DC Direct Despero

I recently got the Mattel DC Universe Classics Despero set, but the Despero figure there didn't look menacing enough. Oh sure, it is bigger than the DC Direct version here, but this version has a body which tells you-"I can beat you, your whole family, and your dog, pinhead". I think, I will just keep my Mattel set MOC, and will just open one of these bad boys.

Choosing which to open was particularly difficult. Both looked good in their respective package, and both packages were mint. I settled for one with the more "dynamic" pose, meaning, the head was a little tilted.

DCD Despero is within Marvel Legends Hulk size range, which is absolutely perfect. The Hulk is slightly taller, but with the fin, Despero is far more intimidating.

Despero is not very articulated. It only has 12pts of articulation, which is fine, but it's practically a statue next to the usual Marvel Legends figure. But then again, this is DC Direct, so 12pts is awesome. Ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed shoulders, peg elbows, cut thighs, and peg knees. All in all, very not bad.

Even with the limited number of articulation, Despero's range of movement is amazing. However, a cut waist would have made a whale of a difference.

Paint application is nice and neat, since there are very few painted parts. Most of the colors of the figure are molded plastic, which I prefer, actually, because it can withstand alot of playwear.

Hulk getting trashed by the real "Red Hulk".

Despero wins! Big dumb green gorilla lose.

The sculpting is phenomenal. One can readily see the muscle details and the texture of the skin of the figure.

Despero comes with the usual DC Direct Superman/Batman base.

Buy me, or I will give you pink eye.

Kamen Rider Den-O 5-Form boxset and Liner Form

Yo! This is the Souchaku Henshin Den-O 5-form boxset. It has the armor parts for the Sword, Rod, Ax, Gun forms, and the base Plot form. The Plot form was also released as part of the Souchaku Henshin Den-O Plot Form and Momotaros 2-figure boxset.

What is interesting about the 5-form boxset is that the armor parts were painted in shiny metallic colors.

This boxset is hard to find because it was limited only to Toys R'Us Japan.

This is one awesome form of Den-O, the LINER form. I do not know anything about this figure, yet, because I haven't seen the episode where it appeared. But from what i can gather, by just looking at the figure, it seems that Momotaros, Kintaros, Urataros and Ryutaros will combine their powers to form Den-O Liner Form's main weapon.

"Ore Sanjou!"

Kamen Rider Den-O

Earlier, I said that Kamen Rider Kabuto is the best rider series so far, and I still mean that. However, Den-O is not far behind. It's very entertaining, especially the "imagins" who bonded with Ryotato, the main protagonist of the series.

This is Den-O's SWORD form, which he transforms into when Ryotaro combines with the hot-headed imagin Momotaros.

This is Den-O's ROD form. He transforms into this version by combining with the smooth-talking Urataros.

This is Den-O's AX form, which he transforms into after he combines with the super-strong Kintaros.

This is Den-O's GUN form, which he transforms into after combining with the break-dancing Ryutaros.

Things were fine and dandy with me collecting Souchaku Henshin figures of the Den-O characters, but there is one problem, they have no bikes. What is a Kamen Rider without a bike? Shaider? But he has a bike. So, anyway, I had to get the appropriate bike for Den-O. Bandai, the corporate leech that it is made another action figure set for the Den-O series, and this time, they included the bikes. What is irritating is that, to get the bikes, one has to purchase figures of the riders from Den-O which are so much like the Souchaku henshin figures, except, they do not have removable diecast armor.

This bike and action figure set of Den-O is great in its own right. The bike is compatible with the Souchaku Henshin Den-O figure. But, since Bandai included a posable Den-O figure with the bike, there is no need to open a Souchaku Den-O to pose it with. One can just get this set, and he can have a Den-O toy, complete with bike, to play with.

Bandai then released the three other Den-O versions in one 3-pack set. This set is very affordable, only 2500yen, which is roughly around $26. For 3 very posable figure, not bad.

Here is Kamen Rider Zeronos. I do not know his deal yet, because I haven't reached the episode where he was introduced. All i know is, he transforms into Zeronos when he combines with the imagin Deneb.

If you check out the picture, the Souchaku Henshin and the ordinary action figure by Bandai, are compatible with each other. Roughly the same size, and with almost the same number of articulation. It's hard to gauge which version to get. Although one single Souchaku Henshin is roughly the same price as the 3-pack Den-O figures, or the bike-sets. So, your mileage may vary, but if you are looking at it solely on monetary concern, then the bike sets and the 3-pack set are the better buys over the Souchaku figures. However, the Souchakus are heavy with diecast, and are more limited, so it's not at all a bad move to invest in them.

Ideally, I will open one Souchaku figure, and display it on the shelf with the bike from the bike-set. The figure from the bike-set, I can play with.

Here are the 3 other forms of Den-O in both Souchaku henshin figures and the mass release 3-pack action figure set.

As you can see, both series blends well together.

"Ore futatabi sanjou!"

Souchaku Henshin versus SHFiguarts

Kamen Rider Kabuto is the best rider series, past and present, in my humble opinion, of course.

Souchaku Henshin figures are those 5inch scale figures from Bandai where you get to dress them up with diecast armor.

When i got my first Souchaku Henshin Kabuto figure, I was floored. It was very posable. There are a lot of diecast content. The sculpt and paint were true to the source material. In short, it was almost perfect.

