“Time Mazine!”
The massive mecha known as the Time Mazine is the last line of defense between the rebels of 2068 & the dark overlord Oma Zi-O. These mass produced defenders have even been known to be used by the Time Jackers… Sougo Tokiwa was given access to one thanks to Tsukuyomi travelling back in time from this bleak future. A means of travel to the eras of the legendary riders that preceded him, Sougo as the present day Kamen Rider Zi-O will gain the powers of the past to save (or dominate) the future!
DX Time Mazine is the big DX toy of the line this year. In years past it was preceded by things like Captain Ghost, Tridoron, Suika Arms, and Wizardragon. While we don’t get to see a lot of the big items each year because of CG costs, Time Mazine is used fairly often actually. The DX toy winds up being one of the best articulated mecha we’ve gotten in a while (take that Sentai!) and is completely interactive with the Ride Watches of the toyline. This figure is also scaled to work with the Rider Kicks RKF line and even transforms to vehicle mode!
We’ve attached the full gallery of DX Time Mazine to this article, but you can also read up on our full review of the figure by clicking “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” at the bottom of this post. Later this week, we’ll be back with the legendary warrior, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Cronus!
"Time Mazine!"
The massive mecha known as the Time Mazine is the last line of defense between the rebels of 2068 & the dark overlord Oma Zi-O. These mass produced defenders have even been known to be used by the Time Jackers... Sougo Tokiwa was given access to one thanks to Tsukuyomi travelling back in time from this bleak future. A means of travel to the eras of the legendary riders that preceded him, Sougo as the present day Kamen Rider Zi-O will gain the powers of the past to save (or dominate) the future!
Packaging
My favorite thing about DX packaging, toys which I don't handle much these days, is just how wacky and busy it tends to be. Tons of stock photos of various uses for whatever the item is, catch phrases, call outs, and character quotes from the show. There's just a lot going on, and I really like it. But by far the funniest thing about the box is the way it portrays Time Mazine on the back. It looks like a giant robot trying to squeeze it's legs together to hold in a poo frankly. Though, the toy itself tends to look like this in hand a little as well.... In box Time Mazine is all fully assembled, the only packed in separate part being the DX Ride Watch/
Main Figure
Oddly enough, the Time Mazine is my first opportunity to handle merchandise from Zi-O. The Rider Kicks Figure line was a total turn off to me once I found out about the size. Figure's that small just have no place in my collection, so even with the armor gimmick, they weren't ever gonna sell me on that. But a giant robot, that turns into a flying time machine, and can swap out faces for Ride Watches? Yeah, I'm down for that.
Time Mazine by the way, is a play on words. It's a combination of the english term Time Machine, and the Japanese word Majin/魔神, which means malevolent or demonic god. The "j" works it's way into the new word as a "z" sound. It's a fun play on words I can get behind. Now to start with the figure, this is a big boy. The Mazine will dwarf quite a few of the riders and other various robots in your collection. I included some group images below to show off the scale of this thing, and it's impressive. The Mazine is in it's Robo Mode straight out of the box, and while not perfect, there's a decent amount of articulation in this thing. Some of it isn't very useful, or in fact at all, but as you can see in the images you actually can get some use out of them.
Time Mazine has ratcheting hips that can move forward and back by a couple clicks, though they have no outward movement. The thighs feature a pretty strong swivel joint to angle the legs out. The knees bend back to about a 90 degree angle as well. However the feet don't move at all. So while you can get the lower body into some cool poses, many aren't sustainable because the feet can't reach a stable position and the hips can't angle outward at all. The upper body articulation is limited to the head and arms. The arms feature fully rotating (closed) fists, a pretty great elbow bend that incorporates a swivel, and butterfly type shoulder joints. These shoulders work like this because of the Vehicle Mode transformation joints built into them. They can be pushed forward until the arms come parallel to one another and they angle very far up and out as well. Sentai Robos ain't got nothing on this big guy!
The chest actually opens up as well. Grab the chest panel just below the face and pull down to reveal a cockpit scaled for Rider Kicks Figures! As I mentioned above, the RKF scale doesn't work for my collection at all, so I didn't have any on hand for the shoot. But some figuarts do tend to work decently well at this scale. The cockpit actually has some little arms that would hold an RKF in place, while the bottom is open ended so the rider's legs can go down into the Mazine's legs. I'm happy to see it scale this way even if it's not quite up to par with the show's portrayal of the cockpit. Time Mazine can also equip weapons from the RKF armors on it's arms, though again, I don't have any to demonstrate that with.
