This is no way a review of the toy since what we have here is a sample and not the actual final product, with that being said lets get to it.

It feels like forever and a day since I saw the formal announcement of Beagle`s Mospeada Armor Cycle (Ride Armor) at the 2007 Tokyo Anime Fair.  The announcement was nothing more than Stick Ride Armor line art in a display case accompanied by the Animedia Mospeada book an IMAI  VR-052F model kit and some Gakken toys. They also had a very nice Mospeada VR-052F cloth wall scroll hanging in their both otherwise nothing much to go on but I got excited anyways. I had no idea who Beagle was and as far as I could tell this would be their first try at something transformable. Well fast forward near 2 years later and I finally got my grubby hands on one of Beagle’s show pieces that has been making the rounds at toy events the past few months.

The early sample was delivered minus the box, so I haven’t a clue on what the packaging will look like. Most of us already know this toy is going to be released outside of Japan through Toynami under their Robotech Masterpiece Cyclone toy line complete with an entirely different packaging and extra redesigned Scott Bernard head. The Japanese Mospeada version will come packaged in a stackable insert tray. Insert trays are pretty much the standard for toys theses days but personally I would rather have it come in Styrofoam.  The Armor Cycle insert try is very sturdy and holds everything in place nicely.  Collectors I’m sure will whine about the lack of dead unused space between the toy and the stand which is packed on the base of the tray.

The display stand is a great design and compliments the Armor Cycle in both modes. The display stand’s blaster rifle rack is actually the top cover of a hidden compartment which is able to store all the extra accessories.  The information plaque (sticker) is a very nice touch and it has a few “fictional” technical specs on the Cycle. On the bottom side of the base you will find trademarks for both Tatsunoko Pro. and Harmony Gold, hopefully this team up will go over smoothly so more high quality products like this one are will see the light of day.

Originally this toy was suppose to be 1/12 scale but in the end Beagle went with 1/10 instead which is good since we can pass Stick off as a large size action figure and not a doll. I don’t know how many points of articulation are on the actual skeleton of the figure but it poses fairly easily and does not feel loose or clunky. There are decals for the body armor and weapons, there is very minimal tempo markings on both the figure and the cycle.

So this pretty much wraps up Part 1 next up we will take a close look at the Cycle, and transformation with the aid of the 85 step instructions.

Adrian A. Lozano

Click here to read PART 2