SOUCHAKU-HENSHIN KAMEN RIDER SERIES

SH Masked Rider Agito Series GD-31 Masked Rider G3 (HK Released) c.2002

  

AGITO

MASKED RIDER

KUUGA

 

MASKED RIDER

AGITO

 

CLASSIC

MASKED RIDERS

 

MASKED RIDER

RYUKI

 

MASKED RIDER

FAIZ

 

MASKED RIDER

BLADE

MASKED RIDER G3

Souchaku Henshin Series Kamen Rider G3 was originally released by Bandai Japan as GD-31 Chogokin SH Series Agito Set No.2 in 2001. The same figure was reissued by Bandai HK a year later in a much smaller packaging with some of the "extras" omitted to lower the price point. Bandai HK later went on to produce other variants of G3 such as the Mild Version and G4 that never produce by Bandai Japan.

Masked Rider G3 was probably my favorite design from Agito series. The Rider himself was actually human police officer wearing armor suit that resemble the Masked Rider. (The Agito series was somewhat a continuation from Kuuga series, the police department from Kuuga story developed G3 system to fight future aggression). The Rider armor suit design was perfect for the Souchaku Henshin format since G3 looked more like the "Metal Hero" than the usual Masked Rider designs. Being actually an armored human-being, G3 had many more removable armor pieces than Kuuga and Agito. While the purist fans might think this design a bit too mechanical looking, I find the concept of having a Masked Rider who was just an armored-up police officer to be a fascinating take on the old Rider theme. This version of G3 was the first version that appeared in the TV series. G3 was not too effective at first against the Unknown monsters and often had to be bail out by Masked Rider Agito.

Souchaku Henshin Series GD-31 Masked Rider G3 (HK Version)

Bandai-Asia released Masked Rider G3 from Agito Series as GD-31 but in smaller box with the figure already came package in armor. The stand was omitted from this version.

Unmasked Mode

Like other SH Riders figures, the human body underneath can look out of proportion and was solely intended for display with the "cloth" (Rider's Armor) on. The core body was similar style body used since the original Saint Seiya Cloth line which made it a little dated by today standard. However, this was one of the aspect that drawn me to this line. The ability to "henshin" into the Rider form made the SH figure a lot like small version of Henshin Cyborg and RAH costume hero. 

The figure can be display with the "masked" removed and show a human head that slightly resemble Officer Higawa from the TV show. Like other Souchaku Henshin, the armor pieces can be removed to reveal a standard core body.

Weapon Accessories

G3 came packaged with multiple accessories including the sub-machine gun with and without the grenade launcher and two hand attachment G3 Sword and G3 Anchor.

GD-31 Agito SHS Set No.2

 SHS G3 was originally released as Chogokin GD-31 Set No.2 by Bandai Japan in 2001. Japanese version came in a wider package that include extra accessories such as display stand that were usually left out form HK version (to lower the cost)