S.H. Figuarts Red Buster Gallery 2.0
 

TokuNation has slowly but surely been going through it's archives of old galleries and finding those that need updates, where we simply didn't have as much polish as we do today. The subject of today's do over is one such figure. Today we're turning back the clock to 2012 with our final Toku Toy Box entry for the year. A 2.0 gallery of S.H. Figuarts Red Buster!

I should disclose that Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters is one of my all time favorite sentai. I know lots of people who hated the show when it was airing, both those who gave it a fair chance and those who didn't. And just as many people who experienced it at the time or years later and loved it. It's a polarizing show. I for one adore everything about it so I thought it was time this figure got the gallery it deserved. Because like the show I don't think a lot of people gave it fair shake thanks to word of mouth. I'm here to at least show it isn't quite as bad as you might think.

Busters, ready, GO!

Packaging
Now at the time Go-Busters figuarts featured some really creative packaging. And I still think that holds true. Red Busters' box feature all the series hallmarks and logos as part of it's design. Right down to the awesome "shades" logo. The metallic reflective cardboard makes it feel premium & stylish, and the stock photos present you with a figure, that while not entirely capable of recreating those poses, can do an admirable job.

Main Figure
As I said above, Red Buster, and the following Go-Busters releases, were not looked fondly upon. People who hated the show subsequently seemed to dislike the figuarts and felt they were "taking spots" of other sentai that "deserved" release more. But there was a voracious dislike of that particular season and it's mainline merchandise too. As a show without a collectible gimmick it simply under performed and is most likely what caused Toei to 180 into the goofy silly super gimmick driven stuff we get now year in & out. For me Go-Busters was the last modern show with some true originality to it. I feel the figuarts, while not perfect, do deserve a 2nd glance.

For starters Red Buster features some really unique detailing you don't often see on figuarts that aren't based on Showa era characters. You can mainly see what I'm talking about on the boots & thighs of the figuart. The show suits were made of leather rather than traditional spandex or lycra. While this meant they showed wear and tear much more easily, they also really popped on screen. The Figuart captures that down to the excellently molded in thigh and boot details. Little things that are easily overlooked while the suit is in action that can be recreated perfectly at this scale. Sort of like the fabric folds in old Showa Rider suits. Red Buster also features a number pretty nice crisp paint apps recreating the 2-tone silver/red costume right down to the "zipper" down the middle of the suit.

Sadly the elbow joints are incorrectly colored black rather than silver & red. I believe at the time of release it was assumed it's because that plastic wouldn't take to paint very well, the black does draw your eyes' attention but not terribly so, and the elbows function just fine too. Red Busters arms are also one of the last sentai figuarts releases to feature bicep swivels. Nowadays that feature tends to be reserved for more armored characters like Metal Heroes or Kamen Riders. Sadly because of the way the torso sculpt bulges forward at the shoulder the arms cant make much use of the swivels. So yes Red Buster can not recreate his arms crossed battle poses properly. I've done the best I can to demonstrate what it looks like but this imperfection of the design is probably the one glaring flaw I see in the mold.

The helmet is pretty much spot on though I would have loved to have gotten a nice chrome visor, but I can totally accept the metallic paint we got here. The sculpt is crisp and despite the complaints I often see, the head looks exactly the right size to me relative to the figure. Other details of note include the GB emblem on the belt which is sculpted really nicely, a dark paint wash could have brought out more of that detail though. The left arm features the molded in and fully painted Morphin Brace as a wonderful scaled counterpart to the real deal. Though non-functioning I always love wrist changers. And to round out the nicer details of the figure we have a really great looking Transpod on the chest straps. (The straps themselves help contribute to the hindered arm articulation)

Overall I still have a good opinion of this figuart. Yes, the arms suck because of a design flaw with the shoulders, you can't recreate some poses that are sorely missed. And perhaps I should mention that possibly because of the material the hands are cast in, they can be really difficult to swap. But barring these issues Red Buster features all the same great standard articulation that the SHF line has come to be known for. So I don't see what's not to love about this figure, especially considering the rock bottom prices it can be found for these days. I've included some shots of Red Buster with the rest of the Go-Busters & the Nick Cheeda SH Figuart as well as with as much Red Buster product as I could muster! I really like Go-Busters in case no one noticed :lol. Happily the old MBAF Nick Cheeda transforming bike is almost the right scale to work with Red Buster. It's just barely undersized.

Accessories

3 - sets of hands. Pretty standard stuff. Just mirrored sets with no unique poses.

1 - Sougan Blade. The standard bladed weapon of the 3 main Go-Busters. This is a nicely sculpted and accurate piece. Obviously it's not engineered to have it's binocular form as most figuarts weapons at this scale don't work in that way. It would have been nice if that were included separately.

1 - Ichigan Buster. The 2nd standard weapon of the original trio. It's just as nicely sculpted and painted as the Sougan Blade, though with more paint apps over all. I really dont see why this one wasn't molded with transformation joints, it would've been very simple that happen with it. As is though it's one of the more interesting sidearms out there. Really like it.

