Review: PlaMonster Series 01 – Red Garuda (Kamen Rider Wizard)

PlaMonster Series 01 – Red Garuda
Standard Retail – September Release – ¥2,500

Check out CS Toys’ selection of Kamen Rider Wizard Merchandise!

—

Every year since W we’ve had some sort of buddy creature to assist our hero. In Wizard, we have the PlaMonsters. The PlaMonsters are small animals powered by Haruto’s mana that take the form of plastic model kits. While in the show, Haruto’s mana assembles them as they come to life, reality lets you build them on your own. Fortunately for those that may dislike building, the toys function much like the Joint Gattai series of Sentai toys, or the old Mugenbine line, as it works simply off of peg and hole connectors. In case of confusion, the tray has outlines of the pieces, as well as shapes that serves as labels as to what piece goes where. Once assembled, the PlaMonster stands four inches tall not including the wing height. As far as action features go, all he does is extend his wings out when the buttons on his wings are pressed. Outside of that, it does feature rotation articulation at every connection port. The Garuda Wizard Ring sits in his stomach, and has a compartment big enough for all three sizes of ring parts. The ring is DX, and does contain a fully painted base and LED. When used with the WizarDriver, the Driver states “Garuda! Please!” followed by the summoning sound, building sound, and a bird screech. It’s a bummer that they don’t do much, but given how basic the past buddy creatures were, it is to be expected. I like the “building” gimmick as opposed to a simple transformation gimmick of past releases, and the transparent plastic is a pretty nice touch. If you want to skip this line, but still want the rings, the Garuda Wizard Ring is available in both Candy Toy and Capsule form, but doesn’t have a fully painted back. While not for everyone, I really love the line, and I can’t wait for the upcoming releases.

—

[youtube http://youtu.be/peCUqPvgYi8]