Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Gokai Red

Release Date: June 2023

RRP: 9350 yen

The return of Super Sentai S.H. Figuarts in 2023 was exciting enough, but the news that the franchise would also be joining the prestigious S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou range was proof enough that Bandai Tamashii Nations might be dedicated to bringing them back as a full-time thing (even if there's no sign of a full team in sight). While its release comes a little late to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, given both the popularity of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and its place within the franchise there seemed no better choice for Sentai's first Shinkocchou Seihou outing. S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Gokai Red was a mass release figure, initially teased back in 2021 when the line returned with the release of Zenkaizer.

Special REVIEW: Twokaizer x Gokaiger ~June Bride is Tanuki Flavor~

Given how Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger naturally coincided with the tenth anniversary of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, a crossover between the two was inevitable. But while Captain Marvelous does make an appearance in Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger vs Kiramager vs Senpaiger that clearly wasn't enough, and thus its up to the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club to provide a second meeting between the pirate Sentai and the Goldtsuiker family. Twokaizer x Gokaiger ~June Bride is Tanuki Flavor~ is a one-off special from Zenkaiger head writer Junko Komura that brings back Marvelous, Gai and Ahim once again, and in typical Gokaiger fashion has plenty to offer when it comes to transformations and the kind of ranger categorisation that'll surely cause debate amongst Super Sentai fans.

Movie REVIEW: Kaizoku Sentai: Ten Gokaiger

One of the greatest joys about the Super Sentai franchise is that no one's ever really gone. Even when a series has completed its year-long run, that team will likely return for both a Versus movie the following year and cameos in future productions. A select few have even been lucky enough to get a new V-Cinema film ten years later. Super Sentai may be celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2021, but that also means its celebrating the tenth anniversary of its 35th anniversary series - Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. And to mark the occasion the pirate Sentai are back in Kaizoku Sentai: Ten Gokaiger - a brand new film continuing their  story as well as debuting a whole new selection of Ranger Keys. The film was written by Gokaiger's head writer Naruhisa Arakawa, and directed by Shojiro Nakazawa.

First Impressions: Power Rangers Super Megaforce

Power Rangers Megaforce has returned for its second half (although despite being only 20 episodes, its being treated as a separate season), truly celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise with Power Rangers Super Megaforce (brilliant naming strikes again)! This is a very special season adapted from the 35th anniversary Super Sentai season Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, and sees the rangers gain the ability to transform into the rangers of all the previous Power Rangers seasons.

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Warz Gil

Villains are a bit of a rarity in the S.H. Figuarts line, particularly when it comes to Super Sentai. We've had plenty of heroes, but so far the only villains have been Juuzo from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Basco/Sally from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. Due to Gokaiger's seemingly relentless popularity, we've just got another villain from the show - and the main one at that. Zangyack Prince Warz Gil was released as a Tamashii Web Exclusive back at the end of June, commanding a slightly higher price than the usual exclusive - 3990 yen rather than the usual 3675.

Like Basco, Warz Gil comes oddly packaged in a non-window box. With Basco it felt a little more understandable since it was a bigger box since he also came with Sally, but here it seems more like just to keep a trend going with the Gokaiger villains. Still, the box itself does look rather nice with the cosmic/royal blue colouring and Zangyack logos. The back features the figure in a (very limited) range of poses, and inside is a single tray for Warz and his (even more limited) accessories.

Well if Bandai have done something right with Warz Gil, it's that they've absolutely NAILED the sculpt and finish of the figure. I imagine that the slightly higher pricetag is due to the level of detail on Warz' flamboyant get up, and no cost has been spared on his shoulder pads, headgear, cape and tail pieces. The colours are a beautiful combination of white, gold silver and metallic blue.

With the positives out of the way, sadly the review must now move on to what's going to be a string of negatives. Thanks to Warz Gil's fabulous getup, the articulation is severely limited (even though there are joints in all the usual places for a Figuart). The shoulder pads get in the way so much that you can't really get any more than an "arms face forward" pose out of him. Same goes for the hips, even though they feature the trademark Figuart swing-down joint system. Getting any form of dynamic posing out of Warz without the aid of a stand is near impossible, thanks to a combination of the weight of his own flamboyance and some rather loose toe joints.

This is the part where I'd usually talk about all the wonderful accessories the figure comes with, only with Warz Gil it's not going to be a particularly long paragraph. The Zangyack Prince comes with a grand total of...5 hands. Yep, closed fists, open hands and a pointing right hand - that's it, nothing else. While there isn't really a great deal of other things Warz Gil could have come with outside of things he might have picked up for 10 seconds in certain episodes the accessory count is still INCREDIBLY poor. Given the pretty severe balancing issues the figure has, a personalised Tamashii stage would have not only been ideal but it might have made his slightly higher price tag a little easier to swallow.

It's also worth mentioning that the tassles are easily removable (as can be seen in the pictures), and are worth taking off if you actually want to SEE the figure's hands. Why Bandai included rigid tassles and not ones that look like they've been affected by gravity is beyond me.

