While we have the entire teams of Shinkenger and Gokaiger released in the Figuarts line, the Super Sentai series that falls between them hasn't been so lucky. At the time of writing, only one character from Tensou Sentai Goseiger has been released - the evolved Groundion Headder and sixth member to the team Gosei Knight. But with Goseiger have new life breathed into it via Power Rangers Megaforce, maybe this is the year we'll see the rest of the team. Gosei Knight was released as a Tamashii web exclusive back in April 2012.
Gosei Knight has a fairly simple packaging design, entirely in gold and with a faded image of the figure in the bottom right-hand corner. The spines also feature similar images, while the back has solid colour images of the figure and its accessories on top of a black background. Open it up and you'll find the accessories included on the plastic tray, although the cards are mounted to the back of the silver backing card in a plastic bag.
Upon first glance Gosei Knight looks like he might be shorter than the average Super Sentai Figuart, however this isn't the case. His bulkier, armoured build plus lack of visible neck give the illusion of this. Technically not being a ranger (although Gokaiger seems to count him as a sixth ranger rather than an extra hero, so make of that what you will), his design and aesthetics are very different to any other Sentai figuart - in some areas feeling much more like a Kamen Rider release. Aside from the obvious bits of detail like the headder port on his back and segmented armour, there's some brilliantly done finer detail on him like his head crest and multi-tone red visor. Sadly, Gosei Knight is a figure that's become somewhat renowned for its quality issues and sadly mine is no exception - there's some mould flash on his side, and paint scuffs all over the place where the silver and black bits meet. If it were a mass release figure I'd perhaps let it slide a little more, but with web exclusives commanding a higher price tag its a more bitter pill to swallow.
While the articulation is to the usual Figuarts standard, one element of the design severely hinders the poseability - his shoulders. Not only are mine loose and pop off at the smallest sign of movement, but they are an absolute nightmare to mess around with as they get in the way of most dynamic posing. I'm not quite sure how Bandai could have got around this, but I have no doubt they could have if they'd given him a little more thought.
As far as the accessory count goes, things seem impressive but upon closer inspecting things aren't as special as you might think. Included in total are 12 hands (2x closed fists, 2x card holding hands, 2x open hands, one pointing right hand and a number of weapon holding ones), a closed version of the Leon Cellular, an opening version, the Leon Laser, the Leon Laser Sword, the Vulcan Headder, the Leon Laser with the Vulcan Headder and Leon Cellular attached finally a selection of Gosei cards. It sounds like a lot, but why exactly a second version of the Leon Laser with the pieces attached is included is baffling when you realise that the Vulcan Headder and Leon Cellular can be attached to the other Leon Laser and it looks EXACTLY THE SAME. So essentially the same thing has been included twice. It'd have been much better if they'd included a black-visored "Dark Gosei Knight" head as he appeared in episode 46 of Goseiger. The best accessory for Gosei Knight comes with Figuarts Gokai Green - Navi the robotic parrot.
I really want to like Gosei Knight - it's a great design and significantly different to any other Super Sentai Figuarts that's been released thus far. But the problems are just too significant to ignore, especially considering this was a web exclusive. The shoulders are so awkward that anything other than "dramatic arm out" is difficult, paint scuffs are too common to ignore and the amount of accessories misleading. I don't buying this figure, but I'm glad I didn't pay the price it would have commanded on release and I recommend potential buyers seek out a similar deal before pulling the trigger.
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