Kenzan

Kenzan is an Autobot Swordbot from the Go! portion of the Aligned continuity family.

Hanamichi On Stage!

Kenzan (ケンザン) is the leader of the Swordbot Samurai Team. Despite his relative youth, he takes himself and his role very seriously. That sense of responsibility, combined with his bravery and great martial skill, make him a fearsome warrior, but he is sometimes prone to recklessness. He values the training in swordsmanship he received from Go Prime, and respects such skills in others.

He can combine with Jinbu and Ganoh in various configurations. With Kenzan as the top, GoKenzan (ゴウケンザン Gōkenzan) is formed. After the arrival of Optimus Exprime on Earth, he also gained the ability to combine with Optimus and the Shinobi Team leader Gekisoumaru. With Kenzan forming the head, shoulders, and arms, the combined form is called DaiKenzan (ダイケンザン Daikenzan). His Mini-Con partner is Zan.

Fiction

Go! cartoon

Voice actor: Kazuyuki Okitsu (Japanese)

On the scene!

The Swordbot Samurai Team were woken from their slumber by Isami Tatewaki when Budora and Gaidora tried to obtain the Legendisc he was protecting. Confronted by the Jaki which the two Predacons summoned, the team switched through their various combinations, culminating in them using their GoKenzan form to finish off Goradora. On striking the two Predacons, the Autobots and Isami found themselves briefly transported back in time where they saw two armies carrying Legendiscs. On their return to present day, Kenzan invited Isami to help them fight the Decepticons, and they discovered that Isami's friend Tobio Fūma had also encountered the Swordbot Shinobi Team. Triple Combination! Swordbot - Samurai! Triple Combination! Swordbot - Ninja!

The Swordbots built an underground base beneath Isami's dojo which Kenzan showed off to the boy, before Optimus Prime briefed the team and their friend on what was known about the Legendiscs. Sometime later, history started changing causing buildings to disappear, and Isami's Legendisc transported the team back in time again. In the past they encountered Musashi Miyamoto whose Legendisc had been stolen by the Predacons, and the Swordbots helped him get it back by fighting the Jaki in their GoJinbu form. Isami and the Swordbots were returned to present day, though without the disc. Pursue! The Legendiscs! Discover! The Legendiscs!

"Hiya, Barbie!"
"Hi, Kenzan!"
"Do you want to go for a ride?"

On another occasion Isami and the Autobot team went back in time and encountered Ryōma Sakamoto. On that occasion, they battled the Jaki in their GoGanoh form, however they again returned to the future emptyhanded. The Invincible Swordsman - Ryōma Sakamoto!? Isami was discouraged, but Kenzan gave him a pep talk to try and bolster his spirits. They again headed to the past, this time helping Musashibō Benkei fight off the Predacons in their GoKenzan form, and again returned to present day without the Legendisc. Showdown! Musashibō Benkei!

On their next jaunt into the past, Isami managed to obtain the Legendisc, only to be confronted by Gaidora, Judora and the awakened Dragotron on their return to present day. Though they were no match for Dragotron, even in their GoKenzan form, the team was soon joined by Optimus Exprime. Depart! Optimus Exprime! The Predacons abducted Isami, and the Samurai Team merged into GoJinbu to give chase. They arrived at Mount Fuji to find the Shinobi Team was also there as Tobio had also been kidnapped. Imbued with the power of all five Legendiscs, Dragotron proved impossible to beat, however Tobio and Isami managed to demerge from him. The two boys had duplicated the power of the Legendiscs, and used it to allow Optimus and the two teams to merge into DaiKenzan. This provided them with enough power to defeat Dragotron and seal the Predacons away once more. Final Battle! Link-Up Triple Combination DaiKenzan!

BeCool shorts

Kenzan was part of the crew of a film that was interrupted by a fire brigade who thought the pyrotechnics were a real fire. The Story of the Fire Brigade Dispatch!

Kre-O comic

DaiKenzan stood next to Raiden during Megatron's hanami party. Soundwave's Trap? Stop Operation Brainwash Humanity!

Legends World

During Tankor's battle to revert the world back to how it was in the '80s, Rattrap attempted to stop him by singing the praises of modern-day Transformers such as GoKenzan. Bonus Edition Vol. 5

Toys

Go!

I'm a samurai. A real one. Not like Drift.

