How are Super Defenders different from the normal Defenders, you might ask? They turn into souped-up, futuristic, non-realistic race cars! They are also unique in that they contain both diecast and plastic.
As with the other Convertors, the Super Defenders find their roots in a largely unsuccessful 1980's anime. The name of this anime was Cho Kosoku Galvion (Super High Speed Galvion, Road Fighter Galvion, or just Galvion to most people.) The premise of the anime revolved around a secret organization known as Circus, who recruits two convicts to pilot their transforming racecar mecha to fight another faction, Shadow, that is attempting to take over the world. The show was edgy, with a good soundtrack & mecha designs by Ohata Koichi (who also designed for Gunbuster, another anime of greater popularity.) However, apparently the show aired at a very impractical time slot & because of this, it mostly failed.
Takatoku was the company contracted to make toys for the show. However, Takatoku was making its final circle down the drain at about this time. No official Galvion toys were ever made, but a small number of molds were created; one for a dealer sample of a 1/48 scale transforming Circus-1 (the main mecha of the anime) and molds for the small, cheapie versions of 4 different mecha, including the Circus one. The former went to a small company called Toyco and practically vanished, while the latter went to Mark (who, as Convertors fans know, sold the toys to Select for the Convertors line.)
The Super Defenders are the only production Galvion-related toys ever released. However, their headsculpts were seemingly...well...resculpted from the original Galvion lineart, giving them a more humanoid appearance (disappointingly.) D. A. Tona is based on the Excalibur, an antagonist mecha from the series.
D. A. Tona (no idea what the D. A. stands for) is about the size of the other Convertors figures. His bio reads:
"Known to friends as D. A. Perhaps the fastest of all the Super Defenders. Strikes terror in the hearts of the Maladroids."
The robot mode looks good, but it's got a few problems with it. The legs are pretty stable, so it's got no problems standing. However, the "spoiler" works loose very easily. I had great difficulty getting him to look like this:
instead of this:
'Nuff said. Other than that, as far as the robot goes, he's pretty nice. Transformation's good, too, very reminiscent of the Valkyries from Macross.
The vehicle mode...I dunno...it seems rather thrown together, but at the same time, it's pretty sleek. I don't know what to make of it.
I like the way it looks, but some of the parts are pretty loose & it doesn't roll very well. This is probably because it's got six wheels & the leg pivot joint makes it difficult to keep the wheels in-line. The exposed diecast, while cool, doesn't do much for the aesthetic of the toy, either.
D. A. Tona is a flawed figure. He's also a fairly rare figure. I wouldn't pay too much for him, but beware of loose/broken/less-than-perfect examples, as I'm sure the problems get much worse than this in looser ones. He looks good, and he is good in theory. However, appearances can be decieving, and unless you're SURE you're getting one in pretty good condition, I wouldn't pay more than $10 for it.
Rating: 2/5
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