[ryan]

The Ride Shooter is the vehicle used by the Riders of Kamen Rider Ryuki to go between the Mirror World and the real world, and here it is, at long last, in Figuarts form.

As with all releases in the SH Figuarts Kamen Rider Ryuki line, Ride Shooter has a detailed sculpt and beautiful paint. It also has a smokey clear canopy, rubber tires (with two different tread styles), free spinning wheels, a control panel with a nice sticker for this display and an opening drawer (for an Advent Card? I don't remember this from the show), retractable belts, and two adjustable kick stands.

This kick stands are completely superfluous, as the bike is very wide and low to the ground in the back, oh, and the rear tire is actually a double tire, and both are quite wide, it needs no help standing upright, unlike the more traditional bikes of other Riders.

The belts are on a soft, flexible rubber, which makes attaching them quite painless, though they're showing signs of staying in the pose I've had them in for a few days. The belt ends feature clear clips that snap over the existing ports on the Ryuki figures and stay in place.

The canopy raises, to about halfway, by itself, then engages some gears that raises the seat and lowers the foot pedals. It all works together quite nicely, and there's a pneumatic-looking cylinder under the seat that is revealed as the seat raises, which creates the illusion of real-life mechanisms. The black square thing on the front of the bike is a lock for the canopy, to keep it closed (I didn't realize during the photo shoot, so it isn't engaged in any of my pictures).

Now, unlike some of the other Kamen Rider bikes I have, Ride Shooter fits its figures perfectly. They sit flush on the seat, can lean against the back and grasp the handlebars WITHOUT wrenching their arms forward as much as possible, which distorts the shoulder joint, unlike certain other Riders must do (W). Because the footrests rotate as the seat rises, a figure can remain in seated position while the seat raises/lowers.

Since I also own the much older DX Ride Shooter release, I want to compare the two, help you decide which you should get. They are, as far as I can tell, completely distinct pieces. The DX is shorter in height, shorter in length, and slightly fatter. The canopy open/seat raising gimmick is spring-loaded, such that you push a button and the canopy flies open with surprising speed, and the seat jump up with enough force to catapult the figure unlucky enough to be seated therein out of said seat and across the table. The DX also contains a significant portion of die-cast metal, which makes it capable of causing blunt force trauma, should such a thing be necessary while it was on hand.

The sculpt of the DX is noticeably different from the Figuarts version in many of the details. I haven't checked, but my money is on the Figuarts version being more show accurate. Finally, the DX isn't quite scaled right to Figuarts figures. They don't quite fit in the seat right, most egregiously their butt hovers above the seat, their knees hit the handlebars while their back is firmly back against the seat. And the belt connections don't work at all with Figuarts. In my opinion, Figuarts Ride Shooter is superior to the DX in every way, and is the preferable toy. Except that the DX can be had for about $25-$35 before shipping, on Mandarake.

As for drawbacks, Ride Shooter was a Tamashii Web Exclusive, it required the additional cost of getting a middleman to get my hands on it. Hopefully the aftermarket price won't be too unreasonable (unlike say, Kamen Rider Gai). Additionally it's significantly larger and heavier than the other Riders' bikes, so it will take up more room on your shelf and cost more to ship.

Despite that, if you have the room and the means, I highly recommend this bike. It's the most unique looking of all Kamen Rider bikes, and has far more action features and gimmicks than any of the others. And hey, if you're completely crazy, you can try to acquire one for each of your Kamen Rider Ryuki figures.