Bandai Armorplus: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers Rekka No Ryo

Eversince Bandai's announcement at its tamashii event, I have been waiting anxiously for their new Armorplus Yoroiden Samurai Troopers Rekka no Ryo.

Now that it has been released, was it worth the wait and anticipation? Here's my thoughts on this newest rendition of this character (and hopefully new Samurai Trooper line) from Bandai.

Click the pics for hi-res pic links.

The figure comes in a beautifully illustrated box showing both Ryo donning his Rekka (wildfire) armor as well as the armor in its  object state. The box also features an exclusive illustration of Ryo Sanada, though I have yet to find out who the artist is but the illustration is properly credited on the box , although  it's a shame that I can't read japanese..

The box features an opening  cover complete with velcro attachments, and the toy is gloriously displayed in the window box underneath the top covering.

The toy has two tray layers, the upper tray stores the Ryo figure,  unsheathed sword, armor parts and the Dummy Samurai Spirit body so that you can display the Samurai armor in its object form. The lower tray includes some more armor parts,fused katana (double bladed naginata) and Sheathed swords.

Thanks to this opening window, in store buyers can inspect first the item for quality control issues before purchasing the item.






Before  I go on with the mini review, since Samurai Troopers aint exactly mainstream anime and quite an old anime at that.. here's a few vids you might want to check out first in order to  better appreciate this character/toy.

Yoroiden Samurai Troopers TV Opening  1

Yoroiden Samurai Troopers TV Opening 2

Samurai Troopers Armor up!!!

Yoroiden Samurai Troopers as an anime, features one of the best opening sequences IMO. With songs sung by famed Japanese Singer Hiroko Moriguchi (Zeta Gundam, Gundam F91).

Anyways, here's some loose pics of the toy and my thoughts about it..



Ryo Sanada, The figure sans the armor features anime accurate sculpting of the face and inner armored gear. The figure boasts at least 32points of articulation, maybe more, and includes ball joint on the shoulders, thighs, wrists, neck and head.


The figure is mainly made of plastic but the feet not including the "U" shaped bars at his heels is made of solid diecast metal.

Ryo includes optional parts for the hand, (3pairs) neck,and head.




Here is my lame attempt at Ryo's armor up sequence... (I do hope you watched the armor up vid link above  before looking at this pic sequence.)

"Bussssooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!"

"Reeeeekkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Now this is where this figure really shines, Both figuratively and literally. The armor has decent amount of diecast parts on the feet, knee caps (yep including those spikes!), shin guards, thigh armor platings, (front,side and back skirts), Front chest piece, back armor, shoulder armors and those elbow spikes.


At first I was a bit dissapointed that Bandai didn't made the swords  in a way that it can be sheathed and drawn. They just included a pair of hilts, sheath and drawn katanas as well as a combined katana that forms a double bladed naginata.
 
But after opening and inspecting the  toy I realized that this was for the better, so as to avoid scratching the  chrome parts of the swords from the eventual sheathing and unsheathing. If Bandai had chosen to go with the sheathable swords route I'm sure they'd have tons of hate email and complaints flooding them right now!
The armor also includes a seperate front half without the face guard on.

Action Shots..

This has got to be one of my favorite shots of Ryo with his armor.

Overall I'm very pleased with this particular purchase. Pricewise I think  its a little steep, this toy would've been perfect if it costs around the 2-2.5k PHP range, but at the price I got it I guess its decent enough, not too marked up, not too good of a bargain but just right. If you're a Samurai Trooper fan, this is no doubt a must have collectible, it simply makes all the old playmates and Takara toys obsolete. I just hope Bandai follows  it up with the other four troopers as well as the Inferno Armor, as for the villains, I could live without those, but might get them too if ever they do get released and the price is good enough. For non fans who collects japanese toys well, this is really a great anime accurate action figure with diecast parts,  that alone is a great selling point to ponder, besides, how cool is it to have a Samurai Figure with diecast Samurai Armor on your shelf right?

Thanks for looking!