We All Love The Shark Shaped Submarine,
The Shark Shaped Submarine,
The Shark Shaped Submarine!
We All Love The Shark Shaped Submarine,
The Shark Shaped Submarine,
The Shark Shaped Submarine!#
(adapted from the original lyrics by Lennon & McCartney)
Transformers fans can be a bit picky about other lines of Transforming robots. We look down our noses at Go-Bots, Power Rangers and Dinozaurs. But if there's one toyline we all like then it's Takara's Brave. OK, yes, it's the same Japanese manufacturer as Transformers, reuses some Transformers and has similar styling so perhaps we're a little biased.
The eight Brave toylines are:
1990 Brave Exkaiser
1991 The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird
1992 The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn
1993 The Brave Express Might Gaine
1994 Brave Police J-Decker
1995 The Brave of Gold Goldran
1996 Brave Command Dagwon
1997 The King of Braves GaoGaiGar
Captain Shark is found in 1995's Goldran line and is one of the only toys that year not to be heavily covered in chromed parts. One of the ones I can think of is Death Garry Gun, a repaint of Return of Convoy's Sky Garry.
Captain Shark's primary mode is a shark shaped submarine with a blue upper hull and a salmon pink & red lower hull. His dorsal fin and pectoral fins are cast in grey plastic while his tail is blue. He's got eyes moulded into the head at the front along with an opening grey lower door. There's a bridge complex in front of the dorsal fin. Located round the dorsal fin are four dual cannons which rotate, while there's a pair of single barrelled cannons either side of the tail. At the base of each pectoral fin there's a turbine/missile launcher which can fire either a hook or a harpoon which are stored in a compartment on the right of the back of the shark. The shark can roll along courtesy of three wheels: two under the tail and one behind the mouth.
Captain Shark's primary weapon is a large rotary missile launcher with a grey front and red rear. This launcher can hold *SIXTEEN* missiles far too small to pass a western safety inspection. In shark/submarine mode this weapon can be clipped onto the underside of the toy - there's two small fins at the bottom of the launcher that will allow the whole toy to remain upright - or mounted on a tower that folds out of a flap on the left of the back of the shark - opposite then panel for the hidden weapons.
Captain Shark also has a tank like mode: Remove the missile launcher. Fold the robot's legs down from under the back of the shark then swing the grey panels that cover the lower legs back & up to cover the sides of the upper legs. Fold the legs away and set the shark down on the tank treads each of which contains a pair of small grey wheels. This lifts the shark off the floor, but not far enough to fit the missile launcher underneath it. Fold the tower up from the back of the shark and mount the rotary missile launcher on it. This mode can also form part of Goldran's train mode: attach the L shaped strut into the attachment for the missile launcher under the toy and clip onto another toy in front.
He's also got a "gerwalk" mode: as we've seen the legs can fold down under the shark. From there fold the feet forward and what look like massive heel spurs back. They aren't as overdoing it as you might think as we'll see later.
Transform to robot mode: Fold the legs down under the shark folding the feet forward and the heel spurs back. Fold the pectoral fins downwards bringing the robot's forearms with them. Fold the forearms and section of body they're attached to out to the sides and forwards 90 degrees. Rotate bicep joint 90 degrees outwards. Fold the fists down from under the forearms. Split the tail in two and fold each half out to the sides clipping into his back. Fold the tail ends down. Turn all cannons forward. Fold the bridge section back & up. Open the flap forward that was under the bridge and swing the robot head back. Close flap. Remove cutlass from within the back of the tail section and place into 5mm peg hole in hand. open the panel on the top of the left shoulder pad, fold the tower up and attach the rotary missile launcher pointing forward. Remove the hook and harpoon from the compartment in the right shoulder pad and attach to the missile launchers, the hook wants to go into the launcher on your right (his left) because of the way the hook is moulded.
Our robot mode has a naval cap with skull & crossbones logo, eye patch, hook, harpoon and cutlass. Do you think there's a pirate theme going on here? He's been likened in some places to the fictional Captain Harlock, a popular Manga & Anime character. he robot is dominated by the shark's head on his tummy and the broad shoulders pads which each have a pair of the dual cannons mounted on them. The fins, turbines and cannons end up on each forearm, which in turn ends with a fist with a 5mm peg hole. To emphasise the pirate look fold the hand next to the hook back into the forearm. Both the launchers on the arms still work as does the rotary launcher on his shoulder. The articulation is a little limited: shoulders swing to the sides, biceps turn and elbows bend. However the shear insanity of a pirate robot and the superb sculpting far outweighs that.
Now you might be looking at the bits you got in the box and wondering what the grey frame that clips into the back of the toy is for. Attach it to the toy, fold the dorsal fin to one side, flip back the top of the bridge, now conning tower, behind the robot's head and remove the rotary missile launcher. Between them the frame and the tower allow you to attach the bazooka mode of Advenjer (also written as Advenger or possibly Avenger) onto the toy to use as a HUGE cannon. This explains the massive oversized heel spurs which are necessary to take the weight of the large weapon.
Sharks and submarines work as a combination as the Transformers Beast Wars II Hellscream/Universe Overbite and Energon Sharkticon/Botcon 2010 Sharkticon/Botcon 2010 Sky Byte can testify. Throw in a HUGE missile launcher and a truly insane robot mode (Why does madness follow Takara's sea toy around?) and you have a fabulous transforming robot toy.
If you want one, www.bigbadtoystore.com have the Korean Songkong version of Captain Shark in stock @ $25.99 (at time of writing).