The stock Godbomber figure is far from perfect and his components, when added to Super Ginrai, leave the figure substantially less stable than he was in his basic form. Given that the PC-16 set puts a little bit more weight onto the robot's back (in the form of Jinrai Prime's legs), his weak ankles leave him even more prone to overbalancing and falling over backward.
With that in mind, to be perfectly honest, the only part of this figure I was really interested in was the ankle supports for the God Ginrai gestalt...
Packaging:
We have the fairly typical Perfect Effect box here, with a large photographic image of the fully combined God Ginrai (using a slight but significant variation on the standard transformation) and Godbomber's upgraded 'vehicle' form on the front, with some more product shots and brief visual explanations of each part's purpose on the back. The box is almost perfectly square from the front and thicker than the average Perfect Combiner set. The reason for this becomes apparent once the box is opened as, while the majority of components are housed in the main tray, the humungous sword accessory is set diagonally, within a tray of its very own, which slips in behind the main one, adding about an inch to the depth of the package.
As with other Perfect Combiner sets, the box has a nice matte finish and feels quite sturdy. The instruction sheet is double-sided, with reasonably good images showing how things attach and interact with both modes of Godbomber and the fully-combined God Ginrai.
Upgrades for Godbomber:
The additional parts have barely any effect on Godbomber's so-called vehicle mode, since all of them are supplemental to this mode rather than structural reinforcement. The upgrades to the wings are a bit of a liability because the hinges at the base are barely strong enough to hold the stock wings either upright or outstretched to the sides without the additional mass - as I was moving the vehicle around to take photos, I constantly had to readjust the wings, as one or the other (or both) would invariably have drooped. At least in this mode, I didn't have to worry about the rotation joint embedded in the shoulder as well.
The sword simply pegs into the 5mm port on top of the missile laucher set between the two halves of the back end, and the new guns - essentially the same as those packaged with the PC-10 set for Bruticus, but with a panel to cover the gaping holes on the inner faces, and to allow the pair to connect to give God Ginrai a massive, double-barrelled blaster. In vehicle form, the blue parts attach solely to facilitate the attachment of these guns, plugging into spare ports on the robot's shoulders.
It's easy to say that the upgrade parts look a bit crap in this mode... but, to be fair, they weren't really intended for display in this mode - they're upgrades for Godbomber's robot mode which also improve the overall look of the combined form.
And, while the wing attachments are even more problematic for Godbomber in his robot mode as they were for his vehicle mode, thanks to the loose hinges and shoulder rotation joints, the blue parts - which sit within and fill out his previously cavernous forearms - make the arms substantially more stable. One of my biggest complaints about the Godbomber figure was that his arms were poorly designed and more inclined to fall apart than submit to being posed in an interesting and dynamic fashion. With these simple-looking pieces pegged into the block that forms the lower part of the elbow joint and the shell of his forearms, they become more solid and substantial, far less inclined to come apart at the slightest touch. They're still not perfect - forearms made up of hinged panels seldom are (the exception being RiD Ultra Magnus, though that's largely because his forearms at least had all four, complete sides rather than just two and a half) - but they now stay together while the shoulder, elbow or wrist are moved, and can be held onto for stability without collapsing and falling off the arm.
Since Godbomber's hands weren't molded with any grip - they're articulated, but with only a single hinge for the four, connected fingers and a ball joint at the base of the thumbs - the two massive cannons have to be plugged into the small wings on the robot's forearms. This isn't ideal for two reasons: first and foremost, their sheer size is ridiculous, and they look pretty daft. Aside from that, the grips are a very tight fit to the wings' 5mm ports, and I tend to prefer not inserting them fully in case something breaks - either the gun's grip or the wings themselves - when trying to remove them later.
Finally, the sword accessory is basically redundant for Godbomber alone - since his hands have no grip, he can't hold it, and it'd look utterly ridiculous pegged into his forearm wings. Essentially, the only option is to use the spare 5mm port on whichever shoulder isn't carrying the rocket launcher, and store it hanging off the robot's back. This feels like a wasted opportunity... but, to be honest, I'm not convinced by the sword anyway. It's certainly better looking that the two-part accessory included with the basic toy (which can now remain part of the rocket launcher) and, being a single piece of painted plastic, of course it doesn't fall apart through being handled... but it seems a little bit too big - certainly for Godbomber, even if he were able to wield it somehow.
