around against her back, locking the hole in
each of them over the pegs on her back (this isn't shown properly
in the instructions). Now, rotate each leg around again, leaving
the shin guards on her back, and compress the white part of the
leg, shortening it. Fold out the heel on each foot, then fold in
the middle toe and push the remaining two together. Finally, snap
the two parts of Sakuyamon's hair together, and compress them,
forming Renamon's tail.RENAMON
Hmn. Well, okay, I can tell it's *supposed* to be Renamon. The problem is that it's got Sakuyamon's body and arms. It becomes evident that this is why Sakuyamon's arms have three fingers - because they were trying to create a balance between the two modes. Would it not have been easier to just create the ol' Paildramon and Silphymon opening forearms, with exchangeable Renamon and Sakuyamon hands? And that's certainly not Renamon's tail back there. Renamon's tail is yellow, not grey, and it doesn't start between her shoulder blades. She's missing paint in the same places as Sakuyamon, and also her pupils aren't black. She's articulated in her shoulders, fingers, knees and ankles (but not her hips, as the shin guards locked to her back stop them from moving). Plus there's nowhere to put the staff in this mode. Again, for all my griping, it's not THAT bad a mode, it's just that the flaws really stick out.
OVERALL
I think that I find it easier to pick up on the flaws in this toy, cause... well... I don't like Renamon very much. But conversely, people who DO like Renamon a LOT pick up on said flaws even more, but the difference there is, they'll denounce the toy as the work of Satan because their precious "Rena-chan" has been portrayed in a way that's less than perfect. Gettin' that biting sarcasm?
Rating: 2.5 out of 5