Riding in Sidecars with Toys
I laughed at the bug-eyed designs when the designs for Masked Rider Faiz were revealed last year… but when Bandai started shipping the TOYS, oh my!
Seriously, I really thought Faiz looked more like a motorbike headlamp than any “light bug” it’s supposed to be based on. But the design grew on me, mostly aided by the very cool transforming bike “Autovajin”. This design was nicely realized in the first of the SUPER RHF series and eventually overcame my dislike of the larger size of the Rider figure. So when number two was announced, I eagerly awaited its release and eventually got my hands on the Masked Rider Kaixa & Side Basshar set.
Out of the box, it’s fairly obvious there’s going to be no diecast involved. However the plastics are sturdy, with a gloss finish and nicely printed matte decals. Despite having the extra burden of a sidecar, Kaixa’s ride still manages to exude a racy coolness. The sleek menacing lines and black/yellow color scheme brought back memories of a similar bike from the hair raising Lotus Esprit car chase in 007’s The Spy Who Loved Me. :-)
Kaixa’s helmet design features a prominent ‘X’, and this detail is followed through on the bike’s headlamp fairings – 4 silver molded lamps are clearly seen under the X-shaped purple plastic. From the rear, the 6 humongous tailpipes speak of outrageous amounts of revving power. Even the sidecar has 2 pairs of smaller exhausts!
But of course there’s more to the sidecar than just extra room for a passenger. Attached to the main bike via a pair of retracting connectors, the sidecar separates, splits down the middle AND elevates to form the bottom half of a mechanical beast. The main bike’s front and rear wheels extend, then swing round 90-degrees. The rear light fairings fold down to become Kaixa’s battle-mode peddles. The two sections come together and the Side Basshar’s Battle Mode is completed! Blades fold out from the right “hand” while the 6 tailpipes on the other fan-out to become laser blasters.
ROAWRRR! Who’s got the cooler ride now? Excellent, excellent fun, these two Rider sets. I hope the rest of the series continues to live up to expectations.
Oh, by the way – you can’t actually seat another Rider in the sidecar. Unfortunately, there isn’t any legroom at all. What I did was to pop-off the legs from Faiz and simply plop him into place for the title shot. Cheers!
