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S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave Hunter Quest Gamer Level 5 Gallery
40 Attachment(s)
"Blade!"
When 1 Player alone couldn't defeat the powered up Bugster, Graphite, it took 4-Player co-op to bring him down! Using the Level 5 Gashat Drago Knight Hunter Z Ex-Aid and his allies were each granted a portion of it's power and a piece of it's armor. In Hiro's case he inherited the power of the Dragon Blade, fitting his knight theme perfectly. In co-op form Brave only gained this piece of the Hunter Gamer powers but would eventually come to master this Gashat's power completely. Now it's time to take a look at how well his Figuart has inherited the Dragon's Blade with our review of S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave Hunter Quest Gamer Level 5! Packaging As with the first web exclusive in this line, Lazer Level 2, Brave features a bright and standout box. With no packaging window as all web exclusives are these days. As with Lazer the colors really pop and I like the character portrait on the front, despite it's rather misleading positioning of the figures arms. More on that later. Main Figure Seeing as this figure features components from two others we've seen previously, Brave Level 2 & Ex-Aid Level 5, you'll notice a lot of my review is very similar. Most of Brave Level 5's body is reused from the Level 2 release. While the right side of the body reuses components from the Level 5 Ex-Aid body. The Level 2 Ex-Aid riders themselves all share a great many number of parts as is. Each suit has it's own unique detailing and colors, but at a basic level they feature the same mold. Sporty type shoes, the bike shorts look, the driver, the chest plate. You see what I mean. This release of Brave is still as lavish as the first. From the Ground up the Ex-Aid type body is pretty solidly built. Though the ankles are still a huge fault for me. They don't have the full range of motion they need for Brave to assume many of the dynamic poses he's known for. You'll find that wide stances are just really really difficult to achieve, which means he's always gonna be a bit off balance. Sadly my Level 5 Brave also appears to have one leg longer than the other making it difficult to get him in a normal standing pose. The knees have a great bend that helps improve some of the articulation. And I would say that the bulkier right leg helps a bit with weight and stability. All that being said, the paint apps for the legs are exquisite. Luckily the white paint apps are so much better this go around. My Level 2 Brave had very spotty QC there. As with previous releases, Gamer Driver is still my favorite thing about the figure. This entire device is extraordinarily detailed for something at this scale. The Driver handle can flip shut. The functionality it features still astounds me. Changes to this release include a new "dummy" Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat, which is removable as you can see in my pictures below. You can insert it as with any other Gashat into the Critical Finish slot on the Gashat Holster. Speaking of there's also what is meant to be the Level 3 DoReMiFa Beat Gashat in the holster. As with Ex-Aid Level 5's Gekitotsu Robots Gashat, DoReMiFa Beat is sparsely detailed and permanently fixed to the holster. Brave's upper body, left arm and head are unchanged. Brave is absolutely breathtaking but his chest detailing is something I still just cannot get over. The paint apps on the outer layer are crisp and clear, but I'm so impressed by the Rider Gauge label within his chest. On the flip side of the torso is the deactivated Level 1 head we've seen before. The left arm still has that pesky issue with the shoulder pad. Every time I try to stretch the arms out it's like rather than sliding out properly the pads just pop off again. Still a minor issue but one that bugs me. Looking up to the head, if you were irked by the lack of a white collar on the Level 2 releases then feel free to be irked again. It's an inconsequential detail to me. It's silver this go around too and that doesn't really bother me. Before we finish up with the main body, Brave's right arm has been replaced by the Level 5 Dragon Gun arm. Surprisingly, or maybe it shouldn't be, this arm isn't impaired at all like it was with Ex-Aid Level 5. With Ex-Aid the bulky shoulder pad was attached directly to the main body via the new chest plate on the torso. With Brave thankfully this pad is just attached to the arm and it really frees up the movement. Sadly the elbow is still neutered, being unable to achieve even a decent 90 degree angle. Exchanging hands on this arm is also a nightmare. The wrist pegs are rather tight on this release and difficult to replace thanks to the dragon claws on the wrist. Just as they were with Ex-Aid Physical shortcomings aside, this release still fills out my display quite well. But the real point of it is the accessories it includes. Accessories 4 - sets of hands. These are identical to those that came with Level 2 Brave. Straight re-packs with no additions or subtractions at all. 7 - "word bubble" effect parts. These clear thin plastic sheets were the big selling point for both Brave & Snipe Level 5. Each replicates an effect a battle action or outcome from the show. Included are:
These world bubbles are really great, and the biggest reason I wanted to buy this figure. However the accessories needed to utilize them are lacking. 4 - effect part holders/arms. Each of the word effect parts can only be used thanks to these. And it's pitiful. The word effects themselves are actually really cool. However, of everything included, there's only 1 small flat clip that can actually hold them. The other 3 parts consist of a couple wrist mounts that are intended to go around a Rider's wrist. But you still need the small elbow shape piece as a go between from the wrist piece to the flat clip. SO it takes 3 of these four parts to use even one word bubble. And those wrist mounts? They're incredibly weak. I used one of them for literally 3 photos in this gallery and there are already stress marks on it. They are very poorly designed and not flexible at all. I wish they'd at least re-packed the Gashacon Sword as well. I borrowed the one from my Level 2 Brave for a few pics. It's just really dumb to include the hands that can hold it, without actually including the weapon they're meant to hold. And while I love the word bubbles, I'm fairly upset at the poor execution for the parts to hold them. Only 1 small clip to hold 1 of 7 parts at a time is disastrous. Final Thoughts I'll give the figure high marks for quality control, and for taking the best parts of two figures and making them work together. But it's hard to excuse the way the effect part accessories were handled. As cool the word bubbles are they simply can't be used very effectively. S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Brave Hunter Quest Gamer Level 5 is a mixed bag of a release. One that I wanted for very specific reasons, sadly reasons that didn't pan out well. If you're a huge fan of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid as I am, then pick this guy up. But if you feel you can live without it, I'd do so. There's every chance in the world that this figure will wind up cheaper down the road. |
21 Attachment(s)
Part 2
- Group Shots - Effect Parts - Gamer Clear! Next time, Snipe Level 5! |
Great review and gallery as always Den-O. The figure looks amazing, but is one of those releases that can be skipped
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An okay suit, but great shots
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The first Brave figure was already excellent so this is a downgrade. Still very nice though
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I love the care that was put into turning several of these into an action sequence. Nevertheless, it stings that this is the early upgrade figure we got for Brave, rather than the delightfully wacky DoReMiFa Beat Gamer.
