Figma Kamen Rider Thrust Part 1

For the love of horn and spikes
It has been almost a year since the last Figma or Kamen Rider review on this blog. ^^; Honestly, I'm quite baffled about that myself. ^^; Much like Transformers toys reviewed earlier on, I do like Figma action figures and Kamen Rider merchandises. Almost all the ones I bought on and off are just sitting somewhere in my room waiting to be opened. ^^; I wish I have more time with my hobby, but there are always other more important obligations and responsibilities to attend to. ^^;

Anyway, here's one action figure that is related to both Figma and Kamen Rider. ^^


Figma Kamen Rider Thrust from "Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight". Fans of the Japanese series would know him as Kamen Rider Gai from "Kamen Rider Ryuki". I'm not too bothered about recognizing him to be from either the American or Japanese version since the suit design is all the same. Also, I only watched a few episodes here and there from either series over the years, resulting in a very messy knowledge almost next to nil about the story and characters. ^^;

Out of the many Kamen Riders in the series, Kamen Rider Gai and Tiger are my favorite designs. Ironically though, both of them are villains in "Kamen Rider Ryuki" who didn't have much important role to play if I remember correctly. ^^; Then again, it's the suit design that I like about the two Kamen Riders, not the story.


Kamen Rider Gai's henshin is at 1:15 mark.
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.
All the suit designs in "Kamen Rider Ryuki" are based on animals. Their color scheme, special features to some degree and Strike Vent weapon are designed to relate to the animals they represent. Depending on how you see them, some of the connection makes more sense than others. ^^; I never really understand why Kamen Rider Raia whose animal theme is a stingray is given the color scheme of magenta, nor do I see much connection between Kamen Rider Zolda and his animal theme of an ox. Is there any magenta stingray out there? And how is ox related to huge cannons or guns? ^^; Disregarding the animal connection, they are good designs with their own unique features nonetheless. ^^

Kamen Rider Gai is given an overall silver color scheme, thick armors and horns on the helmet and left shoulder armor. Besides the shoulder horn being red, the overall design ties in well with its animal theme of a rhinoceros. ^^ While the armor design is not as complex as that on Kamen Rider Zolda, the layered look of the chest armor, complete with rivets which you can find on tank armors is unmistakably characterized after the thick skin of a rhinoceros. ^^

The color and design might be a bit bland-looking for many, but I find it to be quite appealing. ^^ The simple yet thick armors have a heavy medieval Knight-like feel to them which I like very much. On top of that, as mentioned in other reviews in the past, I love spiky design elements on robots. While Kamen Rider Gai is not a robot obviously, the horns on the helmet and left shoulder armor really given him a fierce look. The latter which is in bright red seems to be screaming, "Don't come near me or I'll ram my shoulder horn through your guts! Why do you think it's red in the first place?" ^^


A standard smaller pack design for Kamen Rider Thrust. Almost all of the accessories included can be seen through the front window.


Kamen Rider Thrust's insignia printed on the front window.


(Left) The character name and the TV series it's from as printed on the box.
(Right) The merchandising seal of Toei Company, the company behind all Kamen Rider series.




Closer look at the figure and accessories through the front window.



Typical Figma design on all sides of the box.




Introduction of the figure on the back of the box.


Box open.


A blue backdrop with lightning effect and Kamen Rider Thrust's insignia suits the figure very well. ^^







Front view of the package content.





Rear view of the package content.



Package content without the top cover.
A plastic wrapper blankets the figure. ^^



Straight out of box Kamen Rider Thrust. ^^
More images of the figure and introduction of all the accessories coming up next. ^^