[Den-O]

Signal Bike! Rider! Chaser!

Kamen Rider Drive figuarts releases have slowly but steadily been making their way out via the Tamashii Web Shop and todays' gallery brings us to one of the final (so far) scheduled releases. The next releases coming up will be Kamen Rider Drive Chou Deadheat, & Kamen Rider Chaser Mach but for now we're going to take a look at the series' 3rd heroic rider. Our gallery today focuses on S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Chaser!

Packaging
Business as usual once again! Nothing new to report with the now standard Drive release packaging. Just some epic shots of Chaser himself on the box. Otherwise we have seen this numerous times over up til now.

Main Figure
As with the other 2 main riders from this series (Drive & Mach) Chaser is an entirely new mold. And thankfully this one is right at the top of the list with Drive Type Speed for excellence. The nice thing about less bulky and more acrobatic suits is they just don't have all that bulk to get in their way. Much like Drive, Chaser has fully unrestricted hips. However I do need to mention that because of the sort of safety pad design of the shin armor the feet cant quite tilt back as far as I'd like, and the toes have almost zero wiggle in them. But Chaser can more than strike a pose even with these faults. His arms are just about perfect with nice easy to work around shoulder armor, the Chaser symbol on his left shoulder looks even better on this mold than it did on Mashin Chaser.

As far as the upper body goes we see more of that glorious silver-ish blue armor with purple accenting. The torso & waist are looks great, including the Mach Driver & the new for this release Chaser Signal Bike. I wish the torso cut was a little bit more free for movement, but Chaser is still fairly nimble. The main event is of course that wonderful asymmetrical head. This piece emulates fully the asymmetry of the Mashin Chaser form. The orange compound eyes which are really striking and appear to be accurate to the altered eyes seen around episode 34 of the series, look like they were hiding under the Mashin Chaser mask all along. The headcrest looks like a natural extension and duplication of what was present on Mashin Chaser as well. The headcrest (as mentioned in the accessories section below) is a separate piece entirely.

Now perhaps the only thing I can say bugs me about this release (other than the previously mentioned headcrest) is that Chaser feels just a bit small. Not in any real measurable way, but just looking at him next Drive & Mach he doesn't seem very big or bulky. Granted his suit is much more streamlined and basic by comparison, no goofy tire bisecting the chest or attached to the shoulder, he just features the sleek Wheeler Dynamics on his back. But he does seem just a tad small. This seems more apparent when he's positioned on the S.H. Figuarts Ride Chaser. But overall this really is just a superb figure. Chaser features all the best elements of the Drive line with only minor drawbacks.

Accessories
Chaser comes with probably the most appropriate selection of accessories he could have (aside from one notable exception). Chaser includes:

1 - antennae/crest. Oddly Bandai has opted to package Chaser's head crest as a separate piece. Granted the part is very thin and I imagine could break easily during shipping, but they've never really done this before with a rider figuart. Also since the piece is so thin and the port it plugs into is so tight, it makes for a pretty scary experience plugging it in. I suggest some healthy caution when doing so.

2 - sets of additional hands. That includes 2 identical open palm expressive hands, and 2 holding things hands. Weirdly the holding things hands are molded in such a way that they are clearly intended to hold a gun or a weapon with a trigger rather than the included ax. More on that below.

1 - Shingou Axe (Signal Axe). Chaser's signature weapon and all around fun plot device for battles. The Signal Axe looks pretty spot on to it's show counterpart & is just the right size to look like a pretty fearsome weapon. It can also accept Signal Bikes like the one included in Chaser's Mach Driver thanks to a small port adjacent to the signals. My 2 gripes with the ax however are that the silver paint used on the handle rubs off very easily, and that the signals themselves are labels. In a stupidly similar fashion to how Gaim Kiwami Arms had a label inserted into it's chest to replicate that detail but was crinkled and damaged on many, my Chaser clearly suffers a similar problem. The "stop" label appears to have been applied more than once, incorrectly, and has creases resulting from it. Get your act together Bandai, collector products should not suffer from this.

1 - signal effect part. A replacement window for the E-Condition Lamp that signifies the change from the "wait" & "go ahead" signals during Chasers' Full Throttle attack, Across Breaker. This piece replaces the clear plastic window on the ax with one darkened half that can be used over either signal. It's a really a nice piece to have included. Though removing the faceplate on the ax can be dicey at times.

As I mentioned above there is a notable exception from this set, Chaser's Break Gunner. A holdover from his prior Mashin Chaser form, this item was maintained by Chaser as a secondary weapon in show. It was used numerous times, most often while waiting for the Signal Axe to change signals. But it was used very often. It's exclusion here is baffling. The accessory exists already, it would have cost next to nothing to include it with this figure. It's just baffling. Without it Chaser feels a little incomplete. You can always borrow it from your S.H. Figuarts Mashin Chaser. But ultimately that will leave him without a Gunner as well. What makes this all the more idiotic is that Chasers' "holding things" hands are literally molded to hold a gun! They aren't even the proper shape to hold the ax in a natural way, they are specifically molded to hold a weapon with a trigger.

Final Thoughts
As always I continue to be impressed by releases relating to Kamen Rider Drive. Time and again these figures have proven to be really great. Though they are not without their flaws, I've so far found Drive to be one of the more quality figuarts sublines I've ever handled. S..H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Chaser is no different. As we slowly march on to the last couple of scheduled Drive releases I can't help but hope Bandai will eventually release the prototypes we've seen at events. My display feels incomplete without them.


Nice Drive!