Introduction
In preparation for the SHF
Shinkocchou Decade release next year, Bandai released SHF Masked Rider Kiva-La in September 2015. Click "Read More" for the review:
Product Information
Name
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S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Kiva-La
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Origin Series
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Manufacturer
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BANDAI
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Product Line
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S.H.Figuarts
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Size
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Around 15 cm
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Price
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5,184 JPY
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Released Date
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20-Sep-2015
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Box Art
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| S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Kiva-La Box Art |
Even though Kamen Rider Kiva-La belongs to Kamen Rider Decade series, S.H.Figuarts Masked Rider Kiva-La ("SHF Kiva-La" hereafter) did not adopt SHF Decade's box art. Instead, it continued the small-box packaging of the SHF
Drive series. This is unsurprising as SHF Kiva-La came with limited accessories, so it's reasonable to optimize the box size.
There are one big difference between the box art of SHF Kiva-La and SHF Drive series though, which is the portrait of the Rider: SHF Drive series have desaturated portraits, whereas SHF Kiva-La has full-colored portrait printed on the box. I'm a visual-kind of guy, of course I would prefer the latter.
Show Accuracy
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| Masked Rider Kiva-La: Show (left) vs. SHF (right) |
Thanks to Bandai's improving technology, most of the recent SHF releases have high show-accuracy, the same is true for SHF Kiva-La. Overall, SHF Kiva-La managed to reproduce almost all of the main features of her show-counterpart. But, is it me or Bandai sort of over-designed Kiva-La's bust for the SHF...?
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| Masked Rider Kiva-La: Helmet comparison |
On a closer inspection at SHF Kiva-La's helmet, sadly Bandai couldn't (or chose not to) replicate 100% of the helmet in the show. As shown in the comparison, the yellow love-shaped gem of the SHF is just plain yellow paint; and there's significant difference in the density of the compound eyes between the two. Also, the SHF would look better if the visor are made wider, more concave outward.
Not that I'm complaining: I'm totally fine with SHF Kiva-La's visor, but we knew and we've seen that Bandai can do better at this especially the compound eyes. Just do a comparison between Shinkkocchou Masked Rider Kabuto with the show counterpart, and you'll understand what I mean.
Another thing worth mentioning is the white paint used for SHF Kiva-La's
soft armor. Instead of using the pure-white as shown in the movie,
Bandai applied a more pinkish seashell-white.
Accessories
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| Content of SHF Masked Rider Kiva-La |
SHF Kiva-La came with a simple set of accessories. Out of the box, we have 3 pairs of optional hand: weapon-holding hands, open hands, and another opened-even-wider-hands. We also have Kiva-La's personal weapon i.e. the
Kiva-La Saber.
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| 2 sides of Kiva-La Saber |
The weapon-holding hands are rather poorly calibrated to the Kiva-La Saber because they can't hold the sword tightly. To get a firm grip on the sword, you'll have to push the sword until the palm reach the white parts of the sword handle.
It's too bad that Bandai didn't include the little
Kiva-La bat, but on a second thought, it doesn't really matter because she's basically embedded on the belt once Natsumi
henshin-ed. Also, it would be great if Bandai included the energy wings for Kiva-La's finisher. But as usual, we can't expect too much from a SHF of a movie-exclusive Rider don't we?
Mold & Sculpting
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| SHF Kiva-La mold overview |
It seems that after years of experimenting, Bandai finally got the hang of how to produce a good SHF female Rider (though I must admit this is not a fair statement as I only have SHF Femme & SHF Marika to be compared with).
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| SHF Female Riders |
Putting SHF Marika aside, SHF Kiva-La is superior to SHF Femme in terms of mold & articulations (Articulations to be discussed in the next section). Bandai had carved a perfect female mold for SHF Kiva-La: feminine proportion, slimmer body, high heels, bigger bust & butt (wait, did I complain about the bust size earlier?), all done without having to sacrifice the figure articulations. SHF Femme has a rather feminine mold too, but I find her articulation is kinda restricted; On the other hand, SHF Marika has a relatively good articulation system, but her mold is more to masculine than feminine.
The efforts Bandai put into the sculpture of this figure is undeniable. The details of the pointy-fingers hands, patterns on the helmet, armor, bracelet, belt, and even the wrinkles on the soft armor were perfectly sculpted.
