S.H. Figuarts Red Buster Gallery 2.0 – FINAL Toku Toy Box Entry!

TokuNation has slowly but surely been going through it's archives of old galleries and finding those that need updates, where we simply didn't have as much polish as we do today. The subject of today's do over is one such figure. Today we're turning back the clock to 2012 with our final Toku Toy Box entry for the year. A 2.0 gallery of S.H. Figuarts Red Buster!

I should disclose that Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters is one of my all time favorite sentai. I know lots of people who hated the show when it was airing, both those who gave it a fair chance and those who didn't. And just as many people who experienced it at the time or years later and loved it. It's a polarizing show. I for one adore everything about it so I thought it was time this figure got the gallery it deserved. Because like the show I don't think a lot of people gave it fair shake thanks to word of mouth. I'm here to at least show it isn't quite as bad as you might think.

Busters, ready, GO!

Packaging
Now at the time Go-Busters figuarts featured some really creative packaging. And I still think that holds true. Red Busters' box feature all the series hallmarks and logos as part of it's design. Right down to the awesome "shades" logo. The metallic reflective cardboard makes it feel premium & stylish, and the stock photos present you with a figure, that while not entirely capable of recreating those poses, can do an admirable job.

Main Figure
As I said above, Red Buster, and the following Go-Busters releases, were not looked fondly upon. People who hated the show subsequently seemed to dislike the figuarts and felt they were "taking spots" of other sentai that "deserved" release more. But there was a voracious dislike of that particular season and it's mainline merchandise too. As a show without a collectible gimmick it simply under performed and is most likely what caused Toei to 180 into the goofy silly super gimmick driven stuff we get now year in & out. For me Go-Busters was the last modern show with some true originality to it. I feel the figuarts, while not perfect, do deserve a 2nd glance.

For starters Red Buster features some really unique detailing you don't often see on figuarts that aren't based on Showa era characters. You can mainly see what I'm talking about on the boots & thighs of the figuart. The show suits were made of leather rather than traditional spandex or lycra. While this meant they showed wear and tear much more easily, they also really popped on screen. The Figuart captures that down to the excellently molded in thigh and boot details. Little things that are easily overlooked while the suit is in action that can be recreated perfectly at this scale. Sort of like the fabric folds in old Showa Rider suits. Red Buster also features a number pretty nice crisp paint apps recreating the 2-tone silver/red costume right down to the "zipper" down the middle of the suit.

Sadly the elbow joints are incorrectly colored black rather than silver & red. I believe at the time of release it was assumed it's because that plastic wouldn't take to paint very well, the black does draw your eyes' attention but not terribly so, and the elbows function just fine too. Red Busters arms are also one of the last sentai figuarts releases to feature bicep swivels. Nowadays that feature tends to be reserved for more armored characters like Metal Heroes or Kamen Riders. Sadly because of the way the torso sculpt bulges forward at the shoulder the arms cant make much use of the swivels. So yes Red Buster can not recreate his arms crossed battle poses properly. I've done the best I can to demonstrate what it looks like but this imperfection of the design is probably the one glaring flaw I see in the mold.

The helmet is pretty much spot on though I would have loved to have gotten a nice chrome visor, but I can totally accept the metallic paint we got here. The sculpt is crisp and despite the complaints I often see, the head looks exactly the right size to me relative to the figure. Other details of note include the GB emblem on the belt which is sculpted really nicely, a dark paint wash could have brought out more of that detail though. The left arm features the molded in and fully painted Morphin Brace as a wonderful scaled counterpart to the real deal. Though non-functioning I always love wrist changers. And to round out the nicer details of the figure we have a really great looking Transpod on the chest straps. (The straps themselves help contribute to the hindered arm articulation)

Overall I still have a good opinion of this figuart. Yes, the arms suck because of a design flaw with the shoulders, you can't recreate some poses that are sorely missed. And perhaps I should mention that possibly because of the material the hands are cast in, they can be really difficult to swap. But barring these issues Red Buster features all the same great standard articulation that the SHF line has come to be known for. So I don't see what's not to love about this figure, especially considering the rock bottom prices it can be found for these days. I've included some shots of Red Buster with the rest of the Go-Busters & the Nick Cheeda SH Figuart as well as with as much Red Buster product as I could muster! I really like Go-Busters in case no one noticed . Happily the old MBAF Nick Cheeda transforming bike is almost the right scale to work with Red Buster. It's just barely undersized.

