Ninninger DX Lion Ha Oh Gallery
 

Lion Henge!

Shuriken Sentai Ninninger's curious collection of DX toys continues with the addition of another Otomonin and the largest mecha in the series, the DX Lion Ha Oh! This behemoth toy won't be the last in the line as we still have the upcoming DX Gekiatsu Dai Oh, but Lion Ha Oh certainly fits the bill of the big Q3/Q4 release.

** I've done my best to photograph this beast properly but it's sheer height and length in any of it's forms makes this ridiculously difficult. I hope that these photos at least help communicate the basic information any potential buyer would need to decide whether or not to purchase this figure.

Packaging
DX Lion Ha OH comes in a frankly gigantic box. Seriously, the size of the toy is immense and that's furthered by the size of the box. It's no wonder that from most online retailers, shipping costs more than the actual figure. Within Lion Ha Oh is packed in a huge cardboard clamshell with the individual parts all bagged.

Accessories
It's hard to classify accessories with something like this as it's harder to distinguish between those items which are included for use with the figure optionally, or those things that are integral to it's basic structure.

Nin Shuriken Base & Disc- This electronic item is what forms the head and face of Lion Ha Oh or alternatively becomes the main competent in Ha Oh Shurikenjin's head. It's normally stored on the underside of the Lion Ha Ojo vehicle mode. A pair of triggers on this piece detect when it's combined to form either of it's 2 main combinations and plays out the appropriate phrase & music when done. When not connected pressing the physical button on top will cycle through three sound bytes "HaOhger" "Lion Ha Ojo" & "Otomonin Shuriken".

2 - Giant Shurikens. Literally this is what these things are called. That's the actual official name for them. Normally weapons when separated, becomes the tail of the Lion mode later.

1 - Chouzetsu Akaninger mini-figure. This fun little figure is the piece that completes any combination Lion Ha Oh can assume, whether perched on top of the Lion Ha Ojo mode, in the mouth of Lion Ha Oh, or standing on top of the Shuriken for Ha Oh Shurikenjin. It's about the size, oddly enough, of a Bandai of America Ranger Key and quite a bit smaller than a traditional Bandai of Japan Ranger Key. Which is the closest thing you can compare it to, other thean the very similar DX Buddyroid Nick Cheeda that came with the DX Go-Buster Ace some years back. That toy is definitely where Akaninger gets it's inspiration from.

Main Figure
Rather similarly to the other DX Otomonin, Lion Ha Oh of course has an animal/vehicle hybrid mode and a unique robot mode. To create either you need to do some assembly out of the box.

Lion Ha Ojo Mode
The central torso comes packed with the open midsection rotated around for one of the large combined modes with Shurikenjin. So rotate the waist entirely around to begin. Then you need to attached the 2 legs/arms, just plug them in. Take the 2 Giant Shurikens, and plug them together. This becomes a tail for the Lion mode which plugs into a small opening near the top back of the figure. A small golden tower piece is also included that needs to be plugged in just ahead of the tail parts. This will become the pedestal upon which Chouzetsu Akaninger stands. Now flip up the two golden blasters located on either side of the open back cavity. Then simply take the Lion Nin Shuriken base and disc and combine them, then plug this onto the underside of Lion Ha Ojo's chest. This creates the behemoth Lion form of the figure. It's huge, it's long, but much like the last 2 years' Q3/4 big mechas, it's wide open on it's backside. Though thankfully it's much better than Bragigas or Hyper Ressha Tei Oh were by far. It's a beast of a toy in this form that's very imposing and a fun shelf topper.

Lion Ha Oh Mode
Of the 3 formations this figure can assume, the most notable is the actual Lion Ha Oh robot mode. Much like the Ha Ojo, Ha Oh is a brick. There's just no getting around it. But it at least looks quite good while being one. Basically all you need to do transformation wise with this guy is stand him up on end, with his underbelly (now chest) facing out. Remove the Shuriken attached there, rotate the Lion head down on it's hinge and plug it in, then open the mouth. Then simply rotate the arms down until the fist point forward and plug the Shuriken on to form this massive beast. The Giant Shurikens that made up the Ojo modes' tail are now to be used as handheld weapons. The final touch is bending your Chouzetsu Akaninger figure at the knees to allow him to sit in the now open lion mouth.

This form is big, imposing, has a lot of nice detail, and is frankly pretty hefty. While last years Hyper Ressha Tei Oh left a lot to be desired because of it's hollowness in all it's forms, the hollowed out back on Lion Ha Oh isn't really noticeable here. You get a really great forward perspective on this guy. Like the Ojo mode this is a good looking shelf topper, but ultimately it's still a very expensive brick that isn't very complex.

