King Exkaiser

Today I will be reviewing the 2001 re-issue of the Takara’s original King Exkaiser from the 1990’s anime “Brave Exkaiser”. King Exkaiser is the ultimate form of the character Exkaiser, when combined with King Roader.

To start off with, King Exkaiser comes to you in a beautifully illustrated, but very lightweight cardboard box shown below. Even though this toy is an original Takara product, the box is very similar to the packaging used by some of the Sonokong re-issues I have encountered. The only real difference is the Sonokong re-issue’s flimsy plastic inside tray is replaced with an even cheaper feeling flimsier cardboard insert.

Next, I will go through the different modes this figure has, starting off with King Exkaiser’s combined “Car and Trailer” mode. In this mode, King Exkaiser doesn’t really do much. Yup, it rolls pretty well, and yes it is very impressive at 19 inches long, but it lacks gimmick’s (missiles anyone?). The plastic used feels strong enough, but actually, some of the Sonokong Brave Series toys I have reviewed felt much sturdier. Don’t get me wrong, its a quality piece and all, I just don’t care for the feel of the plastic used.

You may notice that in this mode, King Exkaiser almost looks a little like Transformers Rodimus Prime. Hmm, I wonder?

Moving along, we have Exkaiser in car mode. Again, nothing really special about this mode. All I can say is wheels roll and it feels very solid.

Let’s take a look at the trailer end of King Exkaiser, named “King Roader”. At this point it starts to get a little more interesting. I mean c’mon, just look at the funk. Its a flying trailer for god’s sake! The wings can spread apart and it has wheels on the bottom. Making it, essentially its own vehicle. No need for being towed here!

Moving right along we have Exkaiser in his alternate robot mode. In this mode, Exkaiser stands approximately 7 inches tall and has some articulation at his shoulders, elbows, knees, and feet. Not too shabby for a Brave Series figure. In this next photo, I have Exkaiser holding King Exkaiser’s sword. I know what your thinking…man that sword must look like a knife when King Exkaiser holds it. Just wait, we will get to that.

As I mentioned above, Exkaiser does have some articulation and he can wield a sword. He also has a cool chest gimmick. Just flip the yellow switch to the right of his chest. When you do this, a lions head is revealed. The lion’s mouth does have some movement of the jaw.

Exkaiser is a pretty well-balanced figure allowing it a solid footing for the roundhouse kick shown below.

Form King Exkaiser!

Finally, you can take the Exkaiser figure and place him into King Roader to form KING EXKAISER! As you can see, its a pretty snug fit. The transformation is very similar to the anime clip shown above.

With a quick flip of the yellow lever to the right of the lions head on King Exkaiser’s chest (lever shown below) releases the lions head and allows it to extend out of the body (shown above).

Tah Dah! We have King Exkaiser! King Exkaiser stands approximately 12 inches tall and weighs in at 1 lbs 7 oz. Like other Brave Series figures, King Exkaiser has very little articulation. What he can move, can be found at his elbows. He is basically a “brick”

What do we have here? A hatch opens on King ExKaiser’s right leg to reveal his mighty sword! The sword folds in half for easy storage.

OK, I take it back, his sword isn’t so mighty. It’s actually downright tiny! I think I will leave the sword for Exkaiser to wield. If you remember, a few photos up above, I have photos of Exkaiser holding King Exkaiser’s sword and he looked just fine.

In conclusion, I feel that the 2001 re-issue of the original 1990 King Exkaiser is a decent toy. It’s is kinda fun to fiddle with. But, it lacks gimmicks and has the articulation of a brick, even so, it is not without its own charm. Unless you are a completest or a huge a Brave Series fan like me, I’d say, go for the MP-B01 Masterpiece King Exkaiser. Speaking of the MP-B01 Masterpiece King Exkaiser……..

Bonus material:

Comparison photos of the original King Exkaiser with the MP-B01 Masterpiece King Exkaiser.

What a difference 15 years or so makes when you look at the toy design. Clearly, the Masterpiece version blows away the originals design, articulation, and detail, but this fact doesn’t make the original a bad toy.

I would like to thank our friends over at www.toyfreakz.com for providing us the sample of the MP-B01 Masterpiece King Exkaiser. Please check out their store for some great deals on Japanese toys.