I totally don't understand your distaste, Goggle. This is a pretty damn solid figure in my opinion. And as far as articulation goes, I personally didn't run into many problems with his the neck or ankles. In fact, I was actually thoroughly surprised at the range of motion in his shoulders once I knew what I was doing. I like him way more than I did Type Speed last year at least. He could use a couple more pairs of hands and maybe an Eyecon or two, though.

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psqcmhq5v4.jpg
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psx7shib9b.jpg
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psojdalfzn.jpg

OOMEDAMA!

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psmw2apl4s.jpg

Also, did you guys know that his face-plate and the orange lines on his armor are florescent? I don't have a proper Blacklight to show it off myself, but I used a 10th Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver (the one with the UV tip) on it, and the light-up parts of the suit actually glow! So that alone adds a few points in my book.

I got my SHF Ghost in the mail today and I found the figure to be a disappointment. I feel like it could be much better. Detail wise, he looks great. He feels and looks like the suit from the show. However I really don't like the articulation on the figure. It's hard to get any movement around the ab area and his legs feel really stiff. The right leg on my figure even pop off when I try to do a pose with him. I would recommend picking up SHF Ghost at a discount price.

You don't really need to be able to read Japanese. Most of the subtext just explains how the articulation works. There's an overall blurb at the end with the rating, but that's not too important in understanding it.

I will agree with you on a lot of your points. But at the same time, the suit design is really what gets in the way more than anything. You and others are saying "why bother" but they're not doing anything different. Removing articulation would be extra work as they're using wrist and ankle joints that are pretty much the same across the line.

This is true, as several of you have brought this up, but just how critical are you expecting him or other reviewers to be? I look at a ton of his reviews as well as other reviewers and opinion is generally the same. I feel like this shows consistency of the production and quality of the SHF line in general.

I feel like they've done the best they could using such a clunky suit design without compromising accuracy. It takes a bit of effort, but you can still get some great poses out of him.

I will say this though, the waist and ab joints on mine were REALLY tight. I have fixed that problem and he feels like a much better figure. The restrictions are in the design of the figure here and have nothing to do with the parka. In that respect, I must agree that they've gone a bit backwards here, but I also attribute this to the design of the character/suit.

Everything that should be there is there. And they nailed the look.
Outside of the way they designed the waist and ab joints, which I haven't seen before and was a pain to take apart, I don't have too many complaints on Ghost.

Worst SHF award still goes to Wizard Flame. There is no excuse for that waist/belt issue. Objectively the worst Rider mold is still OOO. I love those, but those are the prime example of sacrificing articulation for aesthetic.

Assuming they ever happen, Shinkocchou Seihou OOO will be glorious, as will Wizard Flame Style. I don't expect we'll even see the latter teased for years, but I'm looking forward to that day. (I'm really enjoying imagining an SS OOO.)

If they ever do SS Wizard, I'll be very curious as to whether they'll attempt to maintain any degree of compatibility with any of Wizard's existing accessories, principally the effects set. I'm guessing a solid no on the robe parts. I don't believe I'll be all that disappointed.

I have a question, though. Does Yurusen's head actually move? I've been trying to see if there's a swivel there, but I don't want to break it. I'm guessing circle on top is a peg that runs through and the whole thing is sort of stuck in place by the paintwork, but I do wonder if anyone has gotten that freed up without twisting her noggin right off.

I don't think so. I see your logic though. But I'd also rather not break it.

Been messing around with Ghost this evening, and while he's not terrible or anything, he is a disappointment. His articulation is just so hindered by the jacket, but I don't really know what they could have done to fix it. It's just that the nature of this suit design is inevitably going to lead to a more restricted figure. I think part of the problem too is that he's coming after such fantastic figures as the Gaim, Drive, and SS lines. When compared to how great many of those are, Ghost's flaws are exacerbated in comparison.

Despite all of that though the sculpt is absolutely amazing. The jacket detailing is great and the paint job is essentially perfect, the Eyecon is so small but flawlessly painted, at least on mine. The head is the real standout though, that translucent orange for the face and all the detailing underneath that just looks so great.

I wish Ghost was overall better than he is because I really do love this suit design, and the sculpt on this is an excellent representation of it. Unfortunately as a figure he just doesn't hold up to the recent standards Figuarts have been setting. Still though, even with his limited articulation, at least he looks damn good in whatever pose you do manage to get him in.

Finally, someone who gets it. But I will say again that the only bits that truly get in the way are the shoulders and hood. The ab crunch would be just as poor even without the jacket because of the way its engineered. He bends backwards fine, but has almost no forward crunch.

Even Gaim and Drive have that issue.

I seriously think Ghost has more articulation than Type Speed, though. Are people forgetting how limited that figure's shoulders, waist, and elbows were?