Reideen

I’m not the sort of guy who usually goes for Super Deformed stuff, but I always make an exception for Reideen.

This particular rendition of Reideen is from Fewture’s ES Gokin line of SD diecast robots. Most of the work here is farmed out to Action Toys, a design house who does most of Fewture’s gokin lines.

The box is nice and sturdy with rather thick cardboard. Inside, evil clear plastic trays. You know, the kind where you try to take off the lid and end up popping parts all over the room.

Inside the package, Reideen is almost ready to go. Just add the head and faceplate.

Despite being SD, Reideen is rather good looking. In fact it’s one of the better put together modern representations of the character.

Metal content is passable. Diecast is evident in the upper chest and lower legs.

Everything moves, but articulated is limited by the design, which is the norm for Reideen. This is especially evident around the hip area due to the hip skirts.

Even in this small form, Fewture has included most of Reideen’s signature accessories.

The God Breaker is the red shield on the right arm without the side panels attached.

When you attach the sides and the blade, you get the God Block.

Replace those sides with the boomerang sides and get the God Boomerang.

The part that looks like three speakers strapped to his chest is called the God Voice. This actually attaches to the blue panels on the sides of the head rather than the body. You can also replace the faceplate with the alternate screaming face.

Reideen’s signature bow is included as well. You can swap out the small bow parts with the large ones, and then add the pointing hands and arrow to form the God Gogun. Two different arrows are included.

There’s a cool joint in the chest that allows him to hunch forward when firing the bow.

Oh yeah, VARIANT HANDS.

Reideen also transforms into Godbird mode, and it actually does a pretty decent job.

First, you have to remove a small panel on the back - I needed to use a screwdriver to pry it off. be careful.

The entire Godbird assembly is in the form of a backpack that attaches to the figure. You can turn it around to make a cool set of upturned wings. Although not official, I like this look a lot.

Swing it around, unfold the wings, and unfold the very sharp claws. On the front move the crotch panel up and then slide the panels on the white part of the legs down. Bend the legs and close the face - then you have Godbird.

Godbird looks awesome and the included stand is great. The stand comes with a special adapter that clips onto the center rail of the back. Honestly this is one of the better Godbird modes out there.

The beak even opens!

You can swap the head out with the alternate Cutter Head.

The stand is also useable in robot mode. I was demonstrating this when… something happened.

Apparently the heat from the lights I used was so great that it caused the glue holding the panels on the head to separate. A few quick drops of superglue put it back together, but it’s something to be aware of.

Another pain point is the side skirts that are held in place with small ball joints. They just snap into a socket that does not have a top, so they are not very secure.

There have been many Reideen toys over the year, and none have quite nailed the transformation to Godbird. Most try to over-engineer the transformation and end up making a fiddly mess. This is a really good attempt, and much better than the Bandai Soul of Chogokin version. Still, nothing beats the simplicity of the original Popy diecast.