Showing posts with label Merchandise Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merchandise Reviews. Show all posts
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Monday, January 03, 2011
Top 5 Discontinued Rider Toy Lines
Everybody raves about the DX electronic toys, S.H.Figuarts and S.I.C., and if they're like me, they also rave about Digital Grade figures. But every year, a veritable mountain of Rider merchandise gets made, and for every successful, long-lasting line, there's plenty more that get canned after a few sets, if even that many.
Sometimes they just run their logical course; I don't think anybody was really counting on more FFR figures after 2009. Sometimes they just mutate into another line, like how in 2002 Sôchaku-Henshin essentially became R&M, then went back to Sôchaku-Henshin again a few years later (and eventually became Figuarts.) Or the Rider Hero Series and the Hyper Detail figures, which have seen more rebrandings than just about anything. Sometimes, you get a new line that actually finds success and sticks around for a while, or is just a really great on-off idea, and sadly gets axed before its time.
I'm going to mainly focus on the latter category for this list, with my own five favorite Rider toy lines that aren't around any more, though they really ought to be. Plus, some runners-up!
Honorable Mention: Rider Kaijin Series
The standard soft-vinyl versions of the Riders have been around forever, recently going through a rebranding and becoming the Legend Rider Series figures during 2009/most of 2010. The OOO guys have kind of gone off an done their own thing, dropping the Ganbaride card and all, but the major change from RHS (losing the boxes in favor of being sold loose or in bags, like the Ultra Kaiju Series) has stuck.
While nearly every Rider has been made by now, with the baddies it's a different story. Since 2000, there's been a good spread, but after making plenty of Grongi and Orphenochs, a few great classic villains, some Unknown and Undead and a bunch of Mirror Monsters... 2006 basically had squat. Things got a little better after that, but this is still a line that really could use a shot in the arm. Lately it seems to be on Exclusive Life Support. You could get Peacock Undead and Ucaworm, but only if you sent away for them. The upcoming Greeed figures are a good sign though, that at least somebody knows the facts: Rider villain toys do sell.
Honorable Mention: Soul of Sofubi
The super-duper RHS upgrades were going great for a time, though wound up being a victim of collateral damage courtesy of Kamen Rider THE NEXT. No really, do you remember those pricey boxed versions of Rider 1, 2 & V3 (plus 1 & 2 in the style of the first movie.) They were okay, but it was the Lawson-exclusive set that had what everybody really wanted. A nice last gasp, but still the last one. Considering the rate they came out at prior to that, and the selection (Riders! Other Toei Heroes! Uh... more Riders!) We likely won't see any more of these, which is a shame, because there's a Skyrider-shaped gap in my collection. And no BLACK or RX, which I cannot believe.
Honorable Mention: Motion Revive
One of the "Candy Toy" sets that most are probably familiar with, because they rocked. Sadly seemed to have retired though, right before Decade oddly. I mean, if ever there was a time to have a toy line with various Heisei Riders. I'm gonna blame Narutaki for that one. This almost made the top 5, but truth be told since nearly everyone in them has or will eventually be made into a Figuarts, I decided to spotlight some older favorites. So on with the list.
5. Minna No Advent: Kamen Rider (Heisei Rider Edition)
What:
A 10-day advent calendar with Heisei-Rider themed goodies!
When:
2010
Why:
If you grew up in my house, you'd know that the Christmas Countdown Calendars are a big deal. For years my dad would painstakingly design, illustrate and create a new one (eventually using Photoshop which, in those days, resulted in computer-crashingly huge files.) Filled with all sorts of Tokusatsu goodies, as this was in the days before I could do online shopping and getting stuff from Japan was always a big deal. Many a High Grade set came from those calendars. So when Bandai announced that last spring that they were coming out with their own mini-countdown calendar of sorts, I was pumped.
Now, to be fair, this is one line that's still so recent it's hard to conclusively call it "discontinued"... but I'm not getting my hopes up. It's been almost a year with not a peep about any more. The initial wave (Heisei Kamen Rider and classic Gundam) was pretty promising, though clearly it didn't take off. The almost $30 price tag probably wasn't too enticing, and not surprisingly these languished on shelves before being clearanced off (they're about 10 bucks on Amazon.jp currently.) Not to mention that if you're not familiar with the whole concept of advent calendars, it probably just seems weird. You just wanna open the box and get the thing already!
And it's too bad, because really, this was a pretty cool idea. I can only really comment on the Rider calendar (which I bought a couple of when they were cheap) but I like it a ton. Contained within are a key chain, cell phone strap, charm, stickers, tatoo sticker, magnet, pin, and several mini-figures. There's multiple varieties and you never know what you're going to get (well, you do if you've already opened one since the prizes are always in the same place, but the actual kind you get is randomized.)
For the more discerning buyer who wants a billion joints and every accessory possible, it might seem like something to skip. But if you just want some goofy little Rider-themed trinkets, you couldn't do much better. It all comes in a nice, well-designed box and everything can fit back in where it came, so it's economical if nothing else.
Perhaps most frustrating to me is that this is clearly labeled as being the "Heisei Rider Edition" which means that, yup, they were probably planning one for the older guys, that we will now never see. @#$%!
How To Bring It Back:
Either bump up the number of prizes or lower the price. I think that was the real problem with the first bunch. A full-month 30-door set for 30 bucks? Now you're talking.
As for the prizes themselves, I love what we got, but a good way to lure in more buyers would be to have more must-have items. Ganbaride cards, a Gaia Memory, a Core Medal!? Or maybe do a whole calendar of S.H.F. accessory pieces everybody would covet. The possibilities are basically endless.
4. Kamen Rider Battle
What:
A Candy Toy series with miniature Riders and notable advesaries!
When:
2000~2001
Why:
Candy Toys have recently started getting more love, with the Sentai Mecha ones that, with some additional work, can become faithful recreations of the larger, pricier toys. But I'd be willing to bet there's fans out there who were buying stuff back when Kuuga and Agito were new, and even they don't remember these.
The imaginatively-named line is sort of an offshoot of a similar thing that Ultraman had, though to be honest those figures were (initially) better-painted and a bit more high-quality. These are basically cheap, rubbery little versions of Rider 1, 2, V3, Kuuga, and the Agito crew... and they're freaking great.
Only 3 sets were made, but they covered all the basic Kuuga forms (plus a Rider Kickin' Rising Mighty, and Ultimate in the "BURN" pose.) There were a bunch of Grongi, including N Daguba Zeba back in the days when Daguba toys were few and far between. There were the initial Agito forms, G3 & Gills, plus some Unknown (BOTH Turtle guys!) The classic Rider guys have all since been done in bigger sizes, but I'll always say yes to another Ikadevil figure. Heck, toys of the villains are so rare these days, it's kind of amazing to believe these ever existed.
They're small, they're goofy and I can see why they'd get passed over for bigger, plastic-ier lines, but they're every bit as good as the shows they were inspired by.
Plus they weren't blind-boxed, and everybody likes that.
How To Bring It Back:
Bump up the paint and quality a bit, and they could be the next (little) big thing. I wouldn't even mind if they just stuck to this year's guys, cuz I can always use some figures of the Greeed.
3. Medicom RAH220 (Old-style)
What:
Medicom's smaller, cheaper and more "toylike" line of 1/8-scale figures!
When:
Uh... the late 90's-ish
Why:
Technically, this is one of those lines that reinvented itself rather than flat-out ended. After a few years' break, it came back as RAH220 DX, smaller versions of the 1/6 DX figures Medicom started making back around 2000. While those are great (though sadly, they stopped at Stronger it seems) there's a few things their predecessors really had going for them.
One was the price. Especially back then, when the bigger 1/6 figures were commanding what seemed to be astronomical rates, these were a breath of fresh air. A reasonably good smaller-sized Medicom figure for under $40? Yes please.
Next, the selection of characters. Admittedly, if you're not a Rider fan, you got screwed, but this is Medicom we're talking about. They love them Riders, what can I say. But as far as what we did get, it's pretty magnificent.
While they never got beyond Amazon, the old RAH220 line managed to do all 3 main versions of Rider 1, both version of Rider 2, V3, Riderman, X-Rider, Amazon, a bunch of Shocker Combatants, the Destron Combatant, the original 11 Shocker monsters plus Saboteguron and Zanjio, the original 4 Destron Kaijin, post-resurrection Apollo Geist, and the Kumo-Jujin from Amazon. Phew! Plus a bunch of Kikaider guys.
And yes, they're clunky by today's standards, especially when stacked up against their DX successors. Just as the old 1/6 Medicoms often pale to their DX counterparts, these guys look and feel like a bunch of rusty old Pintos next to a gleaming new Jaguar. But there's still the variety to consider. You think Tokageron will ever get another RAH figure again? And the old-style V3 wins out in the accessory department, even including the V3 Hopper! The flying thing, I mean.
The Apollo Geist, the only RAH version of his second incarnation that I know of, is also arguably one of the best RAH figures ever made. This is especially impressive given the old 220's occasional breakage problems. I apparently am the luckiest man alive in that I've yet to have a QC issue with any Medicom figure that wasn't already used/banged up/damaged... with the exception of these. In fairness though, it was only one of the earliest ones, and some later 220's has sturdier stuff in their bodies.
But the old guys have one more trick up their sleeve. While the boxes for the DX versions are okay, with the flat black backgrounds and clean layout, the older versions range from impressive to heartbreakingly beautiful. I'm not kidding.
With art by the always-talented Sugahara Yoshihito, these things were collectors' items on their own. The Riders always had good box art, but it's the baddies who really blew us all away. If you own one, you know what I'm talking about. The Destron box art was my person favorite, with the Tarot-card theme inspired by episode #43. If you're one of those fans who keeps things in the boxes, you might want to track some of these down, because the boxes themselves are practically worth the price of admission. I also like Kumo-Jujin's Incan-motif box, which is loaded with nods to Geddon monsters.
The old RAH220 eventually died off in part because, and I hate to say this, the Hakaider Squad. No really, the pricey 4-figure Toys 'R Us box set sat on shelves for years, and pretty much every time I've gone to Japan I've seen it at some point. Not having a 220 Kikaider 01 probably had something to do with that. While I do love the DX upgrades, this is one of those times when the "inferior" older versions actually have a lot more merit to them than you'd think, and it's worth remembering.
How To Bring It Back:
Give DX a kickstart and gimme my 220 Skyrider already! Bring back the amazing box art for future releases and come out with some of those Kaijin again. I don't care if they're exclusives, I'm game.
2. The Rider Machine
What:
Candy Toy model kits of those things the Riders sometimes use to get places!
When:
1999~2003
Why:
A strong contender for the best Rider Candy Toy series ever. Kicked off in '99, they were basically just small plastic kits of the original Rider bikes with a painted rubbery figure. Rubber pieces for the wheels plus clear parts for the lights, windshields, etc. Snap the pieces together, put some stickers on, and presto. A miniature Rider Machine!
The second set added Kuuga, plus X-Rider, Amazon and Stronger, and that was great as well. But it's with Part 3 where this series really took off. The 3 Agito bikes (plus that crazy Slider mode) might have been a smaller scale than everything that came before, but we didn't mind. They looked great, and that was G3-X on the bike (unlike seemingly every other Guard Chaser toy.) Filling out the set were re-do's of Rider 1 and 2 on the old Cyclone/Cyclone Custom, but with some new twists. Better, whiter plastic (unlike the off-color of the first set.) More paint instead of all the stickers. The figures somehow seemed just a little bit better. I have a lot of Cyclones in my collection, and the The Rider Machine 3 one is among the best.
This level of quality continued with Part 4 & 5, where we got a remake of V3 from the first set. An EX set completed the remakes of the originals with a New Cyclone, plus newer, improved versions of the X-Rider, Amazon and Stronger from Part 2. And then...
Well, 2004 had "The Blade Machine" featuring guys from that series and a similar idea, but it just wasn't the same. The tires were now plastic, the figures all out-of-scale with what had come before. True, that had been the case with some of the earlier ones, but it was usually with good reason (you kind of HAVE to make Jet Sliger a different scale for this to work.) But really, after that, this idea of doing high-quality bike kits kind of faded away.
I can understand why, since these were really only Candy "Toys". They're really small, inexpensive models rather than straight-up toys. They were great for painting up or super-detailing, because the sculpting was all there, and a cheap alternative to those impossible resin cast kits. But for the kid who just wants something they can take out of the box and play with, I can see how it wouldn't sell. And yet, it did, for 5 sets plus a "best-of" kind, making me wonder. Was it perhaps just a timing thing? Around this time we were getting those "Machine Chronicle" Gachapon sets after all.
In my opinion, the motorcycle is one of the most integral parts of Kamen Rider, so take any chance you have to celebrate it. Other heroes happen to drive motorcycles sometimes, but that is part of Rider's DNA. It's a defining aspect. So make all the toys of it you want!
How To Bring It Back:
The old molds are so good, they could just mix a few of them in with some new guys, and maybe market it at a slightly older audience. With the success of those plastic Double models, there's a market for it, I'd say.
Check out the complete line-up here.
1. Rider Kaijin Meikan
What:
A candy toy series with small, fixed-pose figures of Riders & monsters.
