Nice Kitties...please don't bite me. D:
Going to download Gobusters now. :) Despite not having Go-buster Ace, I still have kitties to review. How about it? :D
Up for review today we have the 3 wildcat Zords that make up the Gekitouja, also known as the Jungle Pride Megazord in the United States. This is the American version, Sparky being too broke back in 2007 to import the Japanese release. It's also completely identical to the Japanese version save for the light up fists. The translucent orange paws that would have allowed the LED lights to shine though remain however.
Gekitiger looks more gorilla than cat like, according to some reviewers. But the paint apps look nice, and it's not missing any particularly important details from the show version. The mouth opens, revealing a nice molded on tongue. (Extra details, I love them!) The arms can rotate 360 and the only annoying thing is the big "Fanny pack" in on its hindquarters. This is the battery compartment. 2 AA batteries are needed to activate the spinning feature of the Megazord, which replicates the final attacks used in the show. My Gekitiger looks like it has been in some battles (the nose paint has been scratched off), since it has been thrown down the stairs before by an irritated parent intent on me NOT taking some of my collection to college to ward off homesickness*("College kids don't take their toys to school! >:(" ). MEANIE. The tail, currently hiding behind the fanny pack, is not painted, unfortunately. *I did take the thing to school anyway, where it received an honored place on the top of my printer
Geki Jaguar is a nice shade of blue. His spots are molded on the black part of his body and he's oh so shiny and stuff. Vents on the shoulders may serve to cool him down in the heat of battle...I dunno what these are for, really. He has sunglasses on, but you can flip them up, as shown below, to reveal his real eyes. He is similar in body shape to GekiCheetah and they both have the same articulation (including elbow joints and knee joints). The head locks in place every couple of degrees in an upward motion in I believe 4 places.
PET ME. x3 Stare into my dreamy eyes and forget what you were doing...
Geki Cheetah has the same body build as GekiJaguar but of course, being more built for speed, its legs are naturally thinner. Unlike the jaguar, its spots are painted. Even the head spots are painted. It can also open its mouth to reveal a tongue. Unlike the others however, it lacks teeth on its upper or lower jaw. Why do female Rangers' Zords always get the short end of the stick? >_<
The tails of the three cats can be yanked off to create the three section staff known as the Jungle/Geki Setsukon. Unlike in the show, the weapon is not painted. BOO.
BUT WAIT!
What would a Megazord or mecha be without upgrades? Introducing the Rin Lion and Chameleon special movie edition set that I nabbed off of some California import shop before they went out of business. I managed to nab this for 60 bucks, but some of them go for 80 or so on Ebay these days, so um, if I thought mine was overpriced... Anyway, there is an American version of this set and if you get the DX versions they're exactly the same, down to the Toei and Bandai Japan logo (Bandai America got too lazy to scrape off the Japanese characters this time, which is awesome, because that means you can't tell them apart, and you don't have to import just for the sake of completing your collection.)
Anyway, Rin Lion is the mecha of the Gekirangers' or Jungle Fury Rangers enemy. On occasion in the show they're forced to work together to defeat a common enemy. The combination of Rin and Geki are shown in the series a couple of times but most of the hype was centered around its debut in the movie Gekiranger: Nei Nei Hou Hou Hong Kong Big Decisive Battle (Toei, stop giving your movies ridiculously long names, please! It hurts to type them all out, saying them aside *is dizzy*) My Rin Lion came to me with a tail already chipped off by the stupid UPS guy letting it bounce around the back of his truck without paying heed to the big FRAGILE sign on the box. So you may or may not notice the tape on its tail to prevent further paint chipping and to minimize damage. I really do like the design of Rin Lion. Black and gold paint make this figure look pretty awesome. The mane streams out behind it so it looks like the wind is blowing towards it. The tail, ridiculously long for a lion, will become a sword for the Megazord.
Articulation wise, the legs move, and the mouth can open, but that's pretty much it.
PET ME TOO. I demand you!
RIO SAMA WAIT FOR MEEEEEE!
Ah, sorry Mele! Rio's lover Mele also has her own Rin Beast, a Chameleon. This thing is the tiniest brick of a Zord I've ever seen, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. The only articulation is in its tongue, which can be pulled out to make it look like its teasing you...or getting ready to become a lasso to ensnare the enemy. It too is paint chipped (the pupil is not red anymore...AIEEEEE! I should take better care of my toys! D:). T_T
Due to my iPhone being derpy and forgetting to send my pic of the combined Zords, I grabbed an internet pic of Jungle Pride with Rin Power off the internet:
Someone also modified their Rin Lion to hold its sword like an actual sword, rather than have it stuck on the shoulder and over the paw like the instructions say you must do. It looks more show accurate that way.
