Review: Kaiyodo Assemble Borg Mr. Assemble
This will be a curious review, one that almost gives the reader every reason to avoid the figure yet improbably conclude it is one of the coolest action figures available now.
But then this is a curious figure. It features modern engineering with design elements that harken back to the 70s. It’s recognisably a Kaiyodo figure but it is spiritually a Takara figure. It was designed to be played with but is aimed at a demographic that does not play with action figures so much as collect them and relegate them to shelves.
Assemble Borg comes from Kaiyodo, a company best known to toy fans these days for its Revoltech line. Kaiyodo sold over two million Revoltech figures since 2006 mainly by playing it safe. Sharply sculpted, well-articulated figures of popular characters, robots and mecha are bound to sell well when they’re affordably priced.
Assemble Borg represents a very big gamble by Kaiyodo. The figures are costlier than Revoltech figures and look less impressive, the characters are original creations with no nostalgic appeal and there is no manga or anime to push the line. This is a line that will live or die purely on the appeal of its play pattern.
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