[Den-O]

The cool headed rider of justice is on the scene this week, it's S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Technic!

Packaging
Surprise surprise, I actually have something new to say about this box! Type Technic is the first of the Drive releases (along with the concurrently released Heart) to feature a windowless box. As Tamashii Web Exclusives this is quite normal, but a welcome change for this line since it allows more space for the excellent box art. Everything else is business as usual as it was with Type Speed, Mashin Chaser, Mach, Type Wild, & Type Dead Heat.

Main Figure
First things first, most of Drive Type Technic is completely new compared to Type's Speed & Wild. Aside from the obvious cosmetic similarities in legs forerams & lower torso. However while most of this figure is new, it's also pretty bizarrely articulated and far from perfect overall. The arms in particular simultaneously have some great features and terrible ones. The "hoses" on his elbows up to the shoulders are made of a bendy kind of plastic that allows you to fully utilize the arms, they recede into the arm parts as you move them. There's no hinderance to their movement at all. Where the hose connects to the actual shoulder pad it's same thing though that hose piece is shaped with an elbow in it so it's more meant to spin than bend, but the principal is the same. But listen shoulders, we need to talk. You are trash. Honestly the shoulders aren't even as properly realized as the Tire Koukan equivalent. While there's room for them to move up or down, rotating them back is kind of difficult because of the giant tire that runs through the chest. It's possible to rotate them around enough that you sort of detach them a bit and almost snap the hose, but it can be done.

While we're on the topic the Type Wild Tire is something that I would be VERY generous to even call a tire. For some reason I can't begin to fathom, Bandai thought it would make sense to create multiple tire systems for this toyline and officially throw out the original gimmick that worked so well for Tire Koukan. Type Technic features yet another Tire system that's incompatible with anything else, essentially the front and back portions are just tire slivers that can't even form a full tire when detached. You even have to remove a green part of the back to get the rear portion out. While I find this to be a pretty bad design I'm more frustrated that they couldn't find a better way to design the shoulders to work around the way they half-assed the tire. The tire also impacts the head's movement a bit, though admittedly the head is also rather large. But that's not to detract from the head, it looks fantastic, it just doesn't have as solid a range of movement as it should. You get more out of it than I expected given the design, but that big bulky chest can be a pain.

Now these issues not withstanding, the figure is still quite nice and on par with what I expected more or less. Drive Type Technic suffers from design flaws but it still looks great in your Drive display.

Accessories
Following in the footsteps of Type Wild there's no 1st run bonus this time, but some other included accessories are essential to your Type Speed:

1 - Fire Braver Tire. In the same odd fashion as the Type Technic Tire it can break down, in this case into four components, the front and back halves as well as the silver insert parts. As mentioned above the Type Technic and by extension Fire Braver Tires are completely different from those made to be compatible with Type Speed. Each of Drive's 3 main types features and entirely different Tire system that sets it apart from the others. They are not cross compatible. The standard Fire Braver Tire doesn't do anything functionally unless you remove the silver bits and use the next accessory.

1 - Ladder Expander. Literally a piece that "expands" the ladder portion of the tire, it replaces the silver bits and and is a fully poseable arm that extends out from his chest. It's held together with pins that make for tight joints and the small claw on the end can also open. I clearly used it for the correct purposes in this gallery, pizza.

1 - each of the standard & flipped Fire Braver Shift Car

1 - Mr. Belt Braver readout

1 - Door Ju. However you choose to say it (Ju or Gun), this thing looks great. the door actually does open so you can replicate the "reloading" feature. Shift Cars are also totally compatible with it and can be loaded into the slot. This accessory being included means you can finally give Drive Type Speed his other signature weapon. Though he needs the below accessory to hold it.

4 - Sets of additional hands. 3 sets for use with Type Technic for various poses. And 1 set of hands for Drive Type Speed. Specifically so he can hold the Door Ju.

As with previous releases this is a pretty great accessory load out. I'm impressed with how they manage to do this each time.

Final Thoughts
Regardless of the qualms I have with it's design, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Technic is still a pretty damn good looking toy. It loses a bit of functionality thanks to the the way the arms and chest area are designed, but by no means would I say I regret owning it. It's still a solid toy, it simply has some issues. I just can't deny how much I love having Speed, Wild, & Technic all together at once. While Technic is a bit of a step backwards for this line, I have the utmost faith that Bandai will pull out all the stops for Formula, Chaser and all the rest!