Toybox REVIEW: THE GATTAI DX Bravern

Release Date: January 2025

RRP: 16,800 yen

Brave Bang Bravern! was quite the surprise hit last year, luring anime fans in with what seemed like a fairly run-of-the-mill real robot show and then instead dropping a love letter to the Super Robot genre full of over the top action and hot-blooded romance between men. That said, with Masami Ōbari involved perhaps it didn't come as a complete surprise to everyone. With the series airing back at the beginning of 2024 the wait for merchandise has felt like an eternity, and nearly a year later Good Smile Company are the first to come out swinging with THE GATTAI DX Bravern - the latest release in their ever-growing high-end mecha line.

Dynamic packaging is essential for any good high-end robot toy, and this is definitely something Good Smile took to heart when they started up THE GATTAI line. DX Bravern comes in a gorgeous landscape box that makes great effort to show off the toy itself, with Bravern dramatically pointing on the front alongside an image of it in Bravern's alternate "Brave Thunder" vehicle mode). True to the character, the character name is emblazoned on the front in bold (Japanese) text alongside the Good Smile Company, THE GATTAI and Brave Bang Bravern! series logos in each corner. The box then features matching sides, with a big headshot on the top and bottom (longer) sides and another posed shot of the toy on the left and right (smaller) sides. On the back of the box you'll find a full breakdown of just what to expect with DX Bravern, as it shows off the figure in a wide variety of poses - highlighting its poseability, accessories and transforming gimmick. Inside Bravern is packaged in robot mode on a clear plastic tray alongside all of his accessories, together with a booklet that goes into further detail about the toy's function and how to transform it between the two modes.

Right out of the box you can immediately see that Good Smile Company have done an incredible job on this sculpt. THE GATTAI DX Bravern looks like he's leapt straight out of the anime, with a really clean finish that keeps most of the internal engineering obscured. Rather than an abundance of paint nearly all of the colouring has been done through the plastic itself, giving Bravern a consistent look across his whole body. Paint has largely been reserved for all of the gold detailing (such as the feet, forearms and head crest), as well as the face and any additional grey detailing across the body. But what really stands out is all the translucent green plastic used, which really pops in the right light. Despite both the look of the figure and its price tag there isn't any die cast metal featured in the figure - it's all plastic, giving it a surprisingly lightweight feel for such a premium product.

There's an advantage to the figure being relatively lightweight though, and that's that it manages to really impress when it comes to poseability. Bravern is undoubtedly one of the most articulated figures from THE GATTAI range that I've handled, likely partly thanks to the fact it isn't one that has to have a big combination in mind. Among the various joints strewn across the body it features;

- Ball jointed head

- Swivel hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, ankles and wings

- Double hinged elbows and knees

- Single hinged feet

- Waist, bicep and thigh swivels

That isn't the all-encompassing list either, as there are also various parts of the armour that move around either as part of the transformation or to simply aide articulation either further. For example, the gold "wing" pieces on either side of Bravern's feet are ball jointed, the shoulder pads are attached with swivel hinge joints, the upper leg guards are hinged and the "skirt"is also made up of rotatable pieces. A lot of these joints are also ratcheted too, giving them an additional sturdiness as well as that ever-so-satisfying clicking sound mecha fans just love to hear. There's just so much more expression in the figure than I was ever expecting despite the fact that the high price tag kind of calls for it.

Another area where Good Smile have really excelled here are the accessories, that not only cover Bravern's impressive range of "Brave Weapons" but also how dynamic of a character he is. First up we have three swappable faceplates, including smiling and shouting faces as well as masked face representing his first appearance. Swapping the faces is as easy as removing the front piece of his helmet (be very careful around the crest piece though), removing the default one and plugging your chosen face in its place. There are plenty of face options the toy could have come with, but the choices Good Smile made here are definitely the right ones - that shouting face alone is sure to get a lot of mileage. Next up are five swappable hands, consisting of a pair of open hands, a pair of weapon-holding hands and a pointing right hand to compliment his default fists. Each hand is fitting to its own wrist joint so swapping them is really easy, and although a little bit of movement is lost from the hands being fixed to the wrist joints they still have a pretty good range of movement. Finally we come onto the weapons - the Burn Blade and the Burn Axe. Both weapons have the moulding and paintwork one would expect from a premium product like this, with even spots of translucent plastic present on them as well. While the sword can fit comfortably into Bravern's hands without any issues, the bottom piece of the axe needs to be unplugged in order to slide the grip through the hands. The fun doesn't stop there though, because finally there's a "Blaze Up" effect piece for Burn Blade as well. This takes the form of a giant translucent green sword blade, which clips over the top of the Burn Blade to give Bravern a weapon that's just as large as his personality. With the effect part attached the blade can get a little too heavy for the wrists to support in certain poses, but nevertheless there are still plenty the toy is still capable of. If there's anything an over the top super robot needs, it's a similarly over the top weapon to go with him.

