I know, but knowing Tamashii it could happen. They renewal Shadow Moon and most people feel like the original was just fine and holds up well.

I looked up G3-X, and it looks a bit dated (to me, at least).
-head looks squished/head crest looks too big
-skinny, odd proportions
-doesn't look as bulky as G3-X was in the show
-Blue isn't deep enough, but that may just be a lighting problem.

Of course, while G3-X could use a renewal, there are more important characters Bandai could do.

I was also curious about this. It'll be interesting to see what is and what isn't branded an SS, especially in the case of figures like the Oni that don't have any SHFs at all. Would they be SS figures or just normal figures using the SS Hibiki base?

skinny body, those shoulder pads and oversized weapon?

I just recieved my Kiva-la today. I was delighted... until I tried to insert her rapier into her right sword hand. All the fingers broke off. I haven't had a QC problem with Figuarts this serious since I got OOO out of the box and his leg immediately broke.

I like my G3-X but I definitely could see them make an upgrade on him if they are doing the others secondary riders. The question is would they Upgrade Gills too?

That sucks big time sorry to hear that happen to your figuart. I had a problem like that with the combat shocker 3 pack that came out a few years back. Took the shocker out and went to put the rod in his hand and the hand snap right off. I think what Bandai does is they used cheaper plastic for figuarts that might not sell well and those who buy the figuart can't tell if it will break or not.

That's a ridiculous theory.
The sad thing is sometimes you'll just get duds. While Tokumonkey's Kiva-la has obvious issues, mine is immaculate so unfortunately it's just luck of the draw. In the case of Kiva-la it's more likely that the pearly white plastic they used isn't quite as durable as the usual matte finish colours.

Really sucks to hear what happened to your figure though Tokumonkey. Having a figure break right out the box is a horrible experience.

As a toy design student, I'm with ZeoRanger here. Bandai, the company, does not decide what plastic is used for a figure. It's mainly the designer, though if they're not sure, an engineer will help them decide what plastic is best for the job. In the case of Figuarts, it's simply whether or not those plastic tolerances are playing nice on your specific copy of the toy. Especially since the way figuarts go is mostly PVC for anime figures and mostly ABS for Riders. I'm sure Bandai just uses/buys that plastic from the same supplier for every figuart they make. So, I don't think there's a ton of variation in what plastic they use. As for Kivaara, is that really the plastic color? because I'd assume that the pearl white is paint, and if it is the plastic, then that'd suck, since those of us who buy Transformers know just how risky that is.

As for Tokumonkey...that really sucks dude, I can't imagine how that could've happened. I've never heard of the fingers breaking off an SHF, ever.

For the guys hunting down the Tamashii Nations event exclusives: It seems like the Web Shop will sell the left-over stock (I can't translate the page properly but there's a date on them) and NY has stock of all the exclusives now.

The webshop is offering them as a lottery, so it won'd be widely available that way again (so, like what happened with last year's exclusives).

NY selling them at those prices kind of surprises me? I was expecting everything to be higher.

EDIT: Eff it, threw in an order for the Dark Flame effects since they've just not shown up on Mandarake (except for one that sold out before I knew it was there) and that's not far off what Mandarake priced that one for anyways. Threw in a Robot Spirits I'd been looking that was on sale while I was there.

Ok maybe your right but there are figuarts out there that have lots of problems like the wizards figuarts not made well. Also many people talk about how bad it was when they got the figuart.

I believe you got a point there about the pearl white since there only two figuarts like that the other being kibaranger.

But in a way I still feel that Bandai used cheaper paint or plastic for some figuarts like wizard compare to the gaim figuarts.

Never heard of quality issues with wizard. Just bad molds, like big feet, big head etc.

Belt fell off a lot and loose when he can't stand up that much it was the first wizard flame wizard.

That was more of a design issue. I think the peg for the belt was either too short or too narrow to hold it in place properly.

Wizard was just a mess of a Figuart and sorely needs a renewal, but it'll take a while to get to him, which is a shame since he has one of the coolest rider designs in recent times. Do we know anything about the designers? Because to go from Wizard to Gaim is such an astounding jump that something big had to have happened.

^^
This is what I was saying the whole time. You can tell that the rider figuarts have improve when Gaim came out and they are much better now. I want a renewal of wizard he got a cool design and love the show.

Am I the only one that finds it odd that the yellow MMPR/ZyuRanger Figuart comes with the axe?
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XPEAAO...49/s-l1600.jpg

It comes with the axe for the combined weapon. Since only Blue, Yellow and Black come with parts for that they all come with pieces that don't belong to them.

Why they split them the way they did is anyone's guess, but that's the reason.