Paint & Color
The paint job for SHF Kiva-La is superb and I can only find only one minor paint leak:
But the paint defect is most probably case-by-case basis. I haven't seen or heard anyone complain about the QC on the paint.
Bandai even applied the Maziora (or the Chroma Flair) paint for SHF Kiva-La's purple armor. For those who are unaware, Maziora paint is a special reflective paint which shows
different tones under different light angle (although in this case, the effect is not that obvious):
Joints & Articulation
The basic joint system of SHF Kiva-La is summarized as below:
Neck
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Ball-socket joints
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Shoulders
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Swivel ball with hinge joints |
Shoulder pads
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Hinged onto the body
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Biceps
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Swivel joints
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Wrist
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Ball-socket joints
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Elbows
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Double hinge joints
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| Torso & Waist |
Ball-socket joints |
| Hips |
Swivel ball joints |
| Thighs |
Swivel joints |
| Knees |
Double hinge joints |
| Ankles |
Tilt-joint |
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| Neck joints |
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| Shoulder joint |
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| Wrist joints & elbow joints |
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| Waist joint |
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| Hip joints |
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| Knee joints |
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| Ankle joints |
The interesting thing about SHF Kiva-La is her (redundant) bat-wings-like silver armors - I'm just gonna call them the "bat armors". Although they looked bulky at first glance, Bandai had made sure that these bat armors won't get in the way of SHF Kiva-La's articulation by giving them lots of articulation points. All together, they consisted of 6 separate articulated pieces.
The upper most bat-armors made up the collar, which was attached onto the part behind the neck:
The hinge joints enable the collar to be lifted slightly up to avoid interfering the movement of the arms:
The second pair of bat armors served only decorative purposes for the shoulder pads. They were attached to the pads by ball-and-socket joint system:
The last pair of bat armors made up some sort of skirt armor for Kiva-La. It can be expanded horizontally to give way for the articulations of the lower body:
The pieces were hinged on a central peice, which as attached to the back spine of Kiva-La by a ball-socket joint:
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This also gives the armors another up-and-down movement directions:
Articulation wise, SHF Kiva-La has very good articulations, but the joints are slightly loose.
The silver plate at the back of SHF Kiva-La's neck limited the range of movement of the head to the back:
Not to forget about the ankle bracelets, which were fixed onto the legs instead of being separate pieces. As a result, they slightly hinders the ankle articulations:
Action Poses
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| That's cruel... Tsukasa-kun... |
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| I'll stop you, Tsukasa-kun... |
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| Give it a try then... If you dare... |
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| Kamen Rider Kiva-La! |
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| Arghhhh!!!! |
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| Arghhhh!!!! |
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| Arghhhh!!!! |
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| Take this! |
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| And this! |
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| And this!!! |
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| ... |
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| You call that an attack...? |
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| ... |
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| Looks like you need some Hikari-ke Hiden... |
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| Wow! Where'd she go?! |
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| Hikari-ke Hiden: Warai no Tsubo!! |
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| OUCH!! What the...?! Why did you do that for?! |
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| How come it doesn't work anymore? Maybe I'll try the Ougi!! |
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| Hikari-ke Hiden OUGI: Kiva-La Saber Warai no Tsubo!! |
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| "YES!" your head!!! |
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| Tsukasa-kun... Yappari tsuyoi... |
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| Prepare yourself b*tch! |
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| What did you call me?! Arghhhhh!!!! |
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| Arggghhhhhhhh!!!!! |
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| *Throw* |
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| *Stab!* |
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| THE END |
Conclusion
SHF Kiva-La is a recommended set to get. Although the accessories is limited, the figure itself with its high show-accuracy, beautiful paint job and highly articulated mold, is enough to compensate for the lack of accessories. With SHF
Shinkocchou Decade coming out next year, the demand for this SHF might increased. So, wait no more and get yourself one before the price shoots up :P
| Box Art |
★★★★☆ |
| Show Accuracy |
★★★★☆ |
| Accessories |
★★★☆☆ |
| Mold & Sculpting |
★★★★★ |
| Paint & Color |
★★★★☆ |
| Joints & Articulation |
★★★★☆ |
| Overall Score |
★★★★☆ |
