Samurai Gattai Series 03 - Tora Origami

This toy appears courtesy from HobbyLink Japan.

In Act 09- “The Tiger’s Rebellion”, the Shinkenger discover that the Tora Origami had not been lost in battle generations ago as had been thought, but rather had been captured and tamed by the Gedoushuu into working for them. However, the modern Shinkenger use a blank Secret Disc to take back the Tora Origami from the Ayakashi controlling it. In order to awaken and control the Tora Origami, Shinken Red must insert the Tora Disc onto his Hiden Saiseitou ShinkenMaru, and place it into the control column in the cockpit. At the same time, a giant version of the Tora Disc appears along the outside of the Origami itself as well.

Tora Origami (tiger)

To insert the Tora Disc, a round stump on the left side of the body must be pulled outwards, the Disc inserted underneath, and the column pushed back in to secure it in place.

Each leg has a hip joint that ratchets every 45-degrees. When the column with the black handle is rotated, the drill-like legs and Secret Disc will spin! You can also spin the disc without turning the handle. For an attack mode, all four drills are raised perpendicular to its body, and then when the Origami rolls along the ground, the drills will spin accordingly!

The Tora Disc can be placed onto the Hiden Saiseitou ShinkenMaru. When it is spun, you see the black silhouette of the Tora’s head roaring!

Samurai Busou Tora Shinken-Oh

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Samurai Gattai Shinken-Oh
• Samurai Gattai Series 03 – Tora Origami

After the Ayakashi monster is weakened by Shinken Red piloting the Tora Origami, he orders the other Shinkenger inside of Shinken-Oh to unite with it to become the Tora Shinken-Oh. In this state, it can perform the Tiger Drill Charge– where it races directly at the Gedoushuu creature and slashes at it with the four spinning drills. Oddly, the Shinken-Oh’s helmet is left aside during this combo, but the DaiShinken can still be wielded. While the Hiden Shield can still be attached to the left arm-only now, it is not shown as such in the series. As with the Tora Origami when it is separated, the four drills on the Tora Shinken-Oh can be spun either by manually turning the Tora Disc or by turning the small black handle on the column. (Oddly, the two outer drills spin slower than the two inner ones…)

I suppose after having those giant lopsided wing-like panels on the Kabuto Origami and Kajiki Origami that I shouldn’t be surprised to see something equally awkward on this one… But that mid-torso is pretty bad. This set is clearly meant to accommodate combinations rather than just itself. Why isn’t the mouth jointed? And that black neck section couldn’t have covered up that gaping hole under the head? That’s a sign that Bandai is getting just plain lazy! And I’m not even gonna go into a rant over the pathetic attempt at a tail… Now, admittedly, the four-spinning drills-thing is kinda cool since we usually don’t get drills, or even ones that are automated. And unlike the previous two accessory Origami, this one has a practical Disc integrated into the design rather than having it as an uncontrollable spinning thing again- you use the disc to activate a feature, not the other way around. And while I like having the rotating handle on the side, the problem is having to deal with the rotating handle on the side and we are forced to deal with another awkward connection part on the right side. (Look at official photos- you never see this set from the right side, eh?) With the Kabuto Shinken-Oh and Kajiki Shinken-Oh combos, the giant powered-helmet-thingy was kinda okay to accept. You could imagine them as both backpack and helmet easily enough. But with this one? Are we supposed to actually have faith in this moose-like arrangement!? Again- interesting headdress with the drills, but this mass sitting obviously-behind the head is totally unacceptable. These things make me long even more-so for the mask/weapon/armor arrangement we had in “Jyuken Sentai GekiRanger” (2008) all-the-more… Seriously, Bandai- would it have been so difficult to make the entire Origami line out of triple changes like you did with the Shinken-Oh? That was cool. Is the theme now to be Origami with Secret Discs that are part of the functionality gimmick? What about this cool kanji symbol-thing you had going at the start? I would have accepted even limb-swapping Origami again over these massive helmets. (You did a far-better job with the simple battle helmets of the UAOH Mecha in “Chouriki Sentai OhRanger” in 1995. I’m just sayin’…) I know the Samurai Gattai Series #03- Tora Origami is the next step in the transformation tree for the Origami line, and that makes it a requirement to collect, but did it have to be this unwieldy or ugly while at the same time giving us a cool gimmick?