When:
2003~2004
Why:
The Meikan (Directory/List) series has been around for years, but it's with the big red guy and his family that it found the most success. There's a whole book about it, no less. By my estimation, every single episode of Ultraman and Ultra Seven has been covered, plus a lot of Ultra Q, Returns, Ace, and beyond.
Comparatively, Rider's had a hard time. While it's true that they do still make Rider Meikan sets (you know that one that had the Shocker Rider scene, the King Dark scene, and the Stronger debuts scene? That was one of 'em) they're much more disorganized than the Ultra ones were. We get a set here or there, but there's no real schedule to them and they tend to be different themes every time. One year it's "bikes", then "famous battles", then "famous scenes, some of which are battles", etc.
Back in '03 though, Bandai attempted to recapture the success of the ongoing Ultra sets with the Rider Kaijin Meikan series. Focusing on the original series, the first set had Rider 1, Rider 2, plus some famous baddies.
If you still don't know what a Meikan is, I'll try to explain. Smaller than a Gachapon figure, but no less detailed, with a display base often showing the monster's name (or episode title) on it. Again, to the articulation 'n accessory-minded buyer, they don't offer much of either. But if you want a kickass little statue that can fit on your desk and will cost you pocket change, they're super. They're also one of the few lines every to pull off both blind-boxing and chase figures because of how they were sold in the cartons. I literally got the chase figure for Part 3 for a few hundred yen, rather than the few thousand the same shop was selling it for loose.
The first Rider Meikan set was great, the next two even better. Alas, they only seemed to do the major players before folding, while Ultraman (and Seven) went the whole 9 yards with "Complete Specials" and "Special Editions". When you've made a toy of Seven's 'Robot Commander' character, you've basically won the race.
Admittedly, you probably have to be an original series fan to really care about this line. But as I am, I do, and I want it back!
How To Bring It Back:
I don't mind that they didn't do every original series guy so much as I just wish they were still doing somebody. V3, X & such would benefit a lot from a line like this since few others will ever do toys of their bad guys, but the Meikan series? I'd bet on it.
With the anniversary year upon us, now's as good a time as ever. I'd even happily take an all-Riders set with newer guys if it meant just kickstarting the line back up again. Igadevil needs his Canary-Cobra figure!
***
Sometimes they just run their logical course; I don't think anybody was really counting on more FFR figures after 2009. Sometimes they just mutate into another line, like how in 2002 Sôchaku-Henshin essentially became R&M, then went back to Sôchaku-Henshin again a few years later (and eventually became Figuarts.) Or the Rider Hero Series and the Hyper Detail figures, which have seen more rebrandings than just about anything. Sometimes, you get a new line that actually finds success and sticks around for a while, or is just a really great on-off idea, and sadly gets axed before its time.
I'm going to mainly focus on the latter category for this list, with my own five favorite Rider toy lines that aren't around any more, though they really ought to be. Plus, some runners-up!
Honorable Mention: Rider Kaijin Series
The standard soft-vinyl versions of the Riders have been around forever, recently going through a rebranding and becoming the Legend Rider Series figures during 2009/most of 2010. The OOO guys have kind of gone off an done their own thing, dropping the Ganbaride card and all, but the major change from RHS (losing the boxes in favor of being sold loose or in bags, like the Ultra Kaiju Series) has stuck.
While nearly every Rider has been made by now, with the baddies it's a different story. Since 2000, there's been a good spread, but after making plenty of Grongi and Orphenochs, a few great classic villains, some Unknown and Undead and a bunch of Mirror Monsters... 2006 basically had squat. Things got a little better after that, but this is still a line that really could use a shot in the arm. Lately it seems to be on Exclusive Life Support. You could get Peacock Undead and Ucaworm, but only if you sent away for them. The upcoming Greeed figures are a good sign though, that at least somebody knows the facts: Rider villain toys do sell.
Honorable Mention: Soul of Sofubi
The super-duper RHS upgrades were going great for a time, though wound up being a victim of collateral damage courtesy of Kamen Rider THE NEXT. No really, do you remember those pricey boxed versions of Rider 1, 2 & V3 (plus 1 & 2 in the style of the first movie.) They were okay, but it was the Lawson-exclusive set that had what everybody really wanted. A nice last gasp, but still the last one. Considering the rate they came out at prior to that, and the selection (Riders! Other Toei Heroes! Uh... more Riders!) We likely won't see any more of these, which is a shame, because there's a Skyrider-shaped gap in my collection. And no BLACK or RX, which I cannot believe.
Honorable Mention: Motion Revive
One of the "Candy Toy" sets that most are probably familiar with, because they rocked. Sadly seemed to have retired though, right before Decade oddly. I mean, if ever there was a time to have a toy line with various Heisei Riders. I'm gonna blame Narutaki for that one. This almost made the top 5, but truth be told since nearly everyone in them has or will eventually be made into a Figuarts, I decided to spotlight some older favorites. So on with the list.
5. Minna No Advent: Kamen Rider (Heisei Rider Edition)
What:
A 10-day advent calendar with Heisei-Rider themed goodies!
When:
2010
Why:
If you grew up in my house, you'd know that the Christmas Countdown Calendars are a big deal. For years my dad would painstakingly design, illustrate and create a new one (eventually using Photoshop which, in those days, resulted in computer-crashingly huge files.) Filled with all sorts of Tokusatsu goodies, as this was in the days before I could do online shopping and getting stuff from Japan was always a big deal. Many a High Grade set came from those calendars. So when Bandai announced that last spring that they were coming out with their own mini-countdown calendar of sorts, I was pumped.
Now, to be fair, this is one line that's still so recent it's hard to conclusively call it "discontinued"... but I'm not getting my hopes up. It's been almost a year with not a peep about any more. The initial wave (Heisei Kamen Rider and classic Gundam) was pretty promising, though clearly it didn't take off. The almost $30 price tag probably wasn't too enticing, and not surprisingly these languished on shelves before being clearanced off (they're about 10 bucks on Amazon.jp currently.) Not to mention that if you're not familiar with the whole concept of advent calendars, it probably just seems weird. You just wanna open the box and get the thing already!
And it's too bad, because really, this was a pretty cool idea. I can only really comment on the Rider calendar (which I bought a couple of when they were cheap) but I like it a ton. Contained within are a key chain, cell phone strap, charm, stickers, tatoo sticker, magnet, pin, and several mini-figures. There's multiple varieties and you never know what you're going to get (well, you do if you've already opened one since the prizes are always in the same place, but the actual kind you get is randomized.)
For the more discerning buyer who wants a billion joints and every accessory possible, it might seem like something to skip. But if you just want some goofy little Rider-themed trinkets, you couldn't do much better. It all comes in a nice, well-designed box and everything can fit back in where it came, so it's economical if nothing else.
Perhaps most frustrating to me is that this is clearly labeled as being the "Heisei Rider Edition" which means that, yup, they were probably planning one for the older guys, that we will now never see. @#$%!
How To Bring It Back:
Either bump up the number of prizes or lower the price. I think that was the real problem with the first bunch. A full-month 30-door set for 30 bucks? Now you're talking.
As for the prizes themselves, I love what we got, but a good way to lure in more buyers would be to have more must-have items. Ganbaride cards, a Gaia Memory, a Core Medal!? Or maybe do a whole calendar of S.H.F. accessory pieces everybody would covet. The possibilities are basically endless.
4. Kamen Rider Battle
What:
A Candy Toy series with miniature Riders and notable advesaries!
When:
2000~2001
Why:
Candy Toys have recently started getting more love, with the Sentai Mecha ones that, with some additional work, can become faithful recreations of the larger, pricier toys. But I'd be willing to bet there's fans out there who were buying stuff back when Kuuga and Agito were new, and even they don't remember these.
The imaginatively-named line is sort of an offshoot of a similar thing that Ultraman had, though to be honest those figures were (initially) better-painted and a bit more high-quality. These are basically cheap, rubbery little versions of Rider 1, 2, V3, Kuuga, and the Agito crew... and they're freaking great.
Only 3 sets were made, but they covered all the basic Kuuga forms (plus a Rider Kickin' Rising Mighty, and Ultimate in the "BURN" pose.) There were a bunch of Grongi, including N Daguba Zeba back in the days when Daguba toys were few and far between. There were the initial Agito forms, G3 & Gills, plus some Unknown (BOTH Turtle guys!) The classic Rider guys have all since been done in bigger sizes, but I'll always say yes to another Ikadevil figure. Heck, toys of the villains are so rare these days, it's kind of amazing to believe these ever existed.
They're small, they're goofy and I can see why they'd get passed over for bigger, plastic-ier lines, but they're every bit as good as the shows they were inspired by.
Plus they weren't blind-boxed, and everybody likes that.
How To Bring It Back:
Bump up the paint and quality a bit, and they could be the next (little) big thing. I wouldn't even mind if they just stuck to this year's guys, cuz I can always use some figures of the Greeed.
3. Medicom RAH220 (Old-style)
What:
Medicom's smaller, cheaper and more "toylike" line of 1/8-scale figures!
When:
Uh... the late 90's-ish
Why:
Technically, this is one of those lines that reinvented itself rather than flat-out ended. After a few years' break, it came back as RAH220 DX, smaller versions of the 1/6 DX figures Medicom started making back around 2000. While those are great (though sadly, they stopped at Stronger it seems) there's a few things their predecessors really had going for them.
One was the price. Especially back then, when the bigger 1/6 figures were commanding what seemed to be astronomical rates, these were a breath of fresh air. A reasonably good smaller-sized Medicom figure for under $40? Yes please.
Next, the selection of characters. Admittedly, if you're not a Rider fan, you got screwed, but this is Medicom we're talking about. They love them Riders, what can I say. But as far as what we did get, it's pretty magnificent.
While they never got beyond Amazon, the old RAH220 line managed to do all 3 main versions of Rider 1, both version of Rider 2, V3, Riderman, X-Rider, Amazon, a bunch of Shocker Combatants, the Destron Combatant, the original 11 Shocker monsters plus Saboteguron and Zanjio, the original 4 Destron Kaijin, post-resurrection Apollo Geist, and the Kumo-Jujin from Amazon. Phew! Plus a bunch of Kikaider guys.
And yes, they're clunky by today's standards, especially when stacked up against their DX successors. Just as the old 1/6 Medicoms often pale to their DX counterparts, these guys look and feel like a bunch of rusty old Pintos next to a gleaming new Jaguar. But there's still the variety to consider. You think Tokageron will ever get another RAH figure again? And the old-style V3 wins out in the accessory department, even including the V3 Hopper! The flying thing, I mean.
The Apollo Geist, the only RAH version of his second incarnation that I know of, is also arguably one of the best RAH figures ever made. This is especially impressive given the old 220's occasional breakage problems. I apparently am the luckiest man alive in that I've yet to have a QC issue with any Medicom figure that wasn't already used/banged up/damaged... with the exception of these. In fairness though, it was only one of the earliest ones, and some later 220's has sturdier stuff in their bodies.
But the old guys have one more trick up their sleeve. While the boxes for the DX versions are okay, with the flat black backgrounds and clean layout, the older versions range from impressive to heartbreakingly beautiful. I'm not kidding.
With art by the always-talented Sugahara Yoshihito, these things were collectors' items on their own. The Riders always had good box art, but it's the baddies who really blew us all away. If you own one, you know what I'm talking about. The Destron box art was my person favorite, with the Tarot-card theme inspired by episode #43. If you're one of those fans who keeps things in the boxes, you might want to track some of these down, because the boxes themselves are practically worth the price of admission. I also like Kumo-Jujin's Incan-motif box, which is loaded with nods to Geddon monsters.
The old RAH220 eventually died off in part because, and I hate to say this, the Hakaider Squad. No really, the pricey 4-figure Toys 'R Us box set sat on shelves for years, and pretty much every time I've gone to Japan I've seen it at some point. Not having a 220 Kikaider 01 probably had something to do with that. While I do love the DX upgrades, this is one of those times when the "inferior" older versions actually have a lot more merit to them than you'd think, and it's worth remembering.
How To Bring It Back:
Give DX a kickstart and gimme my 220 Skyrider already! Bring back the amazing box art for future releases and come out with some of those Kaijin again. I don't care if they're exclusives, I'm game.
2. The Rider Machine
What:
Candy Toy model kits of those things the Riders sometimes use to get places!
When:
1999~2003
Why:
A strong contender for the best Rider Candy Toy series ever. Kicked off in '99, they were basically just small plastic kits of the original Rider bikes with a painted rubbery figure. Rubber pieces for the wheels plus clear parts for the lights, windshields, etc. Snap the pieces together, put some stickers on, and presto. A miniature Rider Machine!
The second set added Kuuga, plus X-Rider, Amazon and Stronger, and that was great as well. But it's with Part 3 where this series really took off. The 3 Agito bikes (plus that crazy Slider mode) might have been a smaller scale than everything that came before, but we didn't mind. They looked great, and that was G3-X on the bike (unlike seemingly every other Guard Chaser toy.) Filling out the set were re-do's of Rider 1 and 2 on the old Cyclone/Cyclone Custom, but with some new twists. Better, whiter plastic (unlike the off-color of the first set.) More paint instead of all the stickers. The figures somehow seemed just a little bit better. I have a lot of Cyclones in my collection, and the The Rider Machine 3 one is among the best.
