Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Fighter mode (1/6)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Fighter mode (2/6)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Fighter mode (3/6)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Fighter mode (4/6)

Fighter mode

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Detail shots (1/4)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

The two handles stored inside the Positron Laser can be deployed outward.

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - When holding the Positron Laser with both hands, you can open the mouth-shaped chest ar

When holding the Positron Laser with both hands, you can open the mouth-shaped chest armor to make room for the pose.

The wings move pretty freely.

Stand joint parts for Fighter Mode (left) and Dragon Mode (right).

Limb articulation.

Forward/backward range of motion for the shoulders

Waist articulation

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Action pose (1/6)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Action pose (2/6)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Action pose (3/6)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Action pose (4/6)

Action pose

Transformation

Three additional parts are included separately for transforming into Dragon Mode.

After removing the Dragon head parts from the front and back of the torso

Attach the mane-shaped add-on parts to complete the Dragon head.

Remove the small Fighter Mode head, then attach the additional chest and neck parts that are included.

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - You rotate the forearm and elbow section slightly, then extend the length and return it

You rotate the forearm and elbow section slightly, then extend the length and return it to position.
The elbow gimmick isn't very smooth though, so you'll want to study the manual carefully and handle it with care.
You'll also need to detach the hands separately.

Slide the shoulder armor down onto the forearm and the front legs are done.

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Unlike the arms which needed to be extended, the legs actually need to be shortened. Re

Unlike the arms which needed to be extended, the legs actually need to be shortened.
Remove the side thigh parts temporarily, then open the rear leg cover to shorten both the section above the knee and the middle of the shin.
After that, reattach the side thigh parts and close the cover, and the shortened position locks in nice and solid.

The front and rear legs are positioned as shown above.

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - At this point, you can pull the hip joint parts out to the side to spread the rear legs

At this point, you can pull the hip joint parts out to the side to spread the rear legs wider apart.

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Attach the pre-assembled head and Positron Laser to the back and the transformation is

Attach the pre-assembled head and Positron Laser to the back and the transformation is complete.

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Dragon Mode (1/5)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Dragon Mode (2/5)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Dragon Mode (3/5)

Dragon Mode

Fighter Mode parts left over after transformation

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon - Dragon Mode aerial pose (1/3)

Dragon Mode aerial pose

Together with the previous release, Black WarGreymon.

Imperial Dramon from Digimon Adventure 02 has been released as part of the Figure-rise Standard series. Once you've built it, the sheer size is surprisingly bigger than you'd expect — it's larger than the previous WarGreymon and Omegamon releases and takes up quite a bit of display space.

The overall quality and build style feels similar to the previous kits, but the completely different design and aesthetic gives it a fresh feel in hand. The solid color separation and sculpting deliver a great straight build look, and the signature weapon, the Positron Laser, lets you recreate the iconic two-handed firing pose with both handles deployed.

The biggest highlight of this kit is definitely the Fighter Mode/Dragon Mode transformation gimmick. It's implemented fairly faithfully to the source material, so the transformation itself is genuinely fun. In particular, to match the arm length for the front legs and the leg length for the rear legs, the arms extend in two stages while the legs shorten in two stages — and there are several clever ideas built in to keep each extended/shortened position locked securely.

The arms extend by rotating the lower forearm 90 degrees, and there's a gimmick where you rotate the upper forearm armor slightly to adjust the length. Once you've set the length and return everything to its original angle, it locks into position pretty well. That said, when you try to rotate and pull out the lower forearm section, it tends to feel like something's catching and just won't come out — leading to a fair bit of struggling. You really have to handle it carefully to avoid breaking any parts, which is a bit of a hassle.

For the legs, you can remove the side thigh parts temporarily to adjust the length above the knee, and opening the cover on the back of the shin lets you adjust the shin length as well. After adjusting, you can return the parts to their original positions to lock everything in place — just like with the arms. Fortunately the legs lock in solidly, so extending and shortening them is pretty painless. And unlike the fiddly elbow joint, the legs transform without any major issues.

On top of that, you can separate the Fighter Mode torso parts to form the Dragon head, and when transforming into Dragon Mode you'll need to use the additional mane, long neck, and chest parts. One thing to note — after transforming into Dragon Mode, if you don't get the rear leg angles right, the body ends up hunched too far forward and the proportions look off. You'll want to bend the rear leg knees as far as they'll go to keep the overall height as low as possible, which seems to be the key to getting a proper four-legged mech silhouette.

Overall articulation is decent enough, but the joint strength feels a bit precarious given the kit's size. This seems to be a common issue across all the Digimon Figure-rise Standard kits — it's a shame they didn't put as much thought into joint strength as they did into the visuals. T_T The joints aren't floppy like wet noodles or anything, but it's hard to shake that uneasy feeling when trying to hold various poses. The multi-jointed wings do lock in solidly at least, though they do feel a bit too small compared to the source material. Action base joint parts are included for both Fighter and Dragon Mode, and thankfully both have decent holding strength.

So while the transformation gimmick and some of the joint stability leave a little to be desired, this kit's strengths are its large, impressive visuals and transformation gimmick for the price. If you have fond memories of Digimon Adventure, it's probably worth the ¥4500 investment. :-)

Figurerise Standard Imperial Dramon | 2021.1 | ¥4,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.