Protect Gear

The Protect Gear is the armor worn by the elite police in the 1987 Mamoru Oshii film "Red Spectacles". The Red Spectacles is part of a series of films directed by Oshii that spans a long period of time. Because of this, the Protect Gear changes a bit in each movie. The armor in Red Spectacles is more modern than say the armor Jin-Roh which is set in the 50s.

To learn more about Red Spectacles, I suggest you listen to this episode of Destroy all Podcasts DX.

My first exposure to this saga was from the 1994 Dark Horse Manga. All I knew was that I really loved the design of the suits, and I didn’t understand that it was part of a larger world until I saw Jin-Roh.

The Revoltech Protect Gear comes courtesy of HobbyLink Japan.

There have been other toys of the Protect Gear in the past, including a few 1/6 scale figures and a prior Kaiyodo action figure. I really like the look of the 1/6 scale ones, but they often ran about $200.

Seeing as how I like Revoltech, and I like Protect Pear, this is a no-brainer for me. At 12.5 cm there are 37 points of articulation, with ample use of the Revoltech Joint system.

Let’s start off with the figure itself.

The head is on your typical Revoltech joint, and the face has a rubber hose that goes into the chest. The hose limits articulation, but its not too bad.

The shoulder pads are made out of rubber, and are connected by a loop that goes around the inside of the shoulder Revoltech joint. The right lower arm is connected to the upper arm by a Revoltech joint, and there is a rubber hose that connects the two.

On the left side the lower arm has a shield attached to it. The end of the shield has a small tab on it to attach the half gun that gives the appearance that a gun is stowed behind it.  I actually popped my shield off when trying to put this part on and I had to re-glue it with superglue.

The chest has a Revoltech joint, but the hips are standard swivel joints. There are actually 2 swivel joints in each hip, and the flexible outer covering allows for a wide range of motion. On the right hip there is a holster with a non-removable gun.

The rest of the legs and feet are pretty basic, with Revoltech joints in the knees and ankles.

Included accessories are:

• MG34 machine gun
• ammunition belt
• FG42 automatic rifle
• two C96 pistols.
• four optional hands
• antenna for the backpack
• display base

The guns are all badass – one can only imagine the strength required to lug them around. The ammunition belt fits onto the side of the MG34, but doesn’t seem to go anywhere. On the 1/6 figures, the ammo fed from the backpack.

Two hands are gun holding hands, but instead of a curved trigger finger they go straight out. The other two hands are “holding” hands.

The base is the standard Revoltech base, only this time it’s only the “V” base and the small stand. The large joint arm is not included.

This is a great design. Its got the typical Revoltech quality and attention to detail, and I consider it a must-Have. Just be careful with that shield.

Want your own Protect Gear? Head on over to HobbyLink Japan.