Megazone 23 is one of the most influential OVA anime of the 80s and its mecha design by Shinji Aramaki is also remarkable. With that in mind, this new 1/24 scale toy from the Arcadia garland has a lot to do with it.
The premise of Megazone 23 is in what appears to be Tokyo in the ’80s, with impetuous motorcyclist Shogo Yahagi encountering a wildly futuristic transformation motorcycle called Garland. This discovery changes Shogo’s life, because the truth in which he lives is not what he thought.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because The Matrix has a similar setup and while it took the cybernetic direction of a simulated reality, Megazone 23 opted for a more direct space-based technological path.
As a result, the garland plays an important role in the development of the Megazone 23 narrative and as such, the design has become a huge fan favorite. Garland is so popular.
In terms of games, the garland ended quite memorably in Super Robot Wars D on the Game Boy Advance, but unfortunately, that was canceled out with the terrible Megazone 23: Aoi Garland on PlayStation 3. There were rumors that Inti Creates could make a Megazone 23 game. after Speed Power Gunbike but sadly, this never happened.
In any case, this new Arcadia toy isn’t the first garland attempt, as Yamato tried to make one over a decade ago. Although the transformation was done well and the toy as a whole looked like a room, due to a poor selection of materials, the Yamato edition had a very high chance of breaking and collapsing overall.
The good news is that Arcadia made an amazing toy and, along with T-Rex’s skillful design work, produced the most productive edition of the garland to date.
If you remember, I visited the Arcadia offices a while ago to tell you about this new Garland toy and even then it became clear that it would be a much tougher and more powerful toy, with more devices too.
Now that he’s despite everything here, it’s much more wonderful than I expected and Arcadia and T-Rex did a wonderful job.
Compared to the original Yamato toy, which was 1/15 scale, this new edition of Arcadia is a bit smaller at 1/24 scale. The toy is still a decent length and benefits from the smaller scale in some respects.
Anyway, after opening the box, the first thing you realize is that it is a heavy toy and depends on the amount of die casting used. for stability
The transformation facet is a must here and unlike the Yamato edition, the type and number of die-cast curtains provided here means this Arcadia toy won’t break as easily as the previous edition did.
The transformation procedure has also changed a bit and remains true to the anime, the new steel leg beams are a much bigger and easier solution.
The magnets used in the previous edition of Yamato have also disappeared and now everything is combined very cleverly and magnificently.
You also have more joints in your feet and ankles, not to mention articulated hands and arm joints are also stronger.
In short, all the fragility issues that the original Yamato toy suffered from are now solved or completely absent in Arcadia’s new interpretation of the garland.
In addition to all the structural adjustments provided here, the main improvement is the sculpture and details. The first one is very accurate for anime in any of the modes and the painting task is also very good.
In terms of accessories, you get the orb laser gun and an armored visor. However, when it comes to Shogo itself, it comes in two variants. A full-seat edition for motorcycle mode and a half-length edition when transformed.
This is the concession that Arcadia and T-Rex have made in this toy, but it is transparent that they have done so to preserve the visual precision of the original design. Personally, I prefer this technique and although I have the same Shogo figure for both modes. It would have been good, it would have compromised the overall design of the toy.
Overall, this is by far the most productive Garland toy to date. Especially since the design, despite everything, has been endowed with a strong toy with which you can laugh, but because it is much bigger and closer to anime editing. The only thing now is to hope that someone will get the right Japanese Blu-ray box for Megazone 23 and release it in the West. For now, Arcadia has fulfilled its promise to make the most productive Garland toy imaginable. And if you are a fan of vintage wick design from the 80s, this deserves to make you very happy.
You can purchase this new Garland 1:24 scale toy from Arcadia at online stores like HobbyLink Japan for 25,800 yen (or $241).
Disclosure: Arcadia me a pattern of this toy for this review.
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Follow me on Twitter, Facebook or watch my YouTube videos. I also founded and continue to manage Mecha’s gaming site, Mecha Damashii. I have over a decade of delight in the games industry, having worked in game publishing and development. Also review toys for HobbyLink. tv.