S.H. Figuarts Shinkenger

When the Shinkenger team was announced for the S.H. Figuarts, it really got alot of fans excited! Japan was finally going to have awesome poseable figures rather than the unexciting vinyl ones.

Sometime back, ShinkenRed and ShinkenGold first went online as pre-order items on Bandai's webstore with Kurokos as first-press bonuses. They are also slated for regular release in late Feb and Mar this year.

As cool as it sounds, the price for getting the whole team was also astronomical for a bunch of action figures! Based on CSC's import prices, one S.H. Figuarts is approximately S$45 which makes the whole team of 6 at S$270?!

NOW THE DREAM OF OWNING THE WHOLE TEAM HAS BEEN MADE CLOSE TO IMPOSSIBLE...



The latest announcement from Bandai Japan has confirmed that ShinkenBlue and ShinkenGreen would be online exclusives only.

This means that those who wish to get them have to go through middleman services. Damn! Now, I'm debating whether to get or not.

The Debate Has Ended...

Real Suits or CGI/Photoshopped? In the latest Power Rangers Samurai Promo for the Blue Ranger, we now have confirmation that the "Mega Rangers" (first released as toys) are indeed in the show and not just some stupid Bandai America toy designs.



Apparently, Saban has decided to replace the Megazord Cockpit with its original American Creation along with the "Mega Ranger" suits. At this point, we can only assume that the Samurai Rangers have to power up to the "Mega Mode" to summon the Zords and combine into the Megazord. The idea just sounds dumb to me, but Saban can eliminate the problem of the Japanese Mojikara footage completely.

Opinion time: I am not fond of the designs for the "Mega Rangers" at all. Don't you think they looked very bulky and ugly? And they don't seem to serve any real purpose unless they serve as a mid-show team upgrade? American kids would probably find them cool compared to the regular spandex.

While I am still on the topic, the negative reactions by the fandom when the toy images first surfaced seem to have dissipated more or less. Kinda like an ironic situation, American fans who hated the designs now adore them once they learnt that they will appear on the show.

Power Rangers Samurai premieres Feb 7th, 2011 (Monday) on Nick!

The Anniversary Season

So the season number for Power Rangers Samurai sparked countless debates which the impact is anticipated to be a little more reaching...

Among the confusion on whether Power Rangers Samurai is one season for two years or two seasons for two years, it will most likely affect the next coming anniversary season to follow: which may either be Goseiger or Gokaiger.

Scenario 1:

Supposed that Samurai is the 19th season, Goseiger gets adapted as the 20th season in 2013 which Power Rangers will celebrate the 20th Anniversary. The only significance lies in the fact that the team color is the same as the iconic MMPR.

However, Goseiger has been receiving alot of hatred so a number of people are ranting to skip it. Well, I think these people are too full of themselves because it does not mean that other people wouldn't like it. Sure, Goseiger isn't as fantastic as Shinkenger or Gekiranger but I certainly feel that it is not the worst Sentai Series in recent years. I don't hate the Headder Gimmick but I admit that it really didn't do much for the series. In contrast, Go-Onger's story is much more boring saved for the talking Engines which actually captivated the kids alot.

Scenario 2:

Instead of the season number, Power Rangers can celebrate with the Gokaiger adaptation as "20 years of Power Rangers" despite it being the 21st season. Plus, people are dying for Gokaiger to be the anniversary season as it certainly makes more sense with what Japan is doing - Epic Story that covers the 199 heroes from the past.

At the very least, Power Rangers did celebrate its past anniversary years with Wild Force (10th) and Operation Overdrive (15th), which coincides with both Gaoranger (25th) and Boukenger (30th) from Super Sentai so this is highly plausible.

Till then.

Samurai: The 18th or 19th Season?

Like it or not, the Official Press Release for Power Rangers Samurai has stated that it is the 19th season in the franchise.



As much as I (and alot of people) want Saban to recognize Samurai as the 18th season instead of the "Reversioned Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", it is pretty much a fact from a television production perspective - like the new opening, edits and effects as well as a new ending credits.

Sure, there's a lot of arguments against the stupid lame rerun and a million reasons why Power Rangers Samurai should be the official 18th season, but nobody at the corporate side is going to care for some numbering issue anyway.

Nope, there's more... Since Samurai is going to run for two years, does that make it 2 seasons or still one? Only Saban knows the answer now.

