Friday, July 10, 2015
Review: S.H.Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Kuuga -Mighty Form-
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Bandai |
| Origin Series: | Kamen Rider Kuuga |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 14cm tall |
| Original Price: | 5,400 Yen |
| Packaging: |
Being the 3rd release on the line, Kuuga retains the ever premium looking style that both Shinkocchou Seihou Kabuto and Shinkocchou Seihou Hibiki had used; aligning all 3 (turning 4 soon as of this writing) of them actually looks pretty cool and you can definitely make a of premium boxes with these. As such, it still retains the same dimensions as that of his two predecessors and the exact same style of having nothing but text in the sides, top and bottom of the box.
Of course, the back of the box shows you a few product shots that should be enough to sell the "renewal" SHF Kamen Rider Kuuga Mighty Form to you as it definitely looks great and if you have or at least seen the old SHF Kuuga Mighty Form. You know how much difference the two figures have.
| Details: |
Starting of with the head, Kuuga's proportions have really been fixed here as the head size and shape looks natural now. The compound eyes that they use on bug eyed riders also returns here and it's still juicy as ever; paint finish on the head is definitely pretty perfect as the gold and silver paints look spot on and there aren't any trace of misalignment in the overall finish on his head.
The main difference from the first one and hence the reason why it's more or less a renewal version is that Shinkocchou Kuuga uses a different molding approach thus making the figure way more accurate to its real life counterpart and with such one of the key highlights is that this Kuuga has a more buffed up body as old SHFs tend to be a little skinny.
Kuuga definitely has a simple design as I have stated in my old SIC Kuuga Decade Edition review, and thus I won't be saying much but overall, the details are pretty dope; I love how the body is just finished in this really glossy non-metallic vibrant red, it definitely pops out and the fact that it's not metallic paint saves me the worry of retarded fading in the long run. The gold trims all over his body also compliment the reds very well and I just love how this turned out as he feels like a mini-RAH already at this point. The "runes" or whatever they might be on his suit are also very carefully molded in and they are definitely a big plus on Kuuga's overall package. The matte finish with the black on the rest of his suit also compliment the entirety of the figure's look.
If there is one gripe I have on Shinkocchou Kuuga, it's definitely the inconsistencies in red, now, I may just be color blind or so but to me the reds on his body, the forearm guards and the hand pads should have had consistency in terms in the shade of red but it is clearly obvious in this figure that they are of different reds. The forearm guards definitely make the biggest difference as it is in metallic red and I really feel that this red will fade soon enough.
Additional bummer is that for a figure that's just a few months old (as of this review's writing that is), signs of fading on the hand pad is already showing on my end as a portion of the default left fist's hand pad had already turned a bit pinkish on mine.
Going to the Arcle (the belt), there's a ridiculously amount of attention to detail given on the belt as it really is highly detailed and that the central piece of the belt also uses a somewhat same gimmick that's used for his eyes. There are no paint misses on the tiny details on my piece and this has truly has a stunning finish to it.
As for size comparison, here is Shinkocchou Kuuga standing next to SHF Shocker Combatman and SHF Shinkocchou Kabuto; I'd say the scaling is pretty neat with Kuuga technically having the same height with Kabuto and that Shocker Combatman is still ridiculously tall.
| Accessories: |
Shinkocchou Kuuga's accessory count comes in just hand sets as he is, after all, a meelee rider. Alternate hands comes in a pair of "Chou Henshin" hands, two variants of open hands and a special right thumbs up hand.
| Articulation Points: |
Kuuga's head does have quite the great movement as both his upward and downward bend at the neck certainly are quite deliciously satisfying. The head can also rotate on a full 360 degrees and can tilt to a really good degree as well.
Going to the arms, Kuuga features a full rotation and a perfect sideways raise thanks to the shoulder joints. You can rotate his arms via the bicep swivel and bend the arms via his doubled hinged elbows; additionally the forearms can be rotated as there seems to be a swivel at his forearm guards. Thankfully on Kuuga's part, his hands is back to the regular SHF hands meaning it uses the good wrist joints unlike that of what''s used with Kabuto.
Ab section bends inward and outward to quite a good range I believe outward movement does move slightly better. You can also do a minor rotation from the ab section as well as quite a decent amount of body tilting.
And since the ab rotation is quite limited, you can fully make use of Kuuga's waist joint to rotate his body!
Finally going to the lower body section, Kuuga can kick(raise up his leg) up to a decent 90 degrees while sideways split does only allow up until around 45 degrees. Kuuga also have thigh swivels which helps in recreating a lot of his iconic poses. The double hinged knee joints also provide a satisfying bend for his legs (not as satisfying as the elbow bend though). Lastly the feet does move in the ankle joints while having that toe joint to allow you some tip toe poses; the ankles do work like the usual with other rider figuarts though tipping Kuuga's foot does feel more limited compared to others as it collides with his ankle bands.
| Poseability: |
Given that the accessories are just alternate hands and the fact that Mighty Form fight with his fists and feet alone, it's pretty much a given that you can only do so much as to have him do iconic poses, badass stands (lol) and a few kicks and punches here and there.
Some of Kuuga's joints might take a while to get used but his frame definitely does boast of a wide variety when it comes to posing as you can perfectly recreate some of Kuuga's most noticeable battle stances as such as his preparation for his mighty kick, the mighty kick itself and even his trademark landing pose! The frame is definitely almost, if not, perfect for the brawler type as it IS more than capable of doing simple action poses to very dynamic ones.
And as usually do with weaponless characters, I only take a few shots since I usually do the same pose with most of them anyway, so yeah, here are some bonus photos with Kuuga beating up the usual cannon fodder in my Rider and Cure reviews. XD
| Final Thoughts: |
Much like Kabuto, the SHF Shinkocchou Seihou release of Kuuga's Mighty Form definitely shows how much Tamashii Nations have improved over the years from when the S.H.Figuarts line started. The old Kuuga can not possibly compare to how great and superior this version is. Again, as I've said in the details section, the Shinkocchou releases feel as if they're mini RAHs and they definitely give that oh so satisfying feel to me so yeah, definitely another highly recommended Figuarts to pick up if you're a fan of the series or just Kamen Rider in general. Kuuga does have some minor flaws but it is also a fact that this is currently THE BEST screen accurate 1/12 scale rendition of the Rider.
Shinkocchou Kuuga is, once again, another pre-order of mine from the chou awesome folks at Onegai Onii-chan!
I give Kuuga a 4.5 out of 5.
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