There's always one silver lining to Hikōnin Sentai Akibaranger finishing - it's a sign that the latest onslaught of new Super Sentai S.H. Figuarts is incoming! Much like last year, season 2 of Akibaranger has already announced a veritable selection of both official and unofficial heroes for collectors from the end of June and beyond. To kick things off Akiba Red is back with a brand new figure, representing the Super Akiba Red mode he gains in fourth episode of the second season.
Continuing the theme started with the season one Akibaranger figures, Super Akiba Red's packaging is delightfully garish in all of its rainbow glory. The layout is a little different with the new season two logo adorning the front, and the "unofficial" stamp on the window has been replaced with some red Japanese text (although I have no idea what it says). I really like the lengths Bandai go to to make the Akiba packing look good...even the silver backing card on the inside has the Akibaranger symbol printed on it!
Calling upon the power of his love for Aoi-tan through the MMZ-02, Akiba Red becomes SUPER Akiba Red! Armoured with the body of his beloved anime character embracing him, Super Akiba Red features a rather bizarre suit. However the Aoi-tan section looks great in the metallic silver, purple and blue, complimenting the matte black and reds of the main body nicely. The change from a white muffler to red tops off the overall look of the figure, since adding the white would probably break up the colours a little TOO much.
At a quick glance you might be fooled into thinking this is just the old Akiba Red figure with the armour pieces added on, but in reality there's actually a little bit more to it than that. Though this is indeed a remould of the season one figure, it stretches as far as new hips (which are more like the ones seen on the Kamen Rider Ryuki Figuarts). They don't necessarily provide more articulation than the swing-down ones of the original, but they are a lot tighter and probably more durable with time. The shoulder armour is also extended a bit on the right side, which sadly means for all the great things Super Akiba Red can do, he can't lift his arm up straight.
Perhaps the biggest problem with the original Akibaranger releases was the lack of accessories (which Bandai cleverly took attention away from by including stands as a first run bonus), but obviously those mistakes have been learned from because Super Akiba Red features a very impressive selection. Included are 13 hands, the MMZ-01 in doll mode, the MMZ-02 Munyu Munyu Zubaan in doll and sword modes, the MMZ-01 and 02 in combined into the Moe Moe Zubaa-Cune and 2 alternate muffler accessories. So not that only is that including all of the weapons you'd expect Super Akiba Red to come with, it's also making up for the first release by including the MMZ-01 in doll mode. Not bad at all.
Although its much more of a "new" figure than the season two versions of Akiba Blue and Yellow out next week, I wasn't expecting to be blown away by what I was thought was going to be the same figure again with some waifu armour attached. Of course the season one Akiba Red is a fantastic figure, so I did know that this would at least be good regardless. However as I mentioned earlier the retooling proved to be far more extensive than a realised, making it much more unique than I originally perceived. Throw in a brilliant amount of accessories and you have a real winner on your hands. Super Akiba Red comes as a recommended purchase to both those lacking a bit of Nobuo in their collection AND those who proudly have the standard figure on display.
1 comment:
Some of things printed on the box's window are: Aoi-tan, 30 years old, the name of the company he works for and last but not least it says that he is a "Super Sentai Expert".
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