Hey guys, I'm trying to order the Lupinkaiser minipla on Amiami.

I noticed that there's a 5 set and a 12 pack set.

I understand that Lupinkaiser has zords 5 packs in order to build the zord. Assuming that the 12 pack set has doubles of that 5 packs required. What would the remaining 2 pack contain? Or does the 12 pack set contain something completely different. Please educate me on this, thanks!

I think the 12 pack includes 2 extra arms.

It is 2 extra of one the 5 box of the set. There is never something new or from an ancient set.
It could be an extra good striker (box 4 and 5) or any of the lupin vehicules (could even be the same vehicule twice).

The sentence on amiami tells that they don't know the exact content, but I have read somewhere that it is usually the same for everyone. I have seen a picture on twitter where there was 3 good striker on the 12 pack.

Neoxul

Bandai staff blog updated today.
Some infos on kakuranger :
Pre order will be opened end of may ot early june.
Release is for september or october.
No price given yet.
Muteki shogun will be a normal release. A box with 5 giant beast general.
Tsubasamaru and daishogun will be in a single set (5 box for daishogun, obviously one for tsubasamaru) and will be available on premium bandai only (same date as muteki shogun for preorder)

Neoxul

Preorder has opened on amiami for series 05 here
Preorder has opened on amiami for individual set of series 04 here

Neoxul

Images for Clear versions:
http://img.amiami.jp/images/product/...S-00210416.jpg

And images for more of Series 03:

So I take it Series 3 is just auxillaries. And series 4 will probably be Lupin X / Patoren X

So I want to get into MiniPla...

Starting with Lupin/Patoranger. I found both core mechs on AmiAmi for about 29 bucks pre-shipping.

Should I try to get UchuRanger and Zyuohger as well for Minipla?

I only have Zyuoh King and Dodekaioh for Zyuohger and Kyurenoh set 1 for Kyuranger, but I would definitely recommend those series’ lines based on those sets alone. Though I’m wondering, are the ToQger and Ninninger sets as good as the Zyuohger and Kyuranger kits? I’m thinking about getting some of those.

I'm wondering what series 04 will contain since it's available in a 5-box set. I already have series 01 and 02 but I don't know if I should continue getting the rest since I haven't even started watching the show yet. Haha.

I've built most of the Kyuranger ones and the first two mechs of Zyuohger and they were all pretty nice. Pretty standard in terms of Minipla so if you end up enjoying the Lupin/Patoranger ones then you'll probably enjoy the others too. I find that you can usually get pretty good deals on older Minipla sets on Mandarake.

Obviously X-Emperor. Look like one of the train will have 2 box...
Too bad they didn't open preordre for individual set at the same time that the 10-box. But as I wanted to have the two form... I would have buy two individual set anyway. Hope that I will not have any double in the 10-box...

Neoxul

I began 2 years ago with ninninger and toqger (then zyuoger that was released at that time).
Minipla improved in quality since magiranger.
All set from magiranger up to today is great (quality increase a bit each year).
The only problem is to find them at a correct prise. Amiami only sell recent minipla (1 or 2 years if you have chance)
Then you have to go on yahoo auction and with a middleman as sellers usually don't sell overseas. It is more expensive year after year for older release, but you can find sometimes good price for some set (I would say : be patient).

Neoxul

Well I have the Shinkenger MiniPla except the dinosaur because I found it on ebay for like $40 for everything and my dumb self thought it was the DX.

Minipla's better.

So if I can wrangle all the Uchuranger Minipla as well as the Lupin/Patoranger Minipla of AmiAmi I'll be good? Two Goodstrikers will be odd

Ah right, X-Emperor. I haven't really been following LupinVPatoranger too closely and forgot about that. I guess series 04 might be worth pre-ordering and I'll probably go for the 5-box set because I don't feel like building the same kits twice. Haha

Yeah, if you enjoy the Minipla then I don't think you could go wrong with any of the Kyuranger or Lupin/Patoranger sets. Two Goodstrikers will be good if you plan to display both the zord combinations for Pato and Lupin. Though if you do plan to get all the Kyuranger sets, you'll also end up with some doubles because of the way the sets were arranged.

I've had good experiences buying from Itcamefromjapan.com They have some of the older Minipla sets in stock.

As for a good place to start, I'd say just pick a design you like, and go for it!

Always will recommend mandarake.

I hope to order a bunch of kits from Mandrake over the summer. What are their typical shipping rates to America, and what are some good markers for the kits?

For Markers, go with Gundam Markers. If it works for a 1/144 kit, it'll work for Minipla.

For shipping? I dunno.

Also, going to nut up for full Minipla cases for Lupin/Patoranger stuff so I can give away some at a model club.

