Kamen Rider OOO - TaToBa Combo Change Series

Alright, here we are, my second review. Still a Kamen Rider, but not a Figuarts.
This is Bandai's cheaper figure line called Change Series. This figure line will ONLY be for Kamen Rider OOO. The line features a gimmick from the show as its selling point. With out any more rambling, here is my review for Kamen Rider OOO - TaToBa Combo Change Series.

Background: This is the 2010/2011 Kamen Rider produced by Toei Company. It stares Shu Watanabe as Eiji Hino. Out of some luck, with nothing but tomorrows underwear, he gets caught up in a war over Medals. An evil, known as Greeds, is awakens after 800 years looking for there Core Medals to make them whole again and take over the world. He is befriended by a floating arm of a Greed know as Ankh. He makes a deal with him to protect the people in exchange to gather the other Core Medals for himself. The name, OOO, represents the kamen riders ability to use three medals to fight the Greeds and there Yummy monsters. This form, TaToBa, is the form based on the Taka (hawk), Tora (tiger), and Batta (grasshopper) Core Medals.

Packaging: A bit different from the S.H.Figuarts box. There is no photos from the show on the box at all. On the bottom of the from, you get images of the "special" abilities of this form. Next to that, you get the image of the figure it self. On the back, you have images of how to assemble the figure, holding his weapons, and other items you can buy and use with this figure. As you can see, this is figure 01 in this series. Right now, I believe there are three or four other figures out.

Accessories: There isn't much to talk about here. No extra hands. No extra heads, Not even a stand. What he DOES come with tho is his O Scanner, the item used to activate his forms and special movies, and his Medajaribur, his sword, only used in this form. As you can see, there isn't much detail on ether item. It would of been nice if they added more then one color paint to the accessories. Its also odd that on his side there is another O Scanner that doesn't come off and the other doesn't fit over it or anything like that. Not really sure what they were thinking on that one.


Articulation: This is one of the better parts of this figure. The head turns, but does not have a ball join, so it cant look up or down, just side to side. The arms have a shoulder joint, bicep swivel, elbow joint, wrist swivel and the hand is split into two parts. This lets the figure hold the the accessories better. The legs have a joints at the top, thigh swivel, single knee joint and ball joint feet. Over all, more then enough to pose any way you want.






Gimmick: As I said before, this lines selling point is the gimmick. The figures from the Change Series break apart into three parts, head, torso, and legs. The torso and legs both have special things they can do. The torso, Tora (tiger) has claws that can flip over the hands and the legs, Batta (grasshopper) can extend and mimic grasshopper legs. The idea behind this is that in the show, OOO can change form with the use of different Core Medals. You can buy the other figure, exchange parts, and make your favorite form. Its a fun gimmick and is the main reason why I picked this one up.

Paint: This may be the low point of this figure. Over all, its not that bad, but there are spots here and there that have chips or fading paint. They really fell short on the detail work with the paint on this line. The belt should be a given. Each medal is a specific color. In this case, Red, Yellow, and Green. They left the spots for the medals black. Even a little spot of paint would be better then just leaving it. The chest and head do look good and stands out very well. So in all, not bad, but the belt bothers me.

I really liked this figure over all. Its not as detailed or as high quality as the S.H. Figuarts version, but its a fun figure to pose and play around with. They don't run much, around 2,500 yen (about 32 dollars) new, but I was able to pick this up for 1,500 yen (less then 20 dollars). I hope to get more from this line down the road, if I can find them.