Review: SH Figurearts Gokai Blue

Another release by Bandai. And another welcome addition to the SH Figurearts sentai figure line following the Shinkenger figurearts Shinkenger figure line. This the second gokaiger figure I own and the second SH Figurearts figure in my figurearts collection. I ordered this one on line off a japanese site. Hobby Search. I was lucky it was still in stock. I had a feeling I ordered the last one in stock. Give or take about three weeks the package arrives. Merely a box with the shipping label on it. I carefully cut the tape open. Opening the box, all i saw was a lot of packing paper. This is good. it keeps the item from moving around and keeps it from getting damaged during shipping. So after removing all that, I got to the actual thing itself. It was a box with the figure in it and the box the gokai darin was in. A bonus item that comes with every first release of the gokaiger figures. Which i will talk about later on. Lets get started-

Package-

The front of the package has a window on it. To the bottom on the right it has a cut out picture of the Gokai Blue figure. The window on the top bears the Gokaiger logo. Its good for those who want to display the figure in mint condition To the right is a border in metalic blue and it bears the lettering Gokai Blue in large fonts. Below that is the Tamashi Nations and Bandai logo.


The back of the package bears a pictture collage of some of the features showing what the figure can do. Bandai did a good job displaying the features. I have to say its well laid out. It even shows off the style of the figure. Lets dive right in-


Before getting to the figure, I had to remove a plastic tray insert. Which has a cover to keep the pieces in place. Bandai really paid attention to detail on this one. Even the small mobirates keys have a place for them.

Accessories- I got everything out of the package. After I removed the figure and and put it aside.
No sentai figure can be without accessiories. So that is also included. But this one has a lot packed in with it. Lets see Including the two hands on the figure, that makes a set of 12 hands. the Gokai Saber and Gokai gun. The Mobirates phone and the keys. A unique thing included in this set are two clusters of the Gokai Sabers. How i understand it, at one point in the series, Gokai Blue uses all 5 of the team's swords. at one time. I thought that was need to have that in there.

The Figure-

Asthethically the figure looks pretty good.. Here it is out of the box. I have to say the style of the figure looks really good. I was impressed. The blue color of the suit is a matte blue. Even the boots have the fold details on them. Bandai really paid attention to this detail. Seen from the front, The silver cuffs are just on top of the boots and on ends of the sleeves of the jacket. The jacket has a gold trim on the chest which goes up to the shoulders.The jacket is word in an open manner. The collar on the inside surface is silver. The jacket is set in an open fashion exposing the black suit under it. exposing the Gokaiger emblem on the chest. Which is in a white color. The helmet has a black visor over it and gold strip around the visor. with the gokaiger emblem on the forehead.

Seen form the back view, the boots have more of that fold detail on them. the jacket is all blue. with the gold trim on the edges. Like being seen from the front view, the belt is a gold color. Which wraps well around the figure's waist. The collar is raised a bit. Showing the outside surface which is a gold color. The helmet along the edges have a gold trim. Its visible that bandai put as much detail into this figure as much as they could to make it show accurate.

What exactly can this figure do? Lets find out. Here I have the figure standing after suiting up. I have to say the hand grips the mobirates pretty well. The detail on the mobirates is really good. almost like in the show.

No sentai can be without role call. After suiting up. Here i have the figure in the Gokai Blue role call pose. I'm amazed how well that was executed on the figure. It looks good. This is I think how I will have the figure displayed on my shelf.

Its also clear that sentai heroes tend to show off. So the joints in the arms were designed to pull that off. The ball joint in the shoulders and the double hinged elbows allow the figure to cross its arms over its chest. Thats pretty good.

It doesnt end there. Sentai heroes also come off as pointing gestures to the enemy. I have the figure in one of the gestures proping its gun on his shoulder. The hand holds the gun well. The finger goes on the trigger quite easily and the gun stays in place.


In deep thought.


Lets talk about the weapon. The gun is a standard issue pirate side arm called a flint lock pistol. Sort of like a musket that fires a lead ball propelled by a blast of gun poweder. Only this one doesnt shoot lead balls it shoots beam energy discharges. Even holding the gun sideways it works. The gun wont fall out of the hand.

When it comes to joint movement, Bandai takes a lot of effort in making sure the figures have the proper amount of articulation. The SH Figurearts line of action figures as excelled at that. It was once thought of that a figure cannot stand on one leg and do a kick. The ball joints in the hips extend outward to allow the legs spread farther. The feet being metal, allows the figure to stand on its weight, the ball joint on the feet allow it to be posed to balance on one leg. I was impressed when i saw how the figure did that so well.

That joint movement also allows the figure to stand with its feet together in a fencing stance. I must say quite well. The Gokai Saber is held quite well in the hand. The Gokai Saber is a standard type the pirates use callled a cutlass. Its large blade gives the weapon its distinct shape



Crouching on one knee. I would have to say that many action figures could never pull of a pose like this even with weapons in its hands. However the SH figurearts does that without any problems. It still looks really good.

Weapons compatibility-

A few scenes in the series show memebers of the Gokaiger team using each others weapons. Like Gokai Yellow will use Gokai Pink's sword or Gokai Green will use Gokai Blue's Gun, etc. That adds the fun into having the figures if you have two of the figures of the team members from the show doing that.

Gokai Blue is able to use Gokai Green's sword and as you can see its held pretty well in the Gokai Blue's hand. What makes it good is the added fun with the figures being able to do this.

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The two of them holding each other's weapons.

I had to do this. Here i'm showing Gokai Green with Gokai Blue's gun.


Double shot.

It doesn't end there. Why is there a cluster of Gokai sabers in the set? Well, at one point in the series, Gokai Blue uses all the swords of each member of the team all at one time. It was quite amazing to see.

FINAL....WAVE..!!!!

Gokai Blue holds the saber clusters quite well in each hand. I thought from the size of the blades alone they would fall off. But they stayed on pretty well.

Even with the blades the figure can still pull off some neat poses.

And... even prop the sword cluster on his shoulder. Not bad.

Bonus Item-

As I mentioned this eariler in the reveiw, all first edition releases of the Gokaiger figures came with this limited edition item. A helm control. The Gokai Darin. Asthetically it looks nice. It does make a good display piece with the figure. As shown here its two parts. The chair and the controller itself. It has the appearance of a traditional galleon's helm. The wheel spins freely. and the figure can hold on to the handles around the wheel. Much like on a ship. Having this Gokai Darin is good if you are serious about collecting the whole line of Gokaiger figures. Or actual Sentai toy line. Later on it will be come a demand among collectors. And will become rare.

Verdict- I will admit its a very nicely made figure. I saw no flaws on the figure. Bandai did a good job with the figure. They didn't miss even the slightest detail. The details on the weapons were to the show accuracy. I recommend it for sentai fans or SH figurearts collectors. The figure is made for adults to collect and kids to play with.