So, I took it upon myself to collect each and every character from the Kabuto series released in a Souchaku Henshin toy. And for two years, I was satisfied. All the major rider character from the Kabuto series were produced in the Souchaku Henshin toyline. I even got extra Kabuto and Gatack figures to display out of the box. Things couldn't be better. I was just waiting for two more rider figures, Punch Hopper and Kick Hopper, to be offered, and I will have a complete set.

But bandai threw us a curve ball. They offered Punch Hopper and Kick Hopper, not in the Souchaku henshin line, but in the SHFiguarts line.

Damn!

OK, if I am not so obssessive/compulsive, I would have let it slide, and just get the SHFiguarts Punch and Kick Hopper figures and mixed them with my Souchaku Henshin figures.

And it would look something like this. It's not really bad. In fact, it is quite impressive in its own right.

There really is no need for me to buy the Kabuto and Gatack SHFiguarts figures, let alone two of each, since I already have them in the Souchaku Henshin line. But it's Kabuto, how can I resist?

But then, upon close inspection, I will have my major beef with Bandai... they are not in the same scale! Well, they are almost in the same scale, but the Souchaku Henshin figures are a smidge smaller than the SHFiguarts. I mean come on Bandai! Way to trick us into buying double figures of the same characters. They could have released Punch and Kick Hopper in the Souchaku Henshin line, but instead they released them in the new line, and made them slightly bigger. Capitalism at it's most heinous, preying on the incessant need of collectors to keep figures in scale. Evil. Pure evil.

And here are the Kabuto figures from the SHFiguarts (right) and the Souchaku Henshin (left). Not bad. Not bad at all. Both have their own charm. The Souchaku Henshin figure has more accessories, and and the alternate amor pieces for Kabuto's "masked" form. The SHFiguarts have more articulation, and it's design is more sleek.

When standing side-by-side, the size difference between the two figures is almost acceptable. I mean, yes, the Souchaku Henshin figure is kinda fat, but that's only because it has all that armor pieces. I can live with it, somewhat.

However, if the two figures are back to back, their size difference is glaringly obvious. The SHFiguarts is noticeably taller than the Souchaku Henshin figure. Not only that, the Souchaku armor seems almost "ugly" next the the more sleek and aerodynamic armor of the SHFiguarts. I put the word ugly in quotation marks, because it is far from being such. It has a vintage charm to it which I find so appealing. When I first got it, I thought of how sleek it was next to earlier Souchaku Henshin figures, like Kuuga, for example. Now, next to the even more sleek SHFiguarts, suddenly the Souchaku Henshin Kabuto figure seem old all of a sudden.

But, whatever action pose you can do with the SHFiguarts, you can do it also with the Souchaku Henshin. Double jointed elbows? Check! Both of them are double jointed. I guess in choosing which of these two to get will depend on one's taste. Do you want a toy which is predominantly diecast? Then get Souchaku Henshin. Do you want great action poses? Then get SHFiguarts. So, whatever floats your boat, you can get them in these great toylines. As for me, I think I will stick with both.

S.H.Figuart Kabuto

S.H.Figuart figures had been coming in since last year (2008), but I only recently saw one, and I was floored. Wow. These beats the Soukachu Henshin and S.I.C. Kamen Rider figures.

The Souchaku Henshin are great, because they are show accurate, and there are a lot of diecast content. However, handling them is a chore. The armor parts constantly fall of everytime you move the joints. Of course, there are exceptions. I have had a lot of excellent Souchaku Henshins, including a Kabuto figure, like this figure. However, if you are into articulation, and lots of it, then it is not even a question, THIS line is for you.

The S.I.C. Kamen Riders are fun to collect, I have a few, and are searching for a few more, but, the figures in that line fall flat on their collective bug faces in terms of show accuracy. The figures are too weird looking. Also, there are a lot of reports of breakage. Given that they are a little pricey, I am content not to take them out of the box.

So for Kamen Rider toys, for the longest time, it was either a show accurate figure but the parts fall off and gets lost, or a very kewl looking diecast piece of art but has merely a passing resemblance to the source material. But, not anymore.

S.H.Figuart figures are show accurate, very posable, durable, interchangable hands, fair amount of accessories, has diecast contents, and at 2500yen, are very affordable. It's like Bandai read my mind, and decided to grant me my wish for the perfect toy.


Here is Domon Kasshu, no, he is not a Kamen Rider. Domon here is actually the main protagonist in Gundam G. A.K.A the King of Hearts, the ass-kicking pilot of Shinning Gundam, and later on, Gundam God.

Here are two of the best looking Kamen Riders ever designed, Kamen Riders Kabuto and Gatack.

Here is Kamen Rider Kabuto with his accessories, 5 extra hands, a knife, and a gun which doubles as an ax.

The stand is not included. It's one of the Stage Act 2 Stands which are sold in a box of 3 stands. But, since there are 3 extra sets of pincers, extra pegs, and each base can hold at most 3 figures each, its possible to make 6 to 9 stands, instead of 3, in each box. I highly recommend getting the stands for your 5 inch or 6 inch figures.

Here is Kabuto with the knife and blaster.

The stand from Bandai really compliments figures from the Souchaku Henshin, S.H.Figuarts, and even Gundam M.S.I.A. figures. It's also possible to pose your Marvel Legends figures, well, those that do not have bases.

1-2-3

Rider Kick.

R-I-D-E-R K-I-C-K!!!

Grandma says, I walk the path of Heaven...