While the Gokaiger series may be over it looks like Bandai will be continuing on with the ranger key collectibles, and since we have a brand new team with a whole new set of ranger keys (not to mention Kamen Rider keys are on the way) Bandai have gone all the way and released a brand new version of the Gokaiger changer, the mobirate - dubbed the Legend mobirate. It supposedly boasts 68 new sounds to create a grand total of 148 voice commands.
The box art is particularly impressive - depicting images of all 36 red Sentai warriors on each side. Also included in a DX AkaRed key, the flip-up key part bearing the official 35th anniversary Super Sentai logo that the character also wore during his appearances in Gokaiger.
The legend mobirate sports a slightly different deco to the original, which the gold and silver colouring reversed and the front now bearing "MOBILATE" (which I guess means is the official romanization, but I'm sticking with mobirate for now as that's not only what its commonly known as, but what stores are advertising it as). Check here for side by side comparison images.
Once you've installed 2 AAA batteries into the phone (which aren't included in the box) flip the on/off switch on the back and the toy will make the familiar ringtone from the show. When a ranger key is inserted there'll be a noise, and turning the key results in the Gokaiger logo opening out and the call of whichever team's key you've placed in. The narration is once again provided by Tomozaki Senki, who narrated and voiced the mobirate in Gokaiger and has also provided his voice to anime such as Fullmetal Panic!, Steins;Gate and Fruits Basket.
A new feature for the legend mobirates is the encyclopaedia mode. Inputting 0000 on the keypad followed by the top centre button will activate this mode, where you will be invited to insert a ranger key. Once the key has been activated, the mobirate will say a short paragraph about the show, mentioning things such as the enemies the team fought etc. A quick demonstration of this mode using the Gokai Red and AkaRed keys can be seen below.
The mobirates also boasts an additional 47 keypad sounds. While 0001-0036 are taken up by the individual team callouts, there a few surprises too. Pressing 0414 will give you a special callout of all 36 teams one by one, while inputting 1225 will give you a greeting of Merry Christmas. There are also several other festival sound effects which I have listed below;
- 0101 - Happy New Year
- 0203 - Setsubun
- 0214 - Valentine's Day
- 0314 - White Day
- 0505 - Children's Day
- 0707 - Tanabata
- 1115 - Shichi-Go-San
- 1224 - Christmas Eve
- 1231 - New Years Eve
My biggest gripe with the legend mobirates is that these have come at the expense of the sounds featured on the original mobirates, which were far more relevant to Super Sentai in general. Gone are the mecha callouts and references to the Dice-O card game. Since this toy apparently has so many new sounds, they may be lurking around somewhere, but its more than likely that if they are you need the corresponding key to activate them. Any incorrect keypad code will result in the mobirates ringtone playing three times in a row, which can get a little annoying if you're simply fiddling around with the pad looking for new sounds.
The legend mobirates is an incredibly fun toy, but just how fun depends on how many ranger keys you own. To unlock its full potential at least requires one key for every Sentai team. I currently only own a complete set of Gokaiger keys (plus the AkaRed included) and will certainly be looking into getting more in the near future. Those looking for show accuracy and fun from the keypad alone should probably stick with the original release, but those looking for an updated version at a cheaper price should certainly be satisfied by this version.
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