• Kenzan (Swordbot, 2013)

• ID number: G01
• Release date: June 22, 2013
• Accessories: Two "Samurai Cross" swords, kabuto helmet/weapon
• Known designers: Hisashi Yuki and Yūya Ōnishi (TakaraTomy), Junichi Akutsu (concept artist)

Let's see what you can see... This article is in need of images. Specifics: Optimus Exprime combo

Part of the second wave of TakaraTomy Go! toys, Kenzan is a roughly Voyager-sized toy that transforms from a Japanese-style police interceptor into a samurai-styled robot, even including a robotic chonmage topknot! He has two swords (with 5mm handles) that can be held or stored on tabs on his backpack or shoulders. He also has essentially no lower torso, with his legs and kusazuri flap masquerading as his abdomen.

He can also form the top, middle or bottom of the Swordbot Samurai Team's three combined robot forms. His kabuto helmet is worn in GoKenzan form to form the super-robot's head. It can also transform into a large, ungainly double-barreled cannon which can attach to Kenzan's back or, via 5 mm post, be held by the robot or mounted atop the police car.

Kenzan features complex electronic lights and sounds. In vehicle mode, pressing the Autobot-symbol button on his roof activates flashing lights and a repeating siren. Transformation into robot mode triggers a shout of "Transform!" and the classic transformation sound. In robot mode, pressing the same button triggers a number of phrases (in Japanese, natch). The button's functionality changes when held down: in police car mode, it now activates yet another phrase, while in robot mode, it triggers shouts by all three Swordbot Samurai to combine, followed by a musical "combination sequence" tune that plays until a) his kabuto is snapped in place, b) the button is pressed again, or c) his batteries run out. This music is accompanied by a strobing three-color LED.

Once a combined form is completed, the kabuto attached determines what clips further presses of the button will play, but they are all dialogue delivered by the appropriate voice actor of the top third of the combination. In addition, GoKenzan's dialogue is punctuated with a blue LED, GoJinbu's with yellow, and GoGanoh's with red. The combined robot mode is armed with a giant melee weapon formed from all of their individual melee weapons, as well as an aesthetically-questionable, but proportionally less ungainly blaster/cannon made of the unused kabuto helmets. Unlike the other Swordbots, Kenzan's soles form the palms of GoKenzan's hands, the fingers and thumbs folding out from his heels and toes. This gives the gestalt additional articulation.

His kabuto helmet was redecoed with gold chrome as a promotional campaign.

Upon his initial release, Kenzan included his Arms Micron partner Zan when purchased from a large number of retailers (including Toys"R"Us Japan, AEON, Yodabashi Camera, and Amazon Japan).

• More information on Kenzan at TFU.info
• More information on GoKenzan at TFU.info
• More information on DaiKenzan at TFU.info

• Kenzan Kuromusha ver. (Swordbot, 2013)

• Release date: November 16, 2013
• Accessories: Two "Samurai Cross" swords, kabuto helmet/weapon

"Kenzan Kuromusha ver." is a Toys"R"Us-exclusive redeco of his normal-retail toy, replacing his blue plastic and paint with black, his silver plastic and paint with gold, and his clear-blue plastic with clear-red.

"Kuromusha" (黒武者) means "Black Warrior".

Sure, why not.

• Samurai Team BeCool Set (Multi-pack, 2013)

• ID number: G24
• Release date: October 26, 2013

Part of the sixth wave of Go! toys, BeCool Kenzan is a redeco of Bot Shots Series 1 Prowl with Mirage's hood and front bumper. He transforms into a tiny, super deformed police car with a spring-loaded automatic transformation to robot mode triggered when his front bumper is pressed. He has a "spinner" in his chest that depicts various symbols: the expression on his face, his twin swords, and the Japanese character 斬 (zan).

He comes in a three-pack with equally small, super deformed versions of Jinbu and Ganoh.

Merchandise

Transformers Gum

• Kenzan (2014)
  • Accessories: Two swords, kabuto helmet/weapon

Released in the seventh wave of the revived Transformers Gum series, this transforming model kit of Kenzan is made from blue and yellow plastic and decorated with a large number of stickers for details. Like his larger toy, he can be combined with the Jinbu and Ganoh sets into any of their three combined forms. He came with a thin square of banana-flavored gum, vaguely resembling a skin graft. After ten years in the packet, the gum has developed a peculiar texure which actually becomes less soft the longer you chew, until it feels like a piece of gristle cut from the flesh of one of the Bananas in Pajamas.

Notes

• BeCool Kenzan's toy indicates that the zan in his name is derived from "cut", "behead", or "kill" (斬); ken probably comes from "sword" (剣). The name is also a play on kenzan (見参), a term for "visiting" or "arrival" associated with samurai and Japanese period drama. Specifically, "(name), kenzan!" is shouted by characters upon taking the stage to announce their presence in the scene.