It’s been a while since Sen-Ti-Nel revealed that they’re doing a RIOBOT SRX set though I didn’t make any coverage as I wasn’t really that interested. But now that official solicitations are up, oh man, these look really good. It’s also nice of them to break the set up into its three main components just in case you didn’t want to get the whole deal, buy why wouldn’t you? So let’s look at the final component of the SRX, the familiar-looking RIOBOT R-3 Powered.
I say it looks familiar because there’s no way you wouldn’t be reminded of the huge Dendrobium from Gundam 0083 -Stardust Memory- whenever you see this machine. And similar to the Dendrobium, the R-3 Powered is a combination of the base R-3 unit and the T-LINK Flight System, with the latter mostly becoming the large legs of the SRX.
When not docked, the R-3 is a mostly red machine with a slender silhouette. This is in contrast to the mostly blue and heavily-armored R-2 and the R-1 which is the visually neutral among the three. The R-3 is very articulated and can utilize the Strike Shield, which are these funnel-like binders attached to the back. Though I don’t think you can display them separately deployed. The R-3 can also use the long Nendou Sasshushiki Laser Cannon on its own, or when docked to the T-LINK Flight System.
As with the R-1 and R-2, the optical units of the R-3 also react to black or UV light for added visual flair. When combining to form the SRX, the R-3 basically forms the bottom half of the large combiner. The R-3 unit becomes the crotch and upper leg units while the rest of the T-LINK Flight System becomes the legs are previously mentioned. You can also see that the legs are connected with that appears to be die cast parts. I do hope this connection is sturdy given the large upper body of the SRX.
I mentioned previously that while technically non-scale, these figures great to be displayed along your 1/144 scale Gunpla. As for the R-3, the base unit stands at 136 mm, putting it in the middle between the R-1 and the shorter R-2. But with the T-LINK Flight System, its overall length extends to a whopping 320 mm. As for my chances of buying this set, I’m still at 63/35, but I’m afraid that looking at the final combined SRX would totally flip me to the get-this-guy side.
RIOBOT R-3 Powered
December 2021 / ¥27,000