Hm. The clear sets remind me a little of the original and "starburst" releases for the Gokaiger minipla. You'd end up with a better-looking mecha if you combined the two together, replacing the cockpits on standard Trigger Machines with clear versions. Definitely not worth buying a second set.

I've now put together both LupinKaiser and PatKaiser.

Lupin's the better of the two, which is unsurprising: it feels like the Lupinrangers have gotten slightly cooler designs all around. Although the wings on the blue and yellow Dial Fighters get in the way of the elbow articulation, it's easy enough to work around this by tilting the cockpits of both vehicles slightly upward. You can fake a little bit of neck articulation between the face-dial and the fact that you can angle the red Dial Fighter a little to the left and right. The leg articulation is okay, although it lacks the articulated ankles of the last few Sentai mecha. You can at least tilt the angle of the feet so it doesn't look so wonky, but they don't do a lot for stability. I've never liked the look of the gray panels under the Dial Fighters, and I was pleased to note they're removable. If you're not interested in connecting them to the candy toy VS Changer, their only real purpose for now is as a Tamashii stand connector.

Oh, yeah: that's a really nice element for the Dial Fighters. You can stick the three Lupin mecha on the same stand if you have enough connectors.

PatKaiser is slightly less appealing. Both mecha use GoodStriker, so the legs and back are nearly identical. The faces have no neck articulation, and you can't fake it like you sorta-can with LupinKaiser because there's virtually no wiggle room. The arms are... weird. The equivalent of elbow articulation is at the wrists, not the hands, so they mostly look really stiff, and then look awkward if you slide the wrists forward. It's not awful, but it suffers in comparison to LupinKaiser's arms. Also, although you can slide the wrists forward and back, you can't actually turn them, which I found disappointing when posing the baton.

The clever design element for PatKaiser is the extra face piece. The designers were aware that a face that could fit into Trigger Machine 1 is terribly small and recessed, so although they supplied that face, they also supplied a second, larger face that plugs in front of the existing face. You can't do anything with it, but it looks drastically better.

Overall, I like them enough, but I'm definitely not motivated to buy Series 3, and I'll be waiting to see how Series 4 comes out rather than preordering in advance.

Working on my minipla Dragon Zord and decided to make the tail look sharper:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbpYvp-WsAAwJcp.jpg

I plan on painting it up of course, I might go with a black and gold colour scheme.

It's a cool kit, but I'm just not seeing $50+ in this guy. Especially considering that master grades cost just as much.

Last images are out for Series 3:
http://img.amiami.jp/images/product/...S-00204841.jpg

http://img.amiami.jp/images/product/...0204841_08.jpg

Looks like VS Minipla 4 and 5 have been solicited. I... do not love that in order to get a pre-order on these, we have to order blind. I'm guessing one of those boxes will contain X-Emperor, and the other... probably more auxiliary mecha? The clear sets are under the SP label.

There's also the Jackpot Striker (the movie one)

So I need cases of 1-3 of Lupin/Patoranger for my model club...

[cries]

Time to find funding

How many cases do you need? and just of 1-3 or do you want the big truck/plane thing too?

Machine Wars SmokeJumper & Dreadwind the Zord version. Rather fitting for a thief theme.
On that note, double checking those names via google made me realize TLK had a machine Wars Starscream reference in it. Rather explains the entire Megatron junkyard scene with Starscream's head now. It's so very meta "nana na nana, I got your body."

Can't wait to see it finished!

Could you post pics of the heels/combine port knees also? Definitely want to see more of how it looks in battlemode combined mode too! NVM, looked up several reviews. Tend to agree it's a little overpriced. Finding it at 35USD seems more about what it feels worth, though that still feels a little steep. I do kind of hope they do a v2 version that includes the legs and arms for battle mode. Then it might feel a bit more towards 50 USD worth it. Though Brachio/Titanus does come really close to making up for what the others lack.

TBH, really wish they'd do a normal minipla split version. It has so much parts forming that except for the pre-painted and separate color plastics, I'm not feeling the super in super minipla. It feels like it has less than normal Minipla. The GekiTohja normal Minipla seemingly has more than this, same to the Bouken minipla and Deka Wing Robo one.

So I'm really hoping for a better one done later, that switches the peg system back to GekiTohja torso standards of peg out knees and shoulders, with the receiving port on the limbs instead of on the core body.

That'd be my preferred minipla style. Where all mecha is compatible to each other, but the articulation is there. Which is a shame, I really love the battle mode. I may bite for that anyway, but it's a shame it feels not quite up to what it could have been. Especially for that cost. I paid less for the full geki minipla line, and it feels like that offers more.

