[Tokumonkey]

Blades showed up in the mail today. Due to the vagaries of preoders and different sites' function, I actually received him before Saber. The figure is not great.

I already had buyer's remorse to some extent even before it showed up, since I've found the show to be a significant disappointment. This isn't the first time the long, long delay between a show's start and the main Rider's Figuarts release means I'll have no idea whether the show will be any good when I place the order.

I think most of the big problems with this figure have been catalogued already. Nagare is only a little better than a dull grey, whereas the sword tip on his helmet is appropriately shiny. The WonderRide Book is beautifully-molded, the cover is painted, and there's no image on them, I guess because we bought Zi-O figures, so they thought they could get away with it? Hand-swapping has now entered a new level of annoying due to the glove backs being a separate part.

I can't get over the hand covers. I'm not used to hands not being <b>complete</b> in a Figuarts release, but I guess that's something we have to live with, now. You get one set of hand covers that have to be swapped between hands. I guess they did it to reduce paint costs, where they'd already cut an unacceptable number of corners. I guess they're just assuming we'll turn to SHFUpgrade to buy fixes for all their cost-cutting nonsense.

I'm a little mad at myself because I've already paid for Saber, Espada, and Calibur, and I'm thinking I may make them the last general-release Figuarts I purchase, at least for currently-airing series. (Build Ninja/Comic looks like a quality release.) It's clear they're cutting as many corners as possible; perhaps they're assuming we'll buy Shinkocchou Seihou versions at some point. Sodo/Shodo should not be putting out more impressive releases than Figuarts.

One other quibble: Nagare does not want to stay in Blades's hand. Most Figuarts err on the side of a too-tight grip, but his sword-gripping hand is so relaxed the figure drops the sword easily.

To be clear, the figure isn't complete garbage. The molding of tiny details is terrific. You can get surprising head articulation despite the collar. The WonderRide Book is removable. Since I hate how the books break up the suit designs for this series, I'm perfectly happy to display him without it.

I think my dissatisfaction boils down to not getting our money's worth in terms of accessories and paint. Some of that may just be the industry: plastic production was down last year, which probably impacted the release, since it would've been more expensive to produce. Figuarts used to be the relatively high-end Kamen Rider figure for adult collectors, and Shinkocchou Seihou has eclipsed that, even if they seem unlikely to tackle recent Riders any time soon.