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Thread
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S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider TheBee Gallery
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12-23-2016, 12:11 PM
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Den-O
Admin
AKA Zordon
Content Director
@DenO_TokuNation
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Lexington, Ky
Posts: 16,328
Cast Off! Change, Wasp!
We're stepping back onto the path of heaven with another gallery from
Kamen Rider Kabuto!
You may recall that in anticipation of the recently released Shinkocchou Seihou
Kamen Rider Gattack,
we featured a
gallery of the original
figuart of that character. And while Gattack is the true secondary rider of Kabuto, if you aren't familiar with the series you may not have realized yet that he wasn't the 2nd rider to appear! That honor belongs to today's subject,
S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider TheBee!
TheBee's Zecter was worn by multiple users throughout the series.
Arata Kagami
who would later go on to become Kamen Rider Gattack, actually got his first shot at being a rider when he became the 2nd TheBee. After a disgraced
Sou Yaguruma
had the identity stripped from him. And while TheBee never really found a consistent permanent user, it made appearances right up until the final arc of the series and remains a memorable design.
Packaging
As you can see
TheBee
was packaged in the same standard gray scale type box that many releases of the time were. It would be some time before figuats packaging would really get creative so this monotone look can seem pretty generic, and it is. There just wasn't much to figuarts packaging in this era.
Main Figure
Much has been said about the issues which plagued the original line of Kabuto releases, and while TheBee isn't perfect, it isn't stricken with all the same issues either. Kabuto still has the distinction of being one of the most complete S.H. Figuarts lineups ever. Nearly every rider from the show and it's summer film made their debuts aside from the one-note Bright Troopers, Hyper Gattack, and the masked forms of all the riders. But the figures that were produced also had plenty of faults.
Kamen Rider TheBee
was actually the
10th release
in the Kabuto line. While the issues of the first releases in the line weren't resolved by his time, or really at any point, TheBee doesn't suffer much.
The Kabuto riders all feature a pretty similar and basic body. Just like any rider series the suits tend to share common elements especially in shows like Ryuki, Kabuto, Den-O, Gaim, etc. Lots of parts reuse. And maybe that's part of the problem for the original Kabuto line. Most have one glaring flaw, bowed legs. Inexplicably most of them have legs that bow inward near the knee giving them a rather awkward wide open stance when in an upright position. TheBee's bowlegs aren't nearly as pronounced thankfully. The legs themselves are still pretty spindly though and weirdly hyper-extended. I mean the legs appear to be highly hyper extended in the natural straight position so you'll need to play with them a bit to fix that and make him look more natural.
Showing their relation to the
Souchaku Henshin
line, the Kabuto riders also featured a small selection of
die cast
parts. Not only are the feet still the old style diecast, but so are the
hip/thigh
&
shin
panels. But where the legs meet the body we sadly get a pretty ugly breaking up of the sculpted in body lines. The much more modern
Shinkocchou Seihou Kabuto
fixes the hip & leg issues after all these years, but these older releases all carry that trait. Overall this line had some pretty lanky proportions that put many people off from buying them way back when. Now however they enjoy very modest prices for the most part. So it's easy to fill out a display with them.
The upper body is at least painted in a great metallic yellow that's just a shade too dark. Unlike the older Gattack release,
TheBee
seems to have a head that is far more to scale with his body, but the upper body itself is rather bulky in comparison to the rest. The arms are a bit on the small side and the joints stick out and seem just as spindly as with the original Gattack. But ultimately this still feels like a more solid release than that. While it can't execute incredible poses or anything
TheBee
makes full use of the pretty standard joints and cuts given to it at the time. He hasn't aged as poorly as some of his predecessors, but I welcome an
eventual Shinkocchou Seihou
release as well. I mean we just got a
tease of the Hopper Bros
getting the S.S. treatment last month, so anything is possible now.
Accessories
A pretty lite accessory count rounds out this release:
1 - Rider Sting
part. This extended
TheBee Zecter
component can plug onto the open wrist socket where the normal Zecter would be. It's a little bit over sized if you ask me, but it gets the job done. It's also a rather loose fitting part.
2- additional hands.
Which is pretty sad. Even for the time this figure was released, this is just a sad selection. A pair of open hands. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Again this is pretty average for the era this figure was released in, but even years later it's a disappointment.
For it's time, TheBee was a decently solid release. But one can't help but look at it through the lens of today and wish it had come with something more substantial.
Final Thoughts
While
S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider TheBee
isn't due for the renewal treatment at this point, I would gladly take one. As is the original release is a totally serviceable figure especially given how cheaply it can be obtained these days. While not without faults it can fill out a Kabuto display quite nicely. Pick one up on the cheap if you can.
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Last edited by Den-O; 01-04-2017 at
12:53 PM
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