04.08.07

Gakken 1/35 Ride Armors

Posted in 1/35, Cyclone/Ride Armor, Gakken, MOSPEADA/RT New Gen at 11:51 pm by micronian

 

REVIEW(updated): Little, Metal, Different

Packaging & Extras: (2/5)
These toys are tiny and there’s not a lot to them.  What appear to be extras when the box is opened are actually parts that must be attached to complete the toy.  Essentially, no extras are packaged at all.  The box is sturdy enough, the artwork is nice and indicates what’s actually inside instead of just being generic on the cover.

Charm & Collectibility: (4/5)
What really makes these toys cool is their scale.  Being 1/35 means they’re just the right size to be (dis)played with the large 1/35 Gakken Legioss (Alpha) toys.  The picture below shows how large they are in comparison to the figures that come with the large Gakken Legioss.  These toys are also pretty hard to come by and feature a large metal content so they do appeal to a broad range of collectors.  Of all the posts I have done on this website these toys have inspired the largest number of people to contact me with more questions.  Unfortunately, I don’t really know of an easy way of acquiring these toys and the best I can do is to tell you to keep your eye out on auction sites.

 

Sculpt, Detail, and Paint: (7/10)
The actual sculpt employed is pretty impressive with each different ride armor utilizing the elements specific to it.  Houquet/Fuke (Rook) features the rounded chest of her cycle as well as the larger gun she toted.  Stig (Scott) has his missile pods and Rey (Rand) has his gun.  Unfortunately, the paint schemes don’t really follow the show very well.  Houquet/Fuke isn’t off by much but the others are a pretty broad jump from where they should be.  Otherwise, the level of detail is quite impressive for something so small.

 

Design: (5/10)
This is nearly impossible to judge for me since I don’t know the original intent of the toy.  If this were meant for children to play with… well, it’s not a great toy and more care should have been taken to make it a wee bit more fun.  If this were originally intended to be a little metal statue to pose with the other vehicles then the designers did a fine job.  More points of articulation on something this small would have certainly impaired the overall look.

 

Durability & Build: (8/10)
The toy is made of metal so it’s quite durable.  It’s pretty easy to knock the detachable pieces off but it’s just as easy to put them back on without anything being broken.  The build quality does suffer a bit from paint smudges and seams.  If you really wanted to you could pry these toys apart at the same that runs down the middle (they’re not glued and this wouldn’t hurt the toy).

 

Articulation: (3/10)
The head moves, the arms move, and the gun moves since it’s attached by a peg.  Beyond that, there isn’t much to reposition on this toy except some limited mobility knees.

 

Total Score: (29/50)
The score is deceptively low because of the knocks given for design and articulation.  As such, the score should be interpreted as saying that this doesn’t make for a particularly FUN toy.  That’s not to say these things aren’t really cool though… especially for adult collectors with Genesis Climber displays.
 

NOTE: This review has been updated
Original Post Date: May 24, 2006

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