Soul of Popynica Kaneda's Bike ... finally here

I just picked this up yesterday from Greattoysonline's Greenhills branch.


It is the 1/6 scale replica of Kaneda's bike from the phenomenal Akira manga and anime. This is by Bandai, or Project BM! to be precise, in collaboration with Katsushiro Otomo, the creator of the Akira franchise. From what I have read online, this is supposedly the "ultimate reproduction" of this Iconic bike, and has all the bells and whistles to show for.

As excited as I am to start reviewing the bike itself, I feel that I should give a little mention to the amount of packaging this came in. The outer packaging is predominantly in a matt black cardboard box with glossy outlines of the bike printed around it, and various images of the bike with explanations printed at the back. The inner packaging is styrofoam with cutout compartments for each individual part. it is fairly easy to take out the items without using force or fiddling with tape and wire. Each item is further wrapped with plastic sheet which keeps the bike unscratched and shiny. It seems a little excessive, but it gets the job done.

the main bike is about 50cm or 19 1/2 inches long, with a die-cast metal frame beneath the heavily detailed exterior. The internal mechanism can be exposed by removing the cowling panels. Some of the more notable details inside are the working suspensions on the wheels, movable front module to simulate 'parked' and 'drive' modes, adjustable headlight, and soft seat (it feels like rubber or silicon).

The Cowling plates are attached to the vehicle by magnetic studs. I really like this, as it means the designers didn't need to provision out of placed recesses on the model to accommodate where the armor plates would latch on. With the magnets, you only have to align the parts and they automatically snap together. I was initially worried that this would make the plating loose, but after playing around with it I found the plates to fit nicely.

there is a switch at the bottom rear section of the bike. This is for the three power levels, namely "off", "lights", and "lights & sound" (Requires batteries, yes bells and whistles people). It features light-up functions of wheels, indicators, taillight, headlight, and console panel. Turning the left accelerator plays engine & cruising sounds, whilst pressing the brake will play a screech sound. There is curiously a jack of some-sort just below the seat. I have not tried it yet, but it seems you can connect speakers to this.

Here is a little size comparison of the bike and my Nokia E71 mobile. After taking this shot I realized that the bike would actually make a really cool cellphone cradle... hmmm ideas...

Anyway, I got the limited initial production version it seems, which means it comes with an additional box containing unmarked cowl panels and a lot of stickers. This is supposedly to make the bike appear as shown in Katsuhiro Otomo's art for the DVD cover.


overall I am very pleased with this replica. Definitely a proud addition to the shelves. I'll have to keep it for now though as we are moving to a new house soon. I'll find a suitable space there to showcase this bike and post some proper pictures of it lighted up onto my flicker account soon.


Just a quick post for this one. Nothing much more to say about this bike, it's an absolutely great piece and I hope Project BM! comes out with more items of this quality.






-alger