Should you get Yoroiden Samurai Troopers/Ronin Warrior figures from Sentinel or Bandai Armorplus? The debate continues..
Unboxing / Assembly / Review
I bought it here
Kento of Hardrock (Armorplus) info
Otaku Sinh’s Collection
Timeline
- Email Notification for “Buy Now, Pay Later” payment coming up on release deadline on 04/19/2022
- Paid on 04/19/2022
- Paid for SHIP/TAX on 05/30/2022
- Shipped on 05/30/2022
- Received on 06/02/2022
Kento of Hardrock = $108.53
Shipping(DHL) = 3200 Yen = $25.26; FedEx =2800 Yen
Total = $133.79
Buying from Hobby-Genki.com
Hobby-Genki is a Japanese hobby store located in Osaka, Japan. They provide a majority of what many other Japanese anime figure stores provide, except that they do get Aniplex exclusives. The only other Japanese online store I can think of pre-ordering Aniplex exclusive figures is at Solaris Japan. When it comes to the Armorplus versions of Ronin Warriors, Hobby-Genki.com is my go to site to pick up these figures.
Price Comparison
Right now, the price for this figure costs ¥11,890.00. That’s roughly $88.60 as of 06/13/2022. Right now, if you buy it off of BBTS, you are paying $179.99 plus shipping & tax. To ship to the US, it would be around ¥3200 for DHL and ¥2800 for FedEx. That’s roughly between $20-25 after the currency conversion to ship. Hobby-Genki did not give me a quote for the slower shipping, but you can imagine it to be a lot lower. Overall, you are saving way more if you buy from Hobby-Genki. Add in the fact that the currency value of the Japanese Yen is still declining against the USD. You’d be saving 10-15% buying it right now, compared to buying in back in March of 2022 or earlier.
Pre-Ordering
Hobby-Genki has a “Buy Now Pay Later” system. When you make a pre-order off of Hobby-Genki, most items are eligible for that option. It just means that you can reserve the right to buy an item until close to the release day. I’m not too sure about the situations where figures get delayed—if they let you delay the payment, but it’s still a pretty good deal to be able to pay later when the initial release date comes.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!
One BIG thing to note about buying off of Hobby-Genki is locking in your currency price for “Buy Now Pay Later.” If you set it to USD and make your pre-order, you are locked into that USD price at the time. If the JPY/USD exchange rate goes down or up, you are still obligated to pay that initial reserved price. That is what happened with me, when I paid $108.53. By the time it was released, the cost for the figure in USD was only around $93. If you lock in your pre-order(s) in JPY, you’d pay whatever the exchange rate would be, by the time of the release.
The downside to locking in the JPY price, would be if the currency grows stronger against the USD, meaning you’d be paying more in USD. If you are scared, just pre-order your item in USD. The same logic applies to those with EUR, as they only accept JPY, USD & EUR.
Private Warehouse System
You are able to hold items up to “one cubic meter.” Also, they let you combine monthly orders like AmiAmi. You’d have to contact customer service to hash out what you want. Check out their policy here.
Customer Service
Since you have to directly message them sometimes for quotes for shipping, customer service is really important! During their hours of operation, usually over night if you are in the US, they respond in an appropriate amount of time. They did get my shipping wrong sending me FedEx, instead of DHL. Although, they did give me some in-store credit for the difference. Another little tiny annoying thing that happened was when I ordered another figure. They quoted me ¥7300 for FedEx shipping, but charged me ¥7500 yen. I messaged them about it, but received no response.. It is a very small difference, but it’s the attention to details that have me concerned with their service. If you are paying for your figures upfront, they usually provide shipping quote upon purchase. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to interact with their customer service.
Shipping
The shipment came in a plastic FedEx wrap, wrapped around a regular brown box. It came with a dent, BUT did not harm the figure box at all as it was surrounded by a lot of bubble wrap. No concerns here, regarding the packaging of their shipment.
Verdict
Overall, Hobby-Genki is a great website to pick up anime figures, especially for Aniplex exclusives and Yoroiden Samurai Trooper figures. Their prices are competitive and way cheaper to buy Ronin Warrior figures from there than US retailers like BBTS. The only concern I have is the attention to detail that their customer service can lack. I have a ton of pre-orders with them, so you can bet I’ll update everyone about their service as they come in!
Figure Review
Box
Was Assembling it Hard?
Manual (front) 
Manual (back) 
Biggest Issue Assembling!
The biggest issue I had was latching on the hip armor pieces(the underneath and side hip armor pieces). While shooting the first assembly video, I had tons of issues putting it together. On the 2nd attempt a couple days later, I was able to put the hip pieces back together WITH EASE. I think I just didn’t snap the hip pieces together into the body enough, which made the difficulty in latching on the hole to become extremely difficult.
Other than that, snapping the chest piece onto the sitting down figure required a little but of strength because the hole in the figure might have been a little too small. The main issue was assembling hip pieces, but I got it resolved!
What I learned from assembling these Armorplus figures is pretty much if you play with it long enough, you’ll resolve a majority of your issues from the initial build. After switching parts on the figure body and the sitting down body a couple times, it becomes relatively simple.