To put it short, Warz Gil is a Figuart for Gokaiger completists only. The sculpt is undoubtedly beautiful, but all that means nothing when the whole appeal of buying a Figuart is for the poseability. There's a perfectly good Warz Gil statue out there that's roughly in scale with the Gokaiger Figuarts, and that is in more dynamic pose than this thing can manage.

My love for all things Gokaiger means I'm giving this a 3, but for anyone else I'd say this is a 2 out of 5 figure quite easily.

Legend Ranger Key Set: Go-Busters 02

This is a ranger key set that's been out for a quite a while now and I've never got around to getting. But thanks to Hobby Link Japan's amazing sale recently, I managed to pick up the second Go-Busters Legend Ranger Key set for as little as £3 (plus shipping)! This second set features the Beet Buster and Stag Buster keys, who were introduced into Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters midway into the show. Rounding the set off to three keys is a Beet J Stag buddyroid key.

The packaging is very similar to that seen with the first Go-Busters key set, only this time swapping the yellow backing card for a cooler blue colour and replacing the "It's Time for Buster" slogan with the more appropriate "Boost Up for Buster".

One thing that's a little disappointing with this set is that the Beet and Stag Buster keys aren't metallic, with the gold and silver colouring more orange and grey. While I don't consider this a necessity (after all, none of the other gold/silver ranger keys are metallic), its only striking here because the Beet J Stag key DOES have a number of gold/silver paint applications and thus kind of puts the other two to shame.

While inserting these keys into the original release Mobirates will just yield the "special ranger key" noises, putting them in the Legends release will activate the Go-Busters sounds and bio (if activated in encylopaedia mode).

Movie REVIEW: Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger

Ever since 1995's Chōriki Sentai Ohranger, the Vs. movie series has been a staple of Super Sentai shows. While for last year's anniversary series things took a different turn with Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Gavan (the Goseigers having appeared in the early 199 Heroes film) things are back on course with this year's Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger. This hour long film fits in somewhere toward the end of the Go-Busters series (after the original Escape's death) and acts as an epilogue to Gokaiger.

Across the galaxy are five Phantom ranger keys, which are able to grant unlimited power to those who possess them. Unfortunately, four of the five keys have come into the possession of Enter, who has allied himself with Bacchus Gil, nephew to Ackdos Gil and new leader of the Zangyack Empire. They return to Earth in search of the final key with an additional surprise, the Gokaigers are now working under the Zangyack! As the Go-Busters do battle with the previous Sentai team, a portal in time is created when the five keys are gathered and they are sucked through, along with Yoko and Beet J Stag.

You wanted pirates? Here's your pirates!

As the Go-Busters team up with a confused Gai Ikari in a race through time to find the Phantom Ranger keys, they discover the real reason for the Gokaigers' turn and Enter's plans. Can the combined force of the 35th and 36th Super Sentai teams put a stop to this deadly alliance?

As soon as you see the main five Gokaigers in their "badass" pirate costumes, its pretty easy to see where the story is going. Yup, evil Gokaigers. One team going rogue isn't a new thing for the vs. films, but having just see it (partially) happen in Super Hero Taisen to same outcome makes the whole shock value of it all fall a little flat. Not that it lasts very long anyway, because the film's plot moves at lightning speed and it isn't long before the Gokaigers are back to their heroic cocky selves. What really drives Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger is the relationship between the Go-Busters and their Buddyroids, and how it affects the team when that is taken away. It makes for some really powerful emotional scenes, and shows that the Buddyroids are much more than glorfied accessories to the 36th Sentai team.

Oh hi there Kaoru.

Of course, with a Gokaiger film comes the obligatory Gokai changes. Having given all the ranger keys back to their owners at the end of their own series, seeing them back in their possession is a little bit of a head scratcher. Since the film dabbles with time travel (mainly so Toei can pull out their infamous Edo period set), it's not too much of a stretch to believe Marvelous had Gai retrieve them from the past, but it isn't something that's ever fully explained. Thankfully they are still kept to a (mostly Showa era themed) minimum, giving a rare opportunity for the Gokaiger suits themselves to feature in long action sequences. There's also a former Ranger cameo in the form of Kaoru Shiba (the "true" Shinken Red), which while tacked on is none the less appreciated.

Can Bacchus Gil hold his liquor?

Though Enter plays a big role in the film, he does take somewhat of a backseat to the newest Gil on the block. Bacchus Gil is the nephew of the former Zangyack emperor, but has no interest in conquest and simply would like to see the Earth destroyed. Other than that, there isn't much to his character other than being an alcoholic. The Gil's weren't the best of characters to begin with, but Bacchus does little to elevate himself above the levels of monster of the week. His subordinate Wardonaier is even less memorable. Past Super Sentai fans will also be pleased to see a couple of older faces appear too, particularly Gokaiger's Basco, Damaras and Jerashid, as well as Abaranger's Yatsudenwani.

VAMOLA!

And of course, over the last few years a staple of these Vs. movies has been the introduction of the next Super Sentai team, in this case the Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, who take you the completely forgettable Waredonaier. It's a fairly humorous introduction with King (Kyoryu Red) appearing before Gokai Red and Red Buster without his team mates, causing the two to be more than a little confused. The rest appear later, setting up the fact the five team mates live different lives well, before engaging in some great fight sequences like the show itself has displayed so far. The weapon noises are also kept to a very effective minimum.