This level of quality continued with Part 4 & 5, where we got a remake of V3 from the first set. An EX set completed the remakes of the originals with a New Cyclone, plus newer, improved versions of the X-Rider, Amazon and Stronger from Part 2. And then...
Well, 2004 had "The Blade Machine" featuring guys from that series and a similar idea, but it just wasn't the same. The tires were now plastic, the figures all out-of-scale with what had come before. True, that had been the case with some of the earlier ones, but it was usually with good reason (you kind of HAVE to make Jet Sliger a different scale for this to work.) But really, after that, this idea of doing high-quality bike kits kind of faded away.
I can understand why, since these were really only Candy "Toys". They're really small, inexpensive models rather than straight-up toys. They were great for painting up or super-detailing, because the sculpting was all there, and a cheap alternative to those impossible resin cast kits. But for the kid who just wants something they can take out of the box and play with, I can see how it wouldn't sell. And yet, it did, for 5 sets plus a "best-of" kind, making me wonder. Was it perhaps just a timing thing? Around this time we were getting those "Machine Chronicle" Gachapon sets after all.
In my opinion, the motorcycle is one of the most integral parts of Kamen Rider, so take any chance you have to celebrate it. Other heroes happen to drive motorcycles sometimes, but that is part of Rider's DNA. It's a defining aspect. So make all the toys of it you want!
How To Bring It Back:
The old molds are so good, they could just mix a few of them in with some new guys, and maybe market it at a slightly older audience. With the success of those plastic Double models, there's a market for it, I'd say.
Check out the complete line-up here.
1. Rider Kaijin Meikan
What:
A candy toy series with small, fixed-pose figures of Riders & monsters.
When:
2003~2004
Why:
The Meikan (Directory/List) series has been around for years, but it's with the big red guy and his family that it found the most success. There's a whole book about it, no less. By my estimation, every single episode of Ultraman and Ultra Seven has been covered, plus a lot of Ultra Q, Returns, Ace, and beyond.
Comparatively, Rider's had a hard time. While it's true that they do still make Rider Meikan sets (you know that one that had the Shocker Rider scene, the King Dark scene, and the Stronger debuts scene? That was one of 'em) they're much more disorganized than the Ultra ones were. We get a set here or there, but there's no real schedule to them and they tend to be different themes every time. One year it's "bikes", then "famous battles", then "famous scenes, some of which are battles", etc.
Back in '03 though, Bandai attempted to recapture the success of the ongoing Ultra sets with the Rider Kaijin Meikan series. Focusing on the original series, the first set had Rider 1, Rider 2, plus some famous baddies.
If you still don't know what a Meikan is, I'll try to explain. Smaller than a Gachapon figure, but no less detailed, with a display base often showing the monster's name (or episode title) on it. Again, to the articulation 'n accessory-minded buyer, they don't offer much of either. But if you want a kickass little statue that can fit on your desk and will cost you pocket change, they're super. They're also one of the few lines every to pull off both blind-boxing and chase figures because of how they were sold in the cartons. I literally got the chase figure for Part 3 for a few hundred yen, rather than the few thousand the same shop was selling it for loose.
The first Rider Meikan set was great, the next two even better. Alas, they only seemed to do the major players before folding, while Ultraman (and Seven) went the whole 9 yards with "Complete Specials" and "Special Editions". When you've made a toy of Seven's 'Robot Commander' character, you've basically won the race.
Admittedly, you probably have to be an original series fan to really care about this line. But as I am, I do, and I want it back!
How To Bring It Back:
I don't mind that they didn't do every original series guy so much as I just wish they were still doing somebody. V3, X & such would benefit a lot from a line like this since few others will ever do toys of their bad guys, but the Meikan series? I'd bet on it.
With the anniversary year upon us, now's as good a time as ever. I'd even happily take an all-Riders set with newer guys if it meant just kickstarting the line back up again. Igadevil needs his Canary-Cobra figure!
***
Friday, August 07, 2009
Climax Heroes, Almost Reviewed! Sorta.
Ah yes, Kamen Rider Climax Heroes. It's the PS2 game that just came out yesterday, in case you're as behind as I've been lately. Most likely, you already know more about than I do, but in case not, go here so I can skip out on the long explanation.
Back? Okay, so as mentioned, it just came out. And I've just been playing it. I don't think I could fully review the game at this point as I've just only scratched the surface, but at least I can give you my initial impressions. But first...
I have to say first that I did not pay much attention to the pre-release hype and discussion, apart from looking at a couple screen shots on 4gamer and a video of the opening. So my expectations for this game were pretty non-existent. It looked cool, and it had Kamen Rider in it! That's about it.
Kamen Rider games have always had a pretty mixed reputation, and this even is amongst *Kamen Rider fans*. But I've always felt that they're mostly alright with a few great ones. Like, I don't expect any of them to be really spectacular ground-breaking games that have a lifespan beyond the year of their release, but they're usually a fun time-killer and worth playing through at least once. Only a couple really hold up for any amount of time after they come out, and only one really rises above "fighting game based on a TV franchise" to become something more. Something like, one of my favorite games of all time, period.
I'm talking of course, about Kamen Rider: Genealogy of Justice, which is in a class unto itself and should probably be talked about on its own, because it's not another Rider fighting game. But let me just say here that while the game play is pretty simplistic and the graphics were just okay even when it came out, it's still pretty fun and interesting enough that I enjoy playing it again every now and then.
Plus, the really important things of the game are the excellent voice acting, the involving story, the great little in-jokes, and of course, the awesome soundtrack. If count everything— the comics, books, games, stage shows, magazine stories, all of it in addition to the TV series and movies— I call it one of the best Rider stories ever told.
The other ones that I think still play fairly well are the original series and Kamen Rider V3 games, the latter being particularly good even today. Yes, they're on PS1, but out of all the Rider fighting games they've got the advantage of being based on shows that were long over and had close to 30 years of nostalgia to their name, so the games are packed with all sorts of stuff. The V3 one's probably the better of the two, boasting more characters, modes and still the most intuitive control system of the Rider games. Plus you can play as Junko, Tachibana, and a Kung Fu Priest (okay, it's Hasami-Jaguar.) And I think the graphics for both are arguably the best the Rider games had until the jump to PS2.
When we move onto the Heisei era, things get a bit more mixed. PS1 Kuuga's probably my least favorite of the games, which is too bad because in some areas it was very good (it was the last one to have music right out of the show, and had a good selection of characters. Also, it's Kuuga.) Unfortunately the odds are so tilted in Kuuga's favor that you'll actually find yourself feeling sorry for the mass-murdering Grongi. It's almost heartbreaking hearing them cry out in pain as Titan Form whups their butts over and over again, and they don't have a snowball's chance of being able to win if the difficulty is cranked up to the max.
Agito & Ryuki are both good, though this is where the so-called rot starts to set in, and the controls get increasingly simpler to the point where it's almost down to just pressing one button. Due to the nature of rushing the games out while the show's still on, we end up with increasingly poor graphics and fewer episode's worth of coverage.
What I mean by that is, the Agito game basically ends around the point the Queen Jaguar Lord showed up, though it does feature pretty much everybody except for Another Agito (G4's in there, as a super secret character.) Ryuki did pack in all 13 Riders, but as its development predates Imperer, he's more like his savage TV Special version than the one we got in the series. They also had to fudge it with Odin's Final Vent, which actually ends up looking pretty cool.
With the change to PS2, the graphics improve, but I think the game play becomes even more hit-or-miss. The Faiz game's alright, but I can't remember seeing any reason to play as anyone who wasn't a Rider, and the whole "dodge the special moves" thing will blister your thumb pretty quickly. It looks nicer than any game before it, but looks ain't everything. Blade improved a little by making some of the Undead characters actual contenders, but again, not much to say otherwise. The super secret hidden character's good for a laugh though.
The Hibiki game was, like the series, interesting and tried some new things, but I never really got a chance to play it much, and I could never seem to get anyone to play it with me because the musical thing just confused everyone not familiar with the show (among my non-fan friends, the original series and V3 games actually went over the best.)
And then there's the Kabuto game, which is *possibly* the best PS2 Rider fighter, because it feels like they actually spent some real time on it, and it packs in everybody (and I mean everybody, even Hyper Gatack!) Plus its got a great sense of humor with the "survival"-type mode, and even a loading screen mini-game. I'll let other people debate that though, as I confess I didn't have a chance to play it as much as the other others, so maybe its shelf life is shorter than I make it out to be. Of what I played though, I liked.
Den-O infamously lacked a true PS2 game, as did Kiva, though the latter had Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride coming out as it ended, but let's not even get into that. I'm also overlooking a ton of other games, including the classic Super Famicom beat-'em-up with the Double Riders, but I really need to be getting on to the new one. I'll do a Top 5 Rider Games Countdown some day, or something.
Okay so (finally) we get to Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes. The game is sort-of a tie-in for Kamen Rider Decade, but in an interestingly abstract way. And as the might title suggest, Den-O rules this game. I mean that quite literally.
By now it seems the rest of the world has somehow played this game, which means that either the postal system is hella fast or everybody just downloaded a rip. In any case, you've probably already read a fair share of comments on this game. You may have even read Adrienzo's review over on his blog, which goes into a lot better detail than I probably will as I've still only scratched the surface of this. But in any case, here we go. This'll be pretty stream-of-consciousness without real rhyme or reason.
Like I said, I had pretty much no expectations for this game, so it's turned out to be a pleasant surprise so far. It's pretty straightforward, easy to get into quickly, and big enough that it feels like it'll keep me entertained for a while. Make no mistake, it's about as shallow as it gets in regards to the story (more on that in a second) and I wouldn't try to call it a game that will revolutionize... well, anything. But it's fun. Sometimes, that's all you need.
As for the story (or "Decade Mode") it's told through still pictures, scrolling text and narration. Ooh, sophisticated. Not much more advanced than most of the other fighting games, though at least a couple of them had kinda-sorta cut scenes (the V3 game's are pretty enjoyable.) It's nothing too special on first glance.
What is interesting though, is that the story isn't that of the Decade TV series. Not quite. If your Japanese is good enough, you might notice they're talking about the original versions of the Riders. So it's Godai Yuusuke, not Onodera Yuusuke. Characters like Mari and Kanzaki Shirô get namedropped. What the heck?
It even extends to the voices for the characters. They're the original versions, or at least people trying to sound like the originals. Decade, Diend, and all the Den-O Forms are the actual voices, and I've heard Kivat & Tatsulot in there too. And Deneb's voice for Vega Form. The others are all soundalikes of varying quality. I think the Agito one's actually pretty good, and the Blade guy's a little off but he gets the "Uwe!" battle cry right. Most of 'em are okay, though Kabuto's sounds reeeeeeeally deep. Also, I'm pretty sure Liner Form's Ryôtarô voice is actually a woman. Insert Joke Here.
And yet, the Decade tropes (travelin' the worlds, kickin' Rider butts, Final Form Rides, etc.) are all here as well. It's a strange mix of continuities. Is it the unofficial prequel, explaining how Decade screwed up the Riderverse in the first place? The Sequel? Both at the same time? Is it the version of Decade we all thought we'd be getting last winter, with Handa Kento guest-starring and Garren as the mentor (
The game play's good. It's simple, it's fun. It's sort of a halfway point between "one-button-mashing" and something requiring a little more intuition. One thing I really like is how each character has their own feel when they play. I don't just mean in the moves and attributes, but in the mechanics of how they work.
Like with Ryuki, you summon the DragSaber and Dragwhateverthefireshootingthingwascalled (DragClaw, more commonly just known as his Strike Vent) and can also summon DragRedder AND perform the Dragon Rider Kick all separately. So you can use the sword, switch and shoot your opponent with fire, summon the bigass dragon to do the same, and then be charging up for a Rider Kick while that's happening. It's pretty nifty, as other characters have their own way of functioning.
It's possible to get some interesting combos going. It probably doesn't come anywhere close to what you can do in a proper fighting game like (Insert Fighting Game Title Here), but it's a bit more fluid than the usual Rider fighter. There are some pretty cool moves. If you liked unstoppable Titan Form in the Kuuga game, he's back. Hibiki can pull off a cool drumming combo and breath fire. Agito changes forms just for a special move. Kabuto teleports (okay, Clock Ups, but that's what it looks like.) He's also got some weird counter-kick move which I have yet to figure out.
The X button does an attack which I'm tempted to call the "summon", though this isn't the case for all the characters. But it's usually a pretty useful move for getting out of jams and livening things up. I mentioned Den-O rules this game, and here's one aspect of that. Playing with Gun Form against Kuuga Pegasus, the poor guy didn't have a chance, between the ridiculous break-dancing combo of doom and the ability to call in the Den-Liner to literally bring down the hammer. Kiva's got Castle Dran, though for whatever reason when I summon it, it's always sort of off in the back. When the computer summons it, it lands right on top of me.
The graphics are just okay, but nothing to write home about. I'm glad this came out on PS2 simply because it means I didn't have to buy a whole new system just to play it, but I agree that they probably could have made a better game on PS3. The music's about the same, with a goofy new theme song and pretty standard tunes. You notice that they stopped doing the soundtrack remix CDs after Ryuki? Probably because of how lackluster the music's gotten (the downside being that there's also no CD release for Genealogy of Justice. Agh!) I think they could have saved themselves some trouble and just used pre-existing themes from all the shows.
