Toybox REVIEW: Shokugan Modeling Project Dairenoh

Release Date: August 2023

RRP: 7920 yen

After a rather expansive run with their Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger assortment, Bandai move back to the 90s for another fan-favourite Super Sentai series in the Shokugan Modeling Project line. This time we're journeying back to 1993 with Gosei Sentai Dairanger - the 17th entry in the franchise and the basis for the mecha (as well as the White Ranger) in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' second season. Though a much smaller selection of mecha compared to Gaoranger, Dairanger's Mythical Qi Beasts continue to be among one of the most popular mecha designs in Super Sentai and a highlight of the amazing streak the franchise had in the 90s. Naturally the first release in the assortment is Shokugan Modeling Project Dairenoh, the core robot from the series. In Power Rangers this appeared as the Thunder Megazord following the destruction of the original dino Megazord.

As a retail release Shokugan Modeling Project Dairenoh is spread across three separate boxes - one containing Ryuseioh, one contained Star-Jishi and Star-Houou and then finally the third containing Star-Tenma and Star-Kirin. These are all grouped together in a larger "case" box, coloured green and white and sporting a huge amount of Gosei Sentai Dairanger imagery. There are pictures of the Dairangers themselves, as well as various shots of the model kit and of course the series and SMP logos. While probably the first bit of this overall set to end up in the bin, it's always nice to see Bandai making these boxes eye-catching compared to the plain green/brown ones they used to do a decade or so ago.

Of course there's a lot more to say about the individual boxes themselves. In true Super Mini-Pla/Shokugan Modeling Project style these are faithful recreations of the original DX Dairanger packing, but in Dairenoh's case it's a little more unique as there are two packaging variants. The first is box one, in which Dairenoh and Ryuseioh take centre stage, and then boxes two and three showcase the Heavenly Qi Palace chariot instead. This mirrors how the DX toys are originally released (and in turn the Power Rangers versions as well), where Ryuseioh and the lesser Mythical Qi Beasts were done as two separate releases as well as a complete Dairenoh set. Across the packaging you'll find faithful recreations of that original packaging, right down to matching the poses of the DX figures. Inside the parts for the model kit are spread across a variety of different coloured runners, together with pre-painted parts, sticker sheets, building/combining instructions and pieces of soda-flavoured candy.

Leading the set is Ryuseioh, the Mythical Qi Beast of the team's leader RyuRanger. As the only component of the set to have its own box it goes without saying that Ryuseioh is much larger than its fellow Qi Beasts, with a slightly more technical build process to boot as well. That said there's nothing overly difficult here, and even with the heavy amount of stickering required for the finished piece (most of this detail is also moulded onto the plastic) the end result is pretty magnificent. This is a great little Ryuseioh figure that fits right in the palm of your hand, complete with a very impressive array of articulation. The head can raise/lower, the jaw can open and both the neck and tail can bend and twist in two separate placed. Meanwhile the legs can both bend and move inwards/outwards, with the claws also hinged for that little bit extra articulation. The underside of its chest sports a socket that can comfortably accommodated an articulated flight stand, allowing for a variety of flight poses that can closely mirror the amazing twisting movement the onscreen model had.

Ryuseioh is special amongst the Mythical Qi Beasts as it is also able to transform into a humanoid warrior mode, which is done so in a manner that's identical to both the DX toy and how it appears on screen. The head and tailpiece are removed, the neck and tail coming together to become the legs of the robot. The arm pieces snap together to become the robot arms, and then the head and tailpiece are reattached to the torso, with the dragon head flipping down to reveal the warrior mode head sculpt. Even in model kit form it's a very satisfying transformation, really showing how ahead of its time Ryuseioh was - arguably one of the best individual Super Sentai mecha even to this day. Although the articulated hands can still be used here, the SMP also offers the ability to switch them out for better proportioned posed hands - both a pair of weapon-holding fists and posed open hands are included in the set.

