Tackle Week Part 5

Tackle Week concludes (over a week after it began) with final thoughts on our heroine's past, present, and possible future...

Tackle Week Part 4

Tackle Week continues with some comics and a lot of complaining.

Tackle Week Part 3

Tackle Week belatedly continues with a look at the moment that Tackle is remembered for. Sort of.

Note: If you somehow aren't aware of the character's ultimate fate or are watching Stronger and haven't reached 30 yet, be aware that this part contains huge spoilers.

Tackle Week Part 2

Tackle Week continues with our heroine's rise, and a little bit about the actress who portrayed her.

Tackle Week Interlude

Yikes! I'd forgotten how busy working full time could be. But Tackle Week will continue as scheduled with a double dose tomorrow (Parts 2 and 3) before the final two parts on Friday and Saturday, at which time maybe I'll have another thing or two to talk about.

Until then, check out Tackle's entry in the Kamen Rider Official Data Files (where she is classified as a Rider, right between Stronger and Skyrider. You go girl!)

Tackle Week Part 1

We kick off our retrospective look at Stronger's comrade-in-arms with a little bit about her pre-show origins. And then some.

Coming Soon: Tackle Week!

I mentioned way back in an episode of Rider Break! that I was writing a little something to coincide with Midnight Crew Subs/KITsubs' release of Kamen Rider Stronger episode 30. That day has come, but over time that little something wound up becoming a very, very long something, with a lot more time and involvement than I originally anticipated (what else is new?)

But it is a topic about which I have a lot to say, about a character who I feel deserves a lot of analysis and recognition for just what she achieved.

So why not.

From her humble beginnings to her ultimate fate, her varied comics portrayals and even her as-of-yet unwritten future, the next five days will see more about Stronger's red & yellow partner in crime than you ever thought could be legally printed.

Things are changing around here at igadevil.com, and it all kicks off with a week for the real first female Rider.

Araki Shigeru (1949-2012)

It's hard to put into words exactly how I'm feeling right now. Earlier today I saw some chatter on Twitter that Araki Shigeru, Jô Shigeru/Kamen Rider Stronger himself, had passed away April 14th just after 5 PM (Japan time.) After a couple hours of waiting for some concrete information, one of the first news articles went up which has been helpfully translated by nerefir on HJU (make sure you read it.) So, sad to say, it's true: we've lost a Rider.

I'll come up with a better tribute later. Right now I just feel really bummed out, but at the same time grateful for all the memories Araki left us. I've always liked Stronger, but I like him even more when I think about him now. And much of that is thanks to the man that played him.

We'll miss you Jô.

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.

***

Stronger Deluxe

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!

***

Stronger-1, Fence-0

Finals are almost over with, which means FREEDOM! I just have one huge paper left to go, hence the short entry tonight.

Tomorrow will see the return of Battle Fight (which, if you don't remember, originally comes from Kamen Rider Blade) and then...um, well, it gets a little sketchy, but remember, I'll keep going strong with new posts right up until Christmas, then it's a little break.

Anyway, here's Stronger attacking a fence.

I know, I know, he's really zapping it full of electricity it so he can fry some hapless Black Satan Kaijin off-panel, but c'mon- it's up there with the "Stronger electrocutes a random car" from the OP sequence (which was actually in the show somewhere, IIRC. But it's funnier without the context.)