Sentinel AMAKUNI Kijin King J-Der
The box, while not really big, is still impressive due to its cube-like shape. It spans roughly 10.75 x 14 x 8.75 inches in dimension.
I really love how the instructions are in full color. You don’t see that much nowadays.
To return King J-Der back to the tray, remember to position the Anti-Meson Cannons like so to prevent damaging them while in storage:
Story
Originally created to be a fleet of super ships by Abel, the leader of the Red Planet in the Trinary Solar System, the J-Jeweled battleships were to be the last line of defense against the Zonder invasion from the Purple Planet.
Unlike Cain of the Green Planet’s plan to create just one single Super Mechanoid to fight the invasion, Abel relied on his fleet to prevent the mechanization of his planet. This plan ultimately failed as the giant ships needed three critical components to succeed, namely; a cyborg Soldato to helm the ship, the ship’s Super AI main computer called “Tomoro” and the clone of Latio (Mamoru Amami) that could purify the Zonder corruption called Arma.
Most of the fleet were destroyed the invasion of the Red Planet as the three components were unable to work cohesively as a unit. Only one unit of the J-Ark Armada was able to survive and carry a young Arma to Earth, with its Soldato and Tomoro 0117 eventually being captured and Zonderized into the Zonderian Pizza and Machine King Pinchernone.
ELECTRONICS DEPT.
To turn on King J-Der’s LEDs, first open up the figure’s torso and extract the little plastic tab that prevents the button batteries from turning on.
Then, simply push the button on the back of King J-Der’s nape to switch on.
Without the LEDs, King J-Der’s eyes just look kinda dead.
Turning them on really makes the eyes pop. Definitely better execution here than how they did Genesic Gaogaigar’s LED gimmicks.
By opening King Jder’s mouth, the LEDs also pipe light through there too!
Remember the batteries come PRE-INSTALLED, so make sure to remove them before long-term storage. The electronics operate on 3x LR41 batteries.
TRANSFORMATION NOTES:
Granted, while the figure comes in robot mode out of the box, I figured I’d start my review with the J-Ark first then move onto the robot mode last.
When transforming King J-Der, take special care not to damage the fins on his shoulders. These tend to get in the way.
The set comes with an alternate, more proportional bridge section for the J-Ark.
To keep things tidy, you can opt to open up the bigger head and place the default King J-der head inside (you’ll have to pull apart little J-Der’s arms first, though). You will eventually need the ball joint socket on the default head anyway.
Little J-Der’s arms can then be placed inside the storage compartments next to King J-Der’s lower legs.
A larger, more proportional bow of the J-Ark is also included.
An optional plate cover is included as well for hiding King J-Der’s fingers.
J-Ark
A J-Ark Class battleship, the J-Ark is powered by the J-Jewel and is capable of interstellar travel. The ship features a regenerative armor system called “Field Generating Armor”, giving the large ship almost instantaneous self-repair capabilities despite not having any actual crew aside from Soldat-J. Its deck sports several Anti-Meson cannons and it can also deploy Escape Space Missiles from the 4 torpedo tube sections on each of its sides. Its most powerful attack is the J-Quath, which can be fired from the beneath the nosecone of the ship.
Pedestals are included with the set to keep the J-Ark off the ground.
I love the execution of the booster details.
Anti-Meson Cannons!
Each of the turrets and cannons can be individually posed
ES Missile! – Opening missile and torpedo ports on the sides of the ship.
J-Quath!
J-Bird Plug Out!
The upper, separable component of J-Ark which contains the bridge and dorsal Anti-Meson Cannons can be detached to form a separate unit.
J-Bird Plug Out! Fusion!
J-Der
Created from the Fusion between a Soldato J-series cyborg and the J-Bird component of the J-Ark, the J-Der is a formidable fighting machine all by itself. Unlike the Gaigar, which relies on the Stealth Gao for flight, J-Der is capable of independent flight thanks to its Plasma Wings and can also generate Plasma Swords from its hands to cut through its opponents.
It’s a shame we don’t get the effects parts for the Plasma Wing and Plasma Swords here. You’ll have to purchase the upcoming parts set to get them.
Also, do note that little J-Der does not have a neck rotation joint!
Anti-Meson Cannon! – J-Der can use the Anti-Meson Cannons on his legs.
Lol… this is where you really notice the “Mass Shifting” cheat that J-Der uses.
Using the center piece of the display base, you can attach the smaller display base arm to hold J-Der in “flight pose”.
Yeah… Sentinel should’ve really included the Plasma Wings here. J-Der looks so wrong without it on the display stand.