On first glance Bravern might not seem like he has a particularly complex transformation, but the seven pages Good Smile have taken to meticulously lay out the instructions perhaps suggests otherwise. It isn't so much that the transformation itself is complicated, but more so that there are a lot of little fiddly bits (such as pulling joints out only to compress them again once the surrounding parts have been manipulated) that if missed out could potentially lead to breaking the figure. Good Smile have taken so much care with these instructions that they even tell you how many clicks you need to rotate certain joints just to get the angles right! Just take your time and be careful around the small parts, which is advice everyone should be taking when transforming these kind of toys to be honest. When you have worked your way through the instructions though you'll be treated with Brave Thunder, Bravern's fighter craft-esque vehicle mode.

Calling Brave Thunder a "vehicle" mode is being pretty generous, as despite the numerous steps involved to transform the figure it still really just looks like Bravern lying down on his back and having various parts stick out at different angles. Parts of the design don't translate quite as well without the exaggerated look they can have onscreen either, the rather flat-looking cockpit area that sits at the front being the main offender. While it was undoubtedly something that the toy needed to be able to pull off to be a success, ultimately it's probably not going to be the way most people display their Braverns so if this had to suffer in order to make the robot mode as good as it is then so be it. It also doesn't help that Brave Thunder doesn't actually do very much either. It doesn't have any sort of gimmicks installed for this mode, and the awkwardness of the design doesn't really allow it to sit on surfaces very comfortably either. Instead the vehicle plugs into the included display stand to give the impression of flight, but said stand sits rather low to the ground. The peg is also slightly thicker than your average display stand too, so you can't really use alternative articulated stands for a more dynamic display either.

The display stand itself is really basic too, and only really designed with the Brave Thunder mode in mind. The tiny plinth is cast entirely in black plastic, without any sort of additional moulding or lettering to show off just what it's the stand for. While there is some accessory storage underneath, it's only big enough to house the alternate hands and faceplates. The weapons will have to be left to rattle around somewhere else, which is a bit disappointing because if you're going to be using this display base (and thus have Bravern in vehicle mode) you're not going to be using the weapons. While the fact it ultimately does its job meant I wasn't going to complain about it too much, the fact Good Smile Company later went and released a proper display stand as an online store exclusive is a little frustrating. That one is far more akin to what is usually included with THE GATTAI figures, and there's no reason it shouldn't have been here other that typical corporate greed. It's not the only add-on set they've made for the base figure either, with a swappable voice unit also marketed in the same way. That one is a little bit more justifiable as an add-on, but is annoying to think they could have made a great figure even better to begin with.

If about a decade ago you had told me Good Smile Company would be blazing a trail with their own high-end mecha line, I'd have probably laughed at you. But THE GATTAI DX Bravern is yet another example of why this line is definitely one to keep an eye, offering an incredible version of 2024's surprise hit that boasts both incredible screen-accuracy and impressive poseability. While the vehicle mode not being much to write home about might be as much a fault of the design as it is the toy, neutering the stand only to sell a better version separately is annoying enough to be a knock against it - particularly as THE GATTAI figures aren't exactly cheap to begin with. THE GATTAI Bravern does face a little competition going forward from TakaraTomy's Toyrise version, which comes together with Bang Dragon (whereas it's sold separately here) for a lower price. That said, based on the promo pictures the Toyrise version doesn't look quite as dynamic as this one, with THE GATTAI version also looking cleaner sculpt-wise. Both will surely have their advantages and disadvantages, but when it comes to a base Bravern figure imbued with the same burning spirit as his animated counterpart - it's hard to see just how much TakaraTomy can improve on this.