SOUCHAKU-HENSHIN KAMEN RIDER SERIES

SH Masked Rider Ryuki Series GD-78 Masked Rider Gai (1/2005)

  

MASKED RIDER

KUUGA

 

MASKED RIDER

AGITO

 

CLASSIC

MASKED RIDERS

 

MASKED RIDER

RYUKI

 

MASKED RIDER

FAIZ

 

MASKED RIDER

BLADE

 

MASKED RIDER

HIBIKI

 

GAI

Bandai released GD-78 Masked Rider Gai and GD-77 Masked Rider Ouja in January of 2005 as part of the Souchaku Henshin Kamen Rider Ryuki series. Gai whose name means rhino in Japanese (and also as a pun on "Guy") is one of the 13 Riders from Ryuki. And as his name suggests, he is based on rhinoceros design which derives from his companion contract monster Metalgelas, a humanoid armored rhino monster.

SH Kamen Rider Gai uses the same core body as the others SH figures from Ryuki series. The body is a standard 5" SH figure with armor parts added to each side of his belt. The chest armor, wrists and belts are die-cast (zinc metal) while the shoulders are plastic that snap on to the shoulder of the body. SH Gai has very nice sculpt but the paint job is a little sloppy like many of the SH figures release in early 2005. The figure comes with his Strike Vent weapon, "Metal Horn", a gauntlet weapon which resemble the head part of Metalgelas. His Advent card reader, Metal Visor, is located on his shoulder

 

Masked Rider Gai was never released as part of the original R&M line, so it is nice to see him finally makes an appearance in 5" format as part of the SH figures. (Bandai has since released all 13 Riders from Masked Rider Ryuki in Souchaku Henshin format even the one off movie characters like Verde and Femme). While Gai never made an appearance in R&M series, Bandai did release his monster, Metalgelas, as part of R&M 4 Ouja & Genocider set back in 2002. When Bandai released Souchaku Henshin EX line of Mirror Monster, repaint version of R&M Metalgelas figure was included with EX-01 set.

SH Kamen Rider Gai with R&M Metalgelas

GD-78 Souchaku Henshin Series Kamen Rider Ryuki - Masked Rider Gai

Bandai released GD-79 in Jan. of 2005. The retail price was 2000 Yen.

 

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

 

Gai comes with his Metal Horn gauntlet and mini size Advent cards. The gauntlet is newly mold for this release and not reused mold from R&M line.

 

R&M Series

 

 

R&M4 come with R&M Ouja his contract monster Venosnaker and the two monsters he took from Raia and Gai. Ouja had special Advent card that allowed him to combine the three monsters to form Animal King "Genocider". Gai and Raia were never released for R&M line.