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.