Raiking

Review by JoshB

Raiking is one of three robots that combine to form the giant robot Gaiking the Great. This machine is sleek and smooth - its built for speed.

Raiking is provided courtesy of Toyrocket.com

Robots with thin legs have always been visually striking, but have never fared well as toys. If you want to retain anime-accuracy, you need to include a stand.

Out of the box, Raiking will not stand. At least, mine didn't. I needed to take a hair dryer and some careful positioning to get it so that he would stand. After a bit of effort, I got it, and he's been standing ever since.

Raiking comes in at about 6.5 inches tall, and is made entirely out of soft vinyl. While the main body is hollow, most everything else is solid vinyl.

There are NO points of articulation on this vinyl. Unfortunately I found this out by trying to move one of the arms and then POP, the glued vinyl separated from the body. A little bit of superglue and I was back in action, but heed my warning - nothing moves.

In fact, everything is glued on. Normal soft vinyl toys have articulation where the separate molded pieces connect. Its a natural feature based on the way these toys are made. But Most Wanted makes their vinyls with glue. Each part is glued together instead of fitting inside each other. An odd choice, but it does allow for more intricate designs.

The quality on this one is not terrible, save for the uneven legs which we fixed with a hair dryer. The sculpt is kind of doughy looking, especially around the chest skull. The wings are the same wings on Gaiking the great.

For $13 USD its not too bad, and I think its the only really affordable version of this character. If you get the Balking, get one of these. They look good together.

You can get your Raiking at Toyrocket.com