[Den-O]

Kamen Rider Drive may be over but it's just entered the Dead Zone again with yet another new figure. Only this time Gou has stolen the spotlight. It's S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Deadheat Mach!

**Most of this review will be identical to my previous Drive Type Deadheat Review as the 2 figures are essentially identical.

Packaging
Literally business as usual. The same type of Tamashii Web Exclusive windowless box that Type Technic, Type Formula, & Heart had. For comparisons to the retail releases follow these links; Type Speed, Mashin Chaser, Mach, Type Wild, & Drive Type Dead Heat.

Main Figure
This is going to be a fairly easy review actually. It'll be nearly identical to my review for Drive Type Dead Heat. As these figures are LITERALLY identical to one another aside from the head, driver, and accessories. Both Drive Type Dead Heat & Dead Heat Mach reuse parts from S.H. Figuarts Drive Type Speed & Mach with a new head and tire. If you own either of those figures or Drive Deadheat then you know exactly how good this release is. The primary body components are those of Kamen Rider Mach. Lower torso & Mach Driver Honoo, down to feet as well as both arms come from Mach. The Driver has a brand new Shift Deadheat inserted into it that can be removed like a typical Signal Bike. As was the case with normal Mach, Deadheat Mach has excellent leg/hip articulation which allows him to get in some great poses. Likewise Mach's great arms are present even down to his shoulder Advent Signal, here known as the Deadheat Advent. This ones a little different than mach's normal Signals as it's painted like a temperature gauge. The toy can't replicate how the gauge goes wild as Mach approaches his Berserk Mode breaking point. But it looks quite nice. It can also be replaced with other Signal's by virtue of it's assembly.

The upper torso of the figure is entirely that of Drive Type Speed. The only difference here is the new Dead Heat Tire which is itself basically the Type Speed Tire. This torso is entirely compatible with any and all Type Speed styled tires as well, AKA Shadow, Flare, & Spike. Of course Type Wild & Technic Tires are not compatible with this release.

The new head is the primary component that sets Deadheat Mach apart from Drive. Drive Deadheat's head combo'd Drive & Mach's standard designs with the Drive half facing forward. This head appears as though the the Mach V-Helm that was on the back of the Deadheat Drive head has rotated forward to become the new faceplate. Taking the red spoiler bar that ran along the top of Drive Dead Heats head and turning it into a chin strap of sort for Dead Heat Mach. I have to say I like the look of this head much more than Drive Dead Heat, maybe because of the more armored look it present when forward facing. However it causes some severe articulation issues with the upper body. The chin bar is so long that it constantly impacts the tire keeping you from truly moving the head left at a normal angle. Likewise it then impacts the Deadheat Advent on the right side of the chest. It can be pretty difficult to get much out of that set up.

It's still a great figure as it's based on 3 previous & fantastic releases, but the different head really contributes to some posing issues here.

Accessories
Deadheat Mach has a very similar accessory set up to Deadheat Drive, not much. Here's the breakdown:

4 - sets of additional hands. Standard stuff.

1 - Dead Zone/Berserk Mode Dead Heat Tire. The "cracked" tire meant to represent Mach's loss of control, but eventually a symbol of his power. Gou mastered the Berserk Mode so he could initiate it manually and increase his power to Type Formula levels. So while it's not quite a form change, the display options for this mode feel more substantial than with Deadheat Drive.

1 - Zenrin Shooter. A straight repack of the sidearm used by standard Mach. It's good to see it included here, as there's not much else that could have been.

So kind of a sparse selection but honestly it's everything you need. Some powered up effect parts or rider kick parts would be nice but are not entirely necessary with this release. I'm satisfied with what was included.

Final Thoughts
If you own Deadheat Drive then frankly you more or less already own S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Deadheat Mach. It's the exact same toy. As long as you don't mind owning an excellent toy multiple times over I'd say this should be a definite buy. I went all in on Drive Figuarts long ago, and I'm more than happy to add this one to my collection as well.

[AkibaSilver]

While I appreciate the fact they did put this guy out, he wouldn't be on my "to buy" list unless I wanted a display with him, Tyre Tridoron and Chaser. And since Tridoron doesn't look to be a thing...