[Den-O]

Strike in the shadows!

Once again it's time for a Kamen Rider Gaim Arms Change gallery! The subject of today's gallery, the late great Kamen/Armored Rider Kurokage!

**Post #2 contains images of the Tulip Hopper Lock Vehicle

This figure is intended to represent Ryoji Hase AKA Armored Rider Kurokage. However he's double packed with the Tulip Hopper vehicle, so far seen to be used by the Mass Produced Kurokage Troopers. However the belt of this figure is yellow, like the first 6 armored riders, the production model belts of the troopers are silver. Really this figure fudges the details just enough that it could be troop built as Kurokage Troopers, or stand in just fine as a standard Kurokage. The inclusion of the Tulip Hooper suggests that Bandai may want us to troop build this release.

The base body of Kurokage is yet another repaint/slight remold of Gaim. Like Gaim & Zangetsu/Shin he has the same base suit patterns and molding right down to the shoulder ruffles, which sadly are not painted. Nor should they be. Because the Kurokage suit pre-arms has no details to speak of, of course this figure should accurately portray that. And it does, devastatingly so. The lack of any real paint applications to the generic black plastic of Kurokage makes him feel very cheap. The overwhelming plastic odor he has out of the box doesn't help matters either. The head is of course new but that's pretty much it for the base body. It even still has the hole in the waist for a Musou Saber holster, though no evidence exists to suggest Kurokage or the Troopers have ever used one.

The Matsubokkuri (pinecone) Arms is of course all new. It's brown coloration is just a tad off the standard Kurokage's coloration but is even further away from the Troopers. It has a fairly simple drop down transformation like many early Arms in the line. Once plugged on the shoulder armor folds down, but as it does you need to un-peg the sides from the brackets that actually hold them. Then it's simple matter of folding the front and back plate down to complete the look.

The weapon of Matsubokkuri arms is the Kagematsu. This spear itself also has a pinecone theme to it and looks pretty nice. The downside of the toy is that the spear is made of very flimsy black plastic. Gravity will bend it over time. Of course it should also be noted that Kurokage looks awesome with his partner in crime Armored Rider Gridon. The two actually fit each others Arms quite well. And on that topic, Kurokage doesn't look great in much of anything other than Matsubokkuri. Completely unsurprisingly he looks awesome in Banana Arms, as does everyone. However that's about it. Perhaps in Mango & OOO Arms he works as well. The cheap black plastic he's cast in clashes pretty badly with almost any other Arms.

The Lock Vehicle Tulip Hopper is actually pretty nice. Being larger than the other Lock Vehicle you'd think it would have more weight to it, it doesn't. It has a smooth transformation to walker mode and actually accommodates an Arms Change pilot pretty well. There are pegs to plug the feet onto as well as handlebars for a figure to grab. As a toy it may not do much but if you've seen it's debut episode then you know the Tulip Hopper packs a punch in ways that simply can't be carried over to toy form. And hey, check the last image, it has a convenient lawn chair mode

Although Kamen Rider Kurokage feels a bit cheaper than his predecessors he does a fantastic job of replicating the his on screen counterpart. Though again the details have been fudged a bit. And his included vehicle is quite fun. With Kurokage that officially rounds out the initial Sengoku Driver users aside from Mister Dangerous himself, Kamen Rider Bravo, who is a Bandai Premium Exclusive scheduled for release alter this year.

Check back with us next month for a gallery of the next release in the Arms Change Series, Gaim Jinba Arms!