I found it weird that the rest of the MMPR SHFs didn't come with all the variations of the ranger stick

Yeah. Red comes with all of the forms. Yellow only came with the two.

Black, Pink, and Blue as well. I suppose you could reason that their including the parts to make the cannon made it to where they couldn't include both stick modes and a regular Thunder Slinger. But considering Bouken Red had EVERYTHING, it is a little disappointing.

I honestly would've preferred the regular blaster over the Thunder Slinger, though...

Tamashii published a new bunch of pics from the Tamashii Nations event today, including our first clear look at Specter and Yurusen!

http://i.imgur.com/3FZYdn6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/e1gTWvP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/b3V9o9b.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tgJg57L.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/f19jzF3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CQj3F4S.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/EAyntxN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/D0mIISE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zW141yf.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/f72JezC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/HCnKuYo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/fG0kh7c.jpg

Fucking hell Ghost and Specter look amazing.

dat daguva and ultimate kuuga:D
looking at that I realize how old daguva is somehow lacking in a lot of department, especially in the bling, dat nipple rings and earing are missing on the old one:(

Man those all look fantastic. I can't wait to buy all the Ghost Figuarts!

I agree wholeheartedly.

Dat Spectre...

I think I've decided I like Ghost's and Specter's designs enough to at least get their base forms. They really do look great as SHFs.

But I may have to break my usual posing habit of displaying them with their weapons because damn do I just hate Specter's. It looks ridiculous even that small lol.

Man the Ghost stuff looks superb. And Kuuga and Daguva are just utter perfection.

Are those all the pics they released?

I have a "mighty" need for those. Heh.

Seriously though, I must have those. Not only do they look perfect, but getting both at the same time is just awesome. I hope they will be released alongside each other - and soon.

Diend must be next after Decade; I hope they release Daguva & Ultimate Kuuga afterwards.

Today, yes. They released others in the past week from the same display but these are the best ones yet, and the only ones which show Specter and Yurusen in full.

Sadly nothing much from the Gaim, Drive or SIC display, they just reused the ones from their Twitter.

If you want to look for yourself, here's the source: Click

Man, all those Ghost figures look fantastic. Ghost and Specter look perfect, and all of the forms look equally great. This reaffirms that I need, at the very least, Edison and Newton. It really looks like they pulled off Musashi's head off very well and he looks really good, though. Now that I'm looking at Robin though, I feel like the part of the hoodie on the shoulders may restrict articulation some. He definitely doesn't look bad at all, though.

Honestly, I'm kinda surprised at how good the hoods really look on all of them. They look perfect. Now here's to hoping that Ghost Ore and Specter both have raised hoods too...

I'm weirdly excited the most for Kabuto's & Gatack's bikes. I don't even have room to display many bikes, but I love the look of those.

Man. Seeing them up close, the proportions and small details on Ghost are incredible. These figures are better than I could have imagined.

I especially love how well they captured the details on the face part of the helmets. I did not expect them to do that.

I'm only interested in the base forms of Ghost & Specter for now, I really hope they don't skimp on accessories like they did with Drive. Yurusen could be a first order bonus for Ore Ghost, I would be fine with that. But other than that Ghost needs the sword in normal and Naginata-mode. Specter needs his stupid weapon I hate (which seems to be the case) and maybe the Cobra Mobile in both cobra- and mobile-mode.

And they both need raised hoods. I don’t care if it's just clip on and not pegged in, they need it. That’s a real dealbreaker for me, no raised hoods and I’m out.

I don't understand how not including raised hoods would be such a big deal, enough to break the deal on such a great looking figure. That's the point of the base forms; wearing the hood down is what makes those jackets special. Ghost only ever wore his hood up as Ore intentionally in Surprise Future, and never again. So why is it a deal breaking necessity?

Hm. Looking at the Gan Gun Saber in that first pic of Ghost, it...it actually kinda looks like it has a joint in the handle? Which raises the question...I was not expecting the Saber to actually be able to change forms for the Figuarts, especially since the proportions change for all of them, but...hm. Pretty weird. In any case the bottom of the Saber is solid so it's not making a Naginata anytime soon.

Because it is, I want them. If they don't include them, I won't buy the figures.

But if you really want to hear a reason: Because it's super easy to do, they could give collectors another option with displaying the figures (raised hoods are a thing with these - I don’t care how rarely they have them up) and because these figures are way too expensive and collector-oriented to ignore this.

Expensive being the key word – I don’t have a huge income at the moment so I’m much more selective with my purchases. I didn’t buy a single Drive-figure for the same reason.

Fair enough.

While it would be a neat option, I personally would never display the figure like that and can understand why they wouldn't include such a thing. On the flip side though, I suppose I can see why people would be annoyed if it wasn't there at all. I guess I just don't care, either way. >shrug<