[Tokumonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

They come with pretty much literally everything they needed, which was my one worry. All the accessories are there and they even seem to come with enough hands.

On this, I think I disagree. I'd been in the optimistic-reserve-judgement camp until now. My feelings are mixed. First, though, let me start with

THE GOOD:
That it's a 3-pack is great since I want all of them. Moreover, this is a really good sign, as it's a completely new tactic for Bandai. If this sells well enough, they might be willing to dip their collective toes into the water of Sentai again to see whether the Japanese market would by a box of a complete team like the original trio of Gekirangers. Of course, that's extremely optimistic speculation on my part, and there's a case to be made that this indicates Bandai is nervous about how Rider Figuarts will sell.

I generally like the sculpts. Brave and Snipe look spot-on. I thought the colors might be very slightly off on Ex-Aid, but the one shot of the three on the stage has mostly put my color fears to rest.

It looks like Snipe comes with the Gashacon Magnum in both modes. Thumbs-up on that.

The stage is... good, I guess? Well... it's their stage, now. Looks like it's gained some pegs for Tamashii stands. I would've happily traded it, though, for character-appropriate expressive hands or swappable blades for Brave.

Retail release means it'll be drastically easier for some of us to obtain.
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THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
The hand count is bare-minimum. It looks like each gets default fists, splayed hands, and holding-weapon hands. There's no indication that any of them come with holding-gashat hands. No character-appropriate expressive hands.

None of the pictures indicate that the gashats can be removed, much less slotted into the kimewaza slot holder or their weapons. If the lever on the Gamer Driver can move, the pictures don't make it explicit.

I know that if I didn't want all three Riders, I'd be seriously annoyed. People who only collect main Riders are kind of getting shafted here, unless there's a single release planned.

It seems a little expensive per-figure for the price. These are not Shinkocchou Seihou releases.
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THE BAD:
That Brave's Gashacon Blade is reversible like the retail toy is just... UGH. Figuarts should be show-accurate, not beholden to the toys, and this should have been a swappable blade for each mode. The gimmick stuff is what the retail line is for, and I expect better from S.H. Figuarts.

These pictures suggest that Bandai simply didn't come up with a solution to prevent Snipe's cape from hindering articulation. The Snipe pictures appear to be carefully staged so that the cape arm doesn't have to do much more than bend at the elbow, although there might be a bicep swivel. I hope I'm wrong about this. There's one shot that suggests there might be a little back movement to the arm, so maybe there's a hinge? What I'm not seeing, though, are the clever solutions I've seen from so many other Rider Figuarts.
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Despite the complaints and my general misgivings, I know I'll be picking this up. I just wish it felt like Bandai were going that extra mile for these figures: that extra value-add that we usually get. These seem... adequate. They're drastically improved over the LVUR releases, of course, but compared to prior Rider Figuarts, I'm unimpressed. Even Ghost came with Yurusen, swappable hoods, and the ability to put the GanGan Saber into two modes.

Am I being too harsh?