Sentinel Riobot R-2 Powered
Piloted by Raidiese F. Branstein, The R-2 is the second unit to be produced under Mao Industries’ SRX Project. While the 19-year-old Raidiese is a pilot on the SRX team, he’s actually the only member of the team who isn’t a Psychodriver (one who possesses telekinetic abilities), he instead has to rely on his exceptional skills as an ace pilot.
Primarily functioning as a heavy-armored, long-range artillery Personal Trooper, the R-2 is intended to provide fire support while in the battlefield. Due to the large Hi-Zol Launchers cannons and the SRX’s heavy Tronium Engine equipped on the R-2, it has very lowest mobility amongst the three SRX units.
Same as with R-1, the default fists are smaller since they’re meant to be used during the transformation process. Make sure to plug in the more proportional fists to make the figure look better.
Remember to tab this codpiece into the figure. It’s weird, but meant to “complete the look” of the toy.
R-2 Attacks
Head Vulcan Cannon – twin vulcan guns mounted on R-2’s forehead.
Wired Beam Chakram – A wire-guided beam-emitting chakram disk stored within the right forearm container. Due to R-2’s pilot not being a Psychodriver, the T-Link System for controlling the Chakram was not installed and it has to be wire-guided instead.
Beam Shield – the beam shield generator is mounted on the unit’s left arm. The R-2 is later on also able to generate an I-field for distorting enemy beam projectile attacks.
It’s a shame there’re no effects parts to display the beam shield in action.
Magna Beam Rifle – fires concentrated energy beams at targets, noted to have increased power output compared to standard beam rifles equipped on mass produced Personal Trooper units.
Missing weapon?
Beam Sword – Sentinel didn’t include this as an accessory for this unit. Drats…
R-2 POWERED
As part of the “Plus Parts” upgrades R-2 eventually receives, the Hi-Zol Launcher Cannons are added to the R-2’s armaments, finally fulfilling its role as a long-range artillery unit.
Hi-Zol Launchers – A pair of 5-barrel heavy metal particle beam cannons mounted on the R-2’s shoulders. For versatility, they later on are capable of switching between concentrated and scattered bombardment in the middle of battle.
Aside from the Hi-Zol Launchers, the R-2’s Plus Parts package also give it additional shoulder armor for added protection from long-range enemy projectiles.
Display Base
Like all other Riobot releases, we get a generic display base for the R-2. While you won’t get much mileage out of the display base this time around, due to R-2 being hard to pose dynamically, you will still need the base if you want to display SRX’s Z.O. Sword (Zol Orichalconium Sword).
You will need to grab the clip from the base attachment to help SRX hold the sword later on.
FATAL FLAW ALERT!!!!
When transforming R-2 into SRX mode, you’re supposed to take out this C-clip from SRX’s shoulders. You should NOT pull it out while holding the areas that will cause the “C” to implode. Instead hold it from the lateral sides to avoid putting pressure on the spine of the clip when you pull the assembly out. Sigh, I cracked one of my clips while doing the first arm. Drats..
The Good
R-2 weighs 177 Grams and stands roughly 5 inches tall.
With the Hi Zol Cannons equipped, R-2 now weighs 353 Grams and now stands roughly 8 inches tall.
-Diecast parts include
–Most of the primary joints
–Sections of the torso
–Most sections of the Hi Zol Cannons (mainly SRX’s shoulder joints)
-Same as with R-1, the figure is beautifully painted and highly detailed.
-Figure looks mighty impressive with the huge Hi-Zol Launchers equipped.
-Thanks to the amount of diecast in the Hi-Zol Launchers, R-2 is easily the heaviest unit amongst the trio.
-SRX’s Z.O. Sword is included and it’s big!! Giving you a glimpse of how big the combined figure will be.
The Bad
-Due to the animation model designs of the R-2, the unit tends to be stocky, heavily limiting its poseability. This carries to this diecast action figure as well, unfortunately.
-That cod piece….. really could’ve been better executed IMHO.
-Still no ratchet joints, as expected.
-The figure only has single-jointed elbows.
-No blacklight effects paint included for R-2, only just for the SRX hands.
-No “launched” Beam Chakram effects parts included. I think that would’ve been an awesome add-on to this figure.
-No “Beam Sword” included?? Drats..
-No “Beam Shield” effects parts too…
-Transforming it for SRX mode also requires pulling the figure apart to its barest components.
The Ugly
Sigh… the same issues that plagued the R-1 unit’s wrist is still around. The secondary wrist connectors still tend to fall out when you’re just simply posing the unit.
Also, be EXTREMELY mindful about the fragile C-Clip for SRX’s shoulders, the manual somewhat under sold this warning and you will tend to miss it unless you understand Japanese.
Overall, like with the R-1, this figure is still pretty decent. The paint and details look good, but unlike the R-1, the R-2 lacks dynamic poseability due to the animation models’ large pieces. I think if Sentinel included some effects parts for the Beam Chakram and Beam Shield, this would’ve really turned this set around. As it is, this unit is probably the least interesting of the trio to play with.
Like the R-1, the biggest issues for me are still the wrist pieces falling out with the slightest touch, Sentinel really should’ve executed this concept better somehow.
Gold