One of the big issues I've been seeing with the game so far is a lack of characters. I do have to agree with this, there could have been more. At least one sub-Rider from each series, and a couple super secret surprises? We get IXA, Zeronos, Diend (I guess, since he's hidden at the start) and, as you've probably heard by now, a Dark Decade recolor. I dunno who else, though I've heard there's a few non-playable characters in there. Huh? While it's great having the 10 main Riders, past games have had more characters than they knew what to do with, so it feels like a step backwards. This could have been the game with *everybody*. As it is, it's just got the big guns, some second-stringers, and a few cameos.
Not all the forms are present as well, though I don't mind this as much. I do think the selection's funny. Blade gets King Form, but Hibiki just gets Kurenai? Wouldn't it make more sense to go all the way and give him Armed? I dunno. Den-O fares pretty well, and it feels like they really spent time on his forms. Though I haven't seen Climac Form anywhere. Oops, that makes sense.
Also, the story mode does a lot of talking about the villains, even mentioning Daguba himself... but no monsters. Bwuh? I mean, okay, I know. It wouldn't really work. All the same, there really needs to be a Kaijin Card Battle Game Thing ala the "Ultra Monsters" one that Ganbaride is a riff on so those guys can get more exposure.
Oh, and what's up with that Password Screen? The manual mentions to check the home page. Hmmm...
Of course there's a card-collecting thing. Two of 'em, in fact. One is a gallery of stills from the show, which is cool. The other has the first two waves of Ganbaride cards recreated in digital glory. That's okay, but as we're now up to Ganbaride Wave 5, it seems a bit strange. I would have just gone with a gallery of the cards seen in the TV show, but I guess that's an extra for the DVDs or something.
All in all, it's pretty fun so far. How will it hold up in a few years/months/weeks/days/hours from now? That remains to be seen. But overall, it's kinda nice to have a new console Rider game again. I've missed 'em.
I'll probably play it more than I will Kamen Rider: The Bike Race. Ooh, gotta talk about that one some day.
***
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Toy Review: Henshin Belt DX Decadriver
Blah, last week turned out to be horrible for trying to get anything done, so I'm making that the task for this coming week. I also vow that the next time a DX belt comes out, I'll try to review it on the same day!
Kamen Rider Decade Henshin Belt DX Decadriver
What can I say though, this thing is great. By now you've probably seen the videos and probably already ordered one anyway, so anything I say will be redundant. But that's never stopped me before!
First of, this is without a doubt the most expensive DX belt released thus far, with a SRP of ¥6,825. Of course thanks to the good people at Toys 'R Us, who always mark things down, I got mine for about ¥5,400. Obviously, for those reading this who aren't in Japan or don't get these sold locally at a reasonable price, it'll be more. I would say that if the belt itself (sans shipping) is running over $80, you probably don't ever want to go to amazon.jp to see how low it's been marked down (let's just say it was about half that a few days ago.)
But is it worth it? Indeed it is, although there's a catch I'll mention later. First of all, the box is roughly the same as the DX Sagarc Belt, so it's on the slimmer side. The contents are the belt buckle (with one attached belt strap), the other strap, the thingy you put on the back to keep the straps together, and the central white part of the buckle which houses all the electronics. You also get 10 Rider cards, and the instructions. As for the box itself, it's nice. It's a good, clean design that gets everybody on there and lets you know just what you're getting.
Compared to the Kiva belts from last year/early this year, this doesn't seem like much. Those gave you the belts plus all the Fuestles, and more. Kivat & his variants were arguably toys unto themselves. The IXA Knuckle that came with the belt saw a ton of action in the show, and was reproduced with the DX toy. Saga's had Sagarc with his funny little turntable feature, plus a weapon. Comparatively, you're not getting as much here... but good things come in small packages, and this belt packs a lot of features into a fairly straightforward system.
Let's start with the belt itself, fully assembled.
It's nice. It's easily my favorite-looking belt in a long time, with a simple design that reminds one of a couple older belts. The different Rider emblems around the center are awesome. But then, of course they are, because I thought of it! (Okay, sorta.)
The side green-red-blue circles are just for show, all the lights and sound come from the white part of the buckle. On a side note, I like how the green-red-blue is almost like a visual nod to the side containers of Stronger's belt.
As for operating the thing, that's easy. Pull the sides apart and the center buckle swings up.
Insert one of the Rider cards with the bar code facing up and the card back facing out, push the sides of the outer buckle together, and...
There we are! You get 10 cards with the belt and all 10 make the unique sound effects of the 10 main Heisei era Riders. There are some LEDs in the center buckle which light up the symbol on the card back, in time to the sound effects. It's all a neat piece of design.
The voice of the belt was a bit goofy at first, but I've gotten used to it to the point where I can say I really like it.
Whilst in "standby" mode of course, there's also a repeating sound effect as it waits for you to push the sides in. I always like that.
Here's that center buckle again, with the emblems. I like the plastic "glass" partition covering the belt. Surprisingly, the cards stay in no problem and I haven't had any slide out the side, despite the fact that there's nothing really keeping them in there (which is good, as it doesn't muck up the cards with noticeable streaks. As a card collector, I pay attention to stuff like that!)
And the cards themselves. This is where I get to the catch. The catch is basically that if you want to get maximum value out of this belt, get ready to be buying a lot of toys this year, or find some way to make your own cards (as some have done) to get all the proper sounds. The Final Form Ride figures will be including those cards. And as for most of the others...
All the cards sold with the toys can be used with the Ganbaride Card Machine game, and all the cards sold from that (and other toys) can be used with the belt. There's a lot of interconnectivity (for lack of a better term) going on. This is all great if you have easy access to Ganbaride and the other toys; not so much if you don't. The good thing is, most of the cards used on the show will be sold with toys, like the Advent and Rouze cards of the past, there's a lot of ones just made specifically for the game/card collectors/etc. At current press time, there's no word of individual packs of cards though, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely as a possibility.
The cool thing about all this is, I've already gotten the belt to say some other things. "ATTACK RIDE" and "FINAL RIDE" using some cards from a Ganbaride machine, and with the cards sold with the vinyl "Legend Rider Series" figures...
Yep! As the videos have shown, the belt is capable of saying the names of all the old Riders, even Shin, ZO & J! It doesn't have their specific sound effects, and they do all have em. Rider 1 & 2's are even different from each other! But hey, I'd rather have something rather than nothing, so this is a nice bonus. The belt has the capacity to string together sound effects in different orders apparently, so I really hope it's got "BLACK ATTACK" and "KAMEN RIDERDERMAN" phrases in there somewhere.
As for the cards with the belt, they're all "KAMEN RIDE". You can tell what's what by on the card's back.
In terms of size... I think it's "big enough", but then I'm fortunate that I can squeeze into these with just a velcro cable tie or two on the back to hold the straps together, so that's never really been an issue. It's roughly the size of last year's belt, which I think looks bigger because of the side Fuestle boxes. There's nothing on the sides of this one, but room for the upcoming RideBooker weapon. If they came out with another Complete Selection adult-size belt, I'd love it to be this one, but I wouldn't plan on it just yet. Den-O's was a freak of nature (the fact that we got it, not the belt itself) and the soon-to-be-released Hibiki tuning form thingy is made possibly only by way of Figure-Ou magazine and a lot of loyal fans.
In other words, if you're at all thinking of picking this one up... I would. Just don't pay too much for it.
All in all, it's a great belt that does a lot of stuff, if you have the right cards. Amassing those will be the hard part, but there's plenty of time to do that, because now matter how long Decade lasts, Ganbaride probably won't be going away anytime soon.
***
Kamen Rider Decade Henshin Belt DX Decadriver
What can I say though, this thing is great. By now you've probably seen the videos and probably already ordered one anyway, so anything I say will be redundant. But that's never stopped me before!
First of, this is without a doubt the most expensive DX belt released thus far, with a SRP of ¥6,825. Of course thanks to the good people at Toys 'R Us, who always mark things down, I got mine for about ¥5,400. Obviously, for those reading this who aren't in Japan or don't get these sold locally at a reasonable price, it'll be more. I would say that if the belt itself (sans shipping) is running over $80, you probably don't ever want to go to amazon.jp to see how low it's been marked down (let's just say it was about half that a few days ago.)
But is it worth it? Indeed it is, although there's a catch I'll mention later. First of all, the box is roughly the same as the DX Sagarc Belt, so it's on the slimmer side. The contents are the belt buckle (with one attached belt strap), the other strap, the thingy you put on the back to keep the straps together, and the central white part of the buckle which houses all the electronics. You also get 10 Rider cards, and the instructions. As for the box itself, it's nice. It's a good, clean design that gets everybody on there and lets you know just what you're getting.
Compared to the Kiva belts from last year/early this year, this doesn't seem like much. Those gave you the belts plus all the Fuestles, and more. Kivat & his variants were arguably toys unto themselves. The IXA Knuckle that came with the belt saw a ton of action in the show, and was reproduced with the DX toy. Saga's had Sagarc with his funny little turntable feature, plus a weapon. Comparatively, you're not getting as much here... but good things come in small packages, and this belt packs a lot of features into a fairly straightforward system.
Let's start with the belt itself, fully assembled.
It's nice. It's easily my favorite-looking belt in a long time, with a simple design that reminds one of a couple older belts. The different Rider emblems around the center are awesome. But then, of course they are, because I thought of it! (Okay, sorta.)
The side green-red-blue circles are just for show, all the lights and sound come from the white part of the buckle. On a side note, I like how the green-red-blue is almost like a visual nod to the side containers of Stronger's belt.
As for operating the thing, that's easy. Pull the sides apart and the center buckle swings up.
Insert one of the Rider cards with the bar code facing up and the card back facing out, push the sides of the outer buckle together, and...
There we are! You get 10 cards with the belt and all 10 make the unique sound effects of the 10 main Heisei era Riders. There are some LEDs in the center buckle which light up the symbol on the card back, in time to the sound effects. It's all a neat piece of design.
The voice of the belt was a bit goofy at first, but I've gotten used to it to the point where I can say I really like it.
Whilst in "standby" mode of course, there's also a repeating sound effect as it waits for you to push the sides in. I always like that.
Here's that center buckle again, with the emblems. I like the plastic "glass" partition covering the belt. Surprisingly, the cards stay in no problem and I haven't had any slide out the side, despite the fact that there's nothing really keeping them in there (which is good, as it doesn't muck up the cards with noticeable streaks. As a card collector, I pay attention to stuff like that!)
And the cards themselves. This is where I get to the catch. The catch is basically that if you want to get maximum value out of this belt, get ready to be buying a lot of toys this year, or find some way to make your own cards (as some have done) to get all the proper sounds. The Final Form Ride figures will be including those cards. And as for most of the others...
All the cards sold with the toys can be used with the Ganbaride Card Machine game, and all the cards sold from that (and other toys) can be used with the belt. There's a lot of interconnectivity (for lack of a better term) going on. This is all great if you have easy access to Ganbaride and the other toys; not so much if you don't. The good thing is, most of the cards used on the show will be sold with toys, like the Advent and Rouze cards of the past, there's a lot of ones just made specifically for the game/card collectors/etc. At current press time, there's no word of individual packs of cards though, but I wouldn't rule it out entirely as a possibility.
The cool thing about all this is, I've already gotten the belt to say some other things. "ATTACK RIDE" and "FINAL RIDE" using some cards from a Ganbaride machine, and with the cards sold with the vinyl "Legend Rider Series" figures...
Yep! As the videos have shown, the belt is capable of saying the names of all the old Riders, even Shin, ZO & J! It doesn't have their specific sound effects, and they do all have em. Rider 1 & 2's are even different from each other! But hey, I'd rather have something rather than nothing, so this is a nice bonus. The belt has the capacity to string together sound effects in different orders apparently, so I really hope it's got "BLACK ATTACK" and "KAMEN RIDERDERMAN" phrases in there somewhere.
As for the cards with the belt, they're all "KAMEN RIDE". You can tell what's what by on the card's back.
In terms of size... I think it's "big enough", but then I'm fortunate that I can squeeze into these with just a velcro cable tie or two on the back to hold the straps together, so that's never really been an issue. It's roughly the size of last year's belt, which I think looks bigger because of the side Fuestle boxes. There's nothing on the sides of this one, but room for the upcoming RideBooker weapon. If they came out with another Complete Selection adult-size belt, I'd love it to be this one, but I wouldn't plan on it just yet. Den-O's was a freak of nature (the fact that we got it, not the belt itself) and the soon-to-be-released Hibiki tuning form thingy is made possibly only by way of Figure-Ou magazine and a lot of loyal fans.
In other words, if you're at all thinking of picking this one up... I would. Just don't pay too much for it.
All in all, it's a great belt that does a lot of stuff, if you have the right cards. Amassing those will be the hard part, but there's plenty of time to do that, because now matter how long Decade lasts, Ganbaride probably won't be going away anytime soon.
