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| SCF God Ginrai |
Right, so back to where we left off yesterday, inside the differences between the original God Ginrai giftset and the 2001 reissue. First off let me just say that this set was pretty difficult to find since the reissue is all over the place nowadays. And I can remember back before 2001 it was a pretty hot commodity, going for somewhere around $400 online. Fortunately the reissue cut that price by more than half, but if you are looking out for the original it is important to know the differences. My buddy Heroic Decepticon has
already covered this to some detail, so I'll just go over a few things not in his post.
So obviously, right out of the box it is very easy to distinguish the differences, styrofoam isn't exactly environment friendly, so anything made after 1992 is unlikely to contain it. But I like how Takara packed the figures in the exact same layout. Hey, if it works, why change it, right?
So apparently, the easiest way to tell if your cab is a reissue is check the eyes of the Ginrai
Transtector.
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| Vintage on the left with red eyes, reissue on the right with the "correct" blue Autobot eyes. |
And just for the fun of it, I went ahead and lined them all up.
Optimus Prime on the left, vintage Ginrai in the middle and reissue Ginrai on the right. Obviously the Japanese figures have die-cast metal whereas the American figure is all plastic (and with longer smokestacks, ha!). So that is basically where the differences between the Japanese figures end. Other than the copyright in the trailer and on Godbomber (see
here) there isn't anything I can find to distinguish them, so I thought I would throw the vintage Ginrai up against Prime.
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| The arms are completely different if you look closely. I didn't get a good pic of the extending fists on Super Ginrai. |
What does Super Ginrai (on the right) have that Powermaster Prime doesn't?
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| The Godbomber Trailer! So he can haul twice as many Cybertrons around? |
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| Caution: vehicle makes wide turns. |
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| The whole family! Godbomber, Ginrai, and the Super Ginrai Transtector. |
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| Full God Ginrai combination (he's pretty damn big). |
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| God Ginrai vs. Powermaster Prime |
So there it is, pretty cut and dry. Different color eyes, copyright stamps, styrofoam and a little black rectangle on the box distinguish God Ginrai from his recent counterpart. If you have the vintage itch like I do, hopefully this comes as some help. Also, this is a great figure that anyone should have in their collection; not only is it a version of Optimus Prime, but it is a really fun toy with a lot of play value and sturdiness (you know, for the kids. The PM Prime in these pictures is my actual figure from childhood which amazingly survived. I know, don't ask me how, I was rough on toys).
See also:
C-310 God Ginrai Giftset...Vintage!
Tidbits on C-310: God Ginrai and D-307: Overlord (by Heroic Decepticon)
I still think it's funny that the U.S. release has long stacks. It is nice to see all three Prime trasectors side by side.
ReplyDeleteIt is kinda ironic, isn't it?
DeleteVery nice comparison. I'm surprised that there are so few differences.
ReplyDeleteI actually got a cutomiser friend to also paint the Super Ginrai eyes blue, so that's another difference where my piece is concerned.
Me too, I'm just happy that now Takara actually takes care to make sure you know it is a reissue and not the original.
DeleteCool read! Do you have Fire Guts? I picked him up at Botcon this year for very cheap, and he's great, like a G2 version of Ginrai.
ReplyDeleteNo I wish I did though! I love the colors. Hopefully one day I can find him for a reasonable price like you did.
DeleteI remember seeing power master prime as a kid and I must have been about 10, I remember curiously looking at Hi-Q and the whole trailer becoming a part of prime and thought WTF? Never to be seen in ant North American cartoon, I wondered what this was, my parents deemed me too old for such a toy and was left wondering ( I did not realize he made his way into our comics ).
ReplyDeleteYears later I bought Power Master Prime MISB and loose to check out and then a collector had these boxed DVD sets which also have English dubs, and discovered the Japanese world of TF's, WOW!! Not only expensive but dope as hell!! I mean Soundblaster, Victory Saber, Black Shadow and Dinoking etc = AWESOME!! Finally a show with Ginrai?! Now I am flooded with both American ones I bought and now Individually boxed Godbomber and God Ginrai and the Giftset also, Why can't I just be happy with the Japanese giftset?!! Ah well goes well with my Bloated Prime, Rubsign Prime MIB, Japanese Prime #01 MIB , Action Master Prime and Star Convoy MIB, I guess I will have to get a bigger house to fit a Goodbye Convoy set haha!!
Great Articles as always!!
Didn't you just love it when parents made toy-related decisions for you? That was why I started working so young; so I could have my own money and buy whatever I wanted.
DeleteSounds like you have a Prime addiction! Don't forget about the elusive VSX too!
Yeah no doubt, well I am a competist about 12 away from all North American G1's and completed Euro's except action masters and 1.5's as they are called, although Pyro and Clench are desirable to me. I am missing Artfire, Black Zarak and Grand Max, also Grandus and about 10 other Japanese TF's.
DeleteI forgot to mention Victory Leo as an Optimus Prime haha! Yeah I need to sell off a few and maybe just keep Bloated fists etc and Japanese versions. I love Slag too and have the Canadian Slag and some other rarities.
I am slowly wavering into Diaclones, even though I tried not too, but they are sooo nice!! My fave is a pretty mint Insector Robo Giftset. Also got the Cassette Motorbike and Helicopter Microman toys and some others.
Anyways I tend to blab, I just appreciate and love TF/ Diaclone/ Microman series ever since my Prime and Skywarp my Dad and Mom bought in 1985 and love to share our great collections of precious metal and plasic!!
Man this is awesome to see. Excellent coverage on the differences between you and Heroic Deception, you guys made a great guide!
ReplyDeleteI'm fighting the urge to track down the reissue now....
Thanks! Hopefully it is useful to someone at least. I highly recommend it, the figure is a ton of fun. If you are interested I now have an extra reissue figure ;-)
Deleteboth of the god bombers in your pictures have grey/white lines on the stickers on the blue arms. Did you use the same sitcker sheet for both? From what I know vintage god bomber has no grey/white lines. Only the god bomber in the reissue one has them.
ReplyDeleteHi, the vintage figure I purchased was already stickered, so perhaps someone used a reissue sticker sheet? But that is an interesting variation, thanks for the heads up!
Deleteno prob, im glad to be able to share things with you guys :)
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