SHF Calibur looks great! But, meh. I'll pass for likely reissue of SHF Evol. I'll just buy the RKF and paint it if I want Calibur.

So that's actually... extremely interesting, because the first P-Bandai exclusive not being Espada possibly means that he'll be retail. Retail releases are revealed after Premium Bandai due to how the gap between announcement and release goes so I genuinely think this is possible.

Or they could just be doing Calibur first because fuck it. Who knows!

Quite possible, and I do hope he is since the trio being retail seems like an incentive to do, but then again I would've said the same about Zero-One and the AIMs crew.

Something I didn't notice on Saber and Blades but it's very obvious on Calibur is that the holsters on the side of his belt are completely unpainted.

The red that's supposed to be there blends in for the swordriver but has always stood out on him.

If you're talking about the side holster that all the Build figuarts come with then the bottles do not fit in the holster. I wanna say that not since Kamen Rider Drive figuarts have form change devices been attachable and since Ghost figuarts have form change devices been included as accessories.

Example: Kamen Rider Drive figuart came with his extra shift cars and could be attached and reattched.

Kamen Rider Spectre figuart came with extra eyecons as a bonus.

If you're talking about the side holster that all the Build figuarts come with then the bottles do not fit in the holster. I wanna say that not since Kamen Rider Drive figuarts have form change devices been attachable and since Ghost figuarts have form change devices been included as accessories.

Example: Kamen Rider Drive figuart came with his extra shift cars and could be attached and reattched.

Kamen Rider Spectre figuart came with extra eyecons as a bonus.

Now that you mention it, yeah the holsters for Saber and Blades are unpainted as well!

What on Earth, Bandai?

Well that kind of sucks but I can live with it. Thanks for the heads up!

What do we think about a Kenzan and Buster double pack? When was the last time there was a Figuarts double pack like that?

...you're talking about the ones on the belts? Because I have the Best Selection Build, and you can put the bottles in the holsters, just like with the Type Wild Drive I own.

I think the last one was... Gaim Pine and Baron Mango.

Which is very descriptive of what they do (did?) two-packs for -- minor non-upgrade forms that probably wouldn't see release otherwise. The most major one I can think of is Den-O Rod & Dragon; but Buster and Kenzan are 100% just being released as normal single-packed exclusives.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if they included alternate parts to form Buster Jackun-to-Domamenoki and Kenzan Kobuta 3 Kyodai with all the parts swapping Figuarts has done recently.

Highly unlikely, but just saying.

Wait, wait; tell a lie -- there's been a few others, though they're perhaps even MORE telling.

Ex-Aid, Brave and Snipe were a 3-pack... as a limited first release thing before they were all released individually at retail later. Ex-Aid Mighty Brothers XX, which... I probably don't have to explain. Amazons: The Last Judgement, which were very minor recolour rereleases; and the Hokuto Crows, the first Figuarts ZERO releases in ever.


Basically, they do sometimes do multi-packs occasionally; but extremely sparingly and for instances that are either very minor or, well, Mighty Brothers XX.

It would have been a jerk move to release Mighty Brothers XX as separate releases.

EDIT: Yeah, looking at the SHF and RKF of Calibur again, I'm more than happy enough to paint the RKF.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Em0vpOvV...pg&name=medium
https://bandai-a.akamaihd.net/bc/img...00151328_4.jpg

Oh wow, he looks great! Definitely gonna have to be picky with which Saber Rider I get.

Oh yes for sure if we're talking about the driver itself then yes the bottles can be swapped and used with the weapons.

I thought he was referring to the side holster that I just realized figuarts Evolt doesn't have...I own him but recently boxed a few of my figuarts back up and didn't have readily available to look at lol.

Credit to tokunation for the photos I attached as examples of the side holster.

Yeah, those. At least on Base Build, you can actually put the bottles in those things.

Wish I could test it out but my two Build SHFs are RabbitRabbit, who has a Fullfullbottle; and Cross-Z Great, who has an Evol bottle

I tried testing it out and couldn't get the bottles to fit in any of my Build figuarts that have the side holster and the instructions make no mention of it either.

Iunno, I did it earlier just to double check. Took a bit of turning, since the bottles are small, but they slid in nice and neatly. I'd take a picture, but I don't have a good camera.

Ok, I tried it again and they do indeed fit in the holster. The mistake I was making was thinking the bottles are supposed to slide in but instead they clamp in place. The other downside is my regular Build took a fall and his tank antenna broke off and I can't find it...

https://i.imgur.com/LA00Hgj.jpg

SHF Metal Build. The bottles technically fit in neatly but they don't stay in. There's no lip or anything for them to slide in and stay. I used a tiny bit of poster putty here to get them to stay in.

