He's coming! In March 2009, Medicom will finally give us a RAH220-scale Kamen Rider Stronger.
For the uninitiated: Medicom's been making their Real Action Hero collectible dolls for ages now, but it was a couple years back that they started also putting out smaller, less expensive versions in the "RAH220" line. Although it eventually died out (in large part, IMHO, due to Medicom's inexplicable desire to start making more weird overpriced avant garde stuff and a bazillion recolored BearBricks), we did get some awesome figures out of it, including numerous villains who hadn't been done before (or after) outside of Gashapon size. A Deluxe Tokageron figure? Yes please.
Alas, things ended right after Amazon (and accompanying Kumo-Jûjin), which means we never got a chance to complete the original 7 Riders. Fortunately, in the early 2000's, Medicom decided to go back and redo all the Riders in new "DX" versions, and eventually did the same with the RAH220 ones as well. This is a good thing; while most of the original RAH220 ones hold up, the new versions are still big improvements, as they're not basically scaled-down versions of the regular size ones in every way. Original RAH220 X-Rider was awesome; RAH220 DX X-Rider is probably the best show-accurate figure made of the character to date.
And since Stronger got his full-size DX treatment a while back (and we're now expecting BLACK this fall) things have caught up on the 220 front and we're getting him again. He's smaller but cheaper, and still every bit as cool. As is standard with other Medicom figures, he'll have multiple gloves/hands and a highly-detailed costume. I'm definitely getting one.
The figure will also include a mail-in coupon to get Stronger in Charged-Up mode, and the big man himself, Jô Shigeru. I have the RAH220 Jin Keisuke (and will be getting human ID Amazon when he comes out this winter) and they're loads of fun, so again, I'll be mailing away for these.
And the best part? This means we're one step closer to RAH220 Skyrider/Tsukuba Hiroshi. Rock on!
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how hard is it for a person in America to use one of those tickets? I just ordered RAH220 X Rider and wanted to get Jin Keisuke.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the offer for Jin Keisuke/Apollo Geist has since ended. The mail-ins are only open for a certain time during which they take orders, then mass-produce the figures, and send them out a couple months later. For example, the offer for Amazon (human) and KR Amazon (later-series color version) is open until the end of the month.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Medicom will ship outside of Japan. So basically, it's pretty much impossible to get them the direct way unless you're in Japan. I dunno, maybe other countries in Asia can do it, but I don't know for sure.
The nice thing however; when sending in the coupon (or filling out the online form with the ID code on the coupon) you can order multiples of the figures (it ends up costing a lot though.) I got two NEXTy Shocker Riders that way.
So if you plan on getting an unreleased figure in the future and can't get the mail-in, let someone in Japan (like me) know, and I'll see if I can get an extra one if you're willing to pay for it (plus shipping.)