The last Geki Beast I own is Saidain, or the Rhino Steel Megazord. Again, this is the American version. It is the exact same thing as the Japanese version (shown here), save for the fact that it just uses its own motors to walk and does not require the Rhino Blade or Souyutou toy (packed with the Japanese version) to work. A switch between its back legs give it the ability to be moved manually or by battery power. The switch can also be used to lock the legs in place so it doesn't slide around on your shelf and fall and break (and yes, it is very heavy--it's 3 pounds 16 oz by itself, more if you load, as I will show you, the Jungle Pride on it!) It is also very long (gosh, I could hardly fit it all into my iPhone camera frame), more than 15 inches long from horn to back leg, I swear. Oh, and it takes two C batteries. Yep. A big battery for a big animal.
Transformation into Megazord mode is easy. Yank off the legs and clip them onto the back, then yank off the blue shield and depending on where you'd like to put it put it in his hand after you've pulled the arms down and out. The right arm does not have a hand because it holds the giant rhino head in its fingers anyway and it might not have fit if they had to put an extra appendage there. Saidaioh (as it is called in Japan)'s default head is this one here, which is the first one you see when you transform it. But push the jewel on its chest and...
Ta da, its real face is revealed. I also took a while to get this thing in focus because my iPhone kept wanting to focus on the big rhino head trying to stab its lens out. ^^;
UltraZord formation! Or SaidaiGekiRinToujasanswolf. I must get myself Gekiwolf to complete the Ultrazord, despite it being just a remold of Cheetah. But for now, my wolf figure that I got from the gift shop at the Smithsonian at Washington DC shall do. Bandai America made a smaller Wolf Zord but not a DX one, so yeah, we got burned in that department. D: If you want the complete, show accurate Megazord formation, you will need to import. BOO, Bandai, BOO! Bad marketing decision on your part, especially if people want Gekiwolf but have no idea it exists outside the US market. Also shown is my MP Grimlock (US version, about to object to the big fat rhino butt in his face. XD)
Run, kitty, run! ^_^;
I was gonna do a Youtube review of this, but then my microphone just started crackling, and the webcam was pretty crappy, so meh, text and pic-spam it turned out to be. ^^;
Up for review today we have the 3 wildcat Zords that make up the Gekitouja, also known as the Jungle Pride Megazord in the United States. This is the American version, Sparky being too broke back in 2007 to import the Japanese release. It's also completely identical to the Japanese version save for the light up fists. The translucent orange paws that would have allowed the LED lights to shine though remain however.
Gekitiger looks more gorilla than cat like, according to some reviewers. But the paint apps look nice, and it's not missing any particularly important details from the show version. The mouth opens, revealing a nice molded on tongue. (Extra details, I love them!) The arms can rotate 360 and the only annoying thing is the big "Fanny pack" in on its hindquarters. This is the battery compartment. 2 AA batteries are needed to activate the spinning feature of the Megazord, which replicates the final attacks used in the show. My Gekitiger looks like it has been in some battles (the nose paint has been scratched off), since it has been thrown down the stairs before by an irritated parent intent on me NOT taking some of my collection to college to ward off homesickness*("College kids don't take their toys to school! >:(" ). MEANIE. The tail, currently hiding behind the fanny pack, is not painted, unfortunately. *I did take the thing to school anyway, where it received an honored place on the top of my printer
Geki Jaguar is a nice shade of blue. His spots are molded on the black part of his body and he's oh so shiny and stuff. Vents on the shoulders may serve to cool him down in the heat of battle...I dunno what these are for, really. He has sunglasses on, but you can flip them up, as shown below, to reveal his real eyes. He is similar in body shape to GekiCheetah and they both have the same articulation (including elbow joints and knee joints). The head locks in place every couple of degrees in an upward motion in I believe 4 places.
PET ME. x3 Stare into my dreamy eyes and forget what you were doing...
Geki Cheetah has the same body build as GekiJaguar but of course, being more built for speed, its legs are naturally thinner. Unlike the jaguar, its spots are painted. Even the head spots are painted. It can also open its mouth to reveal a tongue. Unlike the others however, it lacks teeth on its upper or lower jaw. Why do female Rangers' Zords always get the short end of the stick? >_<
The tails of the three cats can be yanked off to create the three section staff known as the Jungle/Geki Setsukon. Unlike in the show, the weapon is not painted. BOO.
BUT WAIT!