Also took this just for fun:
https://i.imgur.com/LN3AL8K.jpg

History of Figuarts. Starting with Souchaku Henshin Kabuto (2006), SH Figuarts Kabuto (2008), SHF Shinkocchou Seihou Kabuto (2014), and a Figure-Rise Standard Kabuto Model Kit (2019).

Beautiful and yeah I was just messing with my Rabbit Rabbit and Metal Build figuarts too trying to get the bottles in but they won't stay in place. I won't bother with my remaining Build figuarts.

Didn't realize how bulky that figure-rise Kabuto was compared to the Shinkocchou Seihou Kabuto but I actually like and feel the figure-rise is proportioned better. It's making the Shinkocchou Seihou Kabuto show it's age in a bad way imo.

I was actually wondering, like...

Kabuto by now is 6 years old. Are we soon approaching the point we're going to get Seihou Seihou Kabuto?

Yeah the SS has always look off to me and its hard to put my finger on it. Seeing the Figure-rise kit right next to it really makes it clear.

It is a combination of short arms, weird shoulder pad design, and a small head in more rounded shape. The FRS definitely looks best in my opinion.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ka..._Episode_2.png

The weird wrists that they were experimenting with at the time definitely didn't help it, either. SS Kabuto is the one Figuart I've owned for the longest, by far, and I always thought it was super weird.

The standard for Figuarts back then was still SUPER low, so as amazing as SS Kabuto seemed at the time, it was bound to show its age eventually.

That one in ShiShiLeo's photo is the Seihou Kabuto but if you're asking will there be an update of that one I doubt it. Even though it's clear that an update is needed badly I'd rather see the remaining Heisei riders get the Seihou treatment that haven't such as Faiz, Fourze, Blade and Ryuki. In that exact order for me lol...Gaim is starting to look a bit flawed and although I don't have a problem with Ghost I feel his renewal could benefit from technology and engineering we now have with figuarts.

Yeah the wrists are a weak spot. It surprisingly limits the expressiveness. I will say that literally every other hand that isn't a closed fist looks much much better on the SS.

Also something funny about these figures is their weight decreases from left to right. The old Souchaku Henshin figure is made of so such diecast parts that it really feels hefty.

Was he the first Shinkocchou Seihou made because Hibiki, Agito, Decade and Kuuga seem to be good molds? I only own Kuuga and now the ZI-o version of Decade so I can't speak on the others.

Yes, Kabuto was the first; followed swiftly by Hibiki, Kuuga, Agito and Decade. They were initially following the original release order in SHF, and a few of the Kabuto SHFs including Tendou himself infamously have some oddities like the system used for the hands.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/0VXAP4kl.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/2CszZJfl.jpg[/IMG]

Looks like Kamen Rider Calibur will be a Premium Bandai exclusive. (He was up on the site as of a couple of days ago.)

Not exactly SHF but... any thought on this "Totally not a Kamen Rider?" I think he looks kinda cool. Might pick one up if reviews turn out good.

Yeah we've totally just reached the point where other countries can do Seihou SHF engineering, huh? Kind of awesome! I would like for Bandai to have some competition to make them do better!

Thanks for the link, by the by! A friend sent me an image of this the other day and we both couldn't figure out where it was from. 'Armor Hero Stallion', it turns out, is the main hero of Armor Hero Hunter; the 6th and final entry in a Chinese-original Tokusatsu series called, uh, Armor Hero. Might just have to look more into this tonight...

He looks pretty cool! But I wouldn't pay 70$ for a "who?" character. 50$ maybe. Hopefully it's just the BBTS mark-up.

Wait, it's from an actual series? Shoot, I'm gonna have to look into that later.

This makes me think, I'd really love for there be high-end figures of Legend Heroes characters. Been really enjoying what little I've seen of that show so far.

Maaan, the amount of stuff I'd love for there to be high-end toys of. I'm amazed that Nintendo hasn't commissioned some kind of Marvel Legends-esque line; they'd be rolling in money instantly. Uh, even more money

Oh god yes. I've been wanting either SHF or Figma to do a Captain Falcon figure for ages. And that's not even getting into all the other characters they could do from Smash alone.

Main thing I've wanted for forever now is Daisy. It amazes me that SHF done a Mario line but didn't get to Peach and her (probably fairly easy) Daisy retool? And how is there still no OoT or BotW Link???

I'm very lucky at least that Figma done the two I'd want the most; Lucina and Samus.

Armor Hero has some of the best designs I've seen in Tokusatsu EVER.