Kidou Shinji found himself caught up in a twisted game in the Mirror World dimension while investigating a series of missing persons cases. Kidou eventually made a contract with the fearsome dragon that stalked the Mirror World but unlike the other Riders, Kidou has no interest in the deadly game's ultimate prize. Instead, as Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kidou battles to save his fellow Riders as well as the innocents endangered by the deadly Mirror World beasts.

Bandai's R&M1 Kamen Rider Ryuki set from the Rider & Monster action figure series was originally released in Japan in 2002 for 3000 yen. I had coveted several figures from series but never got around to ordering them before they sold out.

Fortunately, local distributor Litt Tak recently brought in the Ryuki merchandise to cash in on the fact NTV7 was airing a Malay-dubbed version of the series locally. I got this set from Jusco Mid Valley last month for RM79.92 thanks to a 20 per cent discount.

Contents

The set comes in a box with an inner plastic tray containing the following:

• Kamen Rider Ryuki figure

• Dragreder figure

• 3 Advent cards for use with the DX Dragvisor (sold separately)

• DragSaber

• DragVisor

• A pair of DragShield

• A pair of grips for the DragShield

• A single-sided instruction sheet

Doc

The instruction sheet, courtesy of Hong Kong-based Bandai Asia, includes both Chinese and English text. The English translations are a bit iffy, though; a peg is described as a "pointed out part" while "Drag Claw" and "Dragreder" are translated as "Drag Kuro" and "Drag Ladder" respectively. (The text on the back of the box, on the other hand, romanizes both correctly.)

There's also this warning:

Not intended for sales or distribution in the USA, Canada or Europe.

They don't state what the penalty is but I'd imagine Toei stuntmen would Rider Kick offenders in the groin.

Dragon knight

The eponymous character of the Kamen Rider Ryuki series is an atypical Kamen Rider design with the only recognisably traditional elements being the oval bug eyes and the belt. It isn't my favourite design from the series but I like it.

The 13cm Ryuki figure is an excellent representation of the character. I suppose that's hardly surprising since the series producer, Toei, and the toy designer, Plex, work together closely but I'm still amazed at the detail that went into the figure e.g. the belt and the helmet.

In terms of construction, it's all plastic with the exception of the screws and rivets that hold it together. This was marked departure from the Souchaku Henshin figures from the Kuuga and Agito lines which featured die-cast armour pieces, and I'm guessing Bandai opted to go all-plastic for the kiddie-oriented R&M series because it would have been otherwise prohibitive to include the monsters.

Strike a pose

The articulation for the Ryuki figure isn't in the same class as the Marvel Legends or Microman Full Action Body figures but it's decent nonetheless. The low-down:

• Head -- extremely limited ball joint

• Shoulders -- swivel and hinge combination joints

• Biceps -- swivel joints

• Elbows -- hinge joints

• Wrists -- swivel joints

• Fingers -- hinge joints at the first knuckle. (Note that the index and middle fingers are fused together as a single unit as are the ring finger and pinky.)

• Waist -- swivel joint

• Hips -- ball joints

• Thighs -- swivel joints just above the knees

• Knees -- hinge joints

• Ankles -- ball joints

The figure is capable of reproducing the character's signature pose and the finger articulation makes it easier to grip weapons and accessories. The articulation could still be better, though. I would have preferred double-hinge joints for the elbows and knees as well as a greater range of motion for the hip joints.

The figure has 12 3mm-sized ports -- two on each arm, two on the back, two on the hips, one on each knee and one on each sole -- and the various accessories attach to these via pegs of corresponding size. (Incidentally, the ports and pegs are compatible with Microman figures and accessories equipped with 3mm pegs and ports.)

In terms of durability, I have no concerns. I've accidentally dropped the figure several times with no ill effect and while some parts do pop off occasionally, they pop right back on easily enough.

Enter the dragon

The Dragreder figure is an impressive beast and the main reason why I prefer the R&M set over the more recent Souchaku Henshin or SIC versions of the character. (Dragreder was omitted from the Souchaku Henshin set and Dragreder ver. SIC has a slightly goofy head sculpt.)

This is very much a Japanese dragon as it has three toes on each foot and fully extended, it's about 52cm long from head to tail. That's a lot of dragon.

The Dragreder figure is comprised of 13 different segments (including the removable head and tail) and it's very well-articulated. The low-down:

• Hinge joint for the jaw

• Hinge joint for the head

• 9 ball joints in total between body segments

• Hinge joint for the final body segment (to which the tail attaches)

• Two hinge joints and a swivel joint for each of the four limbs

I love the articulation but the mid-body ball joints are prone to popping out and this tends to frustrate attempts to pose the figure. It's a known issue as well since the instruction sheet mentions how to reattach the parts.

Arms and armour

The set includes all the accessories you'd associate with Ryuki. The DragVisor attaches to the left forearm while Dragreder provides the rest of the accessories.

(It is a contracted monster's lot to be dismembered for accessories ... oh, the things one does for a square meal.)

Dragreder's head detaches to become the DragClaw while the tail doubles as the DragSaber. I should point out the DragSaber is made of very pliable PVC but fortunately, it isn't pre-warped the way my Kamen Rider Knight's DarkVisor was.

Dragreder's limb pieces, which form the twin DragShield, can either be used as shields (the provided grip pieces attach to the shields allowing them to be held by the figure) or can be attached to the figure's upper arm ports as armour.

Bottom line

I don't have many Bandai figures because the company's action figures don't appeal to me by and large but the R&M series hits all the right notes as far as I'm concerned. In one set, you get two well-articulated action figures which are largely faithful to the source material with loads of accessories to boot. Since all this is available for a very agreeable RM99.90, I have little hesitation in recommending it to action figure aficionados or Kamen Rider Ryuki fans.

Links:

• A review (in Japanese) by K-No.

• My entry on the Kamen Rider Ryuki show.

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