Skip to main content

Toy Review: Tekkaman Blade & Pegas


Photobucket
Today I've got Tekkaman Blade & Pegas from Bandai's Soul of Chogokin SPEC line. SPEC is a subset of the Soul of Chogokin, and is supposed to feature more modern characters, in more toy like incarnations, also typically with less metal content. This is the first SPEC toy that I've ever picked up.
There have been a couple of different cartoons feature the Tekkaman character, none of which have I seen, but from what I've gathered, this toy is based on the designs from the 90's OVA Tekkaman Blade.
In the cartoon an invading alien force abducts humans and turns them into cyborg warriors called Tekkamen. Blade is the title character, and he manages to escape being fully brainwashed, in order to return to Earth and thwart the invasion. The conversion process being icomplete, he has some disadvantages, which require him to use the larger mech, Pegas as a means of transforming into his Tekkaman form, also he can only stay in his Tekkaman form for 30 minutes, or risk going berzerk.
Here's the intro to the show:


Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the toy(s). I actually really like the SOC SPEC packaging, not only does it feature a window to see the toy, with a clever cross view, showing technical details, it also has a velcro secured flap.

Photobucket
In the box you'll find Blade, Pegas, and a stand.

Photobucket
Blade is clearly the star attraction of this set, he's very detailed, and has a goodly amount of articulation, almost as much as Takara's last Micromen line.

Photobucket

I was a little disappointed at how small he was, I was thinking that he would be about the same height as a most non-combining SOCs, but really, he's only a little bigger than a GI Joe figure. Since he's supposed to be an augmented human, I would venture that he's about in scale with this Destro figure:

Photobucket

He comes with three swords, two single blades, and then one double blade that I assume is supposed to be the two connected:

Photobucket


Photobucket
The other weapon in his arsenal is a pair of blaster batteries located in his shoulders, which flip up:

Photobucket
Of course, like all SOCs, he's got a variety of different hands that can be used, although of note is that these hands seemed especially to allow posing them in the traditional "stop" gesture:

Photobucket
Here's a look at his back, which shows some great detailing, although he does tend to have a big gaping empty spot back there depending on how he's posed, also he has the two flip out details under his ribs, which a little research told me is supposed to be fold out boosters that allow him to Earth's atmosphere:

Photobucket


Photobucket
The last accessory that Blade has is... Pegas:

Photobucket

Pegas is a monstrous mech, with a decent amount of detailing, that unfortunately just doesn't do much.

Photobucket
His legs don't move much, although his arms are well articulated, the wings on his arms and back are all adjustable, and he has the option of either fists, or splayed hands.

Photobucket


Photobucket


Photobucket

Here's why I said that he's more of an accessory for Blade:

Photobucket

His back opens up, and Blade can step on in, although you have to swap out his head, for an unfortunately unpainted head with shorter anntenae
Photobucket


Photobucket
Snuggle him in, and there you go, wouldn't even know he was there:


Photobucket


Pegas is a little more than a burly suit with a pretty face I guess, he can also turn into a funky flight mode:

Photobucket
Which is where the stand comes in, not much to look at, I know. But Blade can then kneel on top, and hold onto handles that fold out Pegas's arms, apparently this is used to power a super attack from his shoulder blasters:



Photobucket
Getting his legs ligned up right for that is a bit of a pain, and really, I don't think it looks cool enough to bother with it. Really, the only reason I'll bother transforming Pegas in the future is to pose Blade as the crazy space surfing badass that he is:

Photobucket


Photobucket
Anyway, there it is, it's an impressive set, although I can't help but feel that it's pretty overpriced at the 140-ish I spent on it. As this is my first SPEC toy, I'm disappointed that there's no space included on the stand to store the extra weapons and hands, but that could just be a SPEC thing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Return To My Brainstorming Days Of Old

Way back when, say, ten years ago, I had a dream of making a game. At first I wanted to make it a videogame like a JRPG (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, etc.). Then it was going to be a pen and paper RPG (Dungeons and Dragons). And for many years, it kept bouncing around, back and forth between the two, I thought I was so very creative and clever. Eventually I started to realize that I was never going to be able to do anything like this on my own, and that neither I, nor any of my friends, had the time or energy to put into learning the necessary technical skills for a videogame, or simply the desire for a tabletop game. Still, I really liked brainstorming ways that different elements of a setting would interact with each other, whether it be a game system, a fantasy world, a system of government, or a military force. Sometimes I'd write this stuff down, but more often than not, I just day dreamed about it. I think it was kind of like therapy. I still wanted to do something wit

Lemme Tell You About The Transformer, Astrotrain, And Why He's My Favorite

       I am, quite obviously, a massive fan of Transformers, but I grew up in kind of a weird time for being a fan. Really, I'm just a LITTLE too young. I remember seeing my brother, who was six years older than I, get all of the coolest Transformers, and then by the time that I started being able to ask for Transformers for myself, the nature of Transformers had greatly changed. I have a great anecdotal story about him clipping Soundwave (arguably one of the coolest Transformers toys ever, which turned into a microcassette player) to his shorts and climbing a tree. He then proceeded to fall 30 feet out of that tree, and land on Soundwave, which poked him right in the kidney, and he peed blood for a week.        While I still have a great deal of fondness for them, Powermaster Optimus Prime is just not as cool of a toy as the original Optimus Prime. Notably, if you landed on Powermaster Optimus Prime, he probably wouldn't puncture your kidney, but the original Optimus Prime mig

The Worst Contact Allergic Reaction I've Ever Had

I'm started to feel like a bit of a freak show. I've of course been injured by shrapnel from a pipe bomb, and I've got impressive scars to prove it (side note: One of my friends said that I need to come up with a really awesome story to go along with my scar, and I sad "Someone throwing a pipe bomb at me isn't awesome enough?") I've mentioned that I took a first aid/CPR class in my first quarter of college, taught by Ron Hussman at Edmonds Community College. He was a great instructor, with a lot of great stories being a navy medic for 24 years, I think that's what he said. I'm proud to say that the pictures of my leg injury are now part of his curriculum, but I got tired of raising my hand every time he asked if someone had done something in particular. Called 911? Check Used an epipen? Check Been in shock? Check Ridden in an ambulance? Check Had burns in your throat? Check (seriously, don't let your kids hold roman candles while they fire) Lat