TFW2005
Hisstank
Thundercats
TokuNation
Toyark
Home
News
Garo
Godzilla
Kamen Rider
Metal Heroes
Power Rangers
Super Sentai
Ultraman
All News Categories
Forum
News & Rumors
Power Rangers
Kamen Rider
Super Sentai
Other Toku Series
Toys and Collectables
Marketplace
Creative
Galleries
Companies
Bandai Japan
Tamashii Nations
Saban Brands
Bandai America
Toei
Characters
Kamen Rider Ghost
Kamen Rider Specter
Kamen Rider Necrom
Mighty Morphin Green Ranger
Dino Charge Red Ranger
Toylines
S.H. Figuarts
S.H. MonsterArts
DX Mecha
Megazords
Legacy
Shows
Kamen Rider Ghost
Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger
Power Rangers Dino Supercharge
Power Rangers Movie 2017
TokuNation.com
>
TokuNation
Integration
User Name
Remember Me?
Password
Rules
Register
Members List
Search
Today's Posts
Mark Forums Read
Thread
:
S.H. Figuarts Ambassador Hell Gallery
View Single Post
06-03-2018, 04:00 PM
#
1
Den-O
Admin
AKA Zordon
Content Director
@DenO_TokuNation
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Lexington, Ky
Posts: 16,328
"Long live Shocker!"
After the defeat of the great
Doctor Shinigami,
Shocker needed a new general to command it's forces in Japan. To destroy the Kamen Riders, Shocker leadership enlists the help of an executive member of their American west coast organization. The deadly and dangerous,
Ambassador Hell!
Capable of assuming a Kaijin form as
Gargaranda,
Hell is a force of pure evil in his humanoid form as well. Utilizing his trademark whip to bind his enemies and rally his forces,
S.H. Figuarts Ambassador Hell
is here to build a new Shocker Army all his own!
Packaging
Ambassador Hell
comes in extremely similar packaging to other Shinkocchou
Seihou-adjacent
releases,
Takeshi Hongo
&
Shocker Combatman.
The plain black boxes are punctuated by nice stock photos of the figure itself, in Hell's case a huge Shocker logo on the front, and a romanization of the character's name on the spine. In this case, Bandai has chosen some bizarre mixture of direct translation and untranslated text. So instead of having "Ambassador Hell" on the box like it properly should, it says "Jigoku Ambassador". The name would be spoken in Japanese this way as though Jigoku/Hell is a surname, so it comes first. But the decision to print the name in this fashion on the box is quite bizarre. His name is indeed recognized as Ambassador Hell.
Main Figure
Alright. So
Showa Kamen Rider
has been having quite the renaissance in the last year or so. A number of new renewals and first time figure releases with more on the way have really gone a long way to giving collector's what they want.
Shinkocchou Seihou Rider's 1
& 2, then there's
Takeshi Hongo,
the Shocker Combatman, the upcoming Gel Shocker Combatman, and the recently released
S.H. Figuarts Ambassador Hell.
Ambassador Hell is a pretty pleasant new addition to the line as it's really the first time we've gotten an iconic villain like this in it. The Combatman has been done a few times before, but we've never gotten Shocker Generals like this.
And while this is indeed a first,
Ambassador Hell
is not without his faults. While the figure gets the overall look down, functionality needs to be on point too. Sadly, problems begin with his
feet.
I'm not entirely sure I've ever dealt with more frustratingly difficult ankle joints. They just don't rotate properly like standard figuarts ankles. So to get the feet posed flatly for action poses will also require you to angle he hips and knees out quite a bit. However, flattening the feet is near impossible anyway. They're so poorly designed that the toe joint is very difficult to get even with the sole of the foot in the first place. They do now provide balance whatsoever. And without balance as a base, the rest of the figure will suffer accordingly. The knees while fine, do look a bit ugly when posed, thanks to the interior joints being solid red for everything, it really breaks up the silver paint on the rest of the body. The hips, share the same basic design as those of Seihou Rider 1 & the Shocker Combatman, so they provide a decent range of motion and keep the sculpt looking appropriate. But because of the way the thighs and waist "diaper" are painted, he looks very awkward. They have plenty of range of movement to them, allowing Hell to even pose in a sort of rider kick. But they do look quite odd.
