Tag: Kamen Rider W

Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider W, Reviews, S.H.Figuarts

Review: S.H.Figuarts – Kamen Rider AccelTrial

Shuki

S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider AccelTrial

Another month passed, another round of exclusive releases from Tamashii Web Shop. For November we had AccelTrial and Machine Decader. Today, we take a look at AccelTrial, the speedy form of everyone’s favorite cop with gay tendencies and infatuation towards dolphins. Accel was a really nice Figuart, particularly due to the metallic red paint. Needless to say, AccelTrial is no exception.

He comes boxed in a standard Figuarts box, this time colored in a light blue, the lettering done in a brilliant white, which looks a lot better than Accel’s secondary silver, had they chosen to follow that route. Fits in with the stack of W boxes perfectly. The front has a picture of AccelTrial, while the back, as always, features multiple shots of the figure.

The figure itself is pretty damn awesome. While he has the same base limb mold as Accel, everything is reminded and updated to suit AccelTrial’s design. The wheel on the back still spins! People bitch about his head being wrong, but it’s good enough to me. I guess I’m not picky enough about my toy figures. Toys. Just like people they aren’t perfect. Chill the fuck out. Anyway, nothing hinders poseability much on this figure. He’s sleek, sculpted fantastic, and the paint is beautiful and metallic. Joints are tight, so I really see no major faults with this figure. His visor, being a nice orange, is now transparent enough to see the speedometer detailing inside.

Accessory wise he comes with eight hands: two for holding the Trial Memory, two for holding the Engine Blade, two relaxed pose, and two stylized pose (one with a thumbs up, and one spread out), a Trial Memory to hold, an Engine Blade (it still opens), and for some reason, an Accel Driver with an Accel Memory in it, despite the fact that it should be empty. At least paint it black and pretend Bandai. Ah well. At least he comes with everything he needs, the only other thing it could have possibly came with was a Trial Memory in Memory Mode.

Overall, for W fans, AccelTrial is an amazing addition to the line up. He’s not completely necessary as normal Accel is, but if you are a huge fan of W or Accel, I feel like this is a must have for the collection. Between the beautiful paint job, the great sculpt, and the overall awesomeness of the figure, no sane person should be disappointed with this release. Accept it, enjoy it, love it. Good day.

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Check out a photo gallery by the awesome Shishioh HERE.

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Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider W, Reviews

Review: Rider Goods Collection 2010 with DX T2 Joker Memory

Shuki

It’s amazing what you’ll buy if it comes with a GaiaMemory. Thankfully I didn’t HAVE to buy a children’s jacket to get that one Joker Memory. However, every now and then, something really cool comes packed with something you want, and such is the case here. The DX T2 Joker Memory comes packed inside the Rider Goods Collection 2010. The name alone made me want the book, and I’m glad I did.

The book itself is actually amazing. As Dosm put it, it’s like a scrapbook of all the shit you bought, and all the shit you didn’t buy you wish you did. The book covers DX Items, Collector’s Items, Clothes, Capsule Toys, Candy Toys, Prize Toys, Music, Cards, and anything else you can imagine. Spread out through the book are “Files” that cover how Double was created, initial designs, unused designs, sketches, and all that fun stuff. Most people can’t read it, but the photos and content in the book are terrific, and is a must own for anyone who’s followed Double’s toylines as much as I have.

The real gem to most people is the DX T2 Joker Memory this mook comes packed with. The packaging for it is pretty neat, mostly being brown cardboard with a nice decorative design of Joker and the item’s name and all that. The Memory itself is cast in the same color as Joker normally is, with pretty much the same sticker. Of course, being T2, it features the same blue tip found on the DX Eternal Memory. It’s not as vibrant as the Capsule one, but it’s still noticeably blue, and given that Joker was originally Gold, it’s an easy notice.

The Memory itself cycles through the 26 T2 Memories in a similar style to the DX Dopant Memory:
• Joker
• Accel
• Bird
• Cyclone
• Dummy
• Eternal
• Fang
• Gene
• Heat
• IceAge
• Key
• Luna
• Metal
• Nasca
• Ocean
• Puppeteer
• Queen
• Rocket
• Skull
• Trigger
• Unicorn
• Violence
• Weather
• Xtreme
• Yesterday
• Zone

When inserted into the Double/Lost Driver, no matter what Memory you stopped at, it will play Joker with the Joker tune. This will also reset the Memory, so when you remove it, it will start back at Joker. When inserted into the Drive Slot/Memory Gadget/Weapon/Whatever it will play the Joker Maximum Drive as normal. This however does not reset the Memory, so it will continue from wherever you left off.

Overall, this combo is excellent, and I do feel bad for those that missed out on it. The Rider Goods Collection is an amazing mook filled with every piece of Double merchandise in full detail. It even has release dates and prices, so you can look back and realize just how much you spent on all this. The Memory is a great addition, and having all the T2 Memories in one is fun to tote around and annoy people with. The fact that it only says Joker during Henshin and Maximum Drive is disappointing, but expected. I still sort of want a T2 Set like the Dopants are getting, but I’ll take what I can get. Highly recommended, they go for a shit ton on the after market nowadays, so happy hunting for those that haven’t gotten it.

You can check out a small photo gallery of the Book and Memory here:

Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider W, Reviews, S.H.Figuarts

Review: S.H.Figuarts EX – Skullboilder

Shuki

I’ll be honest, I was never excited for this thing, and my excitement was flushed down the drain even further when I got Hardboilder and found out how much it sucked. Unfortunately, this thing sucks even more. I suppose it’s not the bike’s fault exactly, the Hardboilder’s mold was actually okay, and with the Skullboilder being an all black repaint of it would technically take one of the main flaws of the Hardboilder (lack of painted detail) more understandable, but as it stands, the Skullboilder just doesn’t hold it’s own.

