GX-55 Tobikage and Houraioh

Okay, I've had this pics sitting in my Photobucket account since last weekend, I've just been too worn out from my first week back at school to actually type this review up. Today, we've got Tobikage and Houraioh, and I'm sure that being the faithful followers that you are, that you remember my previous review of GX 54 Tobikage and Kurojishi. So what's the deal with having two Tobikages? The idea is that the first Tobikage figure is the one that's designed to interact with all three of the ninja machines, the second Tobikage is more anime accurate and articulated. The third ninja machine actually comes with a different robot, Zerokage, but we'll talk about that when we get there.

After opening up the package, I was surprised by how much larger this Tobikage figure is. I had expected it to be slightly larger, and to just be slightly different, but this Tobikage is almost full SOC size, and looks significantly different.

As you can see he's much closer in scale to a Marvel Legend figure than the previous Tobikage.

Tobikage is, as you would expect, very detailed, and very poseable.

I'm going to gloss through a lot of his accessories, because they're the same as the previous figure for the most part.

We've got the same two variations on the same sword.

The same blaster

This time around, there's a plug on his back, which you remove in order to attach the sword scabbard.

Which is on a hinged arm, so that you can move it around however you desire.

This scabbard actually has a flip out pistol grip for making the rifle.

Again, you can make the extended handle sword, but I still have worries about how far you have to flex the hand to let it hold it.

And here's the bow.

Again the blaster and the bow weapons can be combined for the full bow and arrow effect, but this version has the addition of an alternate gun grip, which simulates the bow being drawn back.

It's a surprisingly effective visual representation.

Also, the hip blasters, although these ones aren't hidden in the thighs, but are a pair of external pieces that can be fitted between the thighs and the fins.



And lastly, Tobikage has a weighted chain that he stores in the back of his hand, for the purposes of the toy, this is simply an alternate right hand that can be swapped out.

And here's a comparison between the two Tobikages. As you can see, this second one has a lot of details that are only hinted at on the previous figure, he's also a much lankier design, which I assume is more accurate to the anime.

As slick as this new Tobikage is, the ninja machine in the set is the true star. Houraioh is a little taller than Kurojishi, but much thinner. Houraioh is piloted by Renny Ai, the tomboy love interest of Jo Maya, main hero character, and initial pilot of Kurojishi. I like the fact that although Houraioh is the token female pilot's mech, it is not actually feminine at all.

As for the figure it's self, it's got a very simple color scheme which really emphasizes the design. I didn't take really good pictures, but the front and side toes of it's feet are articulated to aid in positioning.

Houraioh's pretty much just got one weapon, which is a pair of collapsible sword/spears. They can be folded over on themselves to make a single bladed weapon, or held as a sort of blade staff.

They can also be combined into a giant throwing star, an actual separate accessory, and held in special alternate hands.

Now of course, Houraioh transforms as well, into a phoenix.

That transformation is pretty involved, with a lot of elegant movements around the torso. I was particularly impressed by the locking mechanism that holds the front and back of the torso rigid for the body of the bird.

And there you have it, the phoenix, it looks like it could go on it's own just fine like this, but per the fiction, Tobikage needs to be attached to the bottom. You actually get two options for this, one is to use the included, larger, Tobikage figure.

To this end, there are two hooks which can be attached to the underside of the wings, and a peg piece which attaches mid body.

Giving you this, which works, but it makes it look like Tobikage's just using Houraioh as a hang glider.

You can also connect Houraioh with the Tobikage from GX-54, which doesn't require any additional pieces.

Tobikage has a flap on his back, which folds down to reveal a peg hole.

And thus is he inserted, it still looks kind of like a hang glider setup, but Tobikage seems slightly more integrated here.

And to finish off the review, a comparison shot of the two ninja machines so far, along with the combining Tobikage figure.

Bottom line is that this another great set of figures, the price tag of getting all three figures is pretty steep, but they look so great together.