Sunday, August 11, 2013
Review: S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Beast
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Bandai |
| Origin Series: | Kamen Rider Wizard |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 15cm tall |
| Original Price: | 3,675 Yen |
| Packaging: |
Though I've said I won't be starting any Wizard stuff until I review Flame Style, a request is a request, so, here we go with the blog's first Rider SHF review! Anyway, Beast's box is well designed, it's covered in dark gold and the window is styled to shape like Beast's sigil and there's also his transformation ring beside a product shot of Beast inserting a ring on his ring hand.
The sides are pretty much plain, a small window on the left side of the box and a plain text with the ring design again on the right; at the back, we get the usual product shots along with the features such as his signature hands when he's consumed enough mana as well as his accessories. As usual, enough of the boring package and open this guy to get to the main dish!
| Details: |
Now, first of all, I think that between Beast and Wizard Flame Style, Beast came out to be the better product in the actual figure since generally, Beast has the better proportions and he has a neck.
Starting off with the head, Beast's "lion-like" head design is well sculpted along with his mouth; what's good to note is that he's also coated in rich metallic gold that's very accurate to the suit colors and his eyes are that of the usual compound eyes we see in the S.I.C. line.
Going on the body, I love the fact that even if some parts of the suit are all black, the details are still heavily emphasized and the mixture with the gold parts really blend well; pretty surprised that are even details I didn't even notice at the show like the gold belt-like design on the back of his torso.
Going to his arms, the lion shoulder pad looks really nice while the black part of his suit features folds in them making it look more realistic, a definitely welcomed detail for that. His wrist bands have very fine sculpting details on them as well and lastly his rings have some bit of detailing on them as well.
Now for the best part, fans of the series should know how intricate the belt design is, and SHF pretty much deals with it quite nicely, the lion head is heavily detailed and even the "doors" have some really delicious details on them as well. His ring stash is also well done as each ring have unique colors on them though they are less detailed than that of the rings in his hands.
They also didn't miss on the gold trims on beast's suit, and as for his legs, the ankle bands are very well made too. Again, just a really decent mold and paint application.
| Accessories: |
Beast comes with a chunk load of hands which is very nice as you have a ton of options. Though as accessory counts, he only comes with his Dice Saber along with all 6 variants of the dice count and an extended blade as well as a mayonaise (the perfect accessory for Nitoh lol). Despite the vast number of hands, I do wish that bandai could've at least included one of the beast mantles instead of packing all of them into 1 exclusive set. :/
Anyway, the dice saber's dice count can easily be replaced by removing the roulette and then pulling out the dice box sideways. XD
| Articulation Points: |
Starting off with the head, Beast has a very good range for looking upwards but downwards is a bit limited when looking towards the sides as his head is hindered by the collar of the suit.
Torso is split into two parts, one on the upper part of the abdomen while the other on the waist, I think both are ball jointed and the upper part really have a good flexibility on it as well. You can also turn each point on 2 separate ways but it would look weird though. XD
Going to the arms, his shoulders use a mixture of ball and hinge joints but this does give him an almost free movement, you can swing his arms on a 360 degree forward/backward with no problem and the hinge allows you to swing the arms sideways to a decent range of a bit more than 90 degrees. Beast also has a bicep swivel and his elbows are double jointed hinges so the bending power is really really nice.
His hip joints are on ball joints but like a majority of the SHF frames, there's a hinge which allows you to pull down his legs that allows you to widen the range of kicking forward.
The ball joints does allow beast to split quite nicely. His knees are double jointed hinges as well while the ankles are made up of a hinge which allows swivel points on its connectors.
| Poseability: |
Thanks to his design, Beast enjoys an almost free movement and thus, allowing one to maximize his joints. Beast is very capable of doing dynamic poses and the Dice Saber really does add to the already vast range of poses you can pull off.
He can pretty much do all of his iconic poses and I really love the "thanks for the food" gesture. Beast can easily do his Rider Kick as well and again, the Mayonaise is a fun little accessory but I just took one shot of it.
Even without the Dice Saber, Beast can really a lot of poses and you can even do a pseudo Mahou Shoujo Beast if you want to but his frame doesn't allow that complete girly pose (LOL).
I really had fun with Beast and even made a Saber Strike shot using something from figma Irisviel. Although since he's mantleless, expect a redux of that shot when I get my mantle set and have it ready for review. XD
And of course, he really goes well when displayed with his eternal rival, Wizard. Owning both just makes him even more enjoyable than he already is.
| Final Thoughts: |
Again, I really think Beast came out the better between him and Flame Style, proportions aside, Beast has an absolutely great detail with him as well as a really wonderful and almost unhindered range of poses. Definitely recommend Beast for the series fans and for SHF collectors as well!
Finally, I got my SHF Beast from my usual supplier, omniclone. :D
Mayonaise lover Beast gets a munchful 4.5 out of 5.
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