Power Rangers Samurai Deker

Height: 11cm

Articulation: 17 total points - Swivel neck; 4 points each arm: universal shoulder, hinge elbow, swivel wrist; 4 points each leg: universal hip, hinge knee, post-knee swivel.

Colors: Molded white; Painted red, silver, brown, white.

Accessories: Uramasa sword, broadsword

Release Data: Released in Fall 2011 in the US at a retail price of US$6.99

Author: ExVee

(more...)


Power Rangers Samurai is not exactly a creative reimagining of Shinkenger. In fact, it may be one of the most legitimate cases of Adaptation Decay you can find right now. So it was that the character of Juzo Fuwa was simply whitewashed a little, renamed as Deker, and Prior Red Ranger actor Ricardo Medina Jr. was cast in the role of his human side. Sadly, this is probably the least demeaning job he's had since leaving Wild Force several years ago, given his other talent aside from being on Power Rangers is taking his clothes off for an audience. Sorry, Rick.



Juzo/Deker's design was always a pretty neat instance of focused monster design. The character's background in Shinkenger involved being a samurai turned assassin, and the monster form reflects this in a way. The main theme is to resemble samurai armor, but to look like samurai armor made of demonic skeletal elements. The figure captures these intents well, with a lot of intricate sculpt work to replicate the many spikes, overlapping panels and flowing curves that make up the design. One place this is pulled off especially well is with the head. The skull face itself is done in pretty good detail, trailed by the wavy bone crests. Airbrush that in orange and yellow and it wouldn't be at all out of place with Ghost Rider, probably. The sculpt even includes elements I either never noticed or subsequently forgot since viewing Shinkenger, like the claw sculpted behind the right shoulder that acts as the sword holder. Unique body types like this are where you really get a feel for how much effort the designers are putting in to the line every year, and Deker shows that there's little left wanting in terms of design accuracy.

Equally, the deco came out really nicely. The figure is at its base the bleached bone-white from the Toy Fair photos and the packaging images. But instead of being flat white like those suggested, the figure has a silver wash applied all over to bring out details and generally dirty the appearance, helping bring it in line with the costume used in the show. The beneficial effect of this is probably most evident on the back side of the figure where there's a lot higher concentration of small details bunched together, and no other colors to distract from it. The only thing that could be pointed to as a flaw with the deco is how the red details came out. The costume had these as clear red with more details beneath. This was especially striking on the face where it looked like tissue stretched thin over the skull beneath. On the figure all of this is replaced by a slightly metallic red paint. I wouldn't expect the figure to go as far as adding clear plastic parts, especially at this scale, but there is a certain depth that's lost to how this had to be done. At least for the face, I might have liked to see a black wash or just some black outlining done to try and simulate the same effect, though.

Deker has the same level of articulation as the regular Ranger figures, which I found a little surprising as the unique body molds have a way of suffering for not being heavily reusable. The only real issue with it is where the complex and sometimes bulky design will limit how much those joints are able to move. The outward movement of the shoulders is only about 45 degrees because the shoulder spikes run against the body at that point, but the swivel range is completely free. It's a similar thing for the hips. There's skirting around the waist, and though it's minimal in front, there is enough on the sides to limit how wide the legs can spread. Conversely, the legs can't fully straighten down as a combination of the mass of the thighs and the shallow cut for the joint against the pelvis. Forward movement in the hips is also a little more restricted than I'd expect looking at it, again because of the bulk of the thighs. The elbows and knees get their full 90 degree range of movement without any problems. But just like with Gold, there's no bicep or thigh swivel. I'm a little bit less critical of it in this case though since again it is a fully unique figure and just matching the Rangers' articulation is an accomplishment. Also, you'll want to be careful after first opening the figure. I found several joints were paint fused - a not-uncommon result when a paint wash is involved - and I had to take a little time to get them safely moving again. It's especially important in the case of the wrists to not try to force them all at once. I'm pretty certain the plastic there is soft enough that it could shear off if the joint is really stuck good and you try to twist the hand loose in one go.





Accessories

-Uramasa

Juzo and/or Deker's mighty sword of injustice. It's a pretty sizeable katana, and is also made of very soft plastic. It is so long that I could easily see it was warped before I ever opened the package. Surprisingly, the grip is a little bit narrow and does not fit very snugly in the figure's hand. It'll catch a little better if you turn it slightly. The blade is understandably thick and mostly looks round rather than edged, but it gets across the idea well enough. The sword does slot in to the holder claw on the back, and it stays put pretty solidly partly thanks to the claws catching on the ridged back edge of the blade. In the shows, Uramasa has a scabbard, which is not present with the figure. Though judging from Gold Ranger's Cricket Bat scabbard, it'd certainly have to be oversized to ridiculousness if they had made one. It is a little funny though, since while Uramasa isn't shown on the package's character photo, you can see its scabbard. Oops!


-Broadsword

In Shinkenger after Uramasa is broken in battle, Juzo is given this sword as a replacement until Uramasa can be repaired. It's another soft-bladed deal, and can probably be seen as bent to some degree while in package. Being a broadsword, it gets away with being less inflated for material strength and better retains its intended shape. Plus being shorter, the warping may be less pronounced overall than Uramasa in any case. The irregularly shaped grip also fits Deker's hand a little more solidly. This sword has no place to be stored on the figure if not being held. You can kind of jam the hilt in to that claw on the back, but the blade ends up sticking out at odd angles.


Closing Remarks

In comparison to Rita, Deker is much better executed villain figure right from the start. Despite having a little more restriction in movement, it's impressive that he has all the same points of movement that a Ranger body features, and the silver wash really highlights all of the details loaded on the body sculpt. Deker turned out Very Good and is definitely on par with Dai Shi and Melle from Jungle Fury in terms of the villain toys getting a decent shake. Definitely worth picking up if you intend to get even one Samurai Ranger figure in the same scale.

At the very least, there's not a monster character from Shinkenger/Samurai that I can really say I'd rather have a figure of. On the other hand, I'll never get past how the RPM line never even tried to produce a proper figure based on the Yogostein or Kitaneides suits. But hey, even if they had we probably never would have got them in the US. Poor RPM.