***
Friday, January 02, 2009
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Late last year, Toei Hero Net (they of the rare, pricey exclusives) announced they would be selling a 1/1 replica of Kamen Rider BLACK's Henshin Belt, for the cool price of... ¥69,300. Ouch.
Now here's the thing... as far as I can tell, it's not electronic; it's a replica prop and accurate to the original in virtually every way, but that's it. No lights or sounds. It comes with a... replica of BLACK's waist? I think, to display it on. But it's not like the Complete Selection line (which are sold on a much wider scale.) This isn't the first time Toei Hero Net's done this, although it's the first time I've been in the position to actually buy one. But of course, I'm iffy.
I like BLACK a heck of a lot, but that much for a belt which basically just sits there and looks cool... hmmm, dunno. And I'm usually not one of those people who complains about shelling out for stuff which, arguably, doesn't do much more than sit there and look cool. Were it an earlier Rider, I might be slightly more inclined; were it X-Rider or Skyrider, I'd probably jump on it instantly, cuz how often are you gonna see a full-size (or any size) belt for them? At least the original Typhoon's got a lot of nice representations, and I suspect some day we'll get a Complete Selection Double Typhoon, if there's the interest. But as for this, well, even I have my limits...
...of course, they still go pretty far, as the below item will prove:
Announced just a few days ago, this is pretty much my big purchase for 2009. I've got plenty of time to save up, since it comes out in June. But what is it?
It's Medicom's new Real Action Heroes RX Kamen Rider 1 (Old) ver. 3.5 & Cyclone. What a mouthful! Let's break it down.
I love the RAH figures, both the big guys and their smaller 220 counterparts. They're pricey, yes, but they're also more than worth it, in my opinion. I spent a good part of last year hunting down some of the ones I really wanted, usually at fairly good prices. I've gotten the mail-in exclusive system down pat, and am awaiting RAH Momotaros (okay, B!M Momo, same difference) and RAH Shadow Moon later this year. They're fun figures to mess around with, and they look great. And for me, that's all you really need sometimes.
In any case, Medicom has been on a "DX" binge the last few years, cycling out older figures (some of which now look positively archaic) and replacing them with much-improved upgrades. If you just concentrate on the Riders (who have been getting the bulk of the rehab) we're now expecting BLACK RX & Kuuga, the latter of which is actually all-new, only done before by subsidiary Time House. That's the big scale, and Stronger is next in the 220 size. Mail-ins have ranged from upgrades on past figures (Apollo Geist, Shadow Moon) to never-done-before(human forms for Amazon, Skyrider, etc.) I'm proud to say I've got 7 of the original 10 Riders in the DX big scale now; sadly, V3 & Riderman (the two I don't have, along with Stronger) tend to go for big bucks. Time to save...
Amidst all this, they keep going back to do the original "old" version of Rider 1. Why? Well, in addition to the fact that even the original DX Kamen Rider 1 (Old) figure is starting to date, apparently somebody wants there to be a figure of every possible variation on the original suit (and there are a lot, let me tell you.) Not that I'm complaining. So here we are, at version 3.5. I passed on 2.0 when he came out because 1) didn't have the cash at the time, and 2) the RAH220 DX one is based on him anyway. Then 3.0 came out last year, and being a big improvement over the original DX figure and 2.0, that was a definite-pick up.
Now we've got 3.5, an improvement on 3.0. By itself, I'd probably say "Looks cool, but I can pass. 3.0's still good" BUT, this one's got a secret weapon.
The Cyclone. This would be, as far as I know, the first official Medicom-produced Rider Machine yet. I know there have been "unlicensed" versions produced by third-party companies of varying degrees of legitimacy. Cyclone, New Cyclone, Hurricane, and I'm pretty sure Battle Hopper. But here we have a RAH-sized Cyclone coming from Medicom themselves. And it looks incredible. The figure's made especially to make riding poses easier, and will come with the necessary handle bar-gripping hands. And that's pretty rad.
So yeah. This will be my late birthday present to myself I think. They're already up for pre-order on Amazon, but some other online places (in Japan) are putting an incredible discount on this one (like over $100!) so I'll be shopping around a bit for options. But yes, this is a must-get item for me. Between this and the upcoming S.I.C. Rider 1/Cyclone based on THE FIRST, this looks to be a good year for Rider 1 fans... of which I am a BIG one.
***
Now here's the thing... as far as I can tell, it's not electronic; it's a replica prop and accurate to the original in virtually every way, but that's it. No lights or sounds. It comes with a... replica of BLACK's waist? I think, to display it on. But it's not like the Complete Selection line (which are sold on a much wider scale.) This isn't the first time Toei Hero Net's done this, although it's the first time I've been in the position to actually buy one. But of course, I'm iffy.
I like BLACK a heck of a lot, but that much for a belt which basically just sits there and looks cool... hmmm, dunno. And I'm usually not one of those people who complains about shelling out for stuff which, arguably, doesn't do much more than sit there and look cool. Were it an earlier Rider, I might be slightly more inclined; were it X-Rider or Skyrider, I'd probably jump on it instantly, cuz how often are you gonna see a full-size (or any size) belt for them? At least the original Typhoon's got a lot of nice representations, and I suspect some day we'll get a Complete Selection Double Typhoon, if there's the interest. But as for this, well, even I have my limits...
...of course, they still go pretty far, as the below item will prove:
Announced just a few days ago, this is pretty much my big purchase for 2009. I've got plenty of time to save up, since it comes out in June. But what is it?
It's Medicom's new Real Action Heroes RX Kamen Rider 1 (Old) ver. 3.5 & Cyclone. What a mouthful! Let's break it down.
I love the RAH figures, both the big guys and their smaller 220 counterparts. They're pricey, yes, but they're also more than worth it, in my opinion. I spent a good part of last year hunting down some of the ones I really wanted, usually at fairly good prices. I've gotten the mail-in exclusive system down pat, and am awaiting RAH Momotaros (okay, B!M Momo, same difference) and RAH Shadow Moon later this year. They're fun figures to mess around with, and they look great. And for me, that's all you really need sometimes.
In any case, Medicom has been on a "DX" binge the last few years, cycling out older figures (some of which now look positively archaic) and replacing them with much-improved upgrades. If you just concentrate on the Riders (who have been getting the bulk of the rehab) we're now expecting BLACK RX & Kuuga, the latter of which is actually all-new, only done before by subsidiary Time House. That's the big scale, and Stronger is next in the 220 size. Mail-ins have ranged from upgrades on past figures (Apollo Geist, Shadow Moon) to never-done-before(human forms for Amazon, Skyrider, etc.) I'm proud to say I've got 7 of the original 10 Riders in the DX big scale now; sadly, V3 & Riderman (the two I don't have, along with Stronger) tend to go for big bucks. Time to save...
Amidst all this, they keep going back to do the original "old" version of Rider 1. Why? Well, in addition to the fact that even the original DX Kamen Rider 1 (Old) figure is starting to date, apparently somebody wants there to be a figure of every possible variation on the original suit (and there are a lot, let me tell you.) Not that I'm complaining. So here we are, at version 3.5. I passed on 2.0 when he came out because 1) didn't have the cash at the time, and 2) the RAH220 DX one is based on him anyway. Then 3.0 came out last year, and being a big improvement over the original DX figure and 2.0, that was a definite-pick up.
Now we've got 3.5, an improvement on 3.0. By itself, I'd probably say "Looks cool, but I can pass. 3.0's still good" BUT, this one's got a secret weapon.
The Cyclone. This would be, as far as I know, the first official Medicom-produced Rider Machine yet. I know there have been "unlicensed" versions produced by third-party companies of varying degrees of legitimacy. Cyclone, New Cyclone, Hurricane, and I'm pretty sure Battle Hopper. But here we have a RAH-sized Cyclone coming from Medicom themselves. And it looks incredible. The figure's made especially to make riding poses easier, and will come with the necessary handle bar-gripping hands. And that's pretty rad.
So yeah. This will be my late birthday present to myself I think. They're already up for pre-order on Amazon, but some other online places (in Japan) are putting an incredible discount on this one (like over $100!) so I'll be shopping around a bit for options. But yes, this is a must-get item for me. Between this and the upcoming S.I.C. Rider 1/Cyclone based on THE FIRST, this looks to be a good year for Rider 1 fans... of which I am a BIG one.
***
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Some Bad News, Some Good News
So major publisher Kodansha will be cutting a few publications in the coming months, and one of them is Magazine Z.
That is, for the uninitiated, the monthly comics magazine that features Kamen Rider Spirits. Needless to say, I'm a little concerned about this.
Before anyone starts up an ill-fated internet petition (which will most likely be in English and thus pretty useless in this case) or vows to "fly to Japan and protest outside Toei" (which they'll never actually do, and again, would be pretty useless in this case since Toei has nothing to do with this)... some searching around has yielded further news: Spirits will almost certainly just be moved to another magazine.
It's proven to be a big seller in collected form, and at 8+ years strong, it's become one of the magazine's flagship comics. And in a 'zine that's got a Gundam-related comic, that's saying a lot. So I wouldn't worry, although where it's going and what this means for its future lifespan is yet to be known. Without giving too much away, the story is currently at a point where it couldn't just end tomorrow; there's at least another year or two's worth of material to get through. I'm hoping that, wherever it ends up, it'll be able to run its course to the end, cuz I'm not kidding when I say I've enjoyed Spirits more than should be legally possible. It's like it's been written just for me sometimes!
Magazine Z ceases publication after its January 2009 issue, so it's still a ways off, and who knows what could happen between now and then. The magazine also carried the Ultraman re-imagining Ultraman Story 0, although that's since ended or moved elsewhere, cuz it ain't there now. To be honest, I stopped paying attention to that one- Seven turns into a guy that ain't Dan, and that usually is the point where I decide it's just not for me.
And now some slightly better news:
Add another thing to the January 2009 release list: S Replica Kamen Rider Belt Tribute Wave 3! Wait, what? In case you hadn't followed them, the previous two waves featured miniature replicas of the original 7 Riders' belts, and then those from the Skyrider~Roborider/Biorider days. They're not big enough to wear (except around your wrist, watch-style) but they're cool as hell, highly-detailed and fun to tinker with. Because they spare no expense with these. They feel like a high-quality replica (albeit miniaturized) and they're like, a couple bucks each. Not bad.
Wave 3 features the belts of some Heisei-era Riders, although interestingly not in complete, uniform order. Instead, we get at least one from each series between Kuuga and Hibiki, but not always the starring Rider's belt. Relax, there will almost certainly be future waves, so you'll get your mini Kabuto Zecter, etc. The belt line-up this time:
-Kuuga's (Mighty Form)
-Kuuga's again (Ultimate Form)
-G3's
-Ryuki's
-Faiz's
-Delta's
-Garren's
-Zanki's
Plus a secret one. If it's anything like the last two secret ones (Rider 1's "new" version belt with the glass cover over the fan, and Ambassador Hell's personalized Shocker Belt) it'll be hard as hell to get and drive me nuts because I'll really, really, really, really want it. Or maybe it'll just be like, G4's belt. I could live without that one.
***
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Review: SIC Den-O Sword Form & Momotaros Imagin
The following review is free of any "Climax"-related jokes. Honest.
So here they are, literally minutes after being freed from their plastic & twisty-tie prison, it's S.I.C. Volume 42: Kamen Rider Den-O Sword Form & Momotaros Imagin in all their plastic and metal glory.
As most know by know we're going to be in for a flood of Den-O-related S.I.C. figures in the near future, with a Gun Form/Ryuutaros two-pack coming our way in September. Rod Form & Axe Form (also in a two-pack, currently "Limited" and only through third-party sellers online here in Japan) are due as well, and Zeronos has recently been confirmed. The latter will doubtless feature Deneb in some shape or form. And even though there's been no word about them, Urataros & Kintaros have to be made in some capacity. I mean come on. It's the Imagin; they'll find a way to do them all. If not in general release form than at least exclusives. It'll happen some day, trust me. And beyond that... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
Obviously, the biggest, most important S.I.C. release of 2008 (and possibly all time) that I was waiting for already happened back in early June, but that's for another long-overdue review. This set, which I also greatly anticipated, just hit shelves this past weekend, and as is fairly normal for S.I.C. releases lately, it does not disappoint.
I'm not going to dwell very long on the politics surrounding Den-O lately other than to say that yes, Den-O is still extremely popular, and yes, there will be a lot more Den-O stuff in the foreseeable future, so either eat it up or just try to deal with it. However, I don't think the release of this set necessarily has anything to do with any of that; apart from how quickly we got it (compared to how long Blade fans had to wait for their S.I.C. figures, or more recently, how long X-Rider fans have had to wait!) Den-O & company would have gotten the S.I.C. treatment sooner or later; the fact that it happened in the same year that the show ended ain't too bad (but isn't entirely unprecedented either.) And no, I'm not going to comment on the possibility of a third movie right now other than to say I've read and seen things... good things...
S.I.C. figures have gotten to the point where if you "get" the basic deal with them, they invariably all turn out pretty awesome. What I mean is, if you can overlook the stylistic changes being made to the characters. For more show-accurate versions, there's things like the Project B!M figures and to a degree Sôchaku-Henshin & FiguArts, but with these guys, there is always a certain degree of artistic license taken. At the least, it means they lean more towards their comic or production art designs, but with the sensibilities of a real 3D costume over a 2D drawing. At the most, it means they look like they've been put through a blender, set on fire, punched in the face repeatedly, etc., but somehow still come out looking like who they should. Mostly.