What would a Megazord or mecha be without upgrades? Introducing the Rin Lion and Chameleon special movie edition set that I nabbed off of some California import shop before they went out of business. I managed to nab this for 60 bucks, but some of them go for 80 or so on Ebay these days, so um, if I thought mine was overpriced... Anyway, there is an American version of this set and if you get the DX versions they're exactly the same, down to the Toei and Bandai Japan logo (Bandai America got too lazy to scrape off the Japanese characters this time, which is awesome, because that means you can't tell them apart, and you don't have to import just for the sake of completing your collection.)
Anyway, Rin Lion is the mecha of the Gekirangers' or Jungle Fury Rangers enemy. On occasion in the show they're forced to work together to defeat a common enemy. The combination of Rin and Geki are shown in the series a couple of times but most of the hype was centered around its debut in the movie Gekiranger: Nei Nei Hou Hou Hong Kong Big Decisive Battle (Toei, stop giving your movies ridiculously long names, please! It hurts to type them all out, saying them aside *is dizzy*) My Rin Lion came to me with a tail already chipped off by the stupid UPS guy letting it bounce around the back of his truck without paying heed to the big FRAGILE sign on the box. So you may or may not notice the tape on its tail to prevent further paint chipping and to minimize damage. I really do like the design of Rin Lion. Black and gold paint make this figure look pretty awesome. The mane streams out behind it so it looks like the wind is blowing towards it. The tail, ridiculously long for a lion, will become a sword for the Megazord.
Articulation wise, the legs move, and the mouth can open, but that's pretty much it.
PET ME TOO. I demand you!
RIO SAMA WAIT FOR MEEEEEE!
Ah, sorry Mele! Rio's lover Mele also has her own Rin Beast, a Chameleon. This thing is the tiniest brick of a Zord I've ever seen, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. The only articulation is in its tongue, which can be pulled out to make it look like its teasing you...or getting ready to become a lasso to ensnare the enemy. It too is paint chipped (the pupil is not red anymore...AIEEEEE! I should take better care of my toys! D:). T_T
Due to my iPhone being derpy and forgetting to send my pic of the combined Zords, I grabbed an internet pic of Jungle Pride with Rin Power off the internet:
Someone also modified their Rin Lion to hold its sword like an actual sword, rather than have it stuck on the shoulder and over the paw like the instructions say you must do. It looks more show accurate that way.
The last Geki Beast I own is Saidain, or the Rhino Steel Megazord. Again, this is the American version. It is the exact same thing as the Japanese version (shown here), save for the fact that it just uses its own motors to walk and does not require the Rhino Blade or Souyutou toy (packed with the Japanese version) to work. A switch between its back legs give it the ability to be moved manually or by battery power. The switch can also be used to lock the legs in place so it doesn't slide around on your shelf and fall and break (and yes, it is very heavy--it's 3 pounds 16 oz by itself, more if you load, as I will show you, the Jungle Pride on it!) It is also very long (gosh, I could hardly fit it all into my iPhone camera frame), more than 15 inches long from horn to back leg, I swear. Oh, and it takes two C batteries. Yep. A big battery for a big animal.
Transformation into Megazord mode is easy. Yank off the legs and clip them onto the back, then yank off the blue shield and depending on where you'd like to put it put it in his hand after you've pulled the arms down and out. The right arm does not have a hand because it holds the giant rhino head in its fingers anyway and it might not have fit if they had to put an extra appendage there. Saidaioh (as it is called in Japan)'s default head is this one here, which is the first one you see when you transform it. But push the jewel on its chest and...
Ta da, its real face is revealed. I also took a while to get this thing in focus because my iPhone kept wanting to focus on the big rhino head trying to stab its lens out. ^^;
UltraZord formation! Or SaidaiGekiRinToujasanswolf. I must get myself Gekiwolf to complete the Ultrazord, despite it being just a remold of Cheetah. But for now, my wolf figure that I got from the gift shop at the Smithsonian at Washington DC shall do. Bandai America made a smaller Wolf Zord but not a DX one, so yeah, we got burned in that department. D: If you want the complete, show accurate Megazord formation, you will need to import. BOO, Bandai, BOO! Bad marketing decision on your part, especially if people want Gekiwolf but have no idea it exists outside the US market. Also shown is my MP Grimlock (US version, about to object to the big fat rhino butt in his face. XD)
Run, kitty, run! ^_^;
I was gonna do a Youtube review of this, but then my microphone just started crackling, and the webcam was pretty crappy, so meh, text and pic-spam it turned out to be. ^^;