SOUCHAKU-HENSHIN KAMEN RIDER SERIES

SH KAMEN RIDER KABUTO SERIES GE-11 Masked Rider Drake (5/2006)

  

MASKED RIDER

KUUGA

 

MASKED RIDER

AGITO

 

CLASSIC

MASKED RIDERS

 

MASKED RIDER

RYUKI

 

MASKED RIDER

FAIZ

 

MASKED RIDER

BLADE

 

MASKED RIDER

HIBIKI

 

MASKED RIDER

KABUTO

 

Kamen Rider Drake - Rider Form

 

Bandai released Souchaku Henshin Masked Rider Drake in May of 2006 as part of Kamen Rider Kabuto Series. The new series is returning to the modern Kamen Rider designs and theme after the huge departure with last year Hibiki series. Kamen Rider Drake is the third Rider to appear in Kabuto TV series. Masked Rider Drake has dragonfly motif and his Zector unit is mechanical dragonfly that attach to "Rider Grip", a gun grip "henshin" device.  The Rider Grip henshin device is also his main weapon, by pulling the tail of Drake Zector (act as the gun throttle), Masked Rider Drake can perform "Cast Off" and by folding the wings of Drake Zector he perform "Rider Shooting", a finishing move for Drake. Drake Zector has chosen a drifter whose job is a make-up artist name Daisuke. Daisuke actually do not enjoy fighting Worms and being Drake, he transforms and fight only to protect lost little girl he met and befriended with. 

 

SH Kamen Rider Drake uses all new core body designed specifically for the series (something that Bandai has been doing which is very nice since it does allow for better looking figure). The paint job is excellent on Drake and the armors pieces fit well even the "Zect" Buckle.. Drake is the first Rider in Kabuto to have asymmetrical design, in Rider Mode, his right side retain part of the Masked Mode armors, his has large white mechanical dragonfly wing folded across the front and back and the left shoulder has blue insect bulb eye shape. If you looks at Drake directly from the front you can see a mechanical dragonfly-shape armor strap across his upper body with the right arm forming the tail, the chest body and wings and the head on the left shoulder.  Drake's mask is also unusual, instead of the insect bulb eyes, Drake has flat winged shape eye pieces (he reminds me of one of the Rainbow-man form).

 

 

Kamen Rider Drake - Masked Form

Kabuto series design element for Masked Rider is that the Riders have two distinct forms, the first mode when they first transform which is known as the "Masked Form".  The "Masked Form" is a bulky with heavy mechanical cocoon like appearance. This form is used mainly to withstand and fight off the initial onslaught of the Salis Worm Troopers (lower class peon-type Worms) or other Riders (tradition of modern day Riders, they always have to bicker among themselves). When the Worm mutated to the higher level (by coming out of their carapace outer shell), the Rider then used the "Cast Off System" and the outer "Masked Form" shell then break apart and reveal the hidden more agile "Rider Form". While the Masked Mode is not very Kamen Rider-like, it is very nice alternate mechanical looking Kamen Riders and I really like the design theme of making the Riders a mechanical version of the Worms by having the Masked Rider also breaking out of the shell to reveal the speed-up form.  Masked Rider Drake performs "Cast Off" by pulling the Zector's tail and then the trigger on Rider Grip which announce "Change Dragonfly" and the "Masked Form" armors break apart to reveal Rider Form.

 

SH Drake Masked Form is very unusual looking with hoses and pipes running off the armors (this theme would get expanded further for the next Masked Rider Sasword). The paint job is good and the parts overall fit well to both the core body and the dummy place holder body. The bulky armors make articulation somewhat limited but he still can do some nice poses.

 

 

GE-11 Souchaku Henshin Series Kamen Rider Kabuto - Masked Rider Drake

Release Date : 5/2006

Retail Price : 3000 Yen

The packaging is similar to that of Kuuga and Agito series. Due to dual forms of Kabuto Series Masked Riders, Bandai includes both armors set and a dummy body to hold the unused armors.

Unmasked Mode

Like other SH Riders figures, the human body underneath can look out of proportion and is solely intended for display with the "cloth" (Rider Armor) on. The core body is similar in style as the body used since the original Saint Seiya Cloth line, however for the 2004 SH line, Bandai have retooled the body to make it more modern. While the head still appears too small due to having to accommodate the mask, this removable "armor suit" however, is one of the aspect that drawn me to this line. The ability to "henshin" into the Rider form make these SH figures a lot like small version of Henshin Cyborg or the RAH costume hero.

Accessories

Drake come with his Rider Grip, henshin device which also double as his gun weapon. Bandai include two Zector parts for the grip, one with folded wings and one with spread wings. Bandai also include a dummy figure that can be used to display the unused armor set. The dummy figure has molded on parts and limited articulations but work decently for display purpose. Bandai even include a pair of stands for display.