So far, Kamen Rider Build has been a great series and its toys have been fairly solid. Items like the Build Driver and DX Full Bottle sets being the best the toy line has to offer and the weapons, so far, being mediocre. Nothing egregiously bad but just nothing noteworthy, UNTIL NOW!
The Transteam Gun is the transformation device of Night Rogue and Blood Stark (I won’t call him Stalk) and it is the best weapon of the line easily. The gun is a tad small but in fairness it looks small in Gentoku’s hands in the show as well so I’ll let that slide. The detail is fantastic, the gun fire sounds are satisfying and can be fired as fast or as slow as the user wants. You also get the DX Bat Full Bottle with this set, which can be inserted into the Transteam Gun for transformation into Night Rogue or into the Build Driver to make your own fun combos. In the gun the Bat Full Bottle gives us one of the coolest henshin noises so far in the series, complete with dope standby music. Once a bottle is inserted the Transteam Gun will allow the user to access the Steam Break (for the Cobra and Bat Full Bottles) or the Steam Attack (for any other Full Bottle). At the end of the day, I don’t know if I like this more than the DX Build Driver as far as a transformation device is concerned but I do know that it is by far the BEST weapon thus far in the Build line. I can not recommend this enough, if you are even remotely a fan of Night Rogue or Blood Stark this is something you are gonna want in your collection. I mean this is the peak. It can’t possibly get any better than this, right? Or can it?
I’m a HUGE fan of the DX Transteam Gun, have I mentioned that? Well, I am, and I didn’t think I could like it any more, but then the DX Steam Blade showed up! Not only is this another great toy from the Build toy line but it also acts as a giant bladed accessory to the Transteam Gun, turning it from a hand gun into a Rifle, but more on that later.
By itself the DX Steam Blade is a good sized lightweight dagger toy with basic sounds effects when the trigger is pulled. It also features 3 moving red parts like we see in the show, but only the large red valve actually activates any new sounds for the toy. Twisting it once will activate Ice Steam, twice will give you Electric Steam and the third time gives you the horrible, spooky nightmare fuel that is Devils Steam. These 3 attacks, while fun, are not the highlight of the toy. The real fun starts when you split the toy apart and attach each end to the DX Transteam Gun.
Before we move on I’m also going to mention the new Full Bottle this set comes with for Blood Stark, the Cobra Full Bottle. Much like the Bat Full Bottle it can insert into the Transteam Gun for Blood Stark’s transformation or into the DX Build Driver for more made-up combinations.
Anyway, back to Rifle mode. In this form, the Steam Blade can be turned on or off, it’s optional for the user. All the new sounds that come with Rifle mode are coming from the Gun so the only upside to keeping the Steam Blade on is the 3 different Steam attacks can still be accessed. In Rifle mode, the new gunfire sounds are much bigger, which makes sense, and the transformation into either Blood Stark or Night Rogue is locked. It can only be accessed in Gun mode. Inserting a Full Bottle will access the Steam Attack again (much like in Gun mode) but inserting the Bat or Cobra Full Bottles gives you the Steam Shot this time around. Overall, I love this toy but personally I think it doesn’t stand alone as well as the Transteam gun. I mostly recommend these two as a pair (if you can afford it) so that you can get the most out of your purchase. If you can only afford one, again the gun will stand alone better than the blade will, but each item has a great way of enhancing the experience with the other. Once again, I can not recommend the DX Steam Blade and the DX Transteam Gun enough.
For this and other Kamen Rider and Tokusatsu merchandise, check out CSToys and BigBadToyStore.
