Originally released at the beginning of 2020, I waited nearly a year before buying this figure. I have several Sentinel RIOBOT figures in my collection, and while I tend to admire them as excellent action figures and collector pieces, I do feel that they are overpriced . So, though I love Mazinger Z, and immediately gravitated towards this RIOBOT, I ended up cancelling the pre-order and waiting for the price (originally about $300 before shipping) to come down somewhat. I did finally manage to get the figure for $241 shipped just this month, and while I feel like that was more reasonable, I still don't feel like I have a figure necessarily worthy of that price (I think $185 would probably be a fair price for this guy). That said (and I know this may sound contrary), I do feel like this is within the Top 3 figures I bought in 2020!
Sentinel's Mazinger Z is comparable to some of my other Mazingers in terms of height, but this one's proportions are a bit more distinctive. This version sports the same large-ball shoulders we saw on last year's Grendizer (I think this is the same body, in fact), and the mid-torso features a much wider spread. The result is that this Mazinger Z appears squatter and blockier than my Metal Build version, and the Soul of Chogokin version is positively wispy in comparison.
Though this isn't my favorite look for Mazinger Z, I do appreciate its uniqueness (after all, I don't want every version of the character to look the same - otherwise what's the point in having more than 1, right?), and it's a heck of a lot of fun to play around with and pose. In fact, it's once I got to the second tray of accessories and actually attached his "Dynamic Scrander" (a pretty good name for it, actually) and started posing the figure that I finally got my money's worth.
Sentinel's Mazinger Z has some die-cast content, but not much. I think the silver parts are metal, and the rest is a very shiny black plastic. It has a little weight, but it's not enough to completely offset the enormous scrander without the stand, for example.
On to the accessories. First off, there's a "Pilder Shield" piece that plugs into the forehead opening. It's a neat idea (after all, Koji Kabuto is pretty naked up there with just the glass shield of the Pilder cockpit between him and Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts) that makes complete sense, and it looks damn cool once it's slid into place. The piece doubles as a cockpit shield on the Scrander, as well. There are two sets of Iron Cutter blades which snap into place on the forearms without any need to remove panels (like most other Mazinger figures require). They are very pointy, very sharp, and very cool-looking! And then, there's the Scrander. It's huge, from tip to tip, and the red panel lines are gorgeous. It's got multiple points of articulation, allowing for several different looks and dimensions (important when trying to fit this guy into a Detolf display case). Mazinger Z includes 4 sword blades and 4 rockets/fingers. These are flat-out-awesome because of the small things they included, which allow for great customizability!
By itself, the Scrander looks like an imposing Stealth aircraft. The "fingers" act as thrusters, and the blades fold in to nearly disappear. Each thruster has a cover than can be slid up and back, and the body has multiple (three, I think) articulation points, allowing bend. This, in essence, turns each rocket thruster into a finger with knuckles, allowing you to create a very hand-like look which reminded me of the God Scrander from the anime. The caps from each thruster can be removed and snapped onto any of the other pegs, the most important being the elbow point once the forearm is removed to create "Rocket Punch!"
The blast effect part in the picture here is from the Metal Build Mazinger Z figure. Unfortunately, this Sentinel version does NOT include any effect parts. The blades can be spun around to project out of the scrander, or can be snapped into place at the ends of the thrusters/fingers, or attached to the end of the arms in place of the hands. That's what I mean about customizability - in the hands of someone far more creative than me, this is an outstanding piece. And, like I said earlier, the more I messed around with this figure, the more fun I had. I'm usually really tentative with my figures (I'm terrified of breaking something so expensive), and tend to leave them in very standard vanilla poses on my shelf. With this guy, I decided to give posing and play a try, and I'm really glad I did. With the Dynamic Scrander in place, fingers curled forward, blades attached, and Iron Cutters on the forearms, this Mazinger Z looks amazing! I'm so glad to have finally added him to the Toyseum, and I can safely say he's in my Top 3 figure purchases of 2020!
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