J-Rider Mode – The J-Der can “half dock” with the J-Ark with his upper half still in robot mode, allowing it to have access to the J-Ark’s speed and additional firepower, while still utilizing the J-Der’s Plasma swords.
J-Bird Plug Out! Mega Fusion!
King J-Der
Formed from the Mega Fusion between J-Der and the J-Ark, King J-Der is a Giant Mechanoid mobile fortress. Armed with several highly-destructive weapons, King J-Der is capable of quickly demolishing several Zonders in a single strike with its J-Quath.
According to the official mechanical data from the show, King J-Der stands 101 Meters tall and weighs 32.7 Tons (Gaogaigar is officially listed as being 31.5 Meters tall).
You just gotta love the detailed moveable finger joints on this thing.
The figure has got a lot of heft to it and it looks really good in almost any pose.
KING J-DER’S ATTACKS
Anti-Meson Cannons!
5-Linked Maser Cannons! -The only weapon that cannot be utilized in J-Ark mode, the Maser Cannons are usually fired in unison from King J-Der’s fingertips in one hand.
King J-Der usually fires this attack using his left hand. He can also fire the beam attack from both hands at the same time (the attack is called “10-Linked Maser Cannons”)
ES Missiles! – These are the same torpedo tubes we saw in J-Ark mode, they can still open up while in robot mode as well.
“Escape Space Missiles” serve as a means for King J-Der to indirectly attack an opponent by creating nearby wormholes that allow for King J-Der’s other attacks to redirect and appear from any direction. The wormholes can also serve to safely transport the J-Ark across vast distances (sometimes even as far as light years away) almost immediately.
Unlike when in J-Ark mode, ES Missiles can be launched from several ports located all over King J-Der. We’ll get more detail on that when the effects parts set releases.
J-Quath!
King J-Der’s most powerful attack, it focuses the properties of the Generating Armor onto the giant, arc-shaped weapon on the unit’s right arm. This allows the arc to quickly punch through an opponent’s armor and retrieve its Zonder Core when fired.
You can open up foldable panels on the J-Quath. I guess this will come in handy later on when we get the optional effects parts set.
Display Base
The set comes with the usual conventional Sentinel Riobot display base for King J-Der. There’s also a unique display arm included for plugging into King J-Der to make him “quake-proof”.
The display base is a big help in posing King J-Der like he’s kicking an opponent down.
The Good
-J-Der stands roughly 3.5 inches tall and weighs 19 Grams.
-King J-Der stands roughly 10.75 inches tall and weighs 1141 Grams.
-Diecast parts include:
–Main joints on King J-Der
–King J-Der’s entire “spinal column”
-Full-colored manual!
-Light up LEDs for King J-Der’s eyes and mouth.
-Batteries included (and pre-installed)
-While lacking ratchet joints, what is here is very, very tight.
-The opening ES missile panels were a very nice surprise!
-Heavily articulated fingers!
-The Anti-Meson Cannons feature individually moving turrets and cannons.
-The figure features a hidden butterfly shoulder joint. Cool.
The Bad
-No Ratchet joints (on par with most, if not all, Sentinel Riobot product releases)
-Batteries are pre-installed!
-No styrofoam tray.
-Parts-forming is the only way to execute proper proportions with this figure, sadly.
-Zero effects parts included. The least they could’ve done was give J-Der its Plasma Wings.
-Little J-der does not have a neck rotation joint.
-While the joints are generally diecast, I am somewhat concerned about this shoulder peg being plastic. Hopefully, it won’t wear down over time and repeated friction?
The Ugly
Getting the internal hand shaft to extend out after you fold in the wrist joint to do the weirdly proportioned J-Der legs. That was an ordeal. Luckily, I have a spudger tool on hand, otherwise, there would’ve been no way for me to extract the wrist joints out once the pegs were folded in. Still, even with the tool, it was very difficult to pull out. Thankfully, this process is entirely optional, it’s just something you may want to try to see for yourself how bad the proportions are if you don’t swap the legs out. I REALLY DON’T recommend doing this, as there’s no point to it, aside from seeing something wildly disproportioned for yourself.
Overall, an amazing piece! I love all the tooling details that went into making this figure. While the transformation does take a lot of liberties with parts-swapping, it can’t be helped, as it is the only way to get the proportions right across all modes. Admittedly, the diecast isn’t immediately felt as there are no metal surfaces on the figure and the metal is mostly in the joints, but the figure does have some serious heft to it. All this and the inclusion of LED eyes and mouth just tops the package!
The price point is probably the biggest issue with this set. That, plus the fact that the effects parts are sold separately. I wish Sentinel at least included the Plasma Wings and Sword for J-Der here, instead of tossing them with the Option Parts set. Sigh…
Gold
