Hello everyone, this is Funasen.

KAMEN RIDER SABER was fun!!!
The sword action while dancing is so cool.
This is the start of another exciting year.
To enjoy this year's broadcasts even more, please be sure to pick up the "HENSHIN BELT DX SEIKEN SWORDRIVER"!

Additionally, new content has been added to the KAMEN RIDER TOY WEB starting today!
It's called "Weekly RKF Photo Record"!!!



In order to convey the appeal of the RKF series, our editor Justin will be taking and publishing various photos using the RKF series.
Today, on the occasion of our first issue, we are publishing some cool photos of the recently released "RKF KAMEN RIDER SABER Brave Dragon."​
I may be biased, but this is a very well-made figure, so I hope you will pick it up.




and

Happy birthday!!! OOOs!!!

Three days later... Pre-orders for three CSM items commemorating the 10th anniversary of OOO begin today!

One! CSM Cell Medal!


The ring frame of this Cell Medal is made from die-cast, just like the Core Medal!
As for the paint, the props come in two colors: one that is all silver, and one that has gunmetal colored recesses. I wasn't sure which one to use as a reference, but when I made a sample in all silver it looked rather cheap, so I decided to go with the two-tone version using gunmetal.

​Ideally, the entire surface of the Cell Medals would be made of die-cast, but if that were the case, the die-cast would block the electromagnetic waves and make it impossible to read when scanning, making this technically impossible.Therefore, by making only the frame die-cast, like the Core Medals, we were able to achieve both a sense of weight and the implementation of a scanning function.

Also, I think many people dislike the fact that there are gaps on the left and right sides of the die-cast outer frame, so I will explain why there are gaps there.
Even if the front and back surfaces remain made of plastic, if the entire outer circumference is covered with die-casting without any gaps, it will be affected by electromagnetic waves in the same way as described above.
So we had to deliberately create a gap.
This has been verified since the time of the DX Core Medals 10 years ago, and it is still something that has not been able to be improved upon even now.


If it had been made entirely of plastic like the DX version, there would not have been a need to create such a gap, and although there are pros and cons to each, the prop also has a metallic feel to it, so there was no consideration to leaving it all plastic as part of the CSM brand.
The reason why the DX Cell Medals at that time were all plastic was because they were not used for transformation and so they wanted to be sold cheaply, but this time we have changed that idea as they are aimed at adults.

Furthermore, at the Core Medal level, the suit prop does not have any separation gaps in the die-cast parts, so it is not as if CSM was able to perfectly reproduce the prop in the first place.
The CSM version of the medal has been redesigned to match the animal shape of the suit prop, and has been painted to match the suit prop. (The actor's version is clear.)
Since the Core Medals are made in this way, the Cell Medals are also made to match the suit props, but on top of that, rather than being a realistic discussion of filming props, if the program is based on the idea of "not made up, the real thing," then conceptually there should be no difference in shape between the cores and cells, and so CSM's thinking is that the cells will be the same as the cores, including the gaps in the die-cast.
After pursuing the suit props, if there are any issues with playing with the toy (electromagnetic wave issues), then those issues will be resolved (in this case, gaps will be accepted).
People may have different opinions on this matter, but as CSM we believe this to be correct and are moving forward with it.

By the way, the design of the X mark on the back has been further changed from the kangaroo medal, with uneven details based on the prop.
There are various images taken from diagonal angles at the top of the reservation page, so I think it will be easier to understand if you take a look at them.
I have seen some opinions that the design on the back is different from the prop, but there are actually two different types of medals, including the front and back: an actor prop (with the same design as the DX version of the cel medal) and a suit prop.
The CSM this time is the same as the suit prop, so it may look different depending on the image you compare.
However, both are correct so there is nothing wrong with that.
The reason we made it to match the suit version is because (as mentioned above) the Core Medals that were previously released in the "CSM OOO DRIVER Complete Set" were shaped like suit props. We've unified it with that.
The image on the teaser page released on September 5th was also an image of a suit prop, so if you compare it with that, you will see the difference. The paint coverage has also been adjusted to match this one.




Two! CSM Core Medal EXTRA!


We have taken this opportunity to commercialize the remaining eight "Foundation X-made Core Medals" that appeared in the movie "KAMEN RIDER Heisei Generations FINAL" but were not included in the "CSM OOO DRIVER Complete Set."

