Got the payment request in from HLJ for "my" W.

Sweet, now I just need his actual owner to pay up so I can ship and get my Brave stuff.

No invoice for me from AmiAmi yet since I'm still waiting on SHF Tony & Transformers dropping next week. On the bright side, I'll get to tinker with Darkraider & SS Gatack this weekend!

God I can't believe I missed out on W. I've only been talking about a renewel since... before renewels were even a thing I wanted a redo.

Luckily it sold out so fast, Bandai will have to do a second run.

Wow that's terrible just when you need money to pay for a preorder that sold out in 1 minute.

Wow, that was fast. HLJ took the payment and shipped it out only a couple of hours later. Should get here next week. I'm hyped.

I just got notification that my W shipped !

Hopefully that means all of ours' is too!

I still need to get Ryugen.

Also, does anyone know the direct link to BBTS' listing for the W Renewal? I can't seem to find it on their site at all. The only thing that comes up when I do a search is the old one.

Man, I haven't done any KR pictures in a while. Maybe I should do some this week.

It's listed as discontinued so you'll have to tick the box that lets you see that.

Opened up my latest Figuarts. Random thoughts:

- Darkraider feels (understandably, I guess?) lankier and less massive than Dragranzer, but is still impressive for a transforming bike. The most appreciated accessories are the new cape extenders so Knight Survive can still rock his cape while riding. I had a lot of trouble getting the cape pieces plugged into his back securely (look, people who say "you just need to push it in" or whatever - I fucking tried that for as long as I've had the damn thing and only one popped in; for whatever reason, I couldn't get both of them to pop in for the life of me. If you want to try because it's so fucking easy, you're more then welcome to drive to my house and do it yourself), so these are a godsend because they just pop into his back with no issues at all, and the cape pieces themselves slide right into those little extenders with no effort. Those tiny little fucking pieces, for me, are almost worth picking Darkraider up just so I can own a Knight Survive and not worry about one of the cape pieces randomly falling out if the shelf its own so much as jiggles.
- Gold Drive's "just" a redeco, but as pretty as I hoped it'd be. Yeah it could've come with more accessories (even if they wouldn't been for Drive himself instead of Gold), but at least it's still a gorgeous figure.
- Machine Decader is one of the last few bikes I've been looking for. Not much to write home about, but for what it is, it's a nice, sleek bike. I wish the front wheel could turn a bit more though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psynr6mtn8.jpg

- Renewal Gatack is interesting. On appearances, like with Kabuto Renewal, it's a huge leap forward from the original. Ditching the lanky build is a major improvement, and thankfully they didn't skimp on accessories. I also hadn't realized just how different the suit would be compared to original, with so many new or different details the second time around (the silver bits on the lower legs & forearms, the chest, additional paint aps on the palms). Functionally, it's about even, with the original's neck at least able to move freely (maybe it's just mine, but there isn't much posability in the head/neck area). I still don't think the original Gatack is a bad figure, so if you don't have the money to upgrade (especially if the price on this guy does jump up, though only a handful of recent TWEs have shot up significantly lately and Gatack's at least getting a re-release this month so additional stock will be out there), it's still a nice option to have on its own. That said, the new Gatack still looks much better on a shelf with other toku SHFs, so back in the box the original goes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psxrxcalbe.jpg

That Gatack looks sweet. Any idea where I'd be able to order the re-release?

We have our first little teaser image for the Ex-Aid SHF which will debut at the Tamashii Nations Event in two days:

http://i.imgur.com/QG941xH.jpg

And I already don’t like it. The eyes look terrible, way too big and not the right shape. I hope this is only a visual illusion created by this specific angle or something.

I'm thinking this will be the first main Rider new release I've skipped since I started collecting.

I've been there before, never purchased a single Drive or Ghost SHF.

I might buy Drive Type Speed if I’m given the opportunity again, but Ghost can go f* itself forever. No way I'm ever paying money for one of those.

I was mostly feeling completionist as far as main riders go. I just can't muster any enthusiasm this time out. I'm not a fan of the design and the SHF manages to make it look worse, at least in the pic. That's $50 I can dump into Hi-Metal R or something.

That's exactly the same reasoning I had for skipping Drive and Ghost and it's the smart thing to do honestly. Why pay this much money for something you don't like if you could use it for something better instead?

Being a completionist is too expensive IMO, even if you buy only main Riders.

Lesson learned, even if I was a bit slow in getting it.

I'm literally only missing Blade (and Ex Aid) for SHFA main riders, lol.

