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When this figure first surfaced, the comparisons immediately started...comparisons to Silverhawks and even "Condorman" that cheesy, dated Disney flick from two and a half decades ago. I've heard 'em all at this point, and in spite of the snickers, I still really like this figure.

I've never shied away from the fact that I honestly think a cool figure can remain a cool figure, even with overly bright colors. As long as the color scheme is appealing, it doesn't really matter WHAT colors are chosen. You can have a plain old ugly figure in green, black, and brown, and a plain old ugly figure in yellow, baby blue, and green. But you can also have great looking figures using both ranges of color. In Kamakura's case, he has a whole lotta yellow, but the color scheme itself is very nice and the figure looks great.

Essentially Hasbro appears to have taken the same paint tampos and merely swapped some colors, making the black yellow and the yellow black. The result is an impressive (even if only slight) change in color pallet really bringing this figure some new life.

We cover the sculpt first, and from head to toe this figure uses the same mold as the original Kamakura, which is fine with me, since I love that figure. The uncovered head, the wrap-around facemask with metal plate all look really neat and make the figure cool. His Sigma Suit itself is pretty standard, but I really love the bandage-wrapped forearms and the split-toe shoes. It's a generic, pretty standard mold, but works very well.

But of course, the color changes are the most visible change in the figure itself, and I think the work really well. Even though the majority of this figure is colored yellow, this yellow color works remarkably well an ends up making the figure look pretty exciting, and different from the original. Using black as a complimentary color works amazingly well against the bright yellow and you end up with a nicely vibrant figure, which may be bright, but still looks really neat.

Of course along with the color changes, Kamakura gets some new gear to increase his desirability, and frankly, no matter how many folks make fun of it, the gear is worth the upgrade, I think. While you'll get more pics in the Tech Specs section of this review, let me cover it here as well.

The most obvious new accessory is obviously his AirGlide backpack, and I really dig it quite a bit. It's got a real technological look to it with lots of nice detail, buttons, gears, and "real life" interactive machinery. The large green button on the back pops the wings out flawlessly, and the cloth is thin enough, yet strong enough to really work well. He looks great with the wings out, but also looks quite cool with them folded up as well. I think the concept is strong, too, and can just imagine Kamakura soaring down towards a team of Ninja BATs, gliding silently on the wind, then landing, pulling his swords out and going to town.

Speaking of his swords...they are GREAT. The sculpting on the handles look very, very cool, and the swords are sculpted to fit into his backpack and face opposite ways, adding to the design factor. Each sword has a peg on the hilt, so they can hook to any figure, even without using the backpack. I just really dig how the handles are designed and how the swords look overall. It's a minor thing, but ends up adding even more value to the figure.

His hand-blades are also pretty neat and surprisingly nasty looking. Just imagining Kamakura jumping towards a team of COBRA troopers with those handblades flashing gives me pause...those things could do some serious damage! Of course, you gotta figure if Kamakura is taking on robots with these things, they need to pack a "punch". They definitely do. Kamakura also comes with the familiar green goggles, and I'm very happy he does. They're the perfect top off to this character and look fantastic.

So you know all about the figure now? How do I like it? I like it a lot. This Soldier wave consists of three re-used characters, and has been kind of chagrined by most of the online fans I've seen. Still, I think Kamakura is a BIG highpoint to this Soldier wave and really brings some value. While he is pretty similar in design to the original, I love his airglide backpack, I love these additional weapons, and I think it's smart to get this character back on shelves, because he's not one of the easier ones to find from the first wave. Overall, I think Hasbro did a nice job with this figure, and I find myself liking it a lot more than I thought I would. Good work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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