Solar Saver 太阳战击王

The first of three Space Deleter Savers introduced, Solar Saver is a combination of three vehicles piloted by Space Deleter Red, Blue, and Pink. English information about the series is pretty limited, but from what I can tell, Space Deleter is a direct sequel to the original Giant Saver. It’s your typical Sentai plot involving aliens trying to invade Earth and some space agency conveniently having robots to fight off the invaders.

Auldey seems to have followed Bandai’s lead, switching from the cheaper looking window boxes with plastic trays to thicker cardboard box and tray. I really love this change, as the packaging no longer feels cheap and helps to legitimize the quality of the actual toy. The plastic quality on the Solar Saver is also incredible. It feels really solid and I would be pretty confident in it surviving a shelf dive. While I don’t have any recent Bandai of Japan Sentai toys to compare this to, it makes the Bandai of America Zords feel like cheap knock offs. I’d even say feels nicer than the plastic on the recent Legacy Tigerzord.  

Solar Saver is comprised of three vehicles, the Rising Arrow rocket, blue Sky Transporter, and pink Dream Fighter. I believe the show calls the vehicles RCVs, though what it stands for I have no idea.

The Rising Arrow (RCV-1) is the vehicle of Space Deleter Red and transform into the upper body, arms and weapon of Solar Saver. The rocket reminds me of the Mega V3 from Power Rangers in Space but much sleeker. The astronomical symbol for Mars is displayed near the middle of the rocket, while the base of the rocket shows a large shield emblem. The grey plastic has almost silver sheen to it with beautiful marbling throughout. If you’ve ever bought any recent Mega Bloks set, you should know the effect I’m talking about. The little fins near the top of the rocket are made of soft plastic so you don’t have to worry about them snapping accidentally from a fall.

Sky Transporter (RCV-2) is piloted by Space Deleter Blue and transforms into the legs of the Solar Saver. In terms of size, the Sky Transporter is probably the largest of the three vehicles, though only slightly larger than the Rising Arrow. The cab of the Sky Transporter has nice translucent grey plastic that shows a neat metal shutter texture underneath while Mercury Symbols are displayed on both sides of the cab. The blue plastic is solid instead of the marbling effect in the grey parts and all the lights are made of translucent red plastic. There is also what I think is a small rocket pod at the top of the cab.

In addition to becoming the legs of Solar Saver, the Sky Transporter can carry the Rising Arrow and Dream Fighter. Folding up the rear half of the Sky Transporter also turns it into a launch pad mode for the Rising Arrow to launch off of. In the combined transport mode, the Rising Arrow can peg securely into the Sky Transporter while the Dream Fighter just sits on top. While the Dream fighter does not peg in, the groove it rests provides a moderate amount of stability. In launch pad mode, the Rising Arrow simply sits on the Sky Transporter with no connection points.

Space Deleter Pink pilots the Sky Transporter (RVC-3) which forms the shoulders and helmet of Solar Saver. The ship itself seems very inspired by Ultraman ship designs and the large translucent parts on the wings reveal a solar panel looking pattern underneath. The three fins on the Dream fighter are also made of soft plastic and the Venus symbol is displayed on the right wing.  

To transform into Solar Saver, the Rising Arrow splits open, with the bottom of the rocket forming the head and chest, the center splitting open to form the arms and the nose of the rocket becoming the weapon. Sky Transporter folds up and splits open to become the lower body and legs, while the nose and wings of the Dream Fighter fold down and attach to the shoulders of the Solar Saver.

I really can’t express in words how much I love the combined form of Solar Saver. The three vehicles mesh perfectly into a unified robot that just looks fantastic and I honestly think this is a better looking robot than anything Bandai has designed in the past decade. The colors all go together perfectly, the proportions are perfect, the design is perfect; everything is just perfect about Solar Saver. Even without the Dream Fighter attached, the exposed translucent red head still looks good and you have functional robot to play with. Fully combined, the three vehicles mesh together really well so you don’t have random awkward looking limbs. The only articulation is in the arm, which have a decent range of motion thanks to the articulated shoulder armor. The connections on the Solar Saver are also really sturdy; especially the arms which are on tight ratchet joints and actually take a bit of force to push in.

The helmet design for Solar Saver looks really cool, with the entire front part being translucent blue plastic. I really like how much translucent plastic Auldey actually used for the Solar Saver as it really makes everything pop when lit up. The head crest can actually lift flip up as well, but I believe this is for Galaxy Saver, the combined form Solar Saver and Planet Saver. I’m not sure what Solar Saver’s weapon is called, but it has two forms as well. As a melee weapon, it just attaches to the fist but the tip can also open up to reveal a laser.

While it may be a bit of presumptuous to say, I think the Solar Saver sets the benchmark for Super Sentai robots. At almost 13 inches tall, it’s a gigantic and extremely solid toy that just looks awesome. In an era where all Sentai toys seem to include countless collecting gimmicks and unnecessary add-ons that result in messy looking combined forms, it’s nice to see Auldey make a clean looking robot that isn’t burdened by a bunch of crap. Solar Saver is such a nice toy that I bet if you were to ask a stranger whether the Dino Charge Megazord or Solar Saver was a Chinese knockoff, I’m pretty sure they would always pick the Megazord.

I was happy with the original Giant Saver toys as it showed that China was at least making progress in its original toy lines, but the amount of improvement Auldey has made in the two years since just leaves me speechless. This is seriously one of the best Sentai robots ever made and I just want to show it off to everyone I know. I’m no longer always embarrassed by Chinese toys and can proudly tell people that the motherland has finally made something that probably surpasses the very robots they set to imitate. Seriously though, if you have any interest in combining robots, go out and buy this. Prices seem to shift on Taobao, but at roughly 30 dollars, you are getting something that would easily cost 70 or 80 dollars if released in Japan of the US. This is the secret best toy I own and I can’t wait to buy the other two Savers.

(Video review made by EVA_Unit_4A!)