Kamen Rider W - Memory Gadget Series 01: Stag Phone

I am so sorry for not doing reviews again. Let me start my first review of 2010 with something I caught a while ago, the Stag Phone from Kamen Rider W.

First, let's look at the packaging:


As you can see, Memory Gadget packagings are all very unique. The front shows you the Stag Phone in Live mode while the back shows you the different playabilities.

Tradition has been set since 2009's Samurai Sentai Shinkenger's DX toylines where a yellow warning sheet is included. This toy of course, comes with the same sheet.



The sheet highlights pictorial warnings of what a kid should not be doing with the toy. Hmm, I like that.

Packaged in a hard cardboard tray which I termed it as 'egg tray', it gives the box a sturdy feel.

Notice that the Phone is packed in Phone mode and the Memory is of course separate.

This is what we get, when we attach the Memory in the Stag Phone:

Notice that the Stag Phone is taped at the 2 horns and the legs to prevent any of them moving while in the package. NEAT!

Transforming this guy is quite simple. You don't even need the manual to do it. And the completed product, this:

The colour scheme is very nice and I always liked Red highlights on toys, as per my name.

Finally, the main usage in the show was to power up weapons. The only Weapon I have in the W line is the Metal Shaft, so this is it:

Notice that the Stag sticks on it pretty sturdy.

Of course, the meat of the crop, SOUNDS! This piece has about 7 sounds in total excluding the sound where you press it on the button. That one makes it say 'STAG!'.
For the sounds, here's a video to share so that it can be clearer on what sounds it makes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWif_tzPQmM

Overall, this is a very fun toy. Trust me, you'll fall in love with the Memory Gadgets once you have this with you. I'd give 3 stars of 5 for functions and playability but 4 of 5 for value for money. I really liked this so, give it a try.

DX Leangle Buckle (courtesy of Lordie, my good friend and a Rider fan)

I never watched Kamen Rider Blade except for the few episodes of it in Kamen Rider Decade, so I can’t really tell much about Leangle’s story. What I know is, Leangle is the only Rider in Kamen Rider Blade which has an ‘Open Up’ type belt instead of the ‘Turn Up’ types which is used by Blade and Garren. (Also the only rider which has a gay-ass color scheme.)





On to the buckle! What you get when you buy the DX Leangle buckle is :
1) Right belt strap with clip-on for main buckle.

2) The Buckle itself attached to the left belt strap.

3) Back belt piece to secure the belt when it is put together.
4) Instruction manual.
*Belt straps on both side features holes for you to attach card holders that come with Rousers.



5) 3 cards: Change, Leangle and Buckle.
The belt needs 2 AAA batteries to operate (like most of the DX toys).
To start playing, you first pull out the card tray on the right side of buckle. You put the CHANGE card on it and slide it back in (You don’t actually need the card for it to work). Connect the buckle to the right belt strap so that it forms a belt and push the panel on the buckle to the right for “OPEN UP!” (it sounds more like “AOHPEN UP” XD). That’s all you get, the buckle lights up once in a while if you leave it on.




The Pros of this buckle:
1) Functions 100% like in the show. Perfect toy.
2) Great quality, feels very good sliding the panel.
The Cons of this buckle:
1) One sound –I know it’s true to the show, but one sound T_T-
2) GAY ASS COLOR SCHEME. PURPLE, YELLOW AND BLACK!!!
My conclusion: This is a great belt, full accurate to the one in the show. Makes a great display piece too, highly recommended for collectors. For the kids they will surely get bored with this one pretty fast. Better if you can get it cheap (very).

DX Faiz Axel

Alright, I haven't been doing any reviews here and so here I am again with another exciting item to review. Behold the DX Faiz Axel.



The one I have is the Bandai Korea version as all the texts are in Korean. Look how the box was so badly dented? It was MISB when I got it and the box was already in such a state.


The back of the box is completely similar to its Japanese counterpart and look, Faiz toys came in the same year as Hong Kong and Malaysia, 2004. This was of course a Bandai Japan repack. This thing is simple and yet it attracts me pretty well because it is the first watch type item in Rider history, which even Decade has one in his Faiz form.



