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LVUR01 Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Level 1 & 2 Gallery
35 Attachment(s)
Let's Game, Super Game, Ultra Game, what's your name?!
After what's seemed like forever, the first wave of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid merchandise has made it out into the wild and we now have our very first review of it! Kicking off our year with Ex-Aid we've got a gallery of the first release in the "gimmick line" of figures for this year. Level Up Rider (LVUR) 01 Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Level 1! To be accurate this figure is called that, but can transform into Ex-Aids more standard Level 2 form. Think of Level 1 as an equivalent to Kuuga Growing Form or Den-O Plat Form. A pre-form of sorts. ***This review will be split across 3 posts. Below I've taken a look at the Level 1 form on it's own as well then Level 2 after. Packaging For a series as wacky looking and themed as Ex-Aid the packaging is perfectly in line with it. Some nice 8-bit style graphics, bright gaudy colors, what you expect from this show. Though it is a little more toned down looking than I expected. I always enjoy a nice box design. Not much to discuss here otherwise, just the usual type of stock photos & packaging cross sells. Ex-Aid Level 1 (shell) The simplest part of this review focuses on the least complex piece of this set, Ex-Aid Level 1. We know now that Premium Bandai is going to be releasing what they've dubbed a Full Action version of the Level 1 figure. A fully poseable alternative to what we have here. And what we have here is a hollow shell that can't do much of anything. It can't even be bothered to look terribly accurate to the show design actually. Thanks in no small part to the gigantic open back half and the large black protruding panels that are meant to "hide" the core figure being plugged on the back. Level 1's articulation is entirely limited to the arms which rotate 360 on a rather loose ball joint. This is mostly useless though as they impact the shell a lot. Frankly they just aren't useful at all, they may as well have not even been articulated. The fists are also on a 360 swivel, but ultimately for no point. Seeing as the rest of the figure can't do anything, the arms can't emote enough to make Ex-Aid Level 1 look like he's doing much. I've included comparison shots of this form with vintage DX Superchange Kabutack & DX Magnet Change Robotack (in bot forms) below. This series' theme of SD forms that undergo super transformations into more humanoid ones clearly takes inspiration from these classic Metal Heroes. If only the toyline itself had taken more as well. This shell is pretty pathetic when compared to these 2 excellent 17 year old toys. Level 1 is ultimately kind of a nothing figure. What sucks even more is that Ex-Aid is the only rider from this series to include the Level 1 shell. If you buy any of the future LVUR releases you have to share their Level 1 forms with this figure. That's a pretty big miss for this years gimmick. More on that bellow. Ex-Aid Level 2 (Main Figure) Dai Henshin! Ex-Aid Level 2 is sort of the main event of this set. Generally these gimmick style figure that Bandai pumps out every year are the same at a base body level. And I think that can mostly be said for this year too. We have the rotating waste but no abs, the rotating shoulders with bicep swivel, the "2-digit" finger joints, the 45 degree hips and ball jointed ankles. What is new this year is the addition of double jointed knees. Now these were only implemented to accommodate the figure's transformation, generously so-called that. That joint helps you fold the legs up against the chest and connect Level 2 to the inside of the Level 1 shell. be careful however, when you press these legs up against themselves the black paint on the pink thighs can and will flake off easily. This figures also features several hard points for attaching later Level upgrades to the main body. But there's nothing to do with them currently. But frankly that's the only point where this figure really diverges from base gimmick figures we've had in previous lines. Ex-Aid Level 2 doesn't do anything else terribly original. The chest plate and Level 1 face are removable as is the Gamer Drive but 2 out of 3 of those are just for transformation purposes. The chest plat does look quite nice, the head has a great design as well. But this figure still suffers from weak hand joints and articulation cuts that are so close to being useful, but fall short. Legs that don't have a terribly great range already can't make use of the extra knee joint for much of anything. Much like the first entry in the Ghost Change line last year, this figure feels like it was poorly thought out, Bandai just needed something on the shelves. You can still get a decent range of motion out of it, but for the normal retail price of this set, 4536 yen, you may feel like you haven't gotten your monies' worth. Accessories Ex-Aid Level 1/2 includes only 2 accessories: 1 - Gashacon Breaker (Hammer Mode) 1 - Gashacon Breaker (Blade Mode) Neither of these accessories is properly painted, in fact they're each cast in 100% pink plastic. Not unusual at all for gimmick line figures. Just noticeable when it's a giant solid hunk of pink plastic. The Hammer is actually too heavy for the weak finger joints to maintain very well. It tends to fall out rather easily. The Blade is less of a nuisance but the weak joints strike again I'm afraid. Typical of this type of figure really. Final Thoughts Level Up Rider Ex-Aid Level 1 needed to do one thing to ensure this was a successful line, have a fun gimmick. Sadly it doesn't. Because the gimmick is never properly realized. It's no Armor Change, No Tire Koukan, it's not even Ghost Change. This gimmick has cross compatibility sure, but it's a total ripoff. In order to display the level 1 form of any other rider you need a shell, the shells only come with Ex-Aid himself. You'd need to buy this figure somewhere around 4 or 5 additional times right now. Between the figuarts 3-pack that features Ex-Aid Level 2 & the Premium Bandai Level 1 figure, the Level Up Rider series will probably be one of the more quickly forgotten gimmick lines. It just doesn't have a leg to stand on. If you buy this figure wait for it to hit deep clearance. |
35 Attachment(s)
Level 2 Action Gamer
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Group and Shots!
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Until you called it out, I thought the weak finger joints were just lack of posing skill on my part. My Brave can barely hold his Gashacon Sword. I'm currently regretting having more or less gone all-in on LVUR preorders. The figures are not awful, but yeah, the Level 1 gimmick is useless, and the pictures I've seen of Level 3 don't fill me with anticipation.
It's a fine-enough figure until the Figuarts are released, I guess. I don't regret owning it. It doesn't look awful next to Figuarts if you ignore the hands. I like it more than GC01 Ghost, the only other retail Rider figure I own. This was a super-fun gallery! Great job! |
Overall neat looking figure. Thanks for the gallery!
Can i ask, picture 77 of 99 where the Megaman helmet came from? Cause that's awesome! |
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