S.H. Figuarts Fire (Winspector) Release Details!
 

8/28 Update:
Full official images released! Pre-orders should be going live around the 1st of September!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...537/ZdW3yF.jpg

8/21 update:

A selection of official images from the Tamashii Pickup!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/nYH2bQ.jpg

S.H. Figuarts Fire (Ryoma) from Tokkei Winspector!
RETAIL release!
6480 yen

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...905/8aj70e.jpg

Nifty looking!

I love his look.
However, I've never seen his show, much like a lot of Metal Heroes...Shame.

Same here Matrix. Only Metal Heroes I've seen are Big Bad Beetleborgs and VR Troopers.

RETAIL!?! Praise Godzilla!

So does this like make me and Den-O two of the happiest people alive right now?

You're damn right it does.

I am amazed beyond belief that Fire is hitting normal retail. But I will take it Bandai! Now give me Bikel & Walter already! I need the full team.

Seriously I am elated at this news. I haven't had Winspector as my avatar for over a year for no reason. I freaking love that show.

Is winspector a particularly famous metal hero? It's pretty rare for MHs to get a retail release right?

Actually that show isn't particular famous now. It is however the 1st in the Rescue Hero sub-trilogy of the Metal Hero franchise. So it was a bit revolutionary for it's time. Coming off of Jiban, which was a hard sci-fi cop dramasin the vein of Robocop (literally) this show was more about rescuing civilians from criminals rather than fighting wild monsters. It may not be the most well known show ever, but it's damn good. Kids in Japan LOVED it at the time as well. SO much so that Fire returned with the other Winspectors for several appearances in the sequel series Solbrain. He even received an upgrade in Solbrain that made him Knightfire.

Very surprised to see it being mass released, although now I'm curious to see how well it ends up selling.

Retail release... hm. But I don't know anything about the show and they'll and up releasing his teammates as this stupid Web-Exclusive two-pack anyways... eh, skip.

By the way, what's up with December? We have retail announcements starting for January, but nothing in December yet...

And as per usual the Tamashii Pickup posting has just gone up with some official images of the new reveals, including Fire!

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1440143622

It's cool that he's a retail release. I wonder how well the B-Fighter Figuarts sold.

But yeah! I'll buy that! Winspector owns.

This is great and all, but can you seriously tell me that this character will sell better or is more deserving of a Figuarts than countless other Super Sentai options? Ugh..... :rolleyes What is up with the total abandonment of any Super Sentai releases? Get with it Figuarts!

Considering Metal Hero & Sentai releases have nothing to do with each other I don't see what you're getting at. Sentai releases have sold well enough but a majority of Sentai releases became exclusives over time because the franchise didn't do great at retail the last few years.

On the flip side no Metal Hero has EVER been a retail release, but the sales numbers for recent Metal Hero exclusives have been incredibly encouraging. Enough that Bandai sees an actual market for it at retail that simply doesn't exist for sentai figuarts in the same way. This release is in direction correlation with how collectors are spending their money. The numbers don't lie. That's why this figure is happening.

The western market demands sentai figuarts because of power rangers far more than the Japanese market, which is the one that determines what gets made in the first place. Too often people lament the fact that some release they don't deem "deserving" enough has "taken" the spot of what could have been a sentai release. But that simply isn't how it works.

Fire sure does look awesome.
Heck even in Solbrain as a repaint + helmet remold aka Knight Fire he looked awesome.
Side note, doesn't figuarts Walter seem too green?
I know this is nitpicking but he seemed more turquoise than green on the show.
Then again, the old school toys were pure green pretty much.
Just my two cents. :)

Would love to get this in the future if I can.

I have no idea who this is but damn I want it.

I dont have a huge attachement to Winspector but man I have to get one. Even if its just to remember me of the time where we got Winspector dubbed over here :lol

I can remember watching clips of this show dubbed in German on the channel, RTL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoKXgzGUTGE

And I never knew much about tokusatsu during those times outside of Power Rangers and bits of Zyuranger and Dairanger.

Though many years later after remembering that cheesy German theme, I finally got to know more of the original version and its singer. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eC0VfQMRdc

Yes, I was amazed to find out that Winspector was dubbed in german.

Sadly, the masters got destroyed so no DVD-release in sight...

I always wished we lived in the universe where they continued doing that beyond Winspector.

Metal Heroes and Sentai are two tokusatsu series that have had crossovers and they share the same if not similar fan base. I guess that's what they have to do with one another...

Based on the fact that Bandai is barely making any Sentai anymore and continue to produce Metal Heroes characters, I surmised that Metal Heroes must be selling better.

Nonetheless, I was expressing surprise, and also lamenting the fact, that more well-known Sentai characters aren't being made when such relatively obscure Metal Heroes characters like Winspector are. Metal Heroes died long ago, doesn't have any continuing series on the air, doesn't have international support the way that Sentai does, and the movies they made of the space sheriffs didn't seem to help revive the franchise. That's my prerogative.

Hmm. I wonder if this means a potential B-Fighter Kabuto figuart would be sold at retail. I don't know how popular B-Fighter Kabuto was in Japan.

If all goes well here I could see it happening, the original B-Fighter Figuarts must have contributed to them trying this in the first place.

I suspect if any further ones get a mass release though it might be renewal Gavan first. But if this ends up instantly discounted, I think Bandai will just go back to making them all exclusives again.

That literally has nothing to do with how toy releases work at all. What I'm saying to you is that Metal Hero SHF releases are entirely unrelated to lack of Sentai ones. Crossovers don't play into toy production.

Againb, they're "barely" making sentai because they aren't selling well in Japan. And again, that's the native market. If they don't sell well there then there's no incentive to further the line. Unlike with Metal Heroes where they're selling very well.

You say more well known, but again, you aren't looking at it properly. As I'm assuming you're a Power Rangers fan and you think these would be obviously more recognizable. But considering what I can only assume if your lack of exposure to metal Heroes, you won't know who these guys are anyway. And that colors your opinion of the situation. In Japan there are more Toku heroes than they know what to do with. You're assuming sentai would be more recognizable, and your making base assumptions about how Metal Heroes are dead. You're very incorrect there or toys like this wouldn't continue to be made. That franchise ran for 15 years and spawned the recent trilogy of movies and continues to propel high end collectors figures like these. I'd suggest rather than making blanket assumptions based on your point of view, that you take into account you're looking at this from a western perspective that's ultimately not a factor in whether these toys get made or not.


Renewal Gavan I'm willing to bet money will be the next retail release. Bikel & Walter will almost certainly be a TWE 2-pack thus completing Winspector. But I can at least see the possibility of things like Kabuto, Metalder, and Maybe Janperson eventually being retail releases. It's probably a safe bet that many main Metal Heroes will be retail while they're teammates will likely be relegated to TWE 2-packs.

Is there any word on when he'll be going up for pre-order?

Should be any time at all since that Tamashii Pickup of a few official images was released. Once we get the full set of images then it won't be long.

First post updated with FULL official images!

The theme song is stuck in my head.
Mayday mayday SOS! :lolol

Well, HLJ has him up for pre-order. Don't know if I should preorder or wait until he pops up on amazon.