Dave's Toy Rant: Trendmasters Guiron (Guilon) with sound Back in 1978, the local UHF station showed a little piece of Sandy Frank fun called "Gamera vs. Guiron," and I immediately became a fan of the giant flying turtle. I also became a fan of the goofy knife-headed evil monster in the movie, though I soon forgot its name. Fast forward to MST3K's presentation of that same movie, and I knew I had to find toys of both. When I found out that Trendmasters had released a line of Gamera toys, I was quite happy...until I found out they'd never, ever actually make it to Ohio. I finally broke down and shoveled out the extra money to buy Guiron on the Trendmasters webpage this week (higher than usual shelf price, plus $5 UPS shipping) when the "must have Guiron toys" impulse grew too strong. Why the big story? Simple. Unless you're a Guiron fan of similar magnitude, don't bother tracking down this toy, even for regular shelf prices. It's not horrible, but it has several of the usual Trendmasters flaws. Let's start with the paint job. They definitely worked to bring the number of colors down to a minimum...gone are the red patterns on Guiron's back, and his eyes are the same neon green as his hide highlights. In general, he looks like he belongs with Planet Bone from the War Planets line (in fact, he's gonna get perched on top of Planet Bone as soon as I finish this review). Incongruously, his sound effect button is bright red. Poseability is very iffy. The four legs move at their hips, and that's about it for meaningful joints. The newly-added tail (the original lacked on) can turn for no very good reason, and the head can bob up and down a few degrees. Can't turn, can't swing back and forth to chop up Space Gyaos. There's also the obligatory big rubbery-tipped missile, in this case the tip of his blade head. It fires a respectable distance, but the color doesn't quite match the rest of the blade, nor does it sit flush with the cutting edge. I know they'd never have been allowed to have the shuriken launch, but the blade launch just looks kinda off. Finally, there's the sound. It's loud. Startlingly so. And it starts out pretty good, but dissolves into a rumbling static that lasts far too long. Overall, it *is* immediately recognizable as Guiron (even if the box says Guilon) and it has some nifty bits to it. But it's an otherwise disappointing toy, only for the true Guiron fiend. Dave Van Domelen, not full of turtle meat, unless that calzone used some substitute ingredients....