Sunday, May 24, 2015

[Review] S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed + 1st Release Bonus

Introduction

shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed review

Breaking the norms of riding motorcycle, Toei introduced a new 2015 Kamen Rider who doesn't have motorcycle license, but only drives a car, known as Kamen Driver Kamen Rider Drive. As usual for the Neo-Heisei Riders, Toei tends to overly-magnify their motif. We already have a good example of big orange armor for Gaim, which is fruit themed. This time around, Toei took it to another level by simply hanging a tire on Kamen Rider Drive since it is car-themed.

Story-wise, the series takes place after the Global Freeze, a global catastrophe where mechanical lifeforms known as the Roidmudes went berserk and attacked mankind. By using the Drive Driver & the Shfit Cars, a young police officer named Tomari Shinnosuke henshin-ed into Kamen Rider Drive and began his mission to defeat all the 108 Roidmudes.

After airing for about half a year, Bandai finally released the SHF for Kamen Rider Drive:

 

Product Information


Name
S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Drive type Speed
Origin Series
Kamen Rider Drive
Manufacturer
BANDAI
Product Line
S.H.Figuarts
Size
Around 15 cm
Price
4,320 JPY
Released Date
25-Apr-2015


Box Art

shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed box art review
S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Box Art
After so many years releasing SHF in full-colored box art, it seems that Bandai is reverting back to the old box art, where we have desaturated Rider portrait at the front of the box and full-colored printings at the back of the box.

S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed ("SHF Drive Speed" hereafter) came in a relatively smaller box compared to the other SHF Kamen Rider releases. The packaging is similar to the shrunken box for the SHF Kinnikuman series. A comparison of the box size with the  previous SHF box is shown below:

review SHF Drive Speed packaging vs. SHF Gaim Orange packaging
SHF Drive Speed packaging vs. SHF Gaim Orange packaging
Having such a small box also means that accessories are limited. In fact, SHF Drive Speed came with only 2 pairs of optional hands. Fortunately, for those who bought the first release, Bandai is "generous" enough to give out first release bonus to make up for the lack of accessories.

S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive 1st Release Bonus Vol. 1 Box Art
S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive 1st Release Bonus Vol. 1 Box Art
The first release bonus box follows the conventional box art for bonus parts. A desaturated image of the SHF with the bonus parts is printed at the front of the box, and the instruction manual is printed at the back of the box.

Show Accuracy

shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed review
Kamen Rider Drive type Speed: Show (left) vs. SHF (right)
A picture worth a thousand words. From the comparison above, I would say that Bandai did a fantastic job in translating Kamen Rider Drive into a 1:12-scaled SHF. Even so, it's understandable that Bandai cannot translate everything perfectly. My only nitpick is the visors of the figure: In the show, Kamen Rider Drive has a more convex (curving outwards) visors but SHF Drive Speed's visors are relatively flat. As a result, SHF Drive Speed has obvious red reflections around the edge of his visors. So far I haven't seen anyone customize their SHF to solve this problem, but what I did is just de-saturate the reflections in Photoshop.

shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed review
Kamen Rider Drive type Speed:Visors comparison

Accessories

review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed content accessories
Content of SHF Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
As one might suspect from the size of the box, SHF Drive Speed came with awfully few accessories. We have only 2 pairs of optional hands - one pair of open hands, another pair of opened-even-wider-hands. I'm not sure why Bandai wants to include two pairs of similar hands, but they could have just include a pair of weapon holding hands. But wait... We don't even have a weapon in this set. Kamen Rider Drive's primary weapons, i.e. the Handle Sword and Door Gun, will be sold separately in other SHF Drive series. So guys, good luck in collecting 'em all.

Coming along with the SHF is a promotion booklet for SHF Tridoron:

SHF Tridoron promotion booklet
SHF Tridoron promotion booklet
Seems like Bandai is going all out to promote this product. I can see that SHF Tridoron is a real beauty, and we definitely need SHF Tridoron to complete SHF Drive series... But, sorry Bandai, I'm just a poor guy who cannot afford an overpriced plastic car with LEDs. So yea, I'll pass.

Anyway, for us who bought the first releases, a first release bonus set was attached with the main package as the extra accessories. The bonus set is essentially Max Flare and its associating effect parts. It consists of a Max Flare tire, a pair of flame effect parts, a Drive Driver screen with Max Flare icon, and a Max Flare Shift Car in Lever Mode:
Content of SHF Kamen Rider Drive type Speed 1st Release Bonus Part
Content of SHF Kamen Rider Drive type Speed 1st Release Bonus Part
Close-up look of exchangeable Drive Driver screen (Max Flare) & Max Flare Shift Car (Lever mode)
Flame effect parts
Front & back view of Max Flare tire

The peg hole at the back of Max Flare tire can fit into any Tamashii stand, so you can hang the tire floating and recreate the Tire Exchange scene:


To turn your SHF Drive Speed into SHF Drive Max Flare is easy:

shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed review
shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed review
shf figuarts kamen rider drive type speed review
Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare
You can also recreate the type Speed tire by installing the type Speed parts onto the tire frame of Max Flare:

But, you'll have to live with those orange parts. Let's hope Bandai will release the tire frame for type Speed someday, for completeness sake.