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Could be nice if he gets really cheap one day
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Great shots Den-O!
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The word bubbles are great, the rest is good... Not really much else for me to say here.
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I've been resistant to Ex-Aid, I'll have to give it another try, since these figures turned out so well.
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I've always wanted to have an Ex-Aid representative on my shelf and while I wanted Gemn Zombie Gamer, I couldn't find him.
Thankfully, Japan Hero Collectibles had him as a raffle prize and I won him so, yay on me! |
I don't even remember this figure getting talked about. Lol! Brave was one of my favorite design from Ex-Aid.
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Always look kinda weird that Brave got an upgrade to give him a duller looking sword, but the added armor always looked pretty good.
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Love the suit, love the accessories. This one is pretty awesome.
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I appreciate Bandai including the extra parts but it's basically a confession that they knew this figure would be an unappealing one.
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The bubble effects are the best part of this set. So good for him and all his counterparts. Love this iteration of the suit as well.
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Hey this is my obligatory comment to enter the giveaway
Hey this is my obligatory comment to enter the giveaway
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looks good, not quite my thing
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He looks very decent. Not much of an upgrade if you already have the base figure. Get it if you like this power-up.
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I'd need to find this one for a good price as it's one of those figures that would feel a bit out of place without the other DragoKnight ones.
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Nice figure
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Hmm, what to say on this figure, the words are nice, but honestly I kind of wish this were in a set with snipe, they look great as a set with their opposite bulk.
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A pretty sensible and neat looking early powerup ended up making what, to me, would be a pretty boring figure release. Especially if you already had Level 2 since they're so darn similar.
But those word bubbles are really neat. Would be cool to have a bunch of those on display. Shame they made that so impossible with the limited number of clips. |
A stable looking Ex-Aid design. I have to say that the word bubbles would be the selling point for me if I wanted to do some weird crossover photography. I'm not much on the base design, but the extra accessories like that would be fun to have around.
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It's a cool, if simple, upgrade to a design I already like. I do prefer his standard level 2 sword more though. It works, but only a little bit.
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I don't know why, but the sword arm just works for me.
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This is definitely the most coherent Hunter form. Brave does rock the extra armor well. Still not something I'm very interested in getting, though.
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The sword looks really dope on brave. It would be really cool if the armor covered both arms and he dual wielded the swords.
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While the Single Component forms are good... I'd rather we had gotten Brave's full dragon version of this form.
Also the Word Bubbles are a cute little effect to add, though admittedly these kinds of effect parts I would not really use. |
Nothing too special about this version, but the word bubbles are spectacular.
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LOVE LOVE LOVE the sound effects!!! When these came out I was hoping more of this would be packed into the accessories, glad to see they made it in.
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i do not like this kind of thing where its just a cash grab - a part set would have been better and included with the lv 5 dragon armor but this i just couldn't do it even if i liked exaid
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The word bubbles pretty much make this release. :D
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I miss old rider motifs and form decisions, all of Ex-Aid's rider forms feel so tacked-on and it makes the series hard to get into.
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Really not sure if this figure was needed versus Bandai making the arms and legs removable and just selling an add on set with the new powered up limbs.
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Ex-aid may have handled upgrades and addons the worse out of any Rider series I've ever seen. It's just stuff thrown on. Not even a colour change or full body armour-up.
Quote:
Actually, scratch that, Gaim and Drive had more elaborate suits and their form changes were just fine. I guess it's just the awful design decisions. |
The figure looks nice, etc. But like...I can't help but feel that this is just a big cash grab. It's really just Brave with a new arm. Do these oddly specific figures really sell that well? I find it hard to believe that there's much of a market for it.
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