1 - Ichigan Buster Special Buster Mode. This is the combined form of the Blade & Buster. The 2 weapons themselves were not engineered to combine so this piece is included instead. I actually don't mind that as it allows you to have extra weapons to display. In much the same way that latter figuarts like the Kyoryuger had 2 versions of their special weapons and you could display both simultaneously.

Final Thoughts
I'm a self professed mega-fan of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. I've always loved it and always will despite the flak it gets. I know that this figure isn't perfect. It has trouble moving it's arms up and out because of the chest design flaws, some of them suffer from weak hips, and the hands can be especially hard to swap. But S.H. Figuarts Red Buster and the following Go-Busters releases are something that I believe are still worthy of a spot in your collection. Red Buster goes for no more than 1500-2000 yen on average which is incredibly affordable for a figuart. If you want to fill out your sentai display, do yourself a favor and pick him up. Now if only Bandai could ever make Beet Buster, Stag Buster, & buddyroid mode Beet J Stag. But don't get me started I'd buy the entire Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters as well!

Shutdown, confirmed.

And post 2! Including shots of Red Buster with:

- Ichigan Buster Special Buster Mode
- Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters group shots
- Buddyroids
- DX Go-Buster Ace, MBAF Nick Cheeda, & more!

I was hoping to get a US figure of him, but this figuarts looks awesome!

Someday I'll get ya, probably whenever I get around to watching Go-Busters.

It's a pity that Go-Busters didn't pan out as well as Toei had hoped, but even with red arms joints Red Buster looks sharp and the 2.0 gallery does this figure justice.

A total bummer about the arms and hips though. At least it's still looks enjoyable. Certainly one good way to end the Toku Toy Box galleries with a bang, that's for sure.

A fantastic looking figure. I love the details and the weapons!

These photos are really fantastic. They really show off on how great the figure looks. I have thought about getting Red Buster since I like the suit design, but never seen the show itself. I will probably get him cheap now then later.

I can't remember whether or not I sold my Red Buster, all I remember is that I managed to pick it up for absurdly cheap prices (Like, single digit levels) :lol

While I wasn't a big fan of the show, the Figuart was nice, but I didn't feel it was that good. The arm issue is probably the reason why people looked down upon it the most (And it is rather disappointing that he can't recreate his signature pose).

Really, if it wasn't so dirt cheap, it would be hard to recommend to anyone beyond the biggest Go-Busters fans.

If there is another Sentai S.H. Figuarts that I do need to look into getting it is Red Buster. While I haven't watched Go-Buster fully I do enjoy the designs and weapons.

I really hope one day I'll be able to own this Figuarts because it looks just wonderful.

Probably one of my favorite designs. I'm hoping to get this one sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

My feelings on this figure are so mixed. Some of the sculpting is great, but some of it severely hampers his articulation. Even despite the bicep squivel, he can't quite touch his Transpod. The sculpt elegantly displays the chest straps, but at the cost of freedom of movement.

Swapping the hands is stressful; the plastic feels brittle, so I fear it'll break.

I started off liking Go-Busters, got bored with it when its plot didn't seem to go anywhere, and only returned and finished the series in the last few months. I was surprised by how much better the series got toward the end, and there's a mecha battle in the last ten episodes that may be the best Sentai mecha fight I've seen. I love how they appear to have introduced Tategami Li-Oh entirely so we could have a version of Go-Buster-Oh and still have Buster Ace, the best-looking mecha, acting separately.

I greatly appreciated a lot of stuff the show did: the many nods to Power Rangers, and to a western audience in general. The gratuitous English, even when it's awful ("Let's Morphin'!" "Let's driving!".) Separating the metaroid and the megazord, so we almost never had a monster grow to giant size after defeat. It had a really good sci-fi feel. I like the idea of the heroes as cool-headed professionals.

I also think the show had some serious flaws in the Buddyroids; most of them didn't have a deep enough personality for me to care about them, but the writing really, really wanted us to care. The show was aiming for a cool vibe, but the Buddyroids kept undercutting the sense of cool. It was also pretty clear that we got the Buddyroids pretty much at the expense of more senshi.

Hiromu and Yoko weren't especially likable for the first half of the series. There wasn't enough going on with the villains for the first half of the series, and Messiah itself felt lame and undercooked.

The series corrected most of these things by the middle and end of the run. I saw Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters last week, and it may be my single favorite Sentai movie... and then I noticed it apparently didn't try to sell me movie exclusive toys! I was gobsmacked. On the downside, the Doubutsu Sentai were a little more fun, and I kinda wished I'd gotten more of their series.

You're absolutely right that the shades on these figures should've been chrome; the oversight causes the figure to miss the element of the suits that pops most.

I ended up buying the original trio. I skipped Cheeda Nick even though his design is actually pretty cool. I'm guessing your Cheeda bike is from the retail toyline for Go-Busters? The scale is pretty close!