In this case, we have Sword Form looking a bit grittier and rougher than the more fantastical look of the real deal. This is a Den-O with visible rivets and intricate etching, looking more like a handcrafted suit in places and yet still resembling the actual costume where it counts. I mean, you can tell who it is no problem, and all the key elements are still there. One thing I discovered just now (literally as a I type this) is that he's even a bit asymmetrical; the wrist armor is slightly different on one arm. Huh. Momotaros on the other hand pretty much looks like Momotaros, with the main difference being that he appears a bit meaner and tougher-looking. Maybe it's just the shorter horns and rounder head, but at the end of the day he still looks like you'll expect him to look.
There's some neat new details that only S.I.C. would try to get away with. The clear flip-down pads on Sword Form's legs covering the "thigh armor" are a cool idea and an easy way to keep secure parts which would otherwise probably fall off somehow. Momotaros has a lot of semi-translucent red plastic being used for his "armor", and it looks great.
Highly poseable, the joint system for these guys makes use of the innovations seen with the recent S.I.C. Agito & Machine Tornader. The swappable hands plug in and out of the wrist sockets with ease, and all the other joints on my samples are tight and sturdy. And there's so much going on with just the feet and legs that standing shouldn't be a problem, and they can do pretty much all the important poses you'd want them to do. I currently have Den-O doing the "Ore Sanjou!" pose, and Momo with his big sword resting on one shoulder.
As for the accessories, well... S.I.C. figures have always scored high in this area, even back when they were just mostly unmoving statues. So there's plenty to mess around with here. The crown jewel of the set has to be the Den-Gassher, which as the early pics showed is assembled from the various parts (which can be stored on the sides of the belt) to make the all-important sword. There's even a detachable blade so it can either have the big red blade (which detaches when used for the famous killing moves) or the smaller silver one seen when the Gassher is in pieces and stored on the belt.
And yes, the parts can be arranged to make the Rod Mode & Axe Mode of the weapon, or at least how they appear before they magically change size and all that. Gun Mode also works, sorta, although the diagonally-positioned handle doesn't really have a clean place to plug into. I guess if you messed about with it you could come up with something, but I'm thinking that when Gun Form comes out the pieces for the Den-Gassher will be slightly retooled.
There's also a Rider Pass, extra parts to turn Sword Form into Plat Form, and for Momo, his beloved coffee mug & saucer (with one of Naomi's special concoctions, natch) as well as his own big 'ol sword, known apparently as the Momotarosword. Haha.
Of course, a late-breaking bit of news concerning this set was that Bandai would also include a diecast version of the sword, and sure enough, they did. I believe this is an offer limited only to the original production run of figures, so chances are if you want to get these guys in a few years, they might not include the metal sword, so if you think you want them, get 'em now and play it safe. The unpainted sword comes in its own package with an S.I.C. 2008 catalogue showing a few of the other upcoming goodies (re-releases or otherwise) for the remainder of the year.
Lastly, there's the requisite bunch of extra hands. You get all the essentials (closed fists, open, gripping) plus some neat specific ones such as a thumb's up for Sword Form (it's for pointing at himself for the "Ore Sanjou!" pose, of course.) And Momotaros has a great one for daintily drinking his coffee like the big lovable lug that he is.
So all in all, a pretty good set and a clear sign of things to come, since the next few S.I.C. releases that aren't Classics will be 1) from Den-O and 2) based off of what we've seen here. Given the show's overwhelming popularity in Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if we see most, if not all of the Den-O & related Riders made. At least, I'm positive we must be getting a Nega Den-O/Negataros set some day, probably as a pricey exclusive. But then, being where I am, I can now get most of the pricey exclusives, so I ain't complaining!
I could list off people I'd recommend this too, but you know what? Chances are, if you're reading this, you've either already got the set or have it coming in the mail. For the rest of you who hate Den-O, well... that X-Rider/Apollo Geist Set? I like it even more. No surprise there, though.
More cheap quick photos taken at my desk:
***
So here they are, literally minutes after being freed from their plastic & twisty-tie prison, it's S.I.C. Volume 42: Kamen Rider Den-O Sword Form & Momotaros Imagin in all their plastic and metal glory.
As most know by know we're going to be in for a flood of Den-O-related S.I.C. figures in the near future, with a Gun Form/Ryuutaros two-pack coming our way in September. Rod Form & Axe Form (also in a two-pack, currently "Limited" and only through third-party sellers online here in Japan) are due as well, and Zeronos has recently been confirmed. The latter will doubtless feature Deneb in some shape or form. And even though there's been no word about them, Urataros & Kintaros have to be made in some capacity. I mean come on. It's the Imagin; they'll find a way to do them all. If not in general release form than at least exclusives. It'll happen some day, trust me. And beyond that... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
Obviously, the biggest, most important S.I.C. release of 2008 (and possibly all time) that I was waiting for already happened back in early June, but that's for another long-overdue review. This set, which I also greatly anticipated, just hit shelves this past weekend, and as is fairly normal for S.I.C. releases lately, it does not disappoint.
I'm not going to dwell very long on the politics surrounding Den-O lately other than to say that yes, Den-O is still extremely popular, and yes, there will be a lot more Den-O stuff in the foreseeable future, so either eat it up or just try to deal with it. However, I don't think the release of this set necessarily has anything to do with any of that; apart from how quickly we got it (compared to how long Blade fans had to wait for their S.I.C. figures, or more recently, how long X-Rider fans have had to wait!) Den-O & company would have gotten the S.I.C. treatment sooner or later; the fact that it happened in the same year that the show ended ain't too bad (but isn't entirely unprecedented either.) And no, I'm not going to comment on the possibility of a third movie right now other than to say I've read and seen things... good things...
S.I.C. figures have gotten to the point where if you "get" the basic deal with them, they invariably all turn out pretty awesome. What I mean is, if you can overlook the stylistic changes being made to the characters. For more show-accurate versions, there's things like the Project B!M figures and to a degree Sôchaku-Henshin & FiguArts, but with these guys, there is always a certain degree of artistic license taken. At the least, it means they lean more towards their comic or production art designs, but with the sensibilities of a real 3D costume over a 2D drawing. At the most, it means they look like they've been put through a blender, set on fire, punched in the face repeatedly, etc., but somehow still come out looking like who they should. Mostly.
In this case, we have Sword Form looking a bit grittier and rougher than the more fantastical look of the real deal. This is a Den-O with visible rivets and intricate etching, looking more like a handcrafted suit in places and yet still resembling the actual costume where it counts. I mean, you can tell who it is no problem, and all the key elements are still there. One thing I discovered just now (literally as a I type this) is that he's even a bit asymmetrical; the wrist armor is slightly different on one arm. Huh. Momotaros on the other hand pretty much looks like Momotaros, with the main difference being that he appears a bit meaner and tougher-looking. Maybe it's just the shorter horns and rounder head, but at the end of the day he still looks like you'll expect him to look.
There's some neat new details that only S.I.C. would try to get away with. The clear flip-down pads on Sword Form's legs covering the "thigh armor" are a cool idea and an easy way to keep secure parts which would otherwise probably fall off somehow. Momotaros has a lot of semi-translucent red plastic being used for his "armor", and it looks great.
Highly poseable, the joint system for these guys makes use of the innovations seen with the recent S.I.C. Agito & Machine Tornader. The swappable hands plug in and out of the wrist sockets with ease, and all the other joints on my samples are tight and sturdy. And there's so much going on with just the feet and legs that standing shouldn't be a problem, and they can do pretty much all the important poses you'd want them to do. I currently have Den-O doing the "Ore Sanjou!" pose, and Momo with his big sword resting on one shoulder.
As for the accessories, well... S.I.C. figures have always scored high in this area, even back when they were just mostly unmoving statues. So there's plenty to mess around with here. The crown jewel of the set has to be the Den-Gassher, which as the early pics showed is assembled from the various parts (which can be stored on the sides of the belt) to make the all-important sword. There's even a detachable blade so it can either have the big red blade (which detaches when used for the famous killing moves) or the smaller silver one seen when the Gassher is in pieces and stored on the belt.
And yes, the parts can be arranged to make the Rod Mode & Axe Mode of the weapon, or at least how they appear before they magically change size and all that. Gun Mode also works, sorta, although the diagonally-positioned handle doesn't really have a clean place to plug into. I guess if you messed about with it you could come up with something, but I'm thinking that when Gun Form comes out the pieces for the Den-Gassher will be slightly retooled.
There's also a Rider Pass, extra parts to turn Sword Form into Plat Form, and for Momo, his beloved coffee mug & saucer (with one of Naomi's special concoctions, natch) as well as his own big 'ol sword, known apparently as the Momotarosword. Haha.
Of course, a late-breaking bit of news concerning this set was that Bandai would also include a diecast version of the sword, and sure enough, they did. I believe this is an offer limited only to the original production run of figures, so chances are if you want to get these guys in a few years, they might not include the metal sword, so if you think you want them, get 'em now and play it safe. The unpainted sword comes in its own package with an S.I.C. 2008 catalogue showing a few of the other upcoming goodies (re-releases or otherwise) for the remainder of the year.
Lastly, there's the requisite bunch of extra hands. You get all the essentials (closed fists, open, gripping) plus some neat specific ones such as a thumb's up for Sword Form (it's for pointing at himself for the "Ore Sanjou!" pose, of course.) And Momotaros has a great one for daintily drinking his coffee like the big lovable lug that he is.
So all in all, a pretty good set and a clear sign of things to come, since the next few S.I.C. releases that aren't Classics will be 1) from Den-O and 2) based off of what we've seen here. Given the show's overwhelming popularity in Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if we see most, if not all of the Den-O & related Riders made. At least, I'm positive we must be getting a Nega Den-O/Negataros set some day, probably as a pricey exclusive. But then, being where I am, I can now get most of the pricey exclusives, so I ain't complaining!
I could list off people I'd recommend this too, but you know what? Chances are, if you're reading this, you've either already got the set or have it coming in the mail. For the rest of you who hate Den-O, well... that X-Rider/Apollo Geist Set? I like it even more. No surprise there, though.
More cheap quick photos taken at my desk:
***
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Review: Kamen Rider Kiva Sticker Book
Kamen Rider Kiva: Cutting Evil Up, A Warrior of Justice!With 101 Stickers! It says so on the cover!
The big hardboard sticker books are pretty much a requisite of any children's series in Japan; there are a ton of these things! This, the 146th volume in the current series, features plenty of nice big photos of Kiva himself. As this is put out by the people who make Terebi Magazine, and was released prior to the series, there's nothing in here we haven't seen before, but if you want the Kiva material from Terebi without everything else, this is as close as it gets. You also get 101 stickers, which is the real buying point (I'm a sticker fiend.)
There's some shiny foil ones for putting in the book itself (in a "complete the picture" kind of way) and the rest are divided up between useful ones (i.e. name tags or daily reminders) or just for fun. All the pictures are of Kiva (Kiva Form), Kivat-Bat, the first two Fuestles, and the Machine Kivaa. Again, nothing ground-breaking, but there will almost certainly be future volumes, including another eventual all-Riders edition (which are always the best, cuz nothing beats Kabuto reminding you to eat or professional high school dropout Den-O reminding you to do your homework!)
It's a worthwhile purchase if you're trying to kickstart a Kiva collection and want a nice cheap book that covers the basics. You can pick it up on Amazon.jp here.
***
Monday, February 04, 2008
Rider Merchandise Watch, 2/3/08~2/9/08
It's pretty simple this week. There's basically one new thing coming out which you'll want to know about. This:
Well okay, RHKV02 Kamen Rider Kiva (Garulu Form) comes out this week too. But the belt is the really big news. I'll be getting one to review at some point or another.
Edit: By the time you're probably reading this, it's already come out. Well, back when I originally wrote this, it wasn't! It was a different world then, with less talking bats.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Review: RHKV 01 Kamen Rider Kiva
RHKV 01 Kamen Rider KivaKiva Form to you, buddy.
Essentially the very first Kamen Rider Kiva toy released (with the punching bag thingy, an SD "Rider Kids" finger puppet and the H.G.C.O.R.E. versions soon to follow) and but a day or two before the series began. It's your standard-issues "Rider Hero Series" figure. He moves at the arms and the waist, and that's about it. But he looks pretty cool. The details (like the chains) are well-executed and as is usually the case with these things, he looks like what he's supposed to look like.
Paint is good, although minimal around the belt, but seeing as how "improved" (re: exclusive) versions of these figures pop up all the time now, it's not like a better one won't come along if you're reall picky about it. The RHS line is basically there to give kids a version of the character that they can throw through the air and slam into the wall again and again and survive (more or less) for many moons to come.
As with the Den-O figures, Bandai wisely chose to give him closed hands. While I'd prefer it that they include weapons with the figures (like in the glory days of Kuuga/Agito), it's better to have closed fists than open hands with no weapons I guess, or make sure you're coming out with a line about the same size that does have weapons (Faiz's ill-fated SRHS or Kabuto's C.O.R. figures.)