The contents is quite simple and not very complicated. You get the Axel Watch, a cloth strap as an enforcer for your wrist and a Hong Kong manual that has English and Chinese. Don't mind the manual, this guy is simple to operate.



The cloth strap goes here and when you're done, you can wrap both straps over your wrist. However, only the cloth strap fits adult wrists while the watch strap doesn't. However, you play this thing even without the strap.

To play, follow these simple steps:
1) First, make sure the Mission Memory is inserted before you start anything.

The Memory looks like this when separated. When you insert the Memory in the slot, you don't get any sound but removing the Memory gets you a "Reformation" sound.

2) Start by pressing the 'RED BUTTON'. This will initiate the 'START UP' sound and the countdown timer begins with an engine sound running while the numbers are ticking. Do note that the numbers in the 2nd numerical slot does not run in a logical order.

3) When the first numerical slot's number reaches 3, it will start to have a sound of "3....2....1.... TIME OUT!". This is when Axel Form ends and you revert back to normal Faiz.

4a) However, because this item is around 3000 yen in retail, such simplicity cannot be tolerated by both the fans and Bandai themselves. Thus, they added a little snake game in it where you can access by PRESSING and HOLDING the BLACK BUTTON for around 3 SECONDS. This will activate the GAME MODE where you navigate the little snake to eat pieces and get longer, just like your regular cell phone snake game. Both Black and Red Buttons are useable for controls but I still don't know how the buttons really work in GAME MODE yet.

4b) Another interesting gimmick is that when you PRESS and RELEASE the BLACK BUTTON instantly, you'll get some funny number movement sequences. Pressing the BLACK BUTTON again will change it to another mode. You have a total of 5 to 6 modes in this and it's just for show.

FINAL VERDICT: I would say this item is accurately detailed. I like how the sounds are loud and how the functions actually work like in the show. The inclusion of the EXTRA MODES in 4a) and 4b) were fun but not totally necessary. They could have just reduced the price of this thing to 2500 yen or so and remove the EXTRA MODES that serve no purposes in the show. I'd give 4/5 stars for total and 4.5/5 stars for value for money alone. If you ever encounter this, do get it. It's a very sought after item that most of us tend to forgo.

DX Henshin Belt Chalice Rouser

Alright this time we have what we call the Rouser belt for Kamen Rider Chalice. As we all know, Chalice is also from the KR Blade series and this is DX Henshin Belt 03. Different from the previous 2, this one is actually a Rouser. Fans or those who've watched Blade before will know what a Rouser is but I'll explain. A Rouser is where a Rider in the Blade line swipe their cards to execute their attacks. In this case, Chalice's Buckle is a sort of portable Rouser that can be removed to fit to the weapon.

On to the item:

i) Similar to all DX Henshin Belt releases, this one is also meant for children, that is 50cm to 72cm waists. Normal adults can't fit in for sure but the Buckle sure looks accurately sized.

ii) Instead of 3 Cards, this set includes 12 Cards as it is a Rouser (all Rouser toys in the Blade lines are given 12 cards). In addition, a card deck holder (not seen in any of the Rousers of Blade or Garren) is included and can be attached to the side of the Belt strap for storage. The deck case can be opened and locked whichever way you choose and can store around 13 - 15 cards max.

iii) Similar to all Rousers, there's a button on the top left corner to reproduce sounds of cards that you have swiped, in the same order.

iv) To perform the Henshin sound, set the Rouser at either A or B and swipe the Change (Category Ace Heart) card to activate the Henshin sound. Do note that without any memory, the Button said above will produce the Henshin sound as well.

v) Each card will provide different sounds and of course some are repetitive due to the bar code on the bottom left corner of the card being similar.

vi) There are 2 modes to play with in this set and I find it very interesting. Mode A is unlimited mode and Mode B is the Limited mode. Mode A lets you swipe uncountable number of cards at any attack points (listed on the top left corner of the cards). Mode B is the limited mode where similar in the show, Chalice only has 7000 Attack Points and you can only swipe cards to a total of 7k APs or less. Let's say you swiped the Spinning Wave card with 2k AP three times, you can swipe another card which is 1k AP or less.