Upgrades for God Ginrai/Powermaster Optimus Prime:
Super Ginrai's main point of weakness was the redesigned feet, which were just not as stable as the recycled Legends Ultra Magnus clodhoppers on Hasbro's Powermaster Optimus Prime figure thanks to some loose joints in the ankles and heel spurs. This looseness was exacerbated by attaching Godbomber's leg parts as the gestalt's new feet, and its effects were then made even worse by the large backpack Godbomber adds to the God Ginrai gestalt. With the ankle supports attached to the combiner pegs of Godbomber's legs and enclosed within the trailer panels, the problem of the loose ankles is completely resolved... so it's rather a shame that neither of the Super Ginrai upgrades included anything to stabilise the main figure's heels. The completed gestalt is still back heavy, but substantially less inclined to falling over backwards.
While the upgrade set's guns look far too large for Godbomber, they actually look quite good when wielded by God Ginrai. Still a bit too large, if you ask me, but certainly more impressive than the weedy blasters included with Legends Super Ginrai. These original blasters can now be attached to the wing upgrades, where they look quite reasonable as supplementary weapons. While the hollowness of the upgrade weapons is only partially solved by the plates installed at the backs, the barrels are still full of holes between the structural supports, and the option to plug the two together to create a double-barrelled blaster doesn't make a great deal of sense to me, beyond attempting to emulate the Titans Return habit of having two weapons that combine to form some sort of vehicle or turret for the Titan Master figures. Since there's no means of attaching a Titan Master to the upgraded blasters, it feels like an afterthought that wasn't quite followed to its most logical conclusion.
Naturally, God Ginrai can wield the upgrade set's sword, but this certainly is too large even for the mighty gestalt, with his extended limbs. It not only looks unwieldy - what is this obsession with massively long swords? - but cartoonish, as if designed either to resemble a pirate's cutlass, or to appear artificially foreshortened by the angle of view. To be honest, though, I just don't like the idea of giant robots having metal-bladed swords - because it feels equivalent to a human trying to wield a cut of meat as a weapon - so I tend to leave it plugged in to his backpack, if I use it at all.
On the subject of the backpack, since taking photos of the stock God Ginrai gestalt, I have been introduced to an alternate configuration that lowers the wings to shoulder level. This makes for a huge improvement in his overall appearance, since the raised wings of the stock configuration look very odd. It basically involved switching the orientation of Godbomber's chest halves such that they are effectively upside down versus the stock configuration, and this does require some careful manouevring. There's a joint in there that doesn't feel like it's supposed to rotate, and has almost no clearance... but, while it's quite hard to turn it out of its preferred position, it will move... even if it does feel as though the grey chest plate - or the part of it involved in the hinge - is going to break. It does leave Godbomber's upper arms and thighs on the outsides - the former in front of the wings, the latter behind them - and makes it somewhat trickier to stash the sword on his back due to the altered clearance, but it's very much worthwhile. It may present a less tidy back view, and there's no longer any way to store Godbomber's helmet on God Ginrai, but that seems like a small price to pay.
I'd have to say that, on balance, this is the least worthwhile of the Perfect Combiner upgrade sets for this toy. In many ways, it feels as if all of them should have been included with one or the other of the previous sets, and that Perfect Effect have pulled a fast one by releasing it separately... However, since this is - technically - an upgrade set for the TransFormers Legends Godbomber toy rather than Super Ginrai or Powermaster Optimus Prime (or, more appropriately, Titans Return Magnus Prime from the Siege of Cybertron boxed set), they almost get away with it. Indeed, even the all-important ankle supports are only required on the complete God Ginrai form of the toy. They would serve no purpose on Super Ginrai alone, and aren't even compatible with Hasbro's original, solo-release version of the toy.
On the flipside, the new, humungous guns are barely worth using with anything other than God Ginrai, and the wing upgrades are clearly intended for the completed combiner rather than Godbomber alone. The sword, meanwhile, remains just as unwieldy for God Ginrai... though it at leasts fits into the robot's 5mm fist sockets. The alternative is storing it on his back, and the reconfigured backpack shown above isn't quite so suitable for that purpose as the default configuration.
I bought this set at TFNation 2018 and, unfortunately, cannot recall from whom I bought it or how much it cost, but I've seen it available on eBay for about £50... It was the last one on the stall, and hopefully I didn't pay that much, as that seems hugely overpriced for two recycled guns, a sword, and a handful of smaller plastic parts. Maybe as much as about £30 would be reasonable but, by this point in time, I'd be very surprised if there weren't cheaper - potentially 3D-printable - alternatives for the ankle supports available, making this set largely redundant.
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