Toy Review: Tekkaman Blade & Pegas

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.

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


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.



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:

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

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

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:

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:

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



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

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.









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

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

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

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

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:

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:

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.