Bring on the giant robots!

But of course, if you've paid attention to any of the trailers for this film it's true appeal is that it includes a number of MECHA Gokai changes. Gozyujin to Daizyujin! GokaiOh to Daibouken! Buster Hercules to MagiKing (I see what you did there Toei)! Go-Buster Li-Oh to GaoKing and GaoCentarus! Go-Buster Ace to Gekitouja, Flashking and RyuuseiOh! It may only be a short spectacle, but its a fantastic one nonetheless and redeems the problems many people had with the Gokaiger mecha fight sequences. Plus it's amazing to see suits like Flashking and Daizyujin back in action, who haven't been seen properly in years.

Overall Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger is a very good film. The plot is rather on the thin side and speeds along particularly fast in its one hour run time, but the excellent fight footage and emotional scenes featuring the Buddyroids do a lot to balance it out. This film isn't Goseiger vs. Shinkenger or Hurricanger vs. Gaoranger levels of great, but a treat to the eyes that's far more memorable than the standard Vs. movie fare.

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Basco & Sally

Superhero figures are great, but where's the fun if there's no villains for them to fight? While this next review isn't the first Super Sentai villain to appear in the S.H. Figuarts line (that honour would go to Shinkenger's Juzo), its by far the most exciting. Released as a Tamashii web exclusive last year was Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger's star villain Basco ta Jolokia (in his monster form), in an extra special 2-pack that also included a Figuarts Zero (an alternate line of non-poseable statues) of his simian partner-in-crime Sally.

The box is a rarity among the Figuarts line, as its one of the few releases that doesn't have a standard window box. The figures are fully covered, with the front of the box depicting the two figures alongside their names and Basco's personal logo. One thing to note is that the packaging refers to the character as "Vasco" rather than "Basco". From what I gather this is because in Japanese B's and V's can be the same character, however to suddenly name him Vasco is a little strange when both his body and ship have clear Bs on them. The other thing to note is that the front, back and spines all feature the figure in the same pose, lacking any pictures of dynamic poses.

Basco's monster form featured a fairly detailed and elaborate design, and not a detail has been spared when it came to scaling it down into plastic form. The figure is a really nice matte shade of crimson, and features a ton of golden skull detailing on the hat tassles, shoulders and knee pads. Even the fur-like sections of the suit have been recreated using textured plastic. Even the black arm gauntlets have some moulded detail on them. So with all this positivity, its a shame that the figure does fall short in the posing department (which probably explains the static poses on the box). When the arms are parallel to the body, the pointed sections of the gauntlets tend to brush up against the shoulder pads, the coat tail gets in the way of moving the legs backward and the kneecaps also pop off without hesitation (which is a real pain). It's an excellent display piece with an insane amount of detail, but not one of the most dynamic Figuarts I own by any means.

Secondly there's the issue of handswapping, which continues the trend of being more difficult than usual on newer Super Sentai Figuarts. While the giant arm gauntlets don't make things any easier, the pegs that attach the hands to the wrist look much flimsier than they do on a standard figure. While I thought this might just be me, Basco unfortunately also happens to be the first Figuart breakage I've had on the 23 figures I own. While swapping the hands to take pictures for this very review, the peg on the right hand came clean off with one of the hands and is now stuck firmly in it. Like I say this is my 23rd Figuart, so I don't feel I was being overly ham-fisted with the figure. I can still attach the hands with a little bit of blu-tack and it isn't noticeable, but the fact I know the hand is broken is probably going to bother me every time.

Much like the Gokaiger team, Basco also comes with a pretty impressive amount of accessories. Included are 12 pairs of hands (closed fists, 3 pairs of grabbing hands and a variety of open ones), his sword, gun, trumpet and gold mobirate. Not only does Basco's mobirate feature a very different deco to the Gokaiger ones, but its the only Figuart-scale one that flips open. Its accuracy is a little questionable (the back piece is nowhere near as thick as it should be) but it's a very nice touch. The isn't a whole lot to say about the sword, gun and trumpet, other than that they all have similar aesthetics and are a very nice blend of gold, silver and black.

Finally we come to Sally, who to some may feel like an accessory anyway! As mentioned earlier, Sally is a Figuarts Zero, meaning she doesn't include any moveable parts and is permanently stuck in her squatting pose. However she doesn't feature any less detail than her poseable master, and even comes with her own accessory! Included is the bomb necklace that Basco gives to her in episodes 47 and 48 of the series, which can be put around her neck by removing her head, putting it around her neck and then putting the head back on.

Basco and Sally are a great addition to the cast of Gokaiger and S.H. Figuarts in general, but they aren't without their flaws. As highly detailed they might be, Basco's poseability isn't the best and the fact I had a hand joint break on me is also a knock against it. The fact is a web exclusive also means its after market price is only going to rise, and the inclusion of a static Sally figure means you'll be paying 2-pack price - which might put off some. However if you do take the plunge on this set its unlikely you'll be too disappointed...just make sure to be very careful when switching the hands.