Sentinel Riobot R-3 Powered
R-3 is piloted by Aya Kobayashi, the adopted daughter of the scientist who created the T-Link System, Dr. Kenzo Kobayashi. 21-year-old Aya is the eldest member of the SRX team and serves as the team’s captain. An adept leader with impressive tactical skills, she calls the shots on the battlefield when the team is deployed, particularly when performing their Formation R team attack.
As the commander unit of the SRX team, the R-3 is usually deployed farthest from the frontline in formation, due to it carrying the precious primary T-Link System onboard which controls the combination for SRX. As such the R-3’s attacks are mostly long-distance assaults with telekinetic-based weaponry. Outfitted with the thinnest armor, the R-3’s flying carrier Plus Parts helps balance out its defensive capabilities.
R-3 Attacks
Head Vulcan Cannon – twin vulcan guns mounted on R-3’s forehead.
Strike Shield – six deployable airborne shields launched from R-3’s back that can be telekinetically controlled by Aya to repeatedly beat down an opponent. Unfortunately, the individual Strike Shields are not removable, they’re fixed into place as sets of three. Sigh..
Telekinetic Converging-Type Laser Cannon (Nendou Shuusokushiki Laser Cannon) – A long-range cannon capable of firing powerful beams. The beam’s trajectory can be telepathically controlled by Aya via the T-Link System to precisely strike its target.
To equip the Cannon on R-3, you have to swap the hands out and plug in these “pre-attached” hands to the cannon.
Lol.. if you’re feeling lazy, you can actually cheat a bit and just have one arm holding up the cannon.
Missing weapons?
Beam Sword – Sentinel didn’t include this as an accessory for this unit.
Mega Beam Rifle – Sentinel didn’t include this either… Sigh.
Display Base
Using the adaptor piece, you can position the R-3 on the display arm for dynamic poses. It’s actually recommended that you use the display base since the R-3 is a bit top-heavy and the fact that it has small feet doesn’t help.
An alternate attachment piece for the Plus Parts flying carrier unit.
Plus Parts flying carrier unit
Sidenote: To attach R-3 to the Plus Parts flying carrier unit, you will have to rearrange certain pieces of the Strike Shield’s configuration in order to get the unit to fit in right.
R-3 POWERED
In the games, the wings of the R-3 Powered unit can open up and fire its Telekinesis missiles. Too bad there’s no gimmick for that here.
The Good
R-3 weighs 79 Grams and stands roughly 5.75 inches tall (7.25 inches counting the tip of the Strike Shields).
(Oops, admittedly, I forgot to take down the details for R-3 Powered, I guess I’ll have to revisit this set later on.)
-Diecast parts include:
–Primary joints
–Sections of the Torso
–Sections of SRX’s feet
–Sections of the Powered unit
-Same as the rest of the Riobot SRX team figures, the paint finish is really good here.
-The R-3 Powered looks really good when fully assembled.
-No issues with the wrist joints that plagued the first two R-series units. Thank goodness.
-Clever idea to use optional “affixed” hands for the Laser Cannon. It certainly helps keep the cannon in place.
-While you have to move a lot of pieces on this set, nothing feels really loose. It holds together very well.
The Bad
-No removable Strike Shields!!
-No missile bays for the R-3 Powered unit.
-Missing the Beam Sword and Mega Beam Gun weapons.
-No ratchet joints.
-Despite having some diecast bits here and there, the main R-3 unit is still a lightweight. I wish they gave her some diecast legs to help her stand in dynamic poses without the display base.
-No blacklight effects paint this time around?
-Transformation into SRX’s legs still requires one to take everything apart (same as the other R-Series figures).
The Ugly
No real QC issues here this time around (unlike the first two figures’ wrist plates). I guess Sentinel finally got it right on this release, third time’s the charm?
Overall, pretty good. The paint and details are all well done and Sentinel managed to work in the flying carrier unit AND make it transformable without killing the production cost, so that should be acknowledged. Thankfully, the issues that plagued R-1 and R-2’s wrist joints are not a thing here as well.
The lack of removable Strike Shields is a huge disappointment for me and I do wish the figure had diecast legs in order to help it pose more dynamically without relying on the display base. It’s also a shame we don’t get all of R-3 weapons here too. These problems aren’t really deal breakers but their addition would’ve gone a long way to make folks appreciate this set more.
Gold
