[Den-O]

Drive! Type Technic!

TokuNation is in gear with more Kamen Rider Drive! Continuing our series of Drive galleries we're looking today at the 5th Tire Koukan release, TK-05 Kamen Rider Drive Type Technic!

Don't forget to check out the video review of this excellent figure by my man Baltmatrix as well!

Packaging
Much like Drive Type Speed and Drive Type Wild, Type Technic comes in a nice slim box with one diagonally rounded off side. Collectors of the line have nothing new to see here other than the obviously new stock images for Drive and some of his newer tires. Much like Type Wild, Technic is packed as one solid figure rather than two halves like Type Speed. This is of course due to how the Tire Koukan gimmick has changed for this Type.

Main Figure
Kamen Rider Drive Type Technic has been pretty divisive actually. A good number of people either love or hate the suits design, I'm firmly in the camp of loving it. But let's explore how this figure lives up to it. For the lower half of the body this is much of the same figure you already got with Types Speed & Wild before. But let me tell you that torso and head are entirely different beasts.

Type Technic moves the TK gimmick once again, this time to the rather odd chest area. In order to utilize it you need to hinge back the upper most part of Technic's torso on the arm connected to the back. The shoulders, upper chest, and head are all connected. Then insert a tire, most likely the standard Type Technic Tire and here you have the figure's completed look. Let's start with positives.

Despite having a pretty funky version of the line's gimmick the Techinc doesn't suffer that greatly from it. You'd think there'd be no shoulder movement, but there's a ton of it. The shoulders are set on ball joints just bellow where the edge of a tire rests and they have some pretty decent motion. Some false cables are molded on to the upper arms simulate the connection to the shoulder pads as well, the pads themselves can hinge freely for a full range of movement thanks to the upper body's transformation. The sculpt is also spot on for this guy. As always right down to the intricate undercarriage detailing on the back and the exquisite head sculpt.

The drawbacks of the design are that, sadly, you can't do "Drive stacking" with this figure. Type Wild offered the hilarious possibility of attaching Type speed to his shoulder because they share the same universal connector. For some reason Type Technic has an entirely different connector on that chest peg meaning you can't do that. It's an incredibly odd change. What this also means is that for tires like Dream Vegas, which require the version 1 connector to be able to stack parts, are incompatible with Type Technic. Now the chest is designed gloriously to allow any of the Tires with moving or protruding bits to still work seamlessly with Technic. The shoulders really are aimed at allowing you to use any tire. However because of how the upper chest swings backs on a single joint hinge, anything thicker than one tire will essentially not work on this guy.

That being said it isn't necessarily the point of this figure to be able to accommodate things such as stacking. We've all had our fun with Type Wild but we have no indication that stacking the 3 pieces of Dream Vegas on there or putting Type Speeds torso there, will ever happen in show. So expecting that same kind of compatibility with Technic doesn't necessarily make sense. But it would have been fun. The head also has some pretty limited up/down movement because of the lip around the neck.

Accessories
Included with Drive Type Technic are several key accessories:

1 - Type Technic Tire. This is of course the main tire necessary to complete Technic's look.

1 - Door Gun. The second standard weapon of Kamen Rider Drive, the Door Gun made it's debut before Type Technic in the show but as with Type Wild and the Handle Sword this was included to sort of sweeten the deal. It's actually not too shabby. Much like the Handle Sword it's fully functional! Though it required only a single hinge to be able to do it the Door Gun opens and closes just as it should. A nice touch in all honesty.

1 - Fire Braver Tire. This new tire made it's debut in episode 9 of Kamen Rider Drive and as the name implies it's based on a fire rescue vehicle. Fire Brave is a fairly creative new tire with a folding "fire ladder" styled arm that can collapse along the inner indentation of the tire. Allowing it to not only fit perfectly inside of Technic's chest, but also to allow for variation of length of the arm for display. The arm itself is physically a bit weak and can pop apart from time to time, but it's inclusion here is a nice bonus.

Final Thoughts
As before with Types Speed & Wild, TK-05 Kamen Rider Drive Type Technic really does sell me on this lines gimmick. I think this figure is so far the best proof yet that the design detail of Tire Koukan continues to exceed that of Arms Change with a far less obstructive gimmick. Tire Koukan may seem simple but it's intelligently implemented in these figures and is actually a lot of fun. Negatives aside Type Technic is still a really interesting design and a pretty great figure.

Nice Drive!