Accessories

3 - sets of hands. Pretty standard stuff. Just mirrored sets with no unique poses.

1 - Sougan Blade. The standard bladed weapon of the 3 main Go-Busters. This is a nicely sculpted and accurate piece. Obviously it's not engineered to have it's binocular form as most figuarts weapons at this scale don't work in that way. It would have been nice if that were included separately.

1 - Ichigan Buster. The 2nd standard weapon of the original trio. It's just as nicely sculpted and painted as the Sougan Blade, though with more paint apps over all. I really dont see why this one wasn't molded with transformation joints, it would've been very simple that happen with it. As is though it's one of the more interesting sidearms out there. Really like it.

1 - Ichigan Buster Special Buster Mode. This is the combined form of the Blade & Buster. The 2 weapons themselves were not engineered to combine so this piece is included instead. I actually don't mind that as it allows you to have extra weapons to display. In much the same way that latter figuarts like the Kyoryuger had 2 versions of their special weapons and you could display both simultaneously.

Final Thoughts
I'm a self professed mega-fan of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. I've always loved it and always will despite the flak it gets. I know that this figure isn't perfect. It has trouble moving it's arms up and out because of the chest design flaws, some of them suffer from weak hips, and the hands can be especially hard to swap. But S.H. Figuarts Red Buster and the following Go-Busters releases are something that I believe are still worthy of a spot in your collection. Red Buster goes for no more than 1500-2000 yen on average which is incredibly affordable for a figuart. If you want to fill out your sentai display, do yourself a favor and pick him up. Now if only Bandai could ever make Beet Buster, Stag Buster, & buddyroid mode Beet J Stag. But don't get me started I'd buy the entire Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters as well!

Shutdown, confirmed.

And post 2! Including shots of Red Buster with:

- Ichigan Buster Special Buster Mode
- Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters group shots
- Buddyroids
- DX Go-Buster Ace, MBAF Nick Cheeda, & more!

I was hoping to get a US figure of him, but this figuarts looks awesome!

Someday I'll get ya, probably whenever I get around to watching Go-Busters.

It's a pity that Go-Busters didn't pan out as well as Toei had hoped, but even with red arms joints Red Buster looks sharp and the 2.0 gallery does this figure justice.

A total bummer about the arms and hips though. At least it's still looks enjoyable. Certainly one good way to end the Toku Toy Box galleries with a bang, that's for sure.

A fantastic looking figure. I love the details and the weapons!

These photos are really fantastic. They really show off on how great the figure looks. I have thought about getting Red Buster since I like the suit design, but never seen the show itself. I will probably get him cheap now then later.

I can't remember whether or not I sold my Red Buster, all I remember is that I managed to pick it up for absurdly cheap prices (Like, single digit levels)

While I wasn't a big fan of the show, the Figuart was nice, but I didn't feel it was that good. The arm issue is probably the reason why people looked down upon it the most (And it is rather disappointing that he can't recreate his signature pose).

Really, if it wasn't so dirt cheap, it would be hard to recommend to anyone beyond the biggest Go-Busters fans.

If there is another Sentai S.H. Figuarts that I do need to look into getting it is Red Buster. While I haven't watched Go-Buster fully I do enjoy the designs and weapons.

I really hope one day I'll be able to own this Figuarts because it looks just wonderful.

Probably one of my favorite designs. I'm hoping to get this one sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.