Honestly, I might skip this if it indeed looks this bad. Eyes look derpy, the lvl back head/face looks too small (simply going on the hair however), and the chest looks awful. Honestly, I'd be content with my LVUR figure.

Too small? It looks right to me, since the actual suits deliberately reduce the backpack's profile compared to the LVUR. It looks like the SHF head and collar proportions are adjusted so his head/neck will have some motion. The buttons on the chest emblem look drastically better than the LVUR. I can't quite tell in this picture whether it picks up the missing head paint, but I assume it will.

If you're not interested in the design, passing on it makes perfect sense. Otherwise, it may be a good idea to wait for official pictures before writing this figure off. Gaim and Drive were fantastic SHF releases, so I have relatively high hopes for Decade. (Ghost wasn't up to that standard due to the jacket, but I don't see a similar design hurdle for Ex-Aid. Snipe, on the other hand...)

Also, I'm so excited for Tamashii Nations! I hope they'll preview Shinkocchou Seihou OOO, Kiva, or Wizard. (I know we're still waiting on the DiEnd they previewed.)

Both my Drive and Gaim had issues. While my Ghost was much more solid.

I'll wait for more images of Ex-Aid, but I'm sorry, those buttons are horrible. They looks so cheaply painted on. But, Tamashii has been dropping the ball in the paint department with SHMA, so why not move that over to SHFA?

I'm excited as well. And why I would welcome and buy any of those potential releases you mentioned, but I think chances that either Faiz or Ryuki are next are a bit higher. They seem to be working in a clear line, with the exception of Hibiki who was brand new every Shinkocchou Seihou was released in chronological order of the figures first release, from oldest to newest. At least that's what I've been told.

Yeah I wouldn’t even joke about that sorta thing when all we have is a tiny picture. And I don’t think the buttons look bad either, it's hard to tell honestly. I reserve final judgment until I’ve seen the official pictures as always.

They are, which would make OOO next.

But wasn’t Faiz released before OOO? As far as I know Faiz was first released in September 2010, OOO came out in February 2011.

It's kinda hard to find sources on this stuff but I found two separate ones, HLJ's listings and the Wiki from TVNihon.

I can't prove either of them though.

Looking into it, yeah you're correct. Faiz would be next, then OOO. Weird, for some reason I've always thought it was the other way around.

The silver fingertips will finally have their moment when Faiz gets his SS release!

Watch them forget that detail :lolol

Um... how can you tell? The image is like the size of my thumb.

Since I just finished Ryuki I really hope he gets rereleased because his aftermarket prices are outrageous. Also, I thought Ex-Aid was the budget figure, that's not a good sign. Ex-Aid is just starting and they're already announcing the figuart? Hopefully they don't rush it but it looks like they are. Which is sad since I was looking forward to it.

I don't get why people are complaning about the ex-aid figuart because when I hold that picture and a picture of the suit side by side he seems to be pretty spot on. The eyes probebly look weird because of the angle its at and sadly that is accurate. And most of all its just a tiny little picture that doesn't show much.

They're hardly rushing it. The current Rider normally gets an announcement at the show, preorders open up in January, and release in April/May. That's how it's been since Gaim at least.

And remember, Bandai starts working on the toys before the writers start coming up with the show.

My key problem. My god, those eyes look awful. Yeah, angle and whatever, but still, it's a very unflattering angle if they managed to make the eyes look worse than they already are...

Let's hope the "WHERE'S KIVA?!?" can finally be put to rest this time around.


Although knowing Bandai, they'll probably end up announcing Kamen Rider Alpha (as in the Faiz stageshow Rider) and Ouja Blank Form or something :rolleyes

Fingers crossed for Den-O's Plat Form!

Oh, I'm almost positive we'll see that before Kiva.

I'm still waiting on Gaim Banana Arms.

It's so easy to do it's maddening that it hasn't been done yet.

I'm still waiting on Wild Chalice and (fill in Gaim anything).

Banana Arms would be awesome. I wish they'd release the Suika Arms they showed, too. I really wish they'd reissue Kachidoki, though. It's one of only two Gaim SHFs I'm missing.

BBTS has Kachidoki on preorder for arrival this month. It's $55. I don't know why.

Whoa. That's crazy but awesome! Thanks for that! I grabbed one. The info is very much appreciated. Kachidoki is such a great looking form and I wanted to kick myself for sleeping through those preorders.

Right there with you for Suika Arms. I still waiting for Mars Ringo Arms and Baron Ringo Arms. I hope they get release sometime soon in the future.