Mold & Sculpting

review figuarts SHF Kamen Rider Drive type Speed mold overview front
review figuarts SHF Kamen Rider Drive type Speed mold overview back
SHF Kamen Rider Drive type Speed overview
SHF Drive Speed uses the latest SHF mold, which sometimes referred as mold ver. 1.5 by some of the collectors. Although not as sophisticated as Shinkocchou Seihou, IMHO this mold is already on par with Shinkocchu Seihou, in terms of body ratio accuracy & articulations.

Since Kamen Rider Drive hangs tires on his body, SHF Drive Speed has to use a customized torso with an awkward opening at the bottom right, in order to make way for the tires:

Torso mold for SHF Drive Speed (Front)
Torso mold for SHF Drive Speed (Front)
Torso mold for SHF Drive Speed (Back)
Torso mold for SHF Drive Speed (Back)
The sculpt for this figure is simply amazing. All the details of Kamen Rider Drive suit, from the helmet to the complicated patterns at the back, were perfectly crafted onto this SHF. The aesthetic value of the figure is further enhanced with the clear-parts which were applied wherever necessary. Now I'm gonna laze around again and let the pictures do the talking:

review figuarts SHF Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed helmet sculpt
review figuarts  SHF Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed helmet sculptreview figuarts SHF Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed helmet clear parts
review figuarts SHF Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed brace sculpt
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed tire sculptreview SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed Shift Cars clear parts
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed back sculpt (upper)
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed back sculpt (lower)
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed knee pads
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed sole sculpt
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed MaxFlare sculpt (front)
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed MaxFlare sculpt (back)

Paint & Color

The color choice was spot on for this figure, especially the Ferrari red and the metallic silver. I also like how SHF Drive Speed managed to duplicate the glossy black suit of his show-counterpart. But above all, the realism of the bluing exhaust on the helmet amazed me the most:

review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed bluing exhaust painting
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed exhaust bluing

Overall the paint job of SHF Drive Speed is commendable. But... Again, if you're a nasty nitpicker like me, you'll still find some minor painting defects on SHF Drive Speed:
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed paint defect
Notice the red dots on the visor? Yeap, it's a paint defect, not a reflection.
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed paint defect
Minor paint defect on left arm


Joints & Articulation

First off, let's start with the joints system:

Neck
Ball-socket joints
Shoulders
Swivel ball with hinge joints
Shoulder pads
Hinged onto the shoulders
Biceps
Swivel joints
Wrist
Ball-socket joints
Elbows
Double hinge joints
Torso & Waist Ball-socket joints
Hips Hinge & swivel ball joints
Thighs Swivel joints
Knees Double hinge joints
Ankles Tilt-joint

The joints system is pretty much the standard you'll find in the recent (so-called) SHF mold ver 1.5:
review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed joints neck wrist
Neck & Wrist joints
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed joints shoulder elbow
Shoulder pad & elbow joints
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed joints shoulder
Shoulder joint
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed joints hip
Hip joints
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed joints knee
Knee joints
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed joints ankle
Ankle joints
The waist joint for my SHF Drive Speed is a little bit loose, but fortunately the rest of the joints are OK.

For the articulation, the new mold ver. 1.5 offers relatively enhanced articulations. But all these enhancements are meaningless when it comes to SHF Drive Speed, because the bulky tire on his chest is always in the way. In addition, unlike other SHF with mold ver. 1.5, SHF Drive Speed's shoulder pads are not flexible and they're practically fixed on the shoulders. Consequently, the arms movability is reduced and you can't even lift his arms to his shoulders height:

Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed articulations
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed articulations
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed articulations

Finally, I think I should point out that there is no articulation point on Max Flare tire, unlike the Max Flare tire from Tire Koukan series.

Action Poses


Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
Belt-san: Shinosuke, use the Shift Lever to accelerate!
Drive: Like this?
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
"Speed! Speed! SPEED!!"
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
*VROOOOMMMMM!!!*
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
*Tire screeching*
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed shadowmoon
*THUD!*
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed shadowmoon
Drive: I'm fast! I'm fast! I'm so fast!!
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
Belt-san: Shinosuke, you can try to access different tire modes using different Shift Cars.
Drive: Alright, let's try out Max Flare!
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed
"Tire Koukan!"
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed tire koukan max flare
"MAX FLARE!"
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare tire koukan
*Ka-Ching!*
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed shadowmoon
Ugh!!

Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare shadowmoon
Shadowmoon: Wow... Easy bro... That looks dangerous, don't you think so?
Drive: Shadowmoon...
Shadowmoon: Uh... Yes...?
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare shadowmoon
Drive: SHUT UP!
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare Shadowmoon
Drive: Take this!
Review SHF figuarts Kamen Rider Drive type Speed Max Flare shadowmoon
Drive: And this!!


Conclusion

So, is this figure worth to get? The answer is simple: YES only if it comes with the first release bonus, and NO if otherwise. Without the bonus set, the playability of this figure greatly reduced - you practically can't do anything with it except posing and keeping it in the display cabinet.

My final score for this action figure (including the bonus parts):

Box Art ★★★
Show Accuracy ★★★
Accessories ★★★
Mold & Sculpting ★★
Paint & Color ★★
Joints & Articulation ★★
Overall Score ★★★


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