I love the new gallery. I'm glad I'm seeing this now that I've come to appreciate Go-Busters a great deal more. (Seriously, ToQger and Ninninger felt so often formulaic that watching a Sentai that actively tried to overthrow familiar Sentai formulas was an eye-opening relief.)

Flaws aside, I wish we'd gotten Figuarts of Beet Buster and Stag Buster... and particularly Enter's FANTASTIC suit from the show's final episodes. (When was the last time we got a toku villain suit with that much love and detail after episode 40?) Here's hoping Toei will someday revisit some of the coolest elements from Go-Busters.

Fingers crossed for the Toku Toy Box!

I don't own this one per se, but Blue Buster (of course), and I have to agree with everything Den-O says. Including the part about loving the series proper (I REALLY need to finish it...).

It's an outstanding design that's hindered by an otherwise small design flaw when translated to SHF form. Having said that, they're worth getting if only because they're dirt cheap and look damn good.

Love this series and this figure's design. Too bad it wasn't more popular.

He looks good but I never watched go-busters so I don't know why people hated it so much. One day I will check the show out.

I look back at Go-Busters very fondly. It was never dull to me and it was my first Sentai that I watched beginning to end while it was live. So maybe It was the newness of it all. Hiromu was a tool , but it was nice to not find myself gravitate towards a Red senshi as it is pretty easy to do.

On the figure side of things. It was a damn shame they never finished the whole team. I truly believe that if Sentai figuarts were still going strong that my interest in this hobby wouldn't have wained as badly as it did. As Enter or Kamen Rider Bravo might say " C'est la vie "

Never been a fan of go-busters, so i don't have alot of love for this guy.

Red Buster looks great as a Figuart :) .

I haven't watched more than the first episode yet, but I really dig the suits for Go-Busters. Different was good, to me.

This gallery has convinced me to get Blue Buster, actually. I'm thinking of display a mixture of 5/6 rangers from the available Figuarts and he would make a great blue representative.

I guess I need to watch some more of the show first to make sure I don't hate the character before I buy.

Real shame about the shoulders though, the gallery still came out really good.

I loved the series too! I did take a break half way through but went back to finish it because of Beet and Stag Buster. Really wish they had made them as figuarts too.

this suit design has never appealed to me, but I love Beet and Stag are awesome looking

He seems big on the Nick bike

I'm not that fond of this design, but your pictures make it look good.

It is a shame that the GoBusters figuarts never got completed and fans are resorting to buying multiples of Red & Blue Busters to make customs of the missing members.

I'm planning on buying one more Red Buster so I can make the Dark Buster form that Enter has.

Oh cool, a Go-Busters gallery! The shoulder articulation is a bit wonky and the black elbows are annoying but the Busters are still pretty good Figuarts. Oh it bums me out that we'll probably never get Beet and Stag Buster.

Go-Busters is the best. :cool:

It's a shame that the Go-busters releases had those issues, but still, it's better than no releases at all and Red Buster is worth the investment if you love the show.

Lack of Beet and Stag still pains me though.

The figure looks pretty decent, though its age does show a little. The flaw with the shoulders does seem rather restricting, unfortunately, but it does look like a decent figure all in all.

I love the Go-buster's suit designs, but this was one my least favorite figuarts (second only to Akiba Red). His articulation was lacking and for some reason Bandai decided to make him ever so slightly taller than every other red ranger which puts him at a weird scale.

Well the MBAF bike was designed for the included 4" figure made to ride it. It's just the closest to scale version of the bike mode available for figuarts. It's not perfect but depending on your perspective while viewing it, it works pretty well.

The figure captures Red Buster's weapons and suit in great detail. It's a shame that Gobusters was a failure in Toei's eyes and If we would've gotten figuarts for Beet, Stag, and even Dark buster they would've had killer detail and have been amazing figures.

I love Go-Busters, enough to get over the pretty terrible (for SH Figuarts standards) shoulder area articulation on their figuarts. And even if they are lacking as figuarts, they're still fantatic toys compared to most toylines. I just wish Bandai had at least done Beet and Stag Busters before they gave up on this line. The Buster trio just look so incomplete next to the full Gokaiger and MMPR teams on the shelf.

Busters ready go!!!!!

One of the few I actually own. I still need a Nick to go with him though. Great overall figure even if it is lacking a few accessories.

Can I just say that I've always liked the Go-Busters suits? They were so awesome looking and I really wish Go-Busters was adapted into a Power Rangers season.

I love the color scheme for the weapons even if they are cameras haha.

I love Go-Busters, I really need to get the rest of the team but I have red buster and love it, got it really cheap a few years ago and has been in my display ever since. I really liked this show and the mechs too I have them all, still wish that the rest of the team was made but at least we have the main three and I'm ok with that for now

At most I'd say it's an ok figure, the design I'm fine with but there's a couple of details and flaws that hinder it.

I actually liked Go-Busters more than I thought I would. Really do need to pick this up at some point.

I love all of the detail on the suit.

As a recent convert to Go-Busters, i wish they had made Figuarts for J, Beet and Stag Busters. Would have been nice to get more out of the line. Amazing job as always man!