Indeed they are. You get a regular old figure that you can put diecast (yes you heard me right) armor pieces on, and depending on the character, some plastic ones. The heads are tiny mostly to help the helmets snap on better. They're really cool figures and are actually the line that led to figuarts. They have really nice articulation which got better as the line went on, some nice detail work on both the figure and accessories, and they're just all around fun to play with. Definitely worth the money, especially on Mandarake since they start at about 600 yen.

I didn't know that they had diecast armour. That's pretty neat. Might be worth looking into since it seems to be one of only two ways to get a decent Femme/Siren, and I've heard her Figma is very fragile.

They're also a cheap way to get high priced exclusive like Psyga, or even riders that haven't had an SHF release yet such as Orga. There's also ones of the three Space Sheriffs as well as one of Garo.

That's the line that Ryan & Den-O were talking about aswell. But as XW1n5t0nX said, some have diecast armor & the line is pretty dang good especially on Manderake, hell even Plamoya, which is a site that has F**KING RIDICULOUS prices for ANY of the older Kamen Rider or more recent exclusive Kamen Rider stuff sells Souchaku Henshin items for a decent price *well what's considered decent on their site anyways :lol*.

The thing about Souchaku's is they are old. And a bit more prone to breakage on occasion. The armor is nice but the paint is easily chipped off, The proportions of the bodies without the armor is laughable at best (especially the teeny tiny human heads under the helmets). And they aren't as articulate or as versatile as SHF's. If your're looking for bargain bin figures in the $3-10 range and don't mind the quality issues then they're fine. But I don't find them to be a comparable alternative to SH Figuarts.

Hey, who here likes amateur toy photography? I DO!

Decided to have some fun posing my Arms Changes in front of an appropriatly configured Sengoku Driver. Tried to get shots with the Lock Seeds lit up, but it proved too hard to trigger them and line up a good shot before they finished.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ro737/Gaim.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o737/Baron.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...737/Ryugen.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...7/Zangetsu.jpg

I think they turned out pretty well for someone lacking a lightbox. I really like the way the flash caught Zangetsu`s visor piece.

I'll admit they have their flaws, but honestly I think they're good to great substitutes, but only if you can't afford the figuart version (i.e. Psyga, Gai, the Space Sherrifs, Garo), or if that rider does not have a SHF yet (i.e. Orga, Glaive). But that reason aside, they're still some cool figures and if you're okay with losing some articulation and details, go for them.

Anyways here's some pictures of SHF Cyclone Joker. I would have more, but the hands are dicks and I'm not taking them off again just for a pose I'm only doing for a picture.

http://i59.tinypic.com/10nzzn4.jpg
http://i61.tinypic.com/wrm8mq.jpg

Boy, I can't wait until my SHF Cyclone Joker and his dick hands arrives. It's in the mail.

I mostly made this post to say 'dick hands'

That's like the guys over at Super Hero Time podcast and saying "train dick".