September/October is a pretty good time for
Super Sentai fans, as its usually when the red ranger of the current series finally gets released in
S.H. Figuarts form. Following on from
Gokai Red and
Red Buster from the previous two years, 2013 is the turn of Kiryu Daigo aka "King" aka
Kyoryu Red - star of
Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger. The term "star" seems more relevant than ever as the show seems to practically revolve around him, but that's a discussion for a few month's time when the series review rolls around on this blog. For now, let's just take a look at this super articulated figure of "The Fanged Brave".
Before we even get on to the quality of the figure, it's fair to say that Kyoryu Red has some of the best packaging the Figuarts line has to offer. Some may be put off but the extremely busy design, but it certainly captures the spirit and energy of the series perfectly. The window section has the same teeth pattern as the Kyoryuger suits' sash, while the rest of the box is made up by a rather lovely green/black/silver colourscheme. It's a rather universal pattern which I can imagine wouldn't get changed much for later
Kyoryuger releases - that is if the rest of the main five weren't coming out in 2-packs and Web Exclusives weren't shifting toward non-windowed boxes.
Though I by no means dislike the Kyoryuger uniform, I can't say it honestly wowed me when the official announcement of the series came around at the beginning of the year. However owning this Figuarts has made me appreciate its subtle nuances a whole lot more. While the helmet and sash may seem pretty flat when watching the characters onscreen, here there's a fair bit of layering - the silver mouthplate is slightly sunken into the helmet, while the yellow teeth of the sash are raised upwards from the base body. However the design of the upper body also makes it seem like a thicker vest than a one piece suit, giving it this strange thick collar. Despite this, the overall presentation is lovely and the red and yellow really work well against each other. I'm not quite sure the darker red is the perfect shade for the meshed arms, but the texture on them is great.
Kyoryu Red features the usual range of articulation for a Sentai Figuart, including a ball jointed head and neck, double-jointed shoulders, elbows and knees, swing-down hips, ball jointed wrists and ankles and finally hinged toes. The left shoulder plate lifts up so not to get in the way of the arm, but to be honest the shoulders don't allow a great deal of raised arm movement to get a lot of out of it.
Kyoryu Red features an excellent range of accessories, and shows no signs of the diminishing accessory count people are believing Figuarts may be starting to suffer from (that being said, we'll see how his team mates fare). Provided are 8 alternate hands (including his roll call pose hands, which is always welcome), the Gabricalibur, Gaburevolver, alternated "Armed-On" right arm, the Gabutyra Fang and a TINY Zyudenchi in scale with the figure. The battery is just as small (if not smaller) than the Ranger Keys included with the
Gokaiger releases, so a word of caution about that because one misplaced sneeze and it could be lost forever.
Of course there's usually at least one piece missing from
Super Sentai releases these days, and it seems Kyoryu Red is no exception. If you had any intention of displaying the figure with the Gaburu Cannon (the combined form of the Gabricalibur and Gaburevolver), you're going to be awfully disappointed as it isn't included. At least not yet anyway...
Eight hands may not seem a lot for a mass release
Super Sentai (the average seems to have been about 12 lately), but it's quite easy to forgive Kyoryu Red considering he comes with a whole extra arm. The armed-on arm features two spiked plates attached to it, and the Gabutrya Fang (complete with opening jaw) can be attached to the end just like a normal hand.
While I am very happy to see the inclusion of the armed-on pieces, overall the execution of them is a little iffy to me. The arm isn't the easiest thing to switch around securely, so it slipping off the shoulder joint was a common problem with mine (the same happened when changing my Gokai Red's arms funnily enough). Getting it to fit properly isn't helped by the intrusive spiked plates, and while it may not be a widespread problem the elbow joint was ridiculous tight in comparison to the normal arm. Finally, the Fang isn't the lightest of weapons, so without proper shoulder support getting it into outstretched poses can be a bit of a pain.
(A Tamashii stand would probably help, which means I really need to go and buy some spares)
I've made sure my obvious character bias doesn't get in the way of this review (I REALLY don't like Kyoryu Red), so I'm happy to say that Kyoryu Red is another fantastic entry to the S.H. Figuarts line. The sculpt has made me appreciate the Kyoryuger suits all the more, and the accessory count is plenty enough for me. That being said, the minor niggles I have with the armed-on parts (particularly attaching the arm itself) keep me from calling it a perfect figure, especially when the last three
Sentai have indeed felt perfect to me. So while I can't rate him to the standard I hold those, you can still do a lot worse than what will be the only mass release Figuart from
Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.
