[Den-O]

And we're back with a very special gallery in honor of VR Troopers 20th anniversary! Which happened just last week on September 3rd. For those who don't know, VR Troopers is by far the biggest hodgepodge of footage of the various Saban 90's tokus. Created from footage of 3 unrelated Metal Heroes shows produced by Toei, Chojinki Metalder, Jikuu Senshi Spielban, & Uchuu Keiji Shaider, VR Troopers was an innovative creation. But to celeberate this quirky series we're sharing 60 images of Action Works Chojinki Metalder!

Metalder footage was used for the character Ryan Steele primarily in season 1 here in the US. But since Metalder is the shortest of the Metal heroes shows, a mere 39 episodes, season 2 began utilizing Shaider footage for Ryan's new upgraded form. Despite quite a bit of fan support here in the US VR hasn't gotten a ton of love over the years though. Especially in the figure department. Much like anything that isn't Power Rangers it's been cast to the wayside a bit. But a few years back there was just enough residual love for Chojinki Metalder left in Japan to produce this figure, Action Works Metalder!

Action Works was a toy line competitive to S.H. Figuarts in design at least. Since the two focused on different genres they didn't compete in quite the same way you'd think. Sort of borrowing elements from Bandai's SHF line, Action Works were produced by Megahouse. That is until Megahouse was acquired by Bandai Of Japan. Until they were acquire this line had become a home of sorts for high end Metal Heroes releases including the 3 Space Sheriffs as well as Metalder and even Winspector. But Metalder was the first metal hero released by the company as Toei Hero The Live 01, and even by today's standards, this figure rocks. Here's why.

Packaging
For starters Action Works came in much larger style boxes than S.H. Figuarts of today do. These releases were more of one offs each time rather than part of an overarching merchandise line. Metalder is the 2nd largest in the packaging department, only being outclassed by the massive Winspector 3-pack. But it's a glorious box evocative of the figure inside with plenty of nice stock photos and a great insert piece for the back of the inner package.

Main Figure
As I mentioned before Action Works are sort of like figuarts but they were actually better than the first couple years of Figuarts offerings in terms of design and accessory count. These figures were wonderfully sculpted, generously articulated, and included tons of accessories (more on that in a minute). As you can see from the images below Metalder looks damn nice. It really captures the actual character quite well. Now I know there are some glaring black joints there but you have to remember that this figure is from 2009. And yet it still holds up nicely with today's S.H. Figuarts.

Joint aesthetics aside they're meaningfully placed. Metalder can pull off some nicely dynamic poses including his most signature ones. Though some Action Works Metalders have become loose over time this one is still in fine working order. A very nice additional feature here is the intentional ability to remove Metalders arm at the bicep for him to hold it as a weapon. That's right folks, in show Metalder has literally beaten enemies to death with his dismembered arm and the toy faithfully replicates it. Automatically goes in the win column.

If the articulation wasn't enough to sell you just look at the paint and intricate detailing on this guy. It's just incredible that a toy like this has been around since the early days of S.H. Figuarts and sometimes we still don't get modern SHF's with this level of detail. For those wondering Metalder's 2-tone appearance was meant as an homage to one of Shotaro Ishinimori's earliest creations, Kikaider! The red/blue split design is no coincidence at all, this guy is a blatant homage, right down to him being a robot with a human form rather than a "hensin hero". He even has a motorcycle with detachable side car and plays Jazz Saxophone for fun!

Accessories
As with all Action Works figures, Metalder comes with everything he could honestly need. Included here are:

5 - additional hands for various action poses. It should be noted that this type of hand has the ball joint attached to the hand itself rather than to the wrist peg allowing for a greater range of movement. Honestly I love this hand system but I can see where it's probably more of a gamble breakage wise, though I've yet to encounter such a problem.

1 - Action Works display base. No these aren't as fancy as modern Tamashii stages but they get the job done and peg directly into the figure. The only downside is that they aren't quite tall enough to leave the figure in a static standing pose when plugged in. They really only work for action shots.

1 - Katana. A seldom used but specific weapon of Metalder's. Including weapons like this is something I greatly appreciate. It may not be something he uses every episode or even more than a hand full of times, but I love having it. Sidenote, the Space Sheriffs released in this line came with multiple energized and standard versions of each of their Laser Blades.

1 - Springer! That's right, Metalder comes with a robot dog, not to be confused with that pesky Transformer! Springer was Metalder's trusty older brother. Built by their creator before Metalder, Springer guards the Silver Caucus base where Metalder operates from. He can even speak human language! Jeb the dog from VR Troopers was based on Springer though he wasn't cybernetic. Though this Springer figure isn't articulated, it's wonderful detailed bonus ton include with Metalder.

Final Thoughts
If you can't tell, I love this figure. I've owned a few Action Works releasese over the years and this one is by far my favorite right now. For figures released during the early days of the S.H. Figuarts line, Action Works do not disappoint. I've vocalized my disappointment so far with the poor QC of the Space Sheriffs released in the SHF line as they just don't hold up as nicely as their older counterparts. I love Action Works Metalder to pieces. If an SHF was announced I'm not entirely sure I'd need to buy it unless it at least came with everything seen here. But as the SHF line brings more Metal Heroes into the fold like the forthcoming Blue & Black Beet there's always a chance for a Metalder release.

In any case if you can find Action Works Metalder I HIGHLY recommend him. He not only is an excellent toy but he fits in perfectly with your S.H. Figuarts collection as you can see below. Though he does tend to run a bit on the expensive side, keep your eyes peeled and you may finally get a deal on him like I did. He is worth the wait. And if you're a huge fan of VR Troopers and finally want a Ryan Steele to hang out with your Red Ranger, Blue Beetleborg, and the other Saban heroes, then I recommend you look at the last few images of this gallery. They're pretty convincing

So as Metalder would say, Ikaru! (Anger)
And from Ryan Steele, Trooper Transform!