The packaging, with its liberal use of oranger and black, reminds me of a Halloween decoration (which is probably the idea) and the silver "webbing" used in the corners looks cool.
In short, if you're a Kiva fan, can't wait until March (when the poseable one with the shiny armor comes out) or live in a sad world where you can't see how great Gachapon is, you'll probably want this. If you're like me though (where the first two apply, but the third is like saying you hate life itself) then you'll want to pick this up too, it should be easy to get ahold of for the remainder of the year.
***
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Review: KR Kabuto Super Complete Works
On account of burnout from that massive last post, and a lack of actual new stuff this week (it all comes next week, or has been delayed; literally, two or three things I was waiting to get this week were delayed until the end of January or next month), I'll skip the usual merchandise news stuff this week. Don't worry, there's plenty to talk about next week, including the first Kiva toys. In the meantime, here's a book you might want to check out absolutely must buy if you're a Kabuto fan.
Kamen Rider Kabuto "Super Complete Works"
The book that stands at the top of all others
This book has everything! Everything! Tons of color photos of nearly everything that was in the series? Check. A comprehensive episode guide that includes the movie and Hyper Battle Video? Check. Recreations of Hiyori's drawings that eventually just sort of got forgotten about after a while? Check.
As with previous "Super Complete Works" (I'm sure there's a better way of translating it, but I'm lazy so feh) the people at Terebi-Kun really did their homework for this one. It almost puts the books Terebi-Magazine does to shame, because while those guides (which tend to focus more on multiple series and are considerably thicker) are stuffed with even more photos, the sheer amount of information in these is staggering. If it had a name, this book has it in there somewhere.
One especially nice thing about the Kabuto edition is that it's all in one book. Whereas in previous years we had the series spread out over two volumes or even three (as Den-O is doing) they wisely waited until long after the series was over to release this, making it the ultimate Kabuto guide book. It's about as comprehensive as it gets, covering the series, movie, characters, Rider equipment and powers, enemies, the whole lot. There's even sections on the mysteries of ZECT (including nice pictures of things only briefly glimpsed in the series, like the original Masked Rider System plans) and of course a complete guide of Tendô's grandmother's advice for life. There's also a cool illustration in the front attempting to recreate the Kabuto characters as Ishinomori might have drawn them, as tends to pop up in these things.
So what are you waiting for? If you're one of those crazy people who considers Kabuto the greatest Rider series in the entire history of forever despite having never seen any of the others, this book's for you. And if you just liked the show a whole lot, this book's also for you. Even if you just liked it a little, this book might still be for you. And if you hated Kabuto... well, they do make these for other series, so pick you favorite and hope somebody still sells it!
***
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Review: RS Rider Expansion Belt Collection Box
Rangers Strike: The Masked Rider Expansion "Belt Collection" BoxIt's big, bold and mostly black.
Don't ask me how, but through some miraculous turn of events, the Sentai-themed TCG (or maybe it's CCG, I'm not an expert in these things!) Rangers Strike has managed to do the impossible and not only get out several waves but also launch an entire Rider-related expansion which itself just got a second wave. And on top of all that, it's still around! I say this because generally, Rider-themed card games tend to come and go on a whim; remember Rider's Legend? The Kamen Rider vs. Shocker one that was GREAT but nobody knew about it? And the annual series-based ones we now have which, while popular enough, generally are forgotten about by the time the show is over and done with. And they're usually only collected for the cards themselves rather than the game (show of hands: how many people actually learned to play the game they made up for the Rider Tickets last year?)
I wouldn't necessarily say that there is some sort of curse on Kamen Rider where it can never have a long-running card game to go with it, but it is refreshing to see that for once, it doesn't look like it'll be going anywhere any time soon. This is probably due in large part to the fact that even if you don't care about the game aspect of the cards, they look great thanks to a wide variety of talented people doing the artwork. Rangers Strike, and especially the expansion set, have proven popular enough for Bandai to come up with this little number. It's basically a big ol' black box which contains the following:
Well okay, there's a bit more than that. Basically, you get a binder, ten 9-card clear sleeves to put in it, a box for your deck (or in my case, extras) and 40 stylized sleeves to protect the cards you use if you play the game (or for the rest of us, to protect the cards you don't have any other room for!) You also get 18 special cards that are included with this set only, and which I will be scanning the heck out of for use on the site some day (you'll know them when you see them.) They're basically where the "Belt" part of the name comes into it. So basically, this set appeals to both those who want to collect the cards to play the game and those who simply want to collect the cards and have something nice to put them in.
Speaking of collecting the cards, I also picked up a Starter Set and a box of booster packs, and you know, I think it's almost next to impossible to collect all of these without going totally insane. It doesn't help that the number of "rare" cards almost rivals the amount of normal cards, and since it is a game, you tend to get extras quite often since, hey, you can use those extras in the game. If you're just collecting the cards to get 1 of every one though, get ready to hurt. Also, a booster pack has 6 cards. 6! Compared to other card sets (Like the Kamen Rider THE FIRST/THE NEXT Complete Collection with 10 card to a pack) it's tough to get 'em all. But you know what? They look really, really cool. And sometimes that's all that matters.
Although all told, I did manage to end up with all the regulars, a couple of the rare ones (including a very shiny Hasami-Jaguar!) and a ton of extras to be given away in the next contest or something. So it's not as bad as it sounds. But I do hope they up the number of cards-per-pack to offset the cost or something next time.
As for the Belt Collection Box itself, if you like anything Rangers Strike-related, it's a must-have. Unfortunately, Amazon.jp (where I got mine) won't ship it outside of the country, so by all means, if anybody knows where folks outside of Japan can get it, let us know!
***
Friday, November 09, 2007
Review: H.G.C.O.R.E. Kamen Rider Part 4
And to finish off the H.G.C.O.R.E. reviews (for now) it's Part 4, which saw release just last month, prior to Kamen Rider THE NEXT hitting theaters. Speaking of which, slight spoilers for that movie contained in the review below.
***
High Grade Collectionfigure Of Real Entertainment: Kamen Rider Part 4
Hey, wasn't V3 in the last one?
There's this strange thing about me and the "revamp" movies Kamen Rider THE FIRST and Kamen Rider THE NEXT: so little stuff related to them comes out (at first) that I find myself getting excited about everything. I mean, under normal circumstances, an expensive Kamen Rider USB flashdrive that has Kabuto's face on it is something I'd probably skip over. But put the Shocker emblem or TRC logo on that sucker, and I'm sold. As a result, anything with the FIRSTy/NEXTy logo on it just demands my attention. This *may* have something to do with the fact that the movies are about a bunch of guys call Rider 1, Rider 2, and V3 (or at least modernized ciphers of them), but I digress. Onto the review!
Kamen Rider V3 (THE NEXT version)
Aside from like, a theater exclusive V3 stamp figure that you could get if you bought an advance ticket (and even then, you got it at the theater when the movie came out), I'm pretty sure this set had the first real Kamen Rider THE NEXT-related figures released. A big deal was made out of this fact: not only do NEXTy characters make up half the set (or more than half if you count the variations), the whole thing is given the subtitle "Kamen Rider V3 Reborn". So fittingly enough, the big V to the 3 is here, and
he compares favorably to his old TV self from the last set.
If you've read any of the other C.O.R.E. reviews, you know by now that really great detailing and clear eye parts on the Riders are pretty much standard issue with these figures, so I won't get too deep into that other than to say that this is one nice V3, although I'm sure we'll see another (Gallery or Rider Kicking) soon enough. As it is though, it's a pretty good one. The pose is yet again a throwback to that of the original High Grader series Part 1's V3, albeit more dynamic now with those seperately-sculpted scarves.
Those green scarves! Yes, looking at this figure really brings out a lot of the color and stylistic differences to the original V3. The lower half of his mask is silver (the original's ranged from white to grey at various points in the series.) His gloves are yellowish-gold, Shocker Rider-style, and not white. His suit's more of an olive drab than the solid green of the original. And we can see his neck and hair. As with the updated Rider 1 & 2 costumes from the movies, I prefer the TV series originals, but the revamps are still pretty freakin' awesome, so no complaints there. All told, V3 2007 looks sweet.
He's got the little Shocker emblems on his back and gloves too. Cuz, you know, V3 starts out on the opposing team this time.
I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of V3 in the coming year, but if you have to get at least one figure of the new spin on the big green guy, this is a pretty good one to get.
Kamen Rider Den-O (Liner Form)
Bandai's just tearing through those Den-O forms, isn't it? We get not one, but two all-new forms this time around, both of which are conceptually similar but quite unique from a design standpoint. Liner Form is... well, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It's sort of less cohesive with the other designs as Climax Form is, but it looks a bit more well-planned. As opposed to just being like "Okay, this goes here, that goes there, and we put one of those right there."
I'm sure the upcoming Sôchaku-Henshin figure will change my opinion a great deal (they always do), but for the moment I have to say this is a pretty good figure for the big red one. Yes, it skims on the paint, and it's a lot more blatant here than on other figures. His belt phone thingy is unpainted, and the big crazy sword thing could use some touching up. But then again, it is just a Gachapon figure, and none but the most absolutely picky of fans should expect perfection when it comes to paint. Also, I like getting extras of HG figures and paintin' them up (or "super-detailing" as I tend to say) so no harm done.
He comes with an extra open hand to switch around with the sword-wielding one. As a result, you can make it appear as though he's surfing (and honestly, the above V3 kind of looks like he could be surfing too.) The clear parts used on the eyes work well enough. The Den-Gasher parts on his belt are removable, and curiously are different than what we've seen with past Den-O figures (they're much smaller, and painted.)
Other than that, there isn't much to say, but (as the alternate ad shows) if you're not buying this for the movie guys, then this is the figure to get excited about this time. Because it is after all this year's STRONGEST FORM EVER!!!1!!1!11one
Kamen Rider Den-O (Climax Form)
Den-O's mid-series upgrade. Known by a number of interesting nicknames which I won't reprint here (it is a family blog, after all), this guy combines the four basic forms into one big supa-dupa form that's still not as amazingly powerful as Liner Form, but not too shabby either. Plus, he has a nasty Rider Punch & Rider Kick, and those are always good things.
Like Liner Form, he's got the new, smaller Den-Gasher parts for his belt. He's got clear eye parts that do the job, and he's got a big red chunky phone on his belt.
The pose is pretty cool. It's not the most action-oriented one, but more like a "Come get some" taunting pose. I bet if you fudged around with it a bit, you could get him to hold some of the Action Pose figures' weapons.
The details are overall pretty spot-on. And this one actually outdoes Liner-Form in the paint department: nice to see somebody remembered Rod Form's eyes this time!
It's also as good a time as any to point out something I forgot in the C.O.R.E. Part 3 review. As of that set (not counting the Action Pose one) the figures all have holes in their feet. This will come into play in the upcoming H.G.C.O.R.E. EX Kamen Rider set, which I'll review at a later date. Like, when it finally comes out!
Chainsaw-Lizard (Without & With Chainsaw)
First off, you should know that there are two figures here. It's another "variation 1/2 assortment" thingy. You can either get the one on the left, or the one on the right. The only differense is the arms, they're both different for either figure. And yes, you can mix & match them!
Now onto the figure itself, which is of course representing the psychotic chainsaw-wielding villainess from Kamen Rider THE NEXT. If you read my review of the film, you probably gathered two things. 1) I like Chainsaw-Lizard and 2) I was rather disappointed that, along with Scissors-Jaguar, she was not responsible for the film's gorier killings. I suppose the reason for this is it makes her character a bit more accessible since kids will now doubt be adding figures of her to their collections, but then again this is a character whose first scene is her and a bunch of other guys standing around wearing very little (and by very little I mean creepy monster helmets and not much more) and later extols upon the audience how killing people really gets her off. Ummm... yeah. So I'm not sure what the deal is exactly, but the point remains that I like Chainsaw-Lizard, even if she wasn't used the way I would have used her (here's a hint: in a movie that has a lot of very violent and bloody deaths, doesn't it sort of, you know, make sense if they're committed by people who have chainsaws and giant blades for hands?)
But onto the figure at hand... whoa. An update of classic V3 villainess Nokogiri-Tokage, I have to say that, along with Scissors-Jaguar '07, I really like the costume. She's slinky, deadly, and decked out in leather, metal, and Shocker paraphernalia. Her "hair" (a bunch of chains shaped into a braid) that comes out the back of her head is really well done, and making it a seperate part paid off. I can't really make up my mind about the paint. While there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of it, based on the film and photos of the character, she isn't incredibly colorful anyway, so it does the job.
Both versions are quite neat. I like the chainsaw one just a bit more because, as mentioned in my review, I like the idea of monsters with chainsaws, because it's such an imposing weapon that it automatically makes whoever's going up them look 1000% cooler (and at least 5000% more doomed) than usual. Also, Bandai did a nice job on the chainsaw arm. All that's missing is the "SHOCKERS" inscription on the side!
And then there's the boots. I once described Chainsaw-Lizard's boots as being able to "kill the sidewalk". And indeed, I don't think it's possible for her to stand without the aid of a base (although I admit I haven't tried it yet.) Seriously, her heels alone are worthy of being considered a deadly weapon, and it's quite amusing to play "watch the boot change" during the movie (as with Kamen Rider Femme, where her heels magically appear and disappear depending on the scene.)
