 |
Saint Cloth Myth - Leo Aiolia |
| Series | Saint Cloth Myth |
|
| Title | Leo Aiolia | |
| Release Date | April 2004 | |
| Manufacturer | Bandai | |
| Suggested Price (JPY) | 4,000 | |
| Scale | 1/11 | |
| Height (cm) |
w/o armor: 15.9 cm w/ armor: 17.1 cm (approx) |
|
| No. of Parts | 1 figure + 32 armor parts | |
| My Rating | Excellent |
Related Items:
Comment
Leo
Aioria, being was very close and trained by his older brother, Sagittarius Aioros. He felt
deeply in guilt when his brother was accused and executed for kidnapping Athena. Aioria has
spent his entire life in Sanctuary and does not like what his Master Ares has done to it. He
was later sent to exterminate Seiya and he reacts badly when Pegasus Seiya first wears the
Sagittarius armor. Once convinced that Saori is Athena, rather than an imposter, Leo Aioria
switches his loyalties and pledges his service to her. When he returns to Sanctuary with the
injured Shaina, he confronted Ares and ended up fighting Virgo Shaka. Ares took advantage of
the battle and possessed Aioria.
He is one of the Gold Saint of the constellation of Leo, representing courage. Once a sick kitten burdened with guilt over his brother crime, he now transformed into a fierce lion, who strive to fight for justice. His personal power, “Lightning Bolt” attack, is a no-nonsense, nothing-fancy straight-to-the-point attack traveling at the speed of light; a simple and yet deadly attack best suited for the character of Leo...
As a debut to the releases the bronze saints, Bandai precede to release the Gold Saints and Leo is the first among the coming twelve. This is not surprising knowing that this series is well receive in the market.
Initially I quite am skeptical to Bandai's decision for the price increment on this series. Is the increment justifiable or this is another move to leech some extra fan's money? The prior releases are already at the excellent mark and how much better could the upcoming gold saints be? On the day I received my shipment, the answer is clear. Justifiable.
In overall, there are visible increase in quality, better cloth design and expensive looking gold plating on the armor. One example is the improvement on the Object, which all previous release presents a flimsy display unit but now the Leo Object is quite solid and you can almost play with it. This owes to the joints now are re-enforce with solid plastic that increases its durability. This fixed problems on earlier releases where plated joints will wear out at repeated transformation resulting in the Object's parts to fall out easily.
The design of the Object is quite straightforward and yet serves the purpose to represent the constellation of Leo. It consists of a body frame from head to tail with removable limbs for the armor pieces to fit or slot into it. Note that there are no additional replacement armor part is required. This denotes a superb precision in design.
The Gold Cloth in armor mode is hefty and automatically increment Aioria height by a centimeter or two making him to stand the tallest with the bronze saints. It is heavy and beautifully plated in gold and yellow ochre. The re-creation of the armor is as seen in the anime and has a word to best describe it; stylish. Although he is dressed up in full armor, Airoria mobility is maintained. Note that the waist armor is made of 2 parts, which accommodates the buckle and another 4 pieces of skirt armor, totaling 7 parts, making this the most intricate area. The downside is it prohibits up and down movement to the waist. The back of the breastplate holds two holes for the cloak to snap-in. The cloak is made of nylon cloth and donned onto the armor by plugging in with its two plastic connectors.
Airoria figure is of nothing new where it utilizes the same body design to the prior releases. The facial sculpting of Aioria could be better and the similarity to the anime has a long way to go. Nevertheless, the facial appearance is acceptable when Aioria put on his crown.
Leo Airoria comes packaged in a 'book-box'. It opens to reveal that it consists of two window boxes; in one window box is a really well articulated figure of Aioria, along with some of his cloth parts while the other half contains the rest of his Leo Gold Cloth and Leo Object frame. The following are the parts count and items in bold are made of metal:
- Left Tray: 1 figure, 1 crown, 1 chest armor, 2 arm band, 2 arm guard, 2 thigh guard, 2 full boots, 4 extra hand (2 fist + 2 open palm), 1 4-page color instructions manual, 1 cloak.
- Right Tray: 1 Leo Object frame with 4 limbs, 1 Leo tail, 2 piece waist armor, 1 belt buckle, 2 side skirt armor, 2 front and back skirt armor, 2 shoulder armor, 1 chest armor.
Purchase by pre-order from HLJ.
 |
 |
| The 'book-box' opens to reveal that it consists of two window boxes. | Box Packaging |
 |
 |
 |
| Gold Saint Leo Aioria in various poses. Drop down from the ceiling, ready for a punch, Lightning bolt attack!!! | ||
 |
 |
| Hiding his fist in his cloak preparing for a preemptive strike. | The back of the armor display partial Leo's head |
 |
 |
 |
| Aioria with his Leo Object | Standing on tip-toes? Don't try this at home. | Look real hard and you will see "Made in China" |
 |
 |
| This reminds me of some circus show | Leo Object from top left angle |
 |
 |
| Leo's mane is the four pieces of skirt armor | Leo Object from the rear |
 |
Document Date : 2004-07-25 |
Responses to this page:
gff