Ha Oh Shurikenjin
Perhaps the make or break mode of this toy is the final Ha Oh Shurikenjin form. To create this monstrosity you'll need to rotate the entire torso around so the open portion faces forward, remove the shuriken on top and fold up the faceplate then plug it back on facing out like the open chest cavity. Remove Akaninger and peg him on top of the Shuriken itself. Everything else is left exactly as you had it for Ha Oh mode. Now you need to take DX Shurikenjin and use those fantastic knee joints that we speculated months ago would be used for something just like this. Bend the figures legs up so it's in a sitting position, rotate the arms up and straight out, then plug him into the throne! His hands will then fit over the golden cannons as new handlebars for this form.

The second part of this equation requires you to disassemble your DX Bison King and rather sadly turn him into a large back pack for this combination. The entire upper body of the figure is plugged onto the lower back of Ha Oh Shurikenjin, while the legs become a pair of massive "hand held" cannons (they simply clip onto the fists rather than being held). And there you have it. The giant beast you see before you is now complete and quite a weird sight. There are lots of parts jutting out all over the place, very bulky & thick, it's a polarizing design. It's fun in that it's bulky and incorporates all the main Otomonin, something sorely lacking from the last few years of big combined final forms. But it's also kind of gigantic mess. I tried to photograph it as best as I can, but it's pretty huge so it may not come across quite right.


Final Thoughts
In the end DX Lion Ha Oh is what it is. It's the giant brick of a figure that normally would round out a sentai line. In this case we still have the 6-piece Gekiatsu Dai Oh coming up, but this figure fills the role of end of series toy well. In that it's big, largely hollow but somehow heavy, and isn't worth it's full price. I picked mine up from a seller who sold it out of regret. I got mine with free shipping for less than the original retail price. Which is rare but is exactly what I was comfortable paying. But I have to say that this figure, despite it's merits, leaves me utterly finished with the Ninninger toyline. With each new release I've grown just a bit more frustrated and disappointed as well. And this toy solidifies my problems with this line and it's gimmicks. So this is my farewell to do doing DX Ninninger reviews, it was fun but ultimately this line never really hit it's stride and was instead composed of a number of wacky one-off oddballs that just don't fit together.

And all the rest!

Castle of Lions on steroids. I watched Baltmatrix's review of this and no matter how good the gallery looks.. I just see this and go "Why?".

Ha-Oh Shurikenjin reminds me of Russian nesting dolls. It'd be even cooler if little Akaninger Chozetsu figure can sit inside of Shinobimaru.

I like it probably because I've loved it when sentai's have a really really big mech that is a carrier in someway. I also like the color scheme of it the red, gold, black, and grey work well together.

I will say though that this is a farsight better than the carrier from toQger. It looks better, it connects better.

Overall, I have the same feelings towards this line that Den-O has. I was EXTREMELY excited when Ninninger and Shurikenjin were first announced. But at this point, I just feel like I wasted more money than I should have.

I bought this just for the "Inception" value. I love Shinobimaru piloting Shurikenjin piloting Ha-Oh. I may get rid of the other mechs since they don't fit in anywhere, but I'm keeping these two. I continue to be tickled at the sheer absurdity of them.

I have Lion Haoh in my collection for a while. I really like the insane combination of Haoh Shurikenjin (which sits besides my SamuraiHaoh). The only downside of it is that the top half of Bison King and RodeoMaru are turned into an invisible backpack.

But after it's revealed the final mech GekiAtsu DaiOh adds nothing new to the combination, I think Lion Haoh is also my final purchase in the Ninninger line. I completely agree with Den-O that it's a bit disappointing how much of the figures come over as unrelated and have no possibility of adding to the final combination.

Akaninger Chozetsu can't actually sit inside Shinobimaru, but he can sit rather stable on Shinobimaru's lap, which somewhat gives the same effect.

That's really not hard...

I know that, I was just saying it would be cool if it could happen.

I got this at retail and I love it. It's hefty, it's huge, and it's got some interesting potential for custom combinations, although not as much as Shurikenjin and Bison King.

Looking at Gekiatsu Dai-Oh and what it can do, I think I've figured out how to incorporate everything from the Ninninger line into one ridiculously huge combination.


Yes. It has a huge hat.

It sad what the Sentai Mecha has become for the last two years very lazy deigns and not much effort put into it. Like 1990 and 2000 Sentai Mecha where they were much better. I was hype for a third ninja Sentai but I was wrong the toys let me down

Nah. Ninninger is cool and creative; ToQger isn't as bad as people make it to be.

Perhaps in your opinion, but the toylines for both left MUCH to be desired.