The head also has some minor articulation in that it can swivel side to side. The head is in fact a dummy Zi-O Ride Watch. It's actually a hollow on the backside lookalike for the real deal Zi-O watch. It sets a bit further into the head than a proper DX Ride Watch would, plugging directly into the rectangular slot. Luckily DX Ride Watches fit just fine in there, any DX Gashapon or etc Ride Watch will. Literally any of them. The Mazine comes with the DX OOO TaToBa Combo Ride Watch as well, one which looks pretty cool as the head. I also had on hand the DX Den-O Sword Form & Wizard Flame Style Ride Watches during this shoot, so those are shown in the photos as well. Just don't mistake them for coming with Time Mazine. It only comes with the DX OOO watch and the dummy Zi-O watch.
Time Mazine of course also has a Vehicle Mode. Though I would *very* generously consider this thing a "vehicle". It's a simple process to transform. Remove any Ride Watch attached, even the dummy one, push the shoulders fully forward, fold the shoulder armor flaps in and tab it together. Then rotate the arms around and tab them together, the whole assembly then rotates back flush to the panel where a Ride Watch would normally go. The final step is sadly the point where I realized they just gave up trying to do something meaningful with this toy. You just slightly bend the knees back so the knee armor/skis are flat on the ground. There you have this "vehicle". I really sincerely hope there's some other big DX vehicle coming that could combine with this thing because that's a pretty silly and useless vehicle mode.
Accessories
1 - DX OOO TaToBa Combo Ride Watch. As mentioned above this is the full DX watch. Just pull the plastic tab out of the side to free up the batteries and start making some noise! The face of the watch of course rotates from the year to reveal the rider's full face. Gashapon watches rotate, but not in a way that reveals the face.
It would have been nice to get one RKF weapon with this big guy. I know they intend you to buy it in tandem with the RKF line, but I don't have any interest in them. The Build Armor weapon would have been perfect to include.
Final Thoughts
It's kind of a mixed bag honestly. Giant robot? Check. Pretty decent articulation that's better than most any sentai robo? Check. Interactivity with the collectible gimmick? Check. Extremely bad transformation? Also check. I can truly appreciate it as giant fun dumb toy, I just wish there was a little more to it's vehicle mode. And maybe there will be at some point. As is, it's a big and dumb but honestly fun toy that will probably set you back a bit on shipping costs. If you can get a good deal, I say go for it.
Part 2
- Den-O!
- Wizard!
- Vehicle Mode
I think the Vehicle Mode are hoverbike.
I really love Time Mazine design and concept. I think the Ridewatches as head gimmick is really cool.
Gotta admit both in show and in toy form, that thing turned out glorious. And love the Decade riding picture. xD
Now, Bandai Japan, Where's mah mini-pla of it?!? xD
I really love Time Mazine design and concept. I think the Ridewatches as head gimmick is really cool.
Yeah my biggest issue with this is the price, cause isn't it 6k yen?
Terrific gallery! I love that you defaulted to the much better Figuarts Wizard robe from the effects set: amazing to think we'll be able to retire that figure in the near future.
Time Mazine is so frustrating. I could get into the giant-robot thing, but the vehicle mode is... I thought it looked unbelievably lazy on the show. I appreciate that the robot mode is relatively fully-realized, but did they just not *want* to come up with an interesting vehicle mode?
Time Mazine is so frustrating. I could get into the giant-robot thing, but the vehicle mode is... I thought it looked unbelievably lazy on the show. I appreciate that the robot mode is relatively fully-realized, but did they just not *want* to come up with an interesting vehicle mode?
But it's definitely supposed to evoke a hover bike or skybike, but almost like a Harley version of one as opposed to the more compact versions. Alluding a bit to Kiva and Decade more with a hint of Marvel's movie Ghost Rider bike. I like how it's simplified because it keeps the campiness element, while still being fun, and keeping play features and trying to limit down how much you accidentally "break" the action figure driving inside. Plus a "Time ship hoverbike" is so perfectly "Kamen Rider" especially for the 20th heisei series Celebration.
As for transformation, it's about as complicated as an average simplified transformer. About the same as Animated Oilslick or Gobots Cy-Kill really, with less leg bend because of the figure inside to avoid snapping those legs. It's a perfect throwback really in that regard, with a quick enough conversion to go right into combat mode without being overtly burdensome to get right into the play factor. These are for kids to have fun with and convert quickly back and forth, which also helps in the show to do the same for quicker transitions of combat to time ship and go etc.
How removable the legs are though seems to suggest it might get some interesting upgrades in the future more than the arm ones. So all that in mind, the simplified nature really works well, and is more a byproduct of we haven't seen all the upcoming merchandise yet in how it can evolve, or the retools from it for the Time Jackers.
Keep reading: Kamen Rider Zi-O: DX Time Mazine Gallery - Page 2
Not a member yet? Join TokuNation Now!