A recurring issue with this figure and the Inferno Armor one is the looseness of the hip armor pieces. The Inferno Armor one is VERY loose on the left side of the body. The Kento of Hardrock side hip pieces are kind of loose too, but not as much as compared to the Infernal Armor one. If you want to change the pose, it might fall off if you are doing something too elaborate. My recommendation would be just to move the figure into the pose you want first and then reapply the hip armors back on. Overall, it’s a pretty manageable situation and more of a slight annoyance than anything.
When it comes to putting on the nun chuck weapon piece, it was very easy to put it into the hand because the chains are small. You’re able to just drag it fairly easily into place. Maybe more weapon pieces should be design this way.. Create these weapon pieces into smaller parts, so they can fit in the hand. That way, we’d be able to assemble it into the hand easier without worrying about parts braking.. Just me venting guys..
At first, I had a really rough go with assembling this figure, but after a few tries, it became pretty darn easy.
Functionality
This figure is very easy to move around. Like the other Ronin Warriors figures from both Sentinel and Bandai Armorplus, watch out for the shoulder pieces because if you try to lift up the arms at an angle where the shoulder armor bends into its body, it’s going to fall off. Other than that, the figure pretty much moves into any normal looking pose you’d want.
Aesthetics
When it comes to aesthetics the biggest issue I had with the figure was the stock-regular Kento face. It just looks a bit off and his nose was sculpted in a funny way. If you guys watched the show before, Kento is the more heavier set character; really I’m just euphemizing the fact that he’s supposed to be the FAT lovable character. He’s Kento of Hardrock! Not Kento of the Pebble! I just wish they put a little of meat on my mans..
When it comes to the color choices of the figure, I prefer the look of the Sentinel versions, but with the Inferno Armor Bandai Armorplus one aside, I really do like the Cye of the Torrent and this Kento of Hardrock one. It’s a very clean look. It’s not too dull looking like the Infernal one. I don’t think most people would have that big of an issue with the way it looks.
When it comes to the quality of the paint, there is a little bit of paint smudge here and there, but it’s nothing that the armor wouldn’t be able to cover up; also you can’t really expect perfection when you’re constantly moving and removing pieces.
Overall, besides the fact that Kento is skinny and his stock face looks a bit off, stylistically, he looks pretty damn good!
Sentinel vs Bandai Armorplus
So far, these are my biggest takeaways from Ronin Warriors lines from both companies. If you guys don’t know, I have 2 Ronin Warriors Sentinel(Rowen & Sage) figures and with this Kento of Hardrock one, I have 3 Armorplus(Cye & Ryo Infernal) figures.
Armorplus is WAY sturdier and heavier. All of the armor pieces are metal; at least that’s what it feels like from what I can inspect and infer. So, when you are trying to put on and remove pieces, it just holds A LOT easier in the hand. In the Sentinel Rowen of Strata assembly, I did break the hand trying to insert the bow into his hand. I wasn’t quite sure if it was completely my fault or not, but I do think a poor design contributed to that frustrating fiasco. Although, I was able to just shove the hand pieces back together, it’s still pretty loose. Eventually, I’ll probably have to use some epoxy glue or some other alternative adhesive. The design of the chest and back pieces of Sentinel Rowen of Strata one was pretty loose as well. These figures require a bit of force to put together—with any wrong move, it can easily break. Given that the Rowen figure was loose and feels more breakable, I have to give the assembly edge to Armorplus.
When it comes to the aesthetics, the Sentinel figures do look better. The choice of colors pop a lot more. Although, I do like the Cye of the Torrent and Kento of Hardrock Armorplus versions. The Armorplus Infernal Armor is the one I dislike the most out of all of them. It’s a bit below my threshold for my aesthetically pleasing enjoyment to look at. The Sage of Halo and Rowen of Strata figures look really good with the glossier-shinier look. The question becomes, just how much more better do they look in comparison to the Armorplus ones? At the end of the day, I do edge the aesthetic look to the Sentinel versions. Judging by my YouTube comments and other forums, a majority of people seem to agree.
When it comes to the price, it just depends on where you’re buying it from. If you are buying from Japan, the Armorplus figures are the better deal. If you are buying from the US, the Sentinel versions are the better deal. Ultimately, we just want the best quality one within a reasonable price, right?
Pictures
Last Thoughts
Would I recommend this figure?! I do. I know I am in the minority when I say I like the Armorplus versions a little bit more. It just comes down to the fact that I think the wear and tear of the Armorplus figures would hold up a bit longer than the Sentinel ones. Either way, I don’t think you’d really go wrong with either. The best thing that Sentinel Ronin Warriors figures have going for them is the fact that it is the superior aesethically designed looking one. But if I had to choose right now, I’d go with the Armorplus figures, at least the Cye of the Torrent and Kento of Hardrock ones. If you like the design of the Infernal Armor one, by all means get your hands on that one too. All in all, for $133.79 with the DHL shipping price included from Hobby-Genki.com, it’s significantly more worth to buy it from them than BBTS. It’s still available on their website and on BBTS. As of 06/13/2022, it is in-stock. That’s all pretty much have to say. Let me know if you guys have any questions and let me know what you guys think!
OTAKU SINH 