Space Sheriff Sharivan

Hello again! Today I present for your edification Space Sheriff Sharivan! The main character from his eponymous show, the good Space Sheriff is from the Metal Hero series. Specifically, he is the second Metal Hero ever, and also part of a trilogy within the larger Metal Hero genre. The three characters that make up the Space Sheriff trilogy are Gavan, Sharivan, and Shaider. There is a new Space Sheriff movie that came out in Japan recently. My friend, SentaiSeiya (aka the artist formerly known as Newtype L) informed me that the movie didn't fare so well at the box office. Still, something hopefully worth looking forward to if it gets subtitled for us English speaking folks. Anyways, today we are looking at Space Sheriff Sharivan, so hit the jump and check it out!

The Metal Hero series differs from other tokusatsu series in that the protagonists are generally well, metal heroes. They have a very robotic look to them and when compared to the spandex and helmets of the various Kamen Riders and Super Sentai teams, you can see the difference. Also of interest, one of the later series, The Mobile Cop Jiban, was similar in concept to Detroit's own "metal hero", Robocop!

This line is called Souchaku Henshin and it's made by Bandai. I'm not sure what Souchaku Henshin means (although henshin means transform or something), but on HobbyLink Japan they listed these as "Armour Trans". This guy is about 6-7 years old now, but he's a neat little toy. When I bought this, it was relatively cheap, I want to say 20 bucks or so. I'd like to get Gavan and Shaider in the same style as well so I can have the three Space Sheriffs displayed together.

Who needs fancy tokusatsu boots when you can wear awesome high tops instead?

The gimmick for this figure is that his armor is removable. The body armor wraps around the chest and is hinged on the sides and closes across the back. The rest of Sharivan's armor is plates that fit into holes on the arms and legs. They are held in place by friction and trust me, they will pop off like crazy when you are posing him. Still, the torso and limb armor are made of diecast, and here at Getter Newtype, diecast = good.

A moment of reflection for Sharivan. Get it?

His helmet is a shell that fits around his head. The helmet is made of plastic and has some nice details. The metallics are really nice and the way they did his eyes within the visor is really cool. You can't really turn his head much from side to side though, because the helmet will split and fall off. It's become apparent to me that this line is probably more for looking at rather than handling and posing.

Which of these buttons calls your parents to pick you up?

It's Bandai Japan, so you know all the paint applications are spot on and super sharp. Sharivan has a great color scheme, with the black, chrome, and deep metallic red being highlighted by the multicolored paint details.

Shades of T.J. Lazer.

On Sharivan's hip is a holster that holds his Crime Buster gun. It's permanently attached to his waist, but there is some movement to it. Another feature I personally like in toys is when there are places on the figure to store some of their accessories. The holster itself is plastic and it has some nice little details molded on it. Very cool. Even on a kind of weird line like Souchaku Henshin, Bandai maintains a pretty high standard of quality.

One thing about this guy I mentioned before is that the armor on the arms and legs likes to pop out. Be careful because these are pretty small. The forearms are a little bigger than a centimeter and can easily get lost.

Sharivan comes with three accesories. His Crime Buster gun, Laser Sword (translucent blue blade) and another gold sword that I don't know the name of. Maybe somebody knows the significance of this weapon in the show? Anyways, all the accessories are made of plastic and while the swords are plain, they are nice. The gun is fantastic, lots of tiny little details and a two-tone silver and black scheme that is really cool.

Hey, Space Sheriff, don't forget your helmet!

Now, there is one thing about Souchaku Henshin figures that I guess is kind of their trademark. Before I get to that I want to say that when all the armor is on they really look nice. When the armor comes off, specifically the helmet...well...things get a little weird.

GAH! Now I see why you wear the helmet.

At least Sharivan has a support group.

Yeah, in order to get the helmets to fit correctly, the heads are correspondingly teeny-tiny. It's pretty comical looking really. It's not a knock on this toy at all, but it's just such a weird looking head. The fact that Bandai went to the trouble of actually bothering to make this look like Hiroshi Watari who played Sharivan in the TV show is kinda great.