It has no Tamashii Stage. Normally I don’t really care, but every exclusive bike to date came with a really snazzy looking stand. The only thing this fuck comes with is that same little circle of nonsense that Hardboilder came with. It could at least have Skull’s logo on it. I has sad face.

In a way, the bike does top Hardboilder. It’s the same decent mold, but instead of plain green flat piece, it’s actually painted in (mostly) glossy black paint, which gives off the impression of metal a lot better, and reminds me a lot of the metallics used in Machine Tornador. In that aspect it’s a plus, but there are certain things that I still have a problem with. I understand that the bike in the movie was just a repaint of the Hardboilder chasis, but it just makes the damn thing look plain. Painting the “W” black does NOT make it go away. It has no reason to be there. Get rid of it. Decorate the front with a skull or something. It also doesn’t help that the bike is too big. The scale is just a little bit off. I want to like it, considering how much I paid, but as it is, it’s just a waste.

So yeah, don’t get it unless you are a huge fan of Skull and MUST HAVE BIKE. If you loved the Hardboilder for some reason, you might like the Skullboilder too, but as it stands, as an exclusive repaint without an exclusive Tamashii Stage, it’s just not worth it at all. Save up for something worthwhile like Guard Chaser or something.

Check out a photo gallery of Skullboilder here:

Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider W, Reviews, S.H.Figuarts

Review: S.H.Figuarts – Nasca Dopant

Shuki

I remember the first day we got word that Nasca was being released, it was a happy moment. It was like your favorite movie is getting a sequel that doesn’t suck, or your favorite video game involving a plumber in space getting a much better sequel featuring a little green dinosaur. It’s like that! After months of waiting, a chunk of money to purchase it, and a large amount of time staring at the damn thing’s photos, it’s finally here. Mr. Fine Ass himself, Nasca Dopant. He is the new sex of everything. My V-Log proves it.

Let’s start with the detail. Holy fuck the detail. Articulation is basic. His shoulder pads do hinder the articulation a bit, but it doesn’t ruin the overall figure. Anyway, the details are fantastic. Every single costume line is on this figure in some way shape or form. The body itself is something rather stunning, particularly the amount of line work put into the driver and the skirt area. The orange Nazca lines all over his design are present and accounted for, and they look absolutely great. The fabric detailing (and small amount of blackwash) on the pants is great too. The most gorgeous part of the figure is his scarf deals. Not only are they sculpted good, but the gradient paint used is pretty damn nice. To sum it up, while Sieg had awesome sculpt and detail, Nasca takes the e-cake in both sculpt, detail, and paint applications. I have no complaints at all.

Accessory count is fairly sub-par, but considering how much the sculpt cost to make that is understandable. He comes with three hands: weapon hands, relaxed hands, and some sort of quasi-molester hands, which I personally wouldn’t mind at all. Lastly, he comes with the Nasca Sword, which actually looks nicer here then it ever did in the show. Funny how things work. I guess you can say the scarves are accessories too, but whatever.

Overall, Nasca is by far one of my favorite Figuarts to date. Sure he’s not a rider, sure he died, but damn it his ass is sexy. Jokes aside, the sculpting detail on this figure is fantastic, the painting techniques used are phenominal, and they just smash together to make one of my favorite figures. If you like Nasca in any way shape or form, you must get this figure. Go get it. Now. NOW.

Check out a photo gallery of Nasca Dopant here:

Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider W, Reviews, S.H.Figuarts

Review: S.H.Figuarts EX – Machine Hardboilder

Shuki

S.H.Figuarts EX - Machine HardboilderBack when we first seen this one at Tamashii Features, we had already gotten Machine Tornador, Battle Hopper, and Acrobatter as exclusives, so of course, we pegged it as an exclusive and went about our way. Eventually it was revealed that it was a standard release item due out in August alongside CycloneJokerXtreme. A part of me wishes that would change, as this is a bike that could really of used a boost of being an exclusive. It just doesn’t stack up to the others.

The main “feature” on this bike is that it splits down the middle, and the other bike pieces, being released as Tamashii Web Exclusives (Dash Unit and Turbular Unit) can attach there and make essentially a new bike. I’d like to point out that I have no major problems with the front half of the thing. The W looks great, and the details are present and accounted for. It’s the butt end where things fall apart. The back end is basically a tire, a silver chain, and a huge chunk of green plastic. Keep in mind the chain is just silver plastic, it’s not an actual chain. The details are molded there, and I understand the actual bike was pretty subpar in coloring too, but it’s just so bland compared to the other bikes that it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. There’s certain elements like piping that would have benefited from paint that are otherwise left green. It does look nice on display from a distance, but up close, it just fails in comparison to the details presented on the other bikes. The only accessory this one comes with is a small black plastic ring with slots big enough to squeeze in the back tire so you can stand the bike straight up with a Figuart riding it.

Overall, the Hardboilder is an easy pass. If you’re a huge fan of Double, and can get it cheaply, you might enjoy it, but after owning the past bike releases, this one is easily the worse. While the mold is great, the details aren’t painted enough, and the lack of a spiffy Tamashii Stand kinda kills it for me. Save your money and go buy some real Figuarts.

Check out a photo gallery of Machine Hardboilder here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shukuenshinobi/sets/72157625056008058/