[Kurona]

Plat Form was a complete and utter joy to build! Compared to W, a lot of his inner construction is far more comparable to other FRSes like Ex-Aid, though he uses a similar style of leg construction to W -- if that's the new one they're deciding to use, I'm all for it; because it's very simple to put together and results in very good articulation. The result as well is a figure that looks insanely clean; this is partly down to the high amount of parts separation and how few stickers are used here (I'll get to that in a moment), but when I finished putting Plat together I was satisfied in a way comparable if not superior to Ex-Aid. It's... maybe weird saying this, but I think Plat Form is probably the best looking FRS so far! The only negative is of course that there's unfortunately no second belt included, so if you're mainly getting this kit for Sword Form then you're gonna have to put the Sword Form belt sticker on, and that's gonna make Plat Form look a little off -- and vice versa. It's a shame and looking at the trays they could so SO easily have put in a second belt, but thankfully this is the only big flaw I feel and it doesn't look awful.


Now I'm not often gonna post about stickers or mid-construction things, but due to the nature of this essentially being two figures I feel it's important to note here. The instructions have you start off building Plat Form and then later on brings in the Sword Form transformation, whose additions end up being much shorter because of course you've already built a full figure.
What this means is that the small sticker sheet you've seen before is even smaller for Plat Form -- only about half of them were used, and very very few were specific to Plat! To quickly run over which ones are involved in Plat Form -- the silver on his heels; the belt details; the two small black triangles on his 'mouth'; and the holstered den-gashers. That's it. EVERY SINGLE OTHER DETAIL YOU SEE HERE, even the silver on the chest, everything on his arms and hands, etc; all of it's part separation, and he comes off looking extremely good for it. I've pictured below what was left of the sticker sheet before I started Sword Form to give you a good idea.




Moving swiftly on, the transformation! At first removing a couple of these parts feels slightly iffy, but ultimately it comes off very easily and you never feel like you're gonna break anything. It definitely tends towards the 'tight' end of the scale than loose and doesn't strike a perfect balance, but it's more than good enough to work for this kit. All in all you take off the head; the neck collar; the shoulders; the chest; the thigh panels; and the small strip running down his back. Aside from of course the arms, the back strip will be used for Sword Form to help secure the connection and complete the look of the Ax Form backpack.




And finally, the main event -- Sword Form! Now quickly jumping into a couple negatives so we can end on a climax; as you probably could tell from the sticker sheet photo, a LOT of stickers end up specific to Sword Form here. First off is the Den-Gasher's Sword Form, which despite about 8 stickers to fill in the detailing on the handle; comes off as easily the weakest-looking most underdetailed part of the set which is becoming a bit of a theme with these FRS Riders. Without paint there's no blue detailing on the handle and no silver outline on the blade. Much like Ex-Aid's fully white Gashacon Breaker, this ends up with a simplified appearance that I personally don't mind and think actually looks kinda nice, but it is of course inaccurate and it is a valid concern to consider if you're picking up the kit. Beyond that there's a couple more Sword Form-specific stickers -- four red stickers for the details on the back of his shoulders; two black stickers and two small yellow stickers for the detailing on his 'collar'; two gray stickers for his antennae; one long yellow sticker for the middle of his head; and not pictured above because for some reason they're on a different sticker sheet, two silver foil stickers for the inside of his eyes. Most of these are fine to apply, but I really have to mention the eye stickers as being by far the worst part of building this kit. It's a shame because otherwise this was probably the funnest FRS for me so far, but these eye stickers do not want to co-operate with you and will do anything they can to not go inside the eye piece. They're extremely finicky and you have to place them in a very tight and narrow area in a very specific fashion, and mine didn't really end up perfect; they're a small bit away from where they should be. As this is just to get the 'shine' in the bug eyes it's not too bad but it was certainly a letdown.


And now that we're done with that small negative? HOLY HELL THIS GUY LOOKS GOOD! Like. LOOK at that picture below. I'm not someone who uses paint and despite the more complicated nature of Den-O's design compared to W or Kuuga, he ended up looking -superb-. Aside from more Den-Gasher details, an extra belt for Plat Form and the silver heels needing stickers (seriously, I'm fine doing that, but why...?), I can't think of any criticism I'd give to the finished product here. He's as expressive as a Momotaros should be with all the hand options and articulation you'd want; the sculpt and shaping is fantastic; every colour application that needs to be there is there -- Plat Form edges it out a little due to needing less stickers and not having an underdetailed sword, but Sword Form is really not far behind! Seriously my favourite FRS so far and well worth the asking price. You can do a lot worse things with your money than picking him up