Becoming Sharivan was the best thing that ever happened to Den Iga's wardrobe.

His unarmored form isn't much to write home about. Still, it's good for checking out the articulation. His ankles are ball joints on a pin which gives him greater range of motion. The knees are double jointed and there's a swivel above the knee joint to spin the lower leg around. The hips have limited front to back motion, especially with the armor in the way and they don't split sideways very far. He does have a joint were his chest armor meets his belly which is nice to have.

The shoulders have a good range of motion and the elbows are standard elbow joints. There's swivels in the wrists and the biceps too. Of course, with the armor on, you aren't going to be utilizing all these joints since the armor will basically explode off of him. Neck (and tiny head) turns side to side. Sharivan does have finger articulation. His index and middle finger move independently of the ring and pinkie fingers which also are articulated. It's a nice idea, especially with the Crime Buster gun, but I found that when trying to position the fingers over the trigger, it just doesn't look good and the gun sits in his hand at a goofy angle.

How cute. Sharivan's pretending he's Spike at the end of Bebop. Bang.

I have to admit, this is the kind of toy that is right up my alley. It's not in any of the main lines I like to collect, but it's kinda weird, 80's-retro looking, and modestly priced. Stuff like this will always catch my interest, that's for sure.

Laser Sword vs. Lightsaber. Who ya got?

I can see how people could be unimpressed with this. It's finicky and not super articulated. Still, to those people who might poo-poo this guy I say, "Horseapples!" When you really look at it and see the luster of the diecast and get it in a solid action pose, Souchaku Henshin Sharivan really begins to shine. In my own, personal opinion, this is about as good as it gets when it comes to a modern version of an 80's tokusatsu Metal Hero.

Of course, there are older toys of Sharivan, but you might pay vintage prices. There are nicer versions too, but I'm not shelling out $400 bucks for Medicom's 12-inch version. I know that MegaHouse made a Space Sheriff Sharivan in their Action Werks line, but my personal experience with Action Werks left me a bit unimpressed.

Cross your fingers that Bandai revisits this Metal Hero in their S.H. Figuarts line. The chances of that might be slim, Bandai has shown a Figuarts Space Sheriff Gavan, but he might be a Tamashii web exclusive, which means big bucks. If Gavan gets the web exclusive treatment, I'd wager Sharivan is either a no-go, or another prohibitively expensive web exclusive.

My final verdict for this guy is a positive one. I like it and I think it's something people should check out. After a quick eBay search, people are charging stupid amounts of money for it, but keep searching because it can be found for under $40.00. That about wraps up my thoughts on Space Sheriff Sharivan, thanks for reading and have fun out there!

And now, for something completely different.

Uh uh uh uh, yeah! *pelvic thrusts the air* Mmm yeah, who wants He-Man's little Power Sword?

Dispatch, this is Sharivan. Go ahead. What's that? A 507, possible 311 in progress. All right dispatch, I'm on it.

Yeah! What has 2 thumbs and nothing under his loincloth? This guy right here!
Excuse me sir, I'm going to have to ask you settle down.

Whuh? Who the hell are you, a cop or something?
I'm the Space Sheriff. Please, go home and sleep it off sir, you're being a nuisance.

Screw you cop! I'mma do what I want!
BORF!

You wanna slap leather? Well you got it pal! I'm the quickest draw in space!

Wh-what? What? What?!
Say "what" again. Say "what" again! I dare you. I double dare you, motherf#$%er! Say "what" one more goddamn time!

Alright dispatch. This perp is in the bag. Send a paddy wagon to pick him up. You might wanna delouse him too, he stinks of protein shakes and baby oil. Charge him with indecent exposure, assaulting a police officer, and disturbing the peace.
Oh god, please don't tell my daddy, King Randor, he'll cut my allowance for sure!