[Den-O]

It's time for another delicious double sized serving of Kamen Rider Gaim Arms Change figures!

**Remember this is an arms set only, rider base bodies are not included so you'll need to own one of the 5 released so far to use these.

The AC06 2-pack includes the Mango & Kiwi arms and signature weapons. This set is intended to be used with Kamen Riders Baron & Ryugen, but of course because of the awesome nature of the AC line they can be swapped to any rider! Each of these arms has currently only been used by either Baron or Ryugen, but the upcoming Kamen Rider Gaim Hyper Battle DVD promises Zangetsu Mango Arms among other special arms changes.

Fight of Hammer!
To start with Mango Arms is awesome. Of course because of the limitations of a mass retail toyline and the nature of how it transforms in show, it isn't perfect. But it's damn near close. Mango, while accurate to the show, does cheat a beat. Rather like Ichigo it requires a degree of transformation before it can be fitted to a riders head. Suggesting that there really isn't a Mango Sparking mode like the rather easy ones the others have. Again this is accurate. What isn't is the cape. In show it's a nice cloth/vinyl cape but on the toy, because those pieces make up the Mango's outer hull, they're hard plastic. So while the transition isn't perfect it does look very nice in practice.

Onto the rest of it, the helmet is simply badass. The fruity ram horns give this form a fantastic ferocity. This is by far my favorite arms to display Baron with. By far. The signature weapon of this arms, the Punish Mash, definitely goes a long way to adding to the character of this particular arms change. Big hammer and axe like weapons always work for me, and this one really works.

Mango, while not perfect, is still far from bad. Some people have expressed distate with the transformation. And while it is the most complex Arms Change, that doesn't make it less satisfying. As you can see, though the colors do clash on other riders, it actually works really well on Gaim Ryugen and Zangetsu.

Whirling Wheels, Slice & Dice!
Kiwi Arms is another fun one as well. Like Banana & Ichigo before it, Kiwi has a great asymmetrical transformation! Though it does drop down properly onto the riders head the Kiwi halves that from the shoulder take 3 unequal chunks out of the middle. This is a really simplistic but satisfying transformation that results in some big bulky shoulders that look awesome. Your personal mileage may vary. The helmet is also another winner with this one, helping to add to the Chinese warrior motif that Ryugen derives much of his inspiration from.

Included with this set are the huge Kiwi Gekiren circular blades. People who had issues with their Ryugen's holding the Dragon Shot will probably have the same issues here. The Gekiren are much heavier and harder to pose with but if you have one with tight joints like mine it works out well enough. This is probably the one most glaring cases where the more limited articulation of a mass retail line vs an eventual S.H. Figuart is a hindrance. You could do some really dynamic poses with these if the shoulders were designed better on Ryugen.

This Arms is pretty cool. About average from what I expect from the line, very fun to play with. It works very well on the intended rider, Ryugen but doesn't look too bad on Gaim and baron. Zangetsu works it pretty well too. In my upcoming Arms Change Gridon gallery you'll see it actually works very well for him as well.

So one more time I have to reiterate, Bandai has delivered a fantastically fun addition to the Arms Change line. I've bought every release they've put out so far and nothing has proven to be a disappointment. This continues to be THE BEST mass retail gimmick line that Kamen Rider has ever had.