Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the Variable Action Zephyr from Hao Taikei Ryu Knight, a very successful anime series from the mid-90’s. The Zephyr was also recently featured in the quite excellent Super Robot Wars Neo. Interestingly, due to its already rather distorted proportions, the Zephyr wasn’t rendered in SD in Neo compared to many of the other featured mecha.

Due to the nature that this is a toy, all pictures shown are of the item out of the box. Click on to read more…

There are quite a few fantasy based shows in the mecha pantheon, from Dunbine to Galient and even Escaflowne. Fantastical mecha have a rather wonderful lineage. Ryu Knight was one such show but instead of approaching the mysticism in a serious way, like in Dunbine for instance, it was very much aimed at children. From the adorable mecha designs to upbeat characters, Ryu Knight was a suitably sweet and endearing show.

The narrative follows the cheeky but quite chivalrous Adeu and his quest for the Earth’s Blade, a sword so massive that it stretches into the sky itself. He meets lots of friends and foes along the way, many of which want to steal his more advanced mecha. The Zephyr is Adeu’s personal mecha.

The show was wildly successful and spawned multiple OVA’s. What’s also very interesting is that the mecha were penned by the very talented Junya Ishigaki, who gamers will appreciate also designed the mecha in the much loved Xenogears and Xenosaga games. Ishigaki also went on to work on Escaflowne shortly after Ryu Knight too in case you’re wondering.

Toy: Variable Action Zephyr
Price: 5000 yen
Size/Weight: 20.4 x 20.1 x 10.2 cm / 430g

The toy itself is very focused in terms of its features, so it’s ultimately very poseable and the sculpt is also very accurate. In addition, this is meant more as a display piece for fans of the show who are know much older (as Bandai released their own toys around the time of the show’s original release). The paint job is consequently far more detailed and accurate to the show and the articulation is a lot more involved compared to the Bandai efforts too.

However, it’s almost entirely plastic in terms of its construction. With the only metal being a few screws to hold it together. This isn’t really an issue though as Megahouse have made a decent toy that’s pretty sturdy. The toy also comes with extra hands, a display base and the Zephyr summoning card.

Overall, this is a very accurate and tactile toy that’s meant for fans of the show. It’s also competitively priced and in many ways is of a higher production standard than many of the Robot Damashii figures. In any case, it’s a wonderful little toy of an endearing mecha design and it won’t break the bank either.

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