My quest of completing the Showa era Kamen Rider roster is one step closer. I wouldn’t go so far as to call V3’s figure rare, but finding a decent price one on the secondary market was a bit challenging. So I was pretty happy when Bandai opened up pre-orders for a second release.
V3 is the star of the third Rider series. Unlike his predecessors, he actually wasn’t experimented on by the evil organization Shocker. Instead, he was fatally wounded by Destron (another evil organization) and Rider 1 and 2 were forced into changing him into a cyborg to save his life. Now with the combined powers of the first two Riders, and his twenty six secret techniques and weapons, V3 was now the most powerful Rider (up to that point at least).
I think V3 has my favorite costume of all the Showa Riders. His interesting mixture of a dragonfly motif really sets him apart from the grasshopper look of the first two. There’s definitely a more militaristic feel to the costume. It’s also a bit more flashy with his double scarves, high collar, and segmented armor. I do wish his belt were a bit more detailed though. Without the inlaid cyclone designs, it seems almost toy like when compared to the first two Rider belts.
His helmet is really the defining aspect though. There are the green compound eyes and large straight antenna that are almost the opposite of his predecessors. But it’s really the face design that wins me over. For some reason I just really love the crumpled stripe that runs down the center. It really adds a nice organic element that most riders don’t get.
V3’s colors are pretty spot on from all the pictures I’ve seen of his series. The color scheme is also another aspect that really attracted me to this figure. Green and red almost always look good together, and the added whites break up the monotony and keep him from looking like a walking Christmas tree. Continue to page 2…
Funny how my main memory of this one is the fight and later team up with Spider-man. One of many I hoped to find but no luck this year. Was gonna do that pair up with Miles if found any Rider figuarts.
It is funny that later Destron becomes the Con name in.Transformers in Japan. Makes a KR vs. TF logical.
I know Previews offered this one once along with Decade and a few Wizard variants. Dunno if still able. My local comic guy had issues with them though.
How many Destrons are there? Isn’t that what the Decepticons are called in Japan?
(reads J.Lee’s comment, answers that question.)
and the red/green mix depends on the tertiary color and shading for me. While this guy looks good with silver, Yellow is the usual accent and in my opinion, only Robin has really pulled it off, and Vision to an extent. Wonder Man and others, not so much. (SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad Simon finally switched to red/black scheme!!)
I have no idea what Kamen Riders are, are they insect men or men in insect outfits?
THey are humans turned into (mostly) insect themed cyborgs.
Just can’t see this as not Gigabeetle (www.twitter.com/gigabeetle). What’s a V3? Where’s the mustache and monocle??
Trying to decide whetehr to try this lien or not…have no idea who they are, but they look pretty cool!
i really wish some one of the american toy world would consider effects pieces like the stuff we see from japan. some of those pieces work w/ american toys, but a lot don’t fit, and i don’t see how, for example, american toy lines wouldn’t benefit from some explosive effects or shockwave/chi blast effects, that kind of stuff. i also think doing comic book style onomatopoeia effects would be cool too, for display purposes… a nice THAGADOOM! or SHNICKT! or even the classic POW! would be really cool to fit into a display/diorama. and should be, as modern production goes, relatively cheap to make.
The newest 4″ Star Wars Black Darth Vader has a pretty snazzy effect part, where he has an alternate hand that’s blocking energy blasts. It’s pretty neat. There were also some SW figures a number of years ago that had deflected energy blasts that could be hooked onto the lightsabers.
You want a THAGADOOM! or SHNICKT! when we cant even get a 66 BIF!, BAM! or POW!
Remember accessories cost so much we would have to cancel the whole line.
Just thought I’d point out, although V3 was the third Rider, the show was actually the second of the Kamen Rider series.