What was notable about the original DX Ryuseioh is that thanks to the way it transformed and combined it was already an extremely articulated robot for its time, and as such there isn't a great deal for the SMP version to improve upon. But of course this being the line that it is it has done just that, giving the model;

- Ball jointed head

- Swivel hinge shoulders (with additional butterfly movement) and hips

- Hinged elbows, knees and feet

- Wrist, waist and thigh swivels

The addition of wrist and waist swivels add a huge level of extra poseability to the figure, as does the butterfly movement of the shoulders. It's a shame an ankle tilt couldn't have also been built in somehow to make action poses a little more natural, but given that the feet remain faithful to the original design it isn't all that surprising. Ryuseioh also includes his Flying Dragon Rod staff as an accessory, which can be held by the figure to further enhance action poses. As an extra gimmick, the Flying Dragon Rod can also be plugged into the Heavenly Qi Palace baseplate (more on that later), and with Ryuseioh still hold the Rod it can be spun to simulate his Windmill kick attack. The SMP kits are great as it is, but it's the little touches like these that make the line really special.

Moving down the line in order of their roll call (as well as the Dairanger theme song), next up is the Star-Jishi, the Mythical Qi Beast of ShishiRanger. A considerably more basic kit than Ryuseioh, Star-Jishi is a fun little build which in overall execution feels very similar to the DX toy. Sadly the legs are unable to move in the way they did on the show, but Bandai have at the very least added an opening mouth to give it a little bit more character. One thing to note for any who paints their kits is that while Star-Jishi features many gold parts that look far better with a metallic coat, the lion face sports pre-painted green and red detailing over that dull gold plastic colouring. So unless you're particularly good with colour matching and re-adding those details, it might be easier to leave the gold on that part untouched.

Third up is Star-Tenma, the Mythical Qi Beast of TenmaRanger. This component (along with Star-Kirin) is particularly sticker-heavy, which isn't all that surprising when you see how much detailing there is on that black body section. If you would prefer to paint the model most of that detail is also moulded onto the plastic, but it would definitely be a lot of work. Again movement of the individual model is very faithful to the DX version in that it features a wheeled base alongside a moving head and neck, but again a moveable mouth piece has also been added which gives Star-Tenma far more personality when posed separately.

Star-Kirin is the Mythical Qi Beast of KirinRanger, and as Dairen-Oh's second leg component both the design and building process for this is nearly identical to that of Star-Tenma. Again it's a very sticker-heavy component, with the option to paint all the details yourself if you'd prefer to go down that route. Star-Kirin sports moveable head, mouth and neck parts, as well as a wheeled base which allows it to move across smooth surfaces much like the original toy.

Rounding off the set is Star-Houou, the Mythical Qi Beast of the team's only female member HououRanger. As the smallest Qi Beast in the set it's also the easiest to build, making it a great way for newcomers or beginner model builders to ease their way into the set. It does have some fiddly little stickers on the wings, but overall it's a great-looking kit that doesn't need too much extra work to look its best. Star-Houou features jointed wings are three different places on each side, allowing it to flap with a nice degree of realism. The head, neck and lower beak are also moveable, and while it doesn't have any proper legs it does have a port on the underside that should nicely accommodate any basic flight stand.

Together they make a rather nice little assortment of Qi Beasts, with a good assortment of scale and difficultly level between them. However even before we get into the Dairenoh combination there's still one key feature left to discuss, heralded by the fact that boxes two and three of the assortment also feature parts for a large black display base...

This is of course the Shisei Gattai Heavenly Qi Palace combination, a flying chariot made from the four lesser Mythical Qi Beasts. In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, this was known as the "Thunderzord Assault Team". Each of the four beasts clips comfortably onto the display base for additional security, and then Ryuseioh can ride upon it in warrior mode. The base has a number of wheels built into it to allow it to roll across surfaces, while Star-Houou's perch can also be used as a makeshift handle of sorts to fly the combination through the air.

