Old Heroes, Old Legends

Well I don't know about Toei, but as far as Bandai seems to be concerned, 2009 will be a celebration of Kamen Rider being back on TV in general, cuz they've got a lot of stuff planned covering all the Riders, from the original 1971 series up to the present.

In addition to the Legend Rider Series soft vinyl figures reported earlier, Bandai will be re-releasing the "budget" versions of the Henshin Belts from a couple years ago, starting with Rider 1's & Kuuga's.



Now called Legend Rider Henshin Belt Series, they're due out at the end of December for less than $30.

These were pretty neat toys the first time around, even if they're considerably more "toylike" than the DX versions (especially so in the Typhoon's case, where the only real DX version is the pricey 1/1-size version.) But as far as lights and sound go, these ain't half bad. Supposedly they're being slightly retooled for the re-release, so if you missed out the first time, these might be worth a pick-up. No word yet on if the DX version of Kuuga's (and his follow-ups) will ever be re-released, but you never know...

I hope they re-release the others from the original line of these, because they did V3's Double Typhoon, and I need one of those baaaaad. It'd also be cool if they did some new ones, even in the cheaper style with the big plastic lever on the top. I wouldn't mind that if it meant just getting a new Ridol or BLACK Henshin Belt, cuz I doubt the original versions of those will ever be released again.

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