This is where I have to pull out the questions. Throughout my stays in Youtube, Rangerboard, RangerWiki, Tokunation and JEFusion, I have never gotten a proper answer to why people hate the Ninninger line (ToQger I understand, especially with ToQ-Oh, Cho Cho ToQ Dai-Oh and ToQ Rainbow).

I think Ninninger does its job. The combinations are absolutely bonkers, Shurikenjin showcases proper leg articulation which has been absent in main Sentai mecha since DaiBouken, and you can create the most ridiculous things you can think of thanks to unified shuriken and limb ports.

And really, if the Sentai toy can do this, it's obvious the Zord Builder toy is gonna be good.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j7...psmudjrrx2.jpg

Yes no doubt about it the Sentai Mecha toys are going down hill make me wonder what the 40th Sentai Mecha gonna be like?

Once again, my question goes ignored. WHY do you think the line sucks? It's as if people hate the line with no reason other than just to hate it. I'm very confused and want to know the opinion of those who hate the line.

This product looks really good, despite being a brick it's a pretty fun toy. The ha oh shurikenjin has a really good jingle I love listening to it. But yeah bison king just sits in the back like an invisible backpack. But at least he is the weapons. But yet the don't make pretty good weapons. But it is a pretty good sight to see shinobi maru piloting shurikenjin whom is piloting lion ha oh. This never the less does look cool.

There's actually a solution to the Bison King backpack. I need to find time to post pictures of it, though.

Hm. I just flipped through some pages in the Ninninger news section of Tokunation...

It seems that everyone's suddenly turned against the series. Even when Lion Ha-Oh was initially announced, almost everyone at Tokunation was excited. I'm not sure what happened, but it might be that the show and/or Gekiatsu Dai-Oh made everyone look back at what's been released and suddenly realize how much they hate them or something.


Meh, to each their own. Personally I really want Dai-Oh, especially since I figured out how to combine everything.

Gekiatsu Dai-Oh is an amazing mecha, especially since StarNinger has a part in it, but I don't like that everything is blue.

Maybe because the designs are simplified engineering-wise, use bright, block colouring and barely even resemble anything anymore. They're just overdetailed clusters of stuff, no form or unique designs. It's all just kind of messy. They're super blocky in all modes.

Normally I'd start a conversation about this, but I'm just happy to actually get an answer for once. Although I still don't know how "blocky" works, it's probably just because I like the DX GokaiOh. I'm also assuming you didn't like the Go-Busters mecha?

Den-O, sorry if I seem like I'm trying to defend the line, but I question your hatred of it. Your final thoughts state that you've been "frustrated and disappointed" with each new release, but almost nothing in either this review or any other Ninninger reviews save for a single phrase in the Artisan Shinobimaru review and a few quirks in the Bison King review indicates this. In the auxiliary reviews, and I quote, you were "very/mostly pleased [with the line]." The same goes with the reviews you left for the ToQger series. I suppose something happened in between, but for the most part the internet says that you've been pleased with the series.

I'm not trying to be rude here, I'm just overwhelmed with curiosity.

Lion castle is this toy's strongest mode and sadly that's not saying much.

Robot mode is an oversized brick and what the toy does to get into Ha-Oh Shurikenjin is just spin around to form a chair. A chair.

Overall this line of mecha has been a misfire. While it's kinda cool we got both an elephant and a UFO Ninninger's been so lacking.

The Artisan toys are the highlight of this sad line. Maybe the next line of Sentai mecha will be better.

Go-Buster's Megazord was awful. (well, the red zord by itself was okay)

By blocky I mean "the limbs are all almost perfect blocks, and the torsos are also blocks." They lack any form or proportion, with the limbs usually being just bricks in shape and the torsos looking fat and boxy.

I honestly think the last good Mecha/Megazord was, like, Jungle Fury. And even that was kinda boring, but wasn't the same super square-box aesthetic. The last great Megazord was Mystic Force, and before that Wild Force. They looked like actual super robot mecha. They had proportion, style, and a cohesive look. Plus the individual components looked like things. They had decent standalone designs.

Well, Jungle Fury/Gekiranger's worked because it moved fluidly. It was one of the few times (Along with Ninja Storm's Lightning Mode and the Battleborgs) that a Megazord felt fast (To me, at least).

As for Lion Ha Oh, this one really does push it too far. A lot of large and tankish Megazords/Mechs try to get away with their brick like proportions with the reasoning that they're supposed to be large and beefy. But here? It's managing to look worse than Shinken HaOh since not only is it a brick, but it's also really dull in doing so.

So seeing that pretty much everyone here cares about designs, I'm assuming most people on Tokunation are collectors?

What is that supposed to mean? The reason why most anyone buys a toy, child and adult alike, is based on design...