Big Size Riders

The "Big Size Sofubi" Bapresto game machine prize figures. They're sort of underappreciated gems, cuz while they don't do a whole lot but stand there and look cool, that's just it: they stand there and look really, really cool. And sometimes, that's really all I need.

I still tend to pass on them though because they're 1) mostly new characters I already have in a smaller, easier-to-display version and 2) they keep re-releasing the same characters with minor variations. For example, they usually come out two at a time every month, and so while we're getting Kiva Dogga Form and IXA Save Mode now, soon we'll get Kiva Kiva Form and IXA Burst Mode. Except the IXA's the same one, just with a new head. And Kiva uses parts from an earlier-released Kiva Form (and there's been a few) with new arms. It's all rather confusing without some guide to follow, but long story short I tend to pass on them or just get one or two if it looks really cool (for example, I picked up a neutral-pose Climax Form Den-O for cheap.) Or if they're like the Blade-era ones, which were VERY cool.

But, earlier this year they found a way to hook me for good: release some classic Riders! Starting earlier in the spring with the original triple Riders as well as their NEXTy counterparts, I got them all, and they look great. And now we've got a few more on the way:



October sees Stronger & Riderman released. January '09 will belong to BLACK & Skyrider (original costume), and March '09 will see the release of BLACK RX & Amazon. And hopefully more to follow.

What really sells these figures for me is that they're must better posed than most of the newer characters, who are usually fairly neutral. I mean, I've never seen a Skyrider figure in his pre-flight pose like that, so I'm excited. Of course, it's Skyrider, so I'd be excited any way you slice it.

While they're technically UFO Catcher game machine prizes (and nigh-impossible game machines at that), getting these guys at collector shops is usually easy, and HLJ tends to carry them as well.

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One More Expansion Ad

I really like the artwork with the Masked Forms on their bikes. And is that Doctor Shinigami up in the corner of the Double Rider one!?

Greatest Hits: Kabuto vs. Shadow Moon

There's been some technical messing around on blogger apparently, so a bunch of images were broken the other day, but they seem to be back now. Also, inexplicably, updates are appearing later than they should (well okay, I am falling behind a bit, but hey, there is one for every day still!), and I *still* can't figure out why the comments page sometimes appears in Japanese (and last night the dashboard was even in Japanese. Perhaps I should rename this to "Igadevil's All-American Blog" or something.) When stuff like that happens, there's only one things to do: post some old thing that everybody thought was funny back whenever that was. Exhibit 1: my response to the infamous "Who would win in a fight: Kabuto or Shadow Moon" topic on HJU.

Kingstone Flash!

Of the many "What happened to this actor?" or "What's this actress been doing recently?"-type questions I get, one of the most common seems to be "What's Kurata Tetsuo been up to?" In fact, it was even asked in one of the original comments on this very blog, prior to getting eaten up by Mirror Monsters/accidentally getting junked along with the original first entry- down kids, I'm still getting used to this thing!

So what exactly did happen to our man Minami Kôtarô? As far as I know, Kurata doesn't have an official web site yet, unlike, say, Fujioka Hiroshi, but he does have, at the least, the following:

His Official Fanclub (Japanese)

His Wiki Entry (English, also see the Japanese one which is a little more up-to-date)

His page on the Kamen Rider Actor/Actress Directory (a fantastic site, albeit, also in Japanese)

That's great and all you say, but what has he actually been up to? And more importantly, what has he been up to Kamen Rider-wise, and will he ever be coming back to say, guest star or some such?

Like many former Rider alumni, Kurata has gone on to have a reasonably successful career in television, film, and the like, and in more recent years has returned to his Rider roots, including voicing Minami Kôtarô/Kamen Rider BLACK in the Kamen Rider: Genealogy of Justice PS2 game (something you will see me bring up and rave about A LOT in the future, so brace yourselves), giving magazine interviews, and making public appearances, such as at the World Character Convention in Tokyo back on 12/4/2005, to sign autographs.

Some of his more recent activities, archived on Youtube:

A 2006 interview (in three parts):

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

5-part Cook-off battle with Tsubaki Takayuki, aka Kamen Rider Blade!:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

So what's next? More interviews? A guest spot on the new Kamen Rider series? Another video game voiceover? Will Kurata challenge other former Riders to culinary battles (Tsugami, Tendô- watch your backs), or something even greater? With Kamen Rider BLACK hitting the big 20 next year, hopefully we'll be finding out soon!