The waist line features a glorious giant buckle with the
Shocker Eagle
crest, which I love. While awesome, this buckle does keep the lower torso from spinning completely around, though the upper body is a bit more free to move. The sort of
wrinkles
in the upper body as well as the arms and legs, help give the figure a greater sense of realism. In the same way that other recent releases from the Showa era have featured real world details like fabric creases, these help sell the overall design. Thanks in no small part to a complete lack of shoulder armor, Ambassador Hell actually has better arm articulation than many other figures. My one big gripe with the arms is those ugly red joints, but the fact that they work so well makes things good enough for me. The wrists are just a tiny bit limited, but they get the job done.
The biggest deal about this figures is Hell's massive
helmet and face.
This is honestly something I didn't expect to work so well. While it's huge and cumbersome, and not always ideal to pose, you actually can get plenty of movement thanks to a long neck and a decent joint there. Splitting the head open to change faces can be a pain, but overall the effect is worth it. The likeness to actor
Kenji Ushio
is just perfect. Also I kind of like his cape? Rather than going the premium route with a cloth/wired cape like
Seihou Eternal,
or going the disastrous way with a hard plastic hinged cape like with
Brave Level 100,
Ambassador Hell has a
soft rubbery plastic cape
that can move if need be and not look so stiff. If Bandai isn't going to do cloth capes on everyone, then at the VERY least, they should do this.
Accessories
Ambassador Hell is one oddball release. but he comes with a fair amount of accessories:
2 - right hands.
1 of them is open palmed, 1 is an open fist for holding the included weapons. Not much variety. Obviously no reason to expect alternate left hands since he has that permanent hook/claw hand.
2 - extra antennae.
As with
Seihou Rider 1,
these are in case you break or lose the ones that come pre-attached to the helmet. They appear to be red plastic that's been painted gold given the color of the parts sprue they're injection molded on.
1 - Whip (rolled).
It comes apart at the grip so you can insert it up in through the bottom of the fist. It gives the effect of the whip being held in the fist rolled up, and maybe if they'd sprung for the whip to be made from a soft fabric material that would be believable.
1 - Whip (extended).
Comes apart the same way as the other one. Again, the whip part itself just doesn't really look like one. It's a glossy red tube, and doesn't really look believable as a whip. I'm surprised that something more flexible wasn't included.
1 - alternate sneering face.
This is a weird one. Ambassador Hell is quite well known for his crazy facial expressions, and that's mostly due to the way that original Hell actor
Kenji Ushio's
face was squished into that helmet. This face, as well as the standard one, both have a fantastic likeness to the late actor. To use these faces you have to pull apart the two halves of Hell's helmet which is trickier than it looks. I know it's weird probably only to me, but inside the helmet all of the plastic is flesh colored like the faces, and that creeps me the hell out for some reason. There's a dark paint wash applied just around the edges of each face to give them the effect of a shadow from the edge of the helmet.
Not too bad honestly. Given what this figure is, and that they can't just straight up pack Hell in with his monster form Garagaranda, they ticked all the boxes as far as I'm concerned. I'd still have preffered a better whip.
Final Thoughts
S.H. Figuarts Ambassador Hell
is hopefully just the first in a long line of Shocker Kaijin and generals to come. We've seen a number of prototypes shown off at various Tamashii events for the last year like Great Leader, Garagaranda, and Ikadevil. While this figure clearly makes some mistakes in it's design, it does have a charm in a way. I can't say I recommend getting it immediately. But surely once prices drop on the aftermarket you should get it to begin commanding what will hopefully become an ever-growing Shocker Army.
Attached Thumbnails
__________________
Den-O
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Den-O
Find More Posts by Den-O
TokuNation News & Rumors
actor Minori Terada dead at 81
Seihou Gaim Figuarts
Kamen Rider Outsiders Ep5 with a new form for...
Gatchaman in America
Ride Kamens
More New Posts
Kamen Rider Die rewatches Kamen Rider W (and watches Fuuto P.I.)
What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)
SO-DO, SO-DO Chronicle and Shodo Candy Toy Thread
S.H. Figuarts (Toku Related) Thread
Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger Episode 4- "A Voice Calling For A Hero!" Discussion
Kamen Rider Gotchard Episode 28- "Bero Bero Strange! Renge's Homecoming!" Discussion
Sentai King's Sales
Selling to Cover Vet Bills
Blade Raider's Big Fall 2020 Sales Thread
Kamen rider SHF for sale
Current Poll
How Would You Rate This Episode?
Excellent!
Good
Average
OK
Poor...
»
View Poll Results
»
Comment On This Poll
»
This Poll Has 2 Replies
Search Forums
»
Advanced Search
All times are GMT -5. The time now is
01:17 PM
.
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Powered by
vBadvanced
CMPS