S.H. Figuarts Machine Decader

The Kamen Rider franchise has been a gold mine for Bandai Japan especially with the introduction of the S.H. Figuarts toyline. And to top that, there have been numerous exclusive limited releases as well.

Just so happened that this time round, it's one of the 2 Kamen Rider series that I collect: the Bike for Kamen Rider Decade - Machine Decader.



Out of so many bikes, why does it have to be this one? Hahah. Probably because Decade is the anniversary series. Sigh.

Was at CSC today but I totally didn't expect the price tag to be that high. I briefly recalled that a normal bike (e.g the Kamen Rider W Bike) would go for around S$65, so I was thinking around S$85-90 despite whether I was considering buying.



In the end, this one ended up with the price tag of S$125.00 in Ng's Collections. Just one and only one bike. Hahah, that is way out of my budget. So I can only whine about the lack of a bike for my Kamen Rider Figuarts. LoL.

Wonder Gosei-Great, Kourin!

Just for kicks, I took out DX Gosei-Wonder as well as the 4 required Gosei-Machine bodies.

Come to think of it, DX Gosei-Wonder is freaking expensive for 1 Body + 5 Headders (S$70.00) when DX Gosei-Great is S$90.00 for 5 Bodies + 5 Headders. Anyway, this is another mini-review...



This is the standard movie-debut mecha which will appear in the series at a much later time. In its traditional sense, it is usually a rehash (fans are used to calling them repaints) of the main robo in the series or additional gattai mecha. Some notable examples are Engine Daishogun (Go-Onger) and Bakurenoh (Abaranger).

Honestly, I was more disappointed in Gosei-Wonder than Gosei-Ultimate because of the plain laziness in the execution of the design concept. The idea itself wasn't too bad but the final result looked terrible.

Bandai probably saved alot of paint in the process because there are so little painted details which resulted in a very monotonous look. The Gosei-Bird is almost enirely lavender. Gosei-Dragon, on the other hand, looks terrific. And everyone got matching colors except for Pink who landed up with a brown Kabuto (Beetle) Headder. Quite a number of complaints from other collectors as well.



In the combined form, the additional helmet piece looked nice but the Crocodile Headder (fine in individual form) and Kabuto Headder are obviously out of place with the length and color.

Therefore, Wonder Gosei-Great pales in comparison with the Engine Daishogun, Bakurenoh or SaintKaiser among all the repaints.

If I were PLEX or Bandai, I might as well release the entire robo with all the bodies and headders (using the same design) but with different colors for all the mecha. In other words, it means that the Kabuto Headder can get a brown body and the Elephant Headder need not be yellow etc.

Gosei-Ultimate, Kourin!

You can call this a little review if you like.



Just feeling random, I decided to open up the DX Gosei-Ultimate one afternoon.

First of all, I should probably mention that Gosei-Ultimate as the last mecha of the Goseiger series is quite out of place for its concept and design. Well, it's like a spaceship or futuristic jet (with design elements of Megaranger's Delta Mega and Timeranger's Time Robo) in contrast to the rest of the animalized vehicle mecha like Gosei-Great and Gosei-Ground.

Ok, Datas Hyper was out of place as well for an arcade machine. However, that was just to constantly remind or trick the kids to play the Dice-O card game (like Animal Kaiser). So in conclusion, Gosei-Ultimate is still a odd design choice especially with the Master Head design in the chest area.

When I took it out of the box, I was frankly surprised that this toy was alot more heavier than I expected. The plastic is very solid and sturdy. Thumbs up for Bandai Japan! Not to mention that the chromed Miracle Gosei Headders really stand out, but scary and hard to maintain in the long run.

I got to admit... Prior to taking this out of the box, I was honestly unimpressed and regarded it more like a piece to complete the collection. And so with everything taken out, I started to transform it into the "spaceship" mode. *I always try to figure it out by myself and not look at the instructions.


Official Name: Gosei-Ultimate (Machine Mode)

Again, I was alittle surprised because I thought it was super simple from the show. The toy exactly required alittle more accurate turning of joints to fit into the respective correct positions. I kinda like that...

In its "spaceship" mode, the 5 Miracle Gosei Headders are prominently displayed in their chromed glory but weird in the design sense due to the 5 "holes" in the body.

Nothing much to mention about the Robo Mode, with the usual limited articulation points for all the Sentai Mecha.

It's just that after actually transforming and holding it do I gain more appreciation for Gosei-Ultimate. It is nice in its own regard and should not be treated as "just another piece of toy that completes the collection".