If they included the limbs for battle mode in a secondary release or Americanized release, I might consider paying the Americanized Megazord Super minipla price though. But so much parts forming makes both feel overpriced. They did a lot right, but that T-rex and Dragon torso/head stuff feels like they gave up before finishing the design. Which I'd be willing to forgive if more was detail painted.

I guess it's the best we can hope for on an old show one. Feels like it could have been so much better though. Seems like most of the design budget went into Brachio/Titanus. And it also makes me wish we saw more of the combo potentials in the original show. Brachio gloves and torso piece on normal megazord, or Brachio Gloves on Dragon Battlemode would have made some kick ass episodes.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdRTQjMVAAA-M03.jpg

I have a few spots I need to correct, I also plan on doing a bit of weathering and giving it a black wash. Otherwise, it's like 75% done.

Is that supposed to be black and gold Dragon Ceaser?

Some pics of super minipla stuff to show off the modes! Tbh I think these are worth the price with a little bit of paint and love! I’ll have to post updated pictures later since I’ve done touch ups since then. Right now I’m in the process of painting King Brachion, I’ll probably post those pics later. Been lurking on this thread for a while since Ive recently gotten into minipla after years of Gundam. Tbh for being a Sentai fan I only recently learned of minipla like a year or 2 ago.

There are no pictures yet but it is sure that VS minipla 4 will be xEmperor and VS minipla 5 will be the movie exclusive (jackpot striker with the vs vehicule that enable to do the lupinkaiser seen on the catalog pictures).

There will be a release around september/october (my guess) for the latest auxiliary vs vehicules (Trigger Machine Splash and Magic Dial Fighter at least and I won't be surprised if there would be a good striker with it).

I was in Japan for 3 weeks and I was surprised to see that if was quite hard to find minipla in stores (there are a lot of DX stuff, but I barely manage to find a vs vehicule 1 set. There was a bit more of vs vehicule set 2).
I went in bic camera and yodobashi camera mostly.
When I went in Tokyo I went to akihabara and nakano broadway but even there it was quite hard to find something (and sometimes the vs vehicules set were about twice the normal prices Oo).
I finally found 2 lupinkaiser and 2 patostriker in one of the radio kaikan tower stores.

Does anybody here already went to Japan and bought miniplas there ?

Neoxul

Yup.

I think I'm going to end up buying them anyway. Dragonzord is too much my fave to pass up.

But I'm still on the quest for one that can use more wide-ranging minipla for limbs. I personally won't be satisfied until I have one that can use geki limbs or Bouken, gokai, Deka, etc.

But until then. This battlemode version is close enough for now. The Mammoth armed and tricera/sabertooth legged mode has always been my fave. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone on shapeways or elsewhere will make adapter pieces for wider compatibility.

Seeing how the titanus gloves work though. That makes it even more tempting. So I'm hoping they do a secondary release with the other limbs bare minimum. Don't really need/want the T-rex and pterodactyl.


I got into Minipla back during geki and picked up some side releases occasionally. One of my favorite things about the minipla though is how universally compatible they are. There's something really satisfying about the Gokai Galleon using limbs from other series. Or even randomly using Deka blue wings for arms on Daibouken, or the Bouken arms as power ups for Gekifire arms. So it'd be extra sweet to do the same with the Dragonzord battlemode/guardian mode.

Impulse bought my first Minipla when I was about to ship my YU-DO case. I'm enjoying Lupin Kaiser.
https://i.imgur.com/i6P3afx.jpg

I like it!

"Oh no! He's got an enigma of combination! He can... Um... Combine. More?"

Boy I’m glad I can paint cuz Brachion has dissapointing parts seperation and way too many stickers

Back to some Kyuranger:

Gigant Houou
https://pre00.deviantart.net/40e1/th...ue-dcdk7dn.jpg

https://pre00.deviantart.net/0489/th...ue-dcdk7d9.jpg

https://img00.deviantart.net/32d2/i/...ue-dcdtv0a.jpg

https://pre00.deviantart.net/8be1/th...ue-dcdtuzt.jpg

Nice job! I'm fond of anything that includes a space station.

On one hand, I'm trying to cut back on buying, and the Lupat designs aren't really my faves.

... On the other hand: clear figures.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgagSVpVAAA4162.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgagRHoUwAAV9wo.jpg

I typically avoid clear figures because I dislike their increased fragility, but I can't deny that those certainly do look pretty slick~

I wouldn't worry on the durability of this one. The sprues definitely felt more rubbery than normal, and didn't shatter at all when I snipped the parts off. Been playing with the finished toys plenty, and I don't see a single crack.

I can't be certain, but Bandai may have added more plasticizer to the mix to address the fragility issues?

Now to decide if I'm going to sticker or not.