[MnemonicSyntax]

Welcome to another year of sentai toys! This year's campaign is Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, the theme of course being Samurai, while the "counter-theme" is origami and the elements. The origami aspect is that the animal mecha fold into shapes, which correspond with kanji that also matches their helmet visor. The "gimmick" this year is Hiden discs, used to power up weapons, and bring life to the mechas.



The animals are known as OriKami, as stated before, each OriKami turn into a shape, and the combined form is known as ShinkenOh.

The color, kanji, shape, and animal are as follows:

Red - Fire - Pentagon - Lion (ShishiOriKami)
Blue - Water - Sectagon - Dragon (RyuuOriKami)
Green - Wood - Square - Bear (KumaOriKami)
Yellow - Earth - Triangle - Monkey (SaruOriKami)
Pink - Heaven - Circle - Turtle (KameOriKami)



The Shinkengers once again use a cellphone-esque henshin (transformation device) turns into a paintbrush of sorts, used to paint out kanji to call weapons, and possibly allow the mecha to grow and change from their hand-held shape form to their OriKami form. This device is called the Ketai ShodouPhone.



Each Shinkenger carries a side-arm, a katana called Hiden SaiseiKen ShinkenMaru. The katana has lights and sounds, and comes with Shinken Red's Hiden disc that when spun by hand, an animation can be seen in a small window in the blade's hilt.



The belt this season, called the Hiden DiscBuckle holds Hiden discs in it's buckle, and has a side sheath for the Hiden SaiseiKen ShinkenMaru. The Hiden disc included is EX01, instead of a Ranger's Hiden disc.



Shinken Red's weapon is going Cloud Strife this year, in the form of a large (over the shoulder when not using it large) katana known as the Rekkadaitou. The Rekkadaitou can also form into a "cannon" type mode, held by all the rangers, while their Hiden discs are launched as projectiles. This weapon comes with the Black, Yellow and Pink Hiden discs.



Blue and Green also get weapons in the form of toys this year. The Waterbow and Woodspear. These weapons appear to have the kanji of their respective element/ranger on them, and comes with blue and green's Hiden discs.



Now, off to the fun stuff:

There are three other mecha animals, that aren't so origami. These gattai into armor for ShinkenOh.

First up, is Samurai Gattai KabutoOriKami. A brown, Hercules Beetle. It's Hiden disc allows it's pincers to move up and down, and when in armor form it combines with ShinkenOh as a new backpack/helmet/gauntlets.



Secondly, is Samurai Gattai KajikiOriKami. This is a Swordfish-type OriKami that when it's Hiden disc is spun, the head moves up and down. As gattai armor, it also creates a new helmet for ShinkenOh.



Next up, is Samurai Gattai ToraOriKami, a White Tiger OriKami. When it's Hiden disc is spun, four drills spin at the same time, and in gattai formation, the drills become a new helmet.



Lastly, the three Samurai Gattai OriKami can combine together, into a "bird" formation, known as ToriKami. Kajiki forms the body and head, Tora's drills make the main body, and Kabuto splits into wings. Leftover parts become it's tail. It's unknown if ShinkenOh can combine with ToriKami.

As usual, there will be SH (Sentai Hero) figures. This time, they come with their individual Hiden SaiseiKen.



Lastly, at this point, there is a ShiShiOrikami "Vehicle" that comes with a small ShinkenRed to ride atop it. It's not sure if this vehicle is remote controlled or just goes on it's own, perhaps with the wind-up method using ShinkenRed and the Hiden disc idea.



This is going to be an interesting year in regards to Sentai toys!



Credit goes to Chungieboy at Rangerboard.com.