I've mentioned in a previous blog that the reason they weren't included in the product set last time is that if we were to include all the medals that can only produce the same sound, the price of the product would increase significantly, making it difficult to purchase.
Therefore, we only included medals for the combos that were transformed in the movie.
However, as a result, when they opened the lid, the scanning sound had changed in the movie...which led to a twist.

The sound built into the toy itself was adjusted after watching the movie, and the sounds for the eight medals made by Foundation X are also built into the OOO Scanner of the CSM OOO DRIVER.

The three Super Tatoba medals included are remade versions with revised paintwork from the ones included in the CSM OOO DRIVER Complete Set.
(Since the number of painting processes has increased, we have named this the "heavy paint version" following the convention of previous items.)

We received a lot of feedback in the survey about the previous product, especially the color of the Super Tiger, so since it would be difficult to release a new product at any other time, we decided to add this product to the lineup.

The background color of the Super Tiger becomes more orange, and the background color of the Super Hawk and Super Grasshopper becomes a darker color to match the background color of the regular Hawk and Grasshopper.
In addition, in the previous work, the gold lines on the animals remained slightly transparent even after multiple layers of pad printing, but this time we have used a new painting technique to achieve a completely opaque gold paint.
However, the color of the back of the Super Tiger prop remained yellow (the same as the regular tiger), so there is a big difference in color between the front and back of the medal.

Even if you purchased the "CSM OOO DRIVER" from the previous game as part of a set that was not part of the complete set, the function of the OOO Scanner itself is the same as the one that came with the complete set, so you will be able to play the Super Tatoba transformation sounds with these three medals.



In terms of unit price
CSM Cell Medal: 450 yen each (excluding tax)
CSM Core Medal EXTRA: 500 yen each (excluding tax).
The 50 yen difference in price between the Core Medals and the Cell Medals is directly related to the difference in painting costs. (The Core Medals have more colors.)

By the way, if you calculate the Core Medals at 500 yen each, it seems very expensive compared to the price ratio of the CSM OOO DRIVER Complete Set (35,000 yen, excluding tax) (the belt and other items would be around 5,000 yen).
This is not because the unit price of medals has gone up this time, but rather because the previous "CSM OOO DRIVER Complete Set" was sold at an abnormally low price.
The current price per medal is now the fair price.

This was due to the delay at the time in order to meet the release of Heisei Generations FINAL, and as a result, we were forced to start taking orders without sufficient cost verification. This resulted in a large discrepancy between the actual manufacturing cost and the selling price, and despite the CSM OOO DRIVER being the best-selling product in the series, it ended up being the least profitable product. Therefore, this time we have calculated a fair price after careful verification.

In that sense, for those who purchased the product back then, it is actually an exceptional product in terms of cost price, and even if the CSM OOO DRIVER were to be released again in the future, it would be impossible to resell it at the same price​.
(Incidentally, regardless of the price issue, there were never any plans to resell the belt for the 10th anniversary.)

When it was broadcast 10 years ago, the price of 300 yen per sheet was made possible by producing units of several million to tens of millions of sheets, in addition to the material prices and manufacturing costs of 10 years ago (which were cheaper than today). However, 10 years later, the current manufacturing costs and small production lots for CSM, as well as the need for the highly time-consuming painting process required for CSM, have changed the unit price per sheet significantly.
We hope you can understand this.


Three! CSM O-medal holder!


As the number of medal products increases, we thought that there would be a need for storage space, so this is the first time in the CSM series that they will be "re-sold as is."
There are 24 different types of cell medals, so it's nice that they all fit perfectly into one holder.
If you purchased three to complete the complete set when they were last released, those three will be enough, even with the addition of the 11 Core Medals EXTRA.
We hope that such people will also consider adding this item for their cell medals!



Thank you very much.



Finally, one announcement.

Pre-orders are now open for the Nintendo Switch and Play Station 4 game "KAMEN RIDER memory of heroez" (released October 29th).

"KAMEN RIDER memory of heroez" official website



It will be an original story featuring the three characters KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE-One, Double, and OOO, so I'm really looking forward to experiencing this new tale and have already pre-ordered it.
And now, it has been decided that the "Mukachiri Combo", a new feature created thanks to the "CSM OOO DRIVER", will be featured in this game!



I'm really looking forward to this!
For now, this is the only game where you can see Mukachiri in action!
If you have a CSM OOO DRIVER, be sure to check this out too!

That's all for today's blog.
The next update will be on Monday, September 14th.

Well then!

[Products currently accepting preorders on PREMIUM BANDAI are listed here]