Introduction
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
 |
| 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:
 |
| 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 |
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
 |
| 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.
 |
| Kamen Rider Drive type Speed:Visors comparison |
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 |
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 |
 |
| 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:
 |
| 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
 |
| 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 (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:
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:
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:
 |
| Notice the red dots on the visor? Yeap, it's a paint defect, not a reflection. |
 |
| 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: | | |
 |
| Neck & Wrist joints |
 |
| Shoulder pad & elbow joints |
 |
| Shoulder joint |
 |
| Hip joints |
 |
| Knee joints |
 |
| 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:
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
 |
Belt-san: Shinosuke, use the Shift Lever to accelerate!
Drive: Like this? |
 |
| "Speed! Speed! SPEED!!" |
 |
| *VROOOOMMMMM!!!* |
 |
| *Tire screeching* |
 |
| *THUD!* |
 |
| Drive: I'm fast! I'm fast! I'm so fast!! |
 |
Belt-san: Shinosuke, you can try to access different tire modes using different Shift Cars.
Drive: Alright, let's try out Max Flare! |
 |
| "Tire Koukan!" |
 |
| "MAX FLARE!" |
 |
| *Ka-Ching!* |
 |
| Ugh!! |
 |
Shadowmoon: Wow... Easy bro... That looks dangerous, don't you think so?
Drive: Shadowmoon...
Shadowmoon: Uh... Yes...? |
 |
| Drive: SHUT UP! |
 |
| Drive: Take this! |
 |
| 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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