One of the lesser talked points about the SMP line that I really like is how the full combination can be achieved by following the same steps as the DX toy, but then the instructions offer some additional steps to create a more articulated version. In Dairenoh's case these include pinning Star-Jishi's head directly onto Star-Houou rather than letting it hang down from the torso (as well as pinning Ryuseioh's tailpiece to the back of it) as well as pegging the silver leg guards directly to Ryuseioh instead of them being attached to Star-Tenma and Star-Kirin. The arm pieces work a little differently on the SMP kit too, with the upper arm parts clipping onto Ryuseioh rather than covering them, and the lower arms then pegging onto Ryuseioh's fists. Once the Great King Sword (complete with chain adorned sheath) has been pegged onto the side, the familiar shape of Ryuseioh is formed. This design continues to look just as impressive as it did back in 1993, a heavily armoured and regal-looking robot that now has all the model kit advances of 30 years later. Opening the chest compartment reveals a sticker of the Dairangers at their cockpits (which can be faintly seen even when closed thanks to the transparent green plastic), and an alternate helmet faceplate piece has been included with an illuminated eye sticker. Given that in previous kits Bandai has made buyers have to choose between eye stickers, it's great that they include a separate part here so you can fluctuate between both.

Even as Dairenoh the model kit retains most of the poseability present in Ryuseioh, with a couple of extra pieces thrown in either to enhance or replace that base articulation. Altogether the combination features;

- Ball jointed head and wrists

- Swivel hinge shoulders (with additional butterfly movement) and hips

- Hinged elbows, wrist panels, knees and ankle tilts

- Waist swivel

The wrists are of a particularly interesting design as they not only work on a ball joint, but then the socket itself is on a hinged panel allowing the fists to splay outwards. Similarly the arms deviate quite a bit from the original DX toy are they leave the Ryusei arms particularly uncovered, with the Star-Jishi parts becoming additional guards rather than the entire upper arm. This leaves space for the shoulder articulation to continue to work unhindered, along with new lower arm articulation which comes from the new parts. As always seems to be the case with these new articulated models, the addition of a waist joint just makes the whole thing so much more expressive. While the hip articulation does suffer a little from having the Star-Houou skirt surrounding it (although the side panels are hinged to accommodate extra movement), Bandai have worked marvels with this kit. As impressive as DX Dairenoh may be, it has quite a fiddly combination that doesn't allow for a whole lot of movement. By just separating and moving around a few parts here and there, SMP Dairenoh has a new lease on life.

Dairenoh's rather impressive range of accessories include three alternate hands (a pair of posed open hands as well as an additional open left hand to hold the sword sheath), two versions of the Great King Sword (one standard and one with a gold coloured blade to represent the "Raging Hurricane Waves" final attack) and the Day Javelin - made by combining Ryuseioh's Flying Dragon Rod with Star-Houou's tail piece. Both versions of the sword share the same grip piece, so the blade needs to be swapped depending on which one you want to use. The weapons fit very comfortably into Dairenoh's fists, each requiring to be split apart and then reattached in the fist in order to be held properly. Though the DX toy was able to get by on shelf presence alone, the added articulation to the SMP kit adds so many more poseability options when wielding these weapons. On top of that, the option to switch to open hands adds so much more personality to the poses.

And just in case you're wondering what to do with all of those accessories, the Heavenly Qi Place baseplate also doubles as a handy little storage system! Ryuseioh's DX-style hands clip onto the underside of the base, while the various hand, weapon and even faceplate pieces clip onto the handle part where Star-Houou usually resides. It's a bit too cluttered to perhaps work as something that can be displayed, but it's a clever way of ensuring all the parts stay together and nothing ends up getting lost.

At some point it'll become redundant to talk about just how great this line is, but Shokugan Modeling Project Dairenoh is another winner for the line and easily of my favourites yet. Each subsequent kit already has a tall bar to meet, yet Bandai continue to make subtle improvements to make these designs best they could ever be. Yes it feels like there are a lot of stickers to put on this one (more than there has been in some time admittedly), but the added articulation adds a whole new dimension to the incredible robot that is Dairenoh. Even before the combination you're getting a brilliant little articulated robot in the form of Ryuseioh, along with four other Qi Beast with gimmicks and combinations before the main robot is even assembled. As a retail release, Dairenoh is also both one of the more affordable SMP releases and one of the more obtainable.