Furai-Maru

The third collectible mini-set in a line of 6 from “Hurricanger”, Set 03 contains the three parts of the Furai-Maru already assembled in its robot form, two pairs of color-coded Ball shells, and a pair of discs that can be used by any of the three transformation device toys – Hurricane Gyro, Gourai Changer, and Shuriken Ball (each sold separately). And, in a nice touch, the instructions are a single sheet of color photographs instead of the typical black-&-white drawings (all in Japanese, of course).

Karakuri Ball 07 – This KB contains the Furai Head – the first of two halves that make up the combination, and consists of the main body, arms and head of the Furai-Maru. The Red Hurricane Ranger summons KB #07 from the chest compartment of the Senpuujin.

Karakuri Ball 08 – This KB contains the Furai Knuckle – the second of two halves that make up the combination, and consists of the waist, legs, and feet of the Furai-Maru. The Kabuto Thunder Ranger summons KB #08 from the chest compartment of the Gouraijin.

The Furai-Maru is rather simple in its transformation:

Furai Head

• The body is ejected from its Karakuri Ball.
• This part remains the same. It needs no changes to attach it to the second half of the combination.

Furai Knuckle

• The two halves are ejected from their Karakuri Ball.
• The large gold-colored fingers of the hands rotate outwards…
• …to provide room for the upper leg and feet sections to rotate out.
• The fingers rotate back into position, correcting the look of the legs.
• Finally, the two waist sections of the legs snap together, and then slide into position on the back of the Furai Head piece, completing the change.

If Jabba the Hutt were to dress-up in dark blue samurai armor for Halloween and then wear a stylized WWE champion belt, he might look something like this. With its big head, tiny arms, large belly, unproportionately large legs, and small feet, the Furai-Maru looks very awkward; hardly anything like the agile little robot portrayed on the silver screen. It also has a big hole in the back of it, and stands only about 3 inches tall. But, you can see past that quite easily.

It has very good detail painting on its face, arms, and lower legs. The gold-colored die-cast metal feet give it a surprisingly good weight and balance. And, the golden crest upon its chest also balances its unusual stance with a sense of asymmetrical grace.

The only poseability is in the ball-&-socket shoulders. If popped off, they are designed to snap back on easily. Rotation is limited to about 180º mostly backwards, due to the golden crest in front. The feet, also, have very limited poseability that only a professional gymnast might be able to match, but that is mostly for balancing the toy on a hard, flat surface only.

For those of you wondering what the differences are between the Furai-Maru set from “Hurricanger”, and its English-speaking counterpart, the Mini Zord from “Power Rangers Ninja Storm”, you’ll find them rather quickly.

• The painting is pathetic to say the least. About half the areas on the Mini Zord aren’t even touched with a paintbrush- including the arms, upper legs, and feet. And the areas that do receive treatment aren’t very well attended to.
• The few die-cast metal pieces- the feet & shoulders- are replaced with plain blue plastic.
• Unlike the Furai-Maru, the Mini Zord is not sold as a separate set in English-speaking countries. Instead, it is sold as an additional accessory to the Deluxe Thunder Power Megazord, along with the standard black Power Sphere #04 – Spin Blade weapon.

Alone, the Furai-Maru is not really attractive, big, or articulated enough to justify buying it in the first place. But when you get a DX Senpuujin and DX Gouraijin, it reveals its true value in the “Hurricanger” Shinobu Machine line…