vii) There is one available combo that is achievable in this set alone. Swipe the Tornado Hawk card and the Chop Hammerhead cards in any order, press the button said above to produce the actual Spinning Wave sound and attack. There are other possible combos like the Spinning Dance and so on but even I myself do not know where the other Rouse cards are. I even have the DX Chalice Arrow and the DX Wild Slasher but within these sets only 2 cards are the ones from the series, Reflect (in DX Chalice Arrow) and Wild (in DX Wild Slasher). The Wild Card does not work with the DX Chalice Rouser as it will produce an error sound, just like cards of other signs like the Spade, Clover and Heart.

viii) Overall, a very fun toy and of course a tonnes of fun more than the previous 2. I liked the way the Buckle being the part and parcel of the Attack releasing device. The ability of this toy to act as a Rouser while maintaining at 4500 Yen is really incredible. I bet this thing is already very rare in the market but I did get the HK Repackaged versions at a very discounted price. If you see one, do grab it as it is tonnes of fun to play with.

DX Henshin Belt Garren Rouser

Alright, alright, alright..... Bandai loves to rake money from us poor collectors. Why? Rider System No. 01 in the show, a.k.a. Garren Belt system has an exact outer design with Rider System No. 02 Blade Blay Buckle. Why did I still buy it? Well, to complete one set of course. Now, for the verdicts.

i) The Belt system is exactly identical to the show and identical to the Blay Buckle.

ii) The Belt provided is white/gray-ish instead of Blade's Red (matching Garren's Belt inb the show)

iii) The system works exactly like the show. You have the batteries in, On-Off Buttons and then you work it out by first turning it ON. The Green light at the top left will blink once. Don't forget to place the Change Category Ace Diamond Card in as well (though, the belt system still works without the card - this shows that the system ain't so smart). Two other cards included are Garren and Smash (Burning Smash in Katakana). Then connect the two halves of the belt together and wallah, you have Garren's Henshin Preparation Sound. Pull the trigger on the right and you get the Card Tray turning upside down and revealing a Golden Diamond Emblem on a Green Rectangle, while playing Garren's Henshin sound. Nothing else can be played with this system.

Final Verdict: I'd give a similar ratings on total for this, ie: 3.5/5 but for the value for money, I'd only give 2.8/ for one reason, Garren's belt is exactly the same price as the Blay Buckle and from the show's perspective, Garren gives me the impression of a 'beaten-up' rider instead of Blade as a "Beat-Em-Up" Rider. All in all, very good for collection and display.

DX Henshin Belt Blay Buckle Review

Oh my, the DX Henshin Belt series again......I never got one until the HK English Version-ed Instruction Manuals' Versions came cheap locally, but finally I got all 4 DX Henshin Belts from the Blade Series. The first in line is the Blay Buckle. At first I thought how amazing a 4000 yen piece in Japan could be. Not so attractive as it imitates the whole belt function in the show (except the part where you really henshin). However, there are points that are of worthy note to those who intend to buy one:
i) DX Belts DO NOT fit adult waists.....Even though the buckles and stuffs seem to look 1/1 scale just like in the show, the belt can only fit waists of around 70 cm MAX.

ii) The DX Blay Buckle comes with 3 cards, the Category Ace Change Card, the Rider Blade card and the Lightning Card. Only the Change card is required to display or fully play with the belt.

iii) The fuction is just like the show. Place in the batteries and turn the switch on. A small beep sound and the red light on the top left corner of the belt will light up for a second. Connect the other half of the buckle (comes with a red PVC belt strap which is too short and a weird square holster with a spade design) and the sound effects of Blade's preparation to henshin is heard with the red light again lighting up for a period. Pull the trigger on the right and the belt turns the card tray upside down to show the Golden Spade shape on a Red rectangle. The sound "Turn Up!" is heard followed by the effects of Henshin for Blade.

iv) Besides that, no other functions are available for this belt and that's why it is cheaper compared to the Rouzers that are priced at around 5000 to 6000 yen in Japan.

Final Verdict: A good display piece as the buckle's size is seemingly accurate. If you are a great mod-er, you can actually extend the belt's length while retaining the original belt (since you need the holes to hold the 2 Rouzers that are coming with it. I'd give this piece 3.5/5 stars for total while 3/5 stars for value (if you're buying it at full price while I am not).