[barnstenchfartface]

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Nope. The original Melon was the posterboy of Gaim alongside Orange, Banana and Budou, so it's pretty clear why this one was sold in stores and the other one wasn’t.

And quite honestly, with nearly every Rider the base form is a great representation, that's not up for discussion. You may like one armor over the other, but the original is always bond to the character.

I had a longer reply to this typed out but it was a waste of space honestly so I'll condense it down to: I don't think 3 times is that many, even if Takatora didn't use Zangetsu Shin in every episode he still used it far far more than the original, and just because it was one of the most publicized suits in Gaim doesn't actually reflect anything in-show. In the show, in my opinion, it becomes much easier to associate Takatora with Shin. He only used Zangetsu five times during an arc where he didn't even do much. By the time he became a more important and notable character he had already switched. It's an exaggeration, but I'd say it's like associating Shinji most with the Blank Ryuki form or something. YMMV, I guess.

Anyway, I'm not saying that they should have released the original as a web exclusive instead or anything. But for such an important suit, I do think Bandai messed up making it so hard to get--especially since they didn't even release any other New Generation Riders as retail figuarts. I do understand why they only released the main four, and except for Gaim, only the base forms...but since Zangetsu Shin was both basically the base suit of one of the main characters as well as the poster boy of the New Generation Riders....It's just a bit of an odd choice.





edit: also I own the Thrust figma and the Gai figuarts is still super worth it. No regrets.