So yeah, this one's a winner. I'm hoping for a Scissors-Jaguar companion piece soon. And Shocker Riders! A whole buncha them hang around with the chainsaw-wielding one. Just no Chiharu please. I'll even take an Ouja Blank Form before her. And I don't often say that.
Gani-Koumoru
I talked about Bandai's seeming indecision about how to properly approach the Shocker Kaijin in a previous C.O.R.E. review. This time, they decided to just jump ahead and do the very first Gelshocker Kaijin (although we're back to Shocker next time.)
Not that I'm complaining. Gani-Koumoru here is known to Rider fans as being one of the biggest badasses of 1972. And that's a year that also introduced us to Jiro, a guy who could drive around on a bright yellow motorcycle with a bright red guitar and *still* manage to look like a stone-cold playa. The crabby bat guy here managed to hang around for 3 episodes (4 if you count the recap at the beginning of #81), go through 2 voice actors and famously had his final showdown with Rider 1 on Toei-favorite Sarushima, a place I've been to before and will talk all about in the future. So it was only natural that, at some point, he'd get a Gachapon figure.
And you know something? For such a colorful character, Bandai really managed to do him justice. The paintjob on this guy is top-notch, and the sculpting is something to write home about as well. Yes, he does look a bit like he's surfing (don't they all) but this one's a real winner. And in a set with new Den-O forms and new Rider movie characters, the fact that I can still get excited over a monster who made biplane noises when he flies just proves to me one thing: I really *am* the biggest Gelshocker fan there is.
Black Shôgun would be proud.
Kamen Rider (THE FIRST verion & THE NEXT version)
Seeing as how Kamen Rider THE NEXT is just as much about Rider 1 & 2 as it is about V3 (and sadly, at times it's more about Chiharu and her @#$%ed-up life than any of them), it's only fitting that we get a Rider 1 figure in this set. But what's this? We get not only the main main in his current, "Sakurajima Rider 1"-inspired threads, but the first version from Kamen Rider THE FIRST, both in "Gallery Form". So yes, it's another variant figure deal.
Looking at the two side-by-side, you can see just how much Rider 1's changed over the course of two years. The newer costume is darker and more beat-up. I like to think it's a result of him fighting a long, difficult battle against Shocker, but it's probably just due to him not taking the costume to the dry cleaner's (where's Takumi when you need him?) While the only real difference in the figures is the color (and clear plastic used for the eyes, pink or red), the current version has some extra "damage" detailing painted onto his helmet, and it looks pretty neato.
Not much else to say other than "Dude, it's a Rider 1, of course I'm going to like it." Hopefully we'll see Rider 2 (in both versions) follow suit soon enough.
***
And that's it for the reviews! I hope you've enjoyed reading them, because I sure enjoyed writing them (even if they take forever!)
Bonus:
The alternate ad/insert for this set, featuring Liner Form as the main selling point.
***
***
High Grade Collectionfigure Of Real Entertainment: Kamen Rider Part 4Hey, wasn't V3 in the last one?
There's this strange thing about me and the "revamp" movies Kamen Rider THE FIRST and Kamen Rider THE NEXT: so little stuff related to them comes out (at first) that I find myself getting excited about everything. I mean, under normal circumstances, an expensive Kamen Rider USB flashdrive that has Kabuto's face on it is something I'd probably skip over. But put the Shocker emblem or TRC logo on that sucker, and I'm sold. As a result, anything with the FIRSTy/NEXTy logo on it just demands my attention. This *may* have something to do with the fact that the movies are about a bunch of guys call Rider 1, Rider 2, and V3 (or at least modernized ciphers of them), but I digress. Onto the review!
Kamen Rider V3 (THE NEXT version)Aside from like, a theater exclusive V3 stamp figure that you could get if you bought an advance ticket (and even then, you got it at the theater when the movie came out), I'm pretty sure this set had the first real Kamen Rider THE NEXT-related figures released. A big deal was made out of this fact: not only do NEXTy characters make up half the set (or more than half if you count the variations), the whole thing is given the subtitle "Kamen Rider V3 Reborn". So fittingly enough, the big V to the 3 is here, and
he compares favorably to his old TV self from the last set.
If you've read any of the other C.O.R.E. reviews, you know by now that really great detailing and clear eye parts on the Riders are pretty much standard issue with these figures, so I won't get too deep into that other than to say that this is one nice V3, although I'm sure we'll see another (Gallery or Rider Kicking) soon enough. As it is though, it's a pretty good one. The pose is yet again a throwback to that of the original High Grader series Part 1's V3, albeit more dynamic now with those seperately-sculpted scarves.
Those green scarves! Yes, looking at this figure really brings out a lot of the color and stylistic differences to the original V3. The lower half of his mask is silver (the original's ranged from white to grey at various points in the series.) His gloves are yellowish-gold, Shocker Rider-style, and not white. His suit's more of an olive drab than the solid green of the original. And we can see his neck and hair. As with the updated Rider 1 & 2 costumes from the movies, I prefer the TV series originals, but the revamps are still pretty freakin' awesome, so no complaints there. All told, V3 2007 looks sweet.
He's got the little Shocker emblems on his back and gloves too. Cuz, you know, V3 starts out on the opposing team this time.
I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of V3 in the coming year, but if you have to get at least one figure of the new spin on the big green guy, this is a pretty good one to get.
Kamen Rider Den-O (Liner Form)Bandai's just tearing through those Den-O forms, isn't it? We get not one, but two all-new forms this time around, both of which are conceptually similar but quite unique from a design standpoint. Liner Form is... well, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It's sort of less cohesive with the other designs as Climax Form is, but it looks a bit more well-planned. As opposed to just being like "Okay, this goes here, that goes there, and we put one of those right there."
I'm sure the upcoming Sôchaku-Henshin figure will change my opinion a great deal (they always do), but for the moment I have to say this is a pretty good figure for the big red one. Yes, it skims on the paint, and it's a lot more blatant here than on other figures. His belt phone thingy is unpainted, and the big crazy sword thing could use some touching up. But then again, it is just a Gachapon figure, and none but the most absolutely picky of fans should expect perfection when it comes to paint. Also, I like getting extras of HG figures and paintin' them up (or "super-detailing" as I tend to say) so no harm done.
He comes with an extra open hand to switch around with the sword-wielding one. As a result, you can make it appear as though he's surfing (and honestly, the above V3 kind of looks like he could be surfing too.) The clear parts used on the eyes work well enough. The Den-Gasher parts on his belt are removable, and curiously are different than what we've seen with past Den-O figures (they're much smaller, and painted.)
Other than that, there isn't much to say, but (as the alternate ad shows) if you're not buying this for the movie guys, then this is the figure to get excited about this time. Because it is after all this year's STRONGEST FORM EVER!!!1!!1!11one
Kamen Rider Den-O (Climax Form)Den-O's mid-series upgrade. Known by a number of interesting nicknames which I won't reprint here (it is a family blog, after all), this guy combines the four basic forms into one big supa-dupa form that's still not as amazingly powerful as Liner Form, but not too shabby either. Plus, he has a nasty Rider Punch & Rider Kick, and those are always good things.
Like Liner Form, he's got the new, smaller Den-Gasher parts for his belt. He's got clear eye parts that do the job, and he's got a big red chunky phone on his belt.
The pose is pretty cool. It's not the most action-oriented one, but more like a "Come get some" taunting pose. I bet if you fudged around with it a bit, you could get him to hold some of the Action Pose figures' weapons.
The details are overall pretty spot-on. And this one actually outdoes Liner-Form in the paint department: nice to see somebody remembered Rod Form's eyes this time!
It's also as good a time as any to point out something I forgot in the C.O.R.E. Part 3 review. As of that set (not counting the Action Pose one) the figures all have holes in their feet. This will come into play in the upcoming H.G.C.O.R.E. EX Kamen Rider set, which I'll review at a later date. Like, when it finally comes out!
Chainsaw-Lizard (Without & With Chainsaw)First off, you should know that there are two figures here. It's another "variation 1/2 assortment" thingy. You can either get the one on the left, or the one on the right. The only differense is the arms, they're both different for either figure. And yes, you can mix & match them!
Now onto the figure itself, which is of course representing the psychotic chainsaw-wielding villainess from Kamen Rider THE NEXT. If you read my review of the film, you probably gathered two things. 1) I like Chainsaw-Lizard and 2) I was rather disappointed that, along with Scissors-Jaguar, she was not responsible for the film's gorier killings. I suppose the reason for this is it makes her character a bit more accessible since kids will now doubt be adding figures of her to their collections, but then again this is a character whose first scene is her and a bunch of other guys standing around wearing very little (and by very little I mean creepy monster helmets and not much more) and later extols upon the audience how killing people really gets her off. Ummm... yeah. So I'm not sure what the deal is exactly, but the point remains that I like Chainsaw-Lizard, even if she wasn't used the way I would have used her (here's a hint: in a movie that has a lot of very violent and bloody deaths, doesn't it sort of, you know, make sense if they're committed by people who have chainsaws and giant blades for hands?)
But onto the figure at hand... whoa. An update of classic V3 villainess Nokogiri-Tokage, I have to say that, along with Scissors-Jaguar '07, I really like the costume. She's slinky, deadly, and decked out in leather, metal, and Shocker paraphernalia. Her "hair" (a bunch of chains shaped into a braid) that comes out the back of her head is really well done, and making it a seperate part paid off. I can't really make up my mind about the paint. While there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of it, based on the film and photos of the character, she isn't incredibly colorful anyway, so it does the job.
Both versions are quite neat. I like the chainsaw one just a bit more because, as mentioned in my review, I like the idea of monsters with chainsaws, because it's such an imposing weapon that it automatically makes whoever's going up them look 1000% cooler (and at least 5000% more doomed) than usual. Also, Bandai did a nice job on the chainsaw arm. All that's missing is the "SHOCKERS" inscription on the side!
And then there's the boots. I once described Chainsaw-Lizard's boots as being able to "kill the sidewalk". And indeed, I don't think it's possible for her to stand without the aid of a base (although I admit I haven't tried it yet.) Seriously, her heels alone are worthy of being considered a deadly weapon, and it's quite amusing to play "watch the boot change" during the movie (as with Kamen Rider Femme, where her heels magically appear and disappear depending on the scene.)
So yeah, this one's a winner. I'm hoping for a Scissors-Jaguar companion piece soon. And Shocker Riders! A whole buncha them hang around with the chainsaw-wielding one. Just no Chiharu please. I'll even take an Ouja Blank Form before her. And I don't often say that.
Gani-KoumoruI talked about Bandai's seeming indecision about how to properly approach the Shocker Kaijin in a previous C.O.R.E. review. This time, they decided to just jump ahead and do the very first Gelshocker Kaijin (although we're back to Shocker next time.)
Not that I'm complaining. Gani-Koumoru here is known to Rider fans as being one of the biggest badasses of 1972. And that's a year that also introduced us to Jiro, a guy who could drive around on a bright yellow motorcycle with a bright red guitar and *still* manage to look like a stone-cold playa. The crabby bat guy here managed to hang around for 3 episodes (4 if you count the recap at the beginning of #81), go through 2 voice actors and famously had his final showdown with Rider 1 on Toei-favorite Sarushima, a place I've been to before and will talk all about in the future. So it was only natural that, at some point, he'd get a Gachapon figure.
And you know something? For such a colorful character, Bandai really managed to do him justice. The paintjob on this guy is top-notch, and the sculpting is something to write home about as well. Yes, he does look a bit like he's surfing (don't they all) but this one's a real winner. And in a set with new Den-O forms and new Rider movie characters, the fact that I can still get excited over a monster who made biplane noises when he flies just proves to me one thing: I really *am* the biggest Gelshocker fan there is.
Black Shôgun would be proud.
Kamen Rider (THE FIRST verion & THE NEXT version)Seeing as how Kamen Rider THE NEXT is just as much about Rider 1 & 2 as it is about V3 (and sadly, at times it's more about Chiharu and her @#$%ed-up life than any of them), it's only fitting that we get a Rider 1 figure in this set. But what's this? We get not only the main main in his current, "Sakurajima Rider 1"-inspired threads, but the first version from Kamen Rider THE FIRST, both in "Gallery Form". So yes, it's another variant figure deal.
Looking at the two side-by-side, you can see just how much Rider 1's changed over the course of two years. The newer costume is darker and more beat-up. I like to think it's a result of him fighting a long, difficult battle against Shocker, but it's probably just due to him not taking the costume to the dry cleaner's (where's Takumi when you need him?) While the only real difference in the figures is the color (and clear plastic used for the eyes, pink or red), the current version has some extra "damage" detailing painted onto his helmet, and it looks pretty neato.
Not much else to say other than "Dude, it's a Rider 1, of course I'm going to like it." Hopefully we'll see Rider 2 (in both versions) follow suit soon enough.
***
And that's it for the reviews! I hope you've enjoyed reading them, because I sure enjoyed writing them (even if they take forever!)
Bonus:
The alternate ad/insert for this set, featuring Liner Form as the main selling point.***
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