K. SHINSEI ZERO 3

The figure looks absolutely beautiful. The proportion is good and the pink definitely stands out. The major parts are molded with good detail, especially the Gamer Driver; the word “GAMER DRIVER”is actually molded on the belt rather than making it a plain flat surface. The chest armor has a sticker with a translucent piece above, which adds a nice shine to the figure.

Articulation-wise, this figure has just enough joints to reenact decent action poses. The only let-down would be that the hip joint moves with a hinge and not a balljoint, which has been the case since Kamen Rider Wizard’s WAP! was released, because it limits the range of movement the legs can make.

The mask is surprisingly well-made too. Both the front and back eyes can be seen through the clear goggles. I would say, however, it is a little sad the eyes on the back don’t change black. Since the face does slide up and down as part of the Level 1 transformation process, it would have been nice to have it eyeless using that gimmick.

Included weapons are the Gashacon Breaker in hammer and sword modes. It has no paint job whatsoever, but they are both highly detailed. The hammer mode is especially made large and looks very nice, so thumbs up to Bandai on that. Big weapons are always badass.

This figure also comes with the level 1 body, applied with minimal paint, that combines with Ex-Aid as well as the other LVUR figures to reenact their Level 1 states. The holes on the hands allow it to hold weapons.

The tranformation process looks quite painful. Bend and swivel the the knees of Level 2 180 degrees, put the chest piece on Level 1’s chest, and slide up the back face so the pin on the Level 1 body goes into the slit that shows.

The resulting figure is, not gonna lie, not the best-looking figure due to the unbalanced proportion because Level 2 has to fit. What makes it look worse is that the shoulders are located toward the chest rather than the sides of the body, which also makes posing a little difficult.

Therefor this gimmick feels as if it’s just optional but nonetheless, it is still a fun feature. In case this isn’t enough to have fun with, Bandai has offered a solution to order a Preimum Bandai exclusive Level 1 Ex-Aid figure. Yep, the usual get-it-online-for-more-option.

So that is it for the review of LVUR Ex-Aid Action Gamer. The excitement I had was real when the package arrived, and man was I happy to open it.  The level up idea of the Ex-Aid riders is indeed a fun factor as a toy because it gives a drastic change from a chubby six-year-old look into a fully grown adult body. Being able to physically and visually see the change in your hands looks like the hero has actually leveled up. It is also just fun looking at the poses because of the combination of green and pink that adds a huge visual impact and the obvious Super-Nintendo-inspired chest armor. If you’re a fan of the show and rider, it is definitely a must-buy, including those who weren’t big on the design at first.

By the way, this was my first time making a diorama of any kind. It’s something I always wanted to do, so I decided to make on since it had been long since I bought a Rider action figure. I made it based on the design of one of the first official Ex-Aid images released. It looks simple, but it actually took quite a while to make. I will post another article on the making of this set sometime soon.