Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger Whale Change Gun 動物戦隊ジュウオウジャー ホエールチェンジガン

This week on CCLemon99.com I wrap up my revisiting of Denji Sentai Megaranger! Check out Part 2 of my retrospective here: www.cclemon99.com/2017/12/wins... In it I talk Wins, Opportunities, three episodes I absolutely hate, a Top 7 list of my favorite episodes, and my overall thoughts on the series. It's jam-packed, so bring a lunch! You can also check out Part 1 here... www.cclemon99.com/2017/11/inst...
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Welcome to my review of the Whale Change Gun [ホエールチェンジガン] from Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger [動物戦隊ジュウオウジャー]!
In June I famously hit my ten year anniversary on CZcams. During the hooplah I made it clear that weekly videos were coming to an end. That compounded with a pretty big promotion at my job kinda leaves me with less time to work on videos. BUT. For the month of December I will be back in full-on CCLemon99 mode. There will be a new surprise video every week to finish out the year. This week is the least special of the bunch by a huge margin. I have to get this out there, though, as I screwed up pretty bad. Zyuohger was not helpful for two reasons: Not being very interesting and having three flippin' Reds (kinda). Yeah, I totally missed this one and skipped right ahead to Zyuoh Changer The Final. I was made aware of my mistake pretty much immediately after that video went up, and purchased this toy not long after. They beauty of it is that I got it from a deeeeeep discounter for $4. I was expecting a beat to hell box, but as you can see I got it in perfect condition. Turns out my mistake probably saved me a bunch of money versus buying it during the series run.
Enough of that...how is this thing?
DX Whale Change Gun comes with a mini Zyuoh Whale figure like the rest of the Changers from this series. I know I switch hands a few times in the video, but this gun is meant to be held in the left hand. Yeah, filming this wasn't all that easy. The whole thing transforms when the lever is pulled and features a pump slide at the bottom, which both triggers certain sounds and winds up the rotating muzzle. The spinning does not use any battery power at all, the three AAA batteries are for sounds only.
Honestly, this toy is pretty middle of the road. The sounds are nice and loud, which certainly made editing much easier for me. The light show is also pretty good as all of the Zyuohger colors are represented and match up with the sounds when necessary. The lever action is also incredibly smooth. I think a toy that totally transforms during the Henshin sequence is a pretty cool idea. Oh, and I may not be left-handed, but it's cool that lefties finally have something made for them.
That said, this thing clearly suffers from weaponitis. It's far, far smaller than it is in the show. I kinda liken this a lot to the Saiblade from Gekiranger in that respect. The speaker is close to the trigger, which is fine...except when the lever is pulled the speaker is suddenly boxed in. It would have been nice to have some consistency with the sound. The spinning muzzle sounds pretty horrific in this video, but it's not as bad in person. I tried to limit the spinning to when it was absolutely necessary for this video. I like the idea of this thing, but the design lack a lot of detail that the other Zyuohger changers have. Plus I see a future where a lot of these with broken arms/flaps end up on YJ Auctions. It's a bit flimsy.
This thing is alright. I prefer the other Changers from this show, but I don't hate this one either. It's smaller, but well proportioned unlike something like the Ninja Ichibanto from Ninninger. I can fit my shovel hand in it, so it passes the adult test. Yeah...not terrible. It was just an added bonus that I got it for so cheap.
That was the first in five new videos for the month of December. All of the videos are a surprise, but I will say that the 1982-2017 will not be happening until next year. Keep in mind that Bandai is releasing the final Kyuranger changer in January...so I'm kinda waiting on that. Stay tuned for the next four surprise videos to finish out 2017!
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Thanks for watchin'. See ya next time!