[Librarian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neoblackdragon

I can surmise this is one reason the mecha today look so damn bulky so it's toy accurate.

I'm referring to the original toy. The original toy had the dragonzord heels aligned perfectly to the shape of the legs. Those heels are supposed to wrap around the cannons on the Tiger and Tricera.

The toys can do it if they measure it right. It's about that heel placement in relation to the combining joint. Modern toys trying to add articulation to the foot causes it to stick out farther away from the combining joint on the back of the calf, since that has to be flush to the leg thigh. Since it's not one piece anymore for the ankle joint, it causes mild structural integrity issues. But if they can work around that to get the foot in more from the lift panel, even if they have to angle it slightly to still get the design effect, they should be able to get the legs more flush.

The direct issue on the SOC and Legacy version is the ankle articulation, but that's also what makes those versions so tempting too. Haven't looked over the super minipla entirely but I'm willing to bet it suffers from that design flaw too because of the ankle joint if it has one. So to design around that would solve the issue since that's what's causing the extra centimeters of separation. Same as how the issue is also caused by the placement of the receiving end on the legs.

The original toy solves this by having the legs combine more towards the rear/bottom of the Sabertooth tiger and Triceratops. Whereas the SOC/MiniPla/Legacy center it more. Which also push the legs too far back for the Dragon Heel but isn't noticeable on the Tyranno combination(tends to look better for the Tyranno combination). Really nothing about making the dragonzord smaller would change that, and if anything would mess up the other proportions for the combination. It's mostly in the engineering of the legs and how they fold in and the foot sticks out that's the issue alongside the placement of the receiving end on the legs to plug in.

The minipla in particular could likely solve this easier, but it'd also mean a slight variation on the original design by using the same peg standard as Deka/Geki/Bouken/Gokai. Because of the smaller size and lighter materials though, the structural integrity issues aren't there as much to not at all as opposed to heavier amounts of plastic or metal. The heavier versions if they moved that combining port would need a resting re-enforcement to avoid over stressing it from the weight of the upper robot. So it's entirely possible. Design issue is all. Mostly an oversight one that leaves room for a better version much much later. The Legacy Bandai of America one was also stuck because of the Zord Builder port stuff and needing the extra clearance for that.

If you look at a comparison photo of the original toy to the legacy version, you see it really blatantly too.