RHSW 01 02 03 Kamen Rider Double- Review

Greetings heroes/citizen, after I spent most of my toys budget on Hot Toys, today I ‘ll review 3 “wallet friendly” action figures from Bandai. From the mind of Ishinimori comes the legendary Kamen Rider series (a.k.a Masked Rider), one of the most popular Japan Tokusatsu series aired on TV Asahi Japan. The series started with Kamen Rider 1 and the latest version is Kamen Rider Double (some says Kamen Rider W). Shotaro and Philip slide in their Gaia memories (a flashdrive) into their Double Driver and they combine to become Kamen Rider Double (Double after this). That explain why it have 2 sides of colors on each form, Cyclone|Joker (green|black), Luna|Trigger (gold|blue) and Heat|Metal (silver|red). It have other combinations, I’ll cover that in the next review. The combination is not like Ultraman Ace which both Hakuto and Minami become Ultraman Ace.

In Double’s case only Philip’s mind/spirit will leave his body and posses Shotaro body to become Double, so Double have to minds in a body.The series is so exciting and I’m not ashamed to say that I can’t wait every week to watch it, if you’d like to watch the series please go here.

Back to the review, these vinyl figures was manufactured by Bandai and was released last year under the Rider Hero Series Double (RHSW) line. This review will cover all of the first 3 versions. I wasn’t able to get them all at once but I have to wait for second batch of Cyclone|Joker and Heat|Metal from HLJ, but initially they were all released between September 2009  and October 2009. Price range is from Y650 to Y950, the cheapest price is for preorder.

No box or even a plastic bag used for the figures. Heat|Metal and Luna|Trigger accessories was put in a plastic bag backed with a piece of black card. All the figures have a plastic white holder sticking out on the back of the neck. The plastic holder also holds the DataCardass cards, the labels and accessories for Heat|Metal and Luna|Trigger. The DataCardass I think is compatible with Decade Dekadriver, I’m not sure about that, but it basically is a trading card.

So, because these are cheap action figures, Bandai will surely use the same mold and after that splatter different paints on it for the different forms right? WROOONG! They may have not use entirely new mold, but they did put effort to make the action figure looks as close as the real Double. You can see the first differences are the hands, Cyclone|Joker have a pair of grip hands, while both Heat|Metal and Luna|Trigger share the same type of hands, open hand for holding the accessories. Secondly for Cyclone|Joker, on the back he had a scarf,which is a very nice touch for the design of Double in the series. Both Heat|Metal and Luna|Trigger don’t have this scarf. Thirdly, you’ll notice the differences on these figures are the engravings on his chest, wrist and ankle. They all have a different patterns engraved on them, it may have some kind of meaning but I don’t know what it’s about. The sculpt is very detail considering that these are only a vinyl figures, and if you compare this to the previous series of RHS, I think these are way better looking than the others. The only thing I don’t like is the Double Driver it’s too big. I really appreciate the detail sculpt on the suit, it really an amazing job done. Because this is a hollow vinyl it’s sort of easy to be be deformed, my cyclone|Joker and Luna|Trigger have problem standing straight because of the deformed legs. Try to fix it with hair blower, but it still returned to it’s deformed state after a few minutes.

This is the least aspect that this kind of figures will have. So there is no use complaining about it. I already acknowledge that before I bought them. The only points of articulations are the straight cut shoulder and waist.

Cyclone|Joker came not accessorized, the only thing that came with him is the trading card. Each Heat|Metal and Luna|Trigger came with their famous weapon Metal Shaft and Trigger Magnum. The accessories are not disappointing, it fit nicely in each hands and the craftsmanship deserve two thumbs up from me 

The paint applications on the body are so sharp! I really love it, although there are some smudges on places that should not be. The metallic paints really make the figures looks like they are a high end collectibles. This is the “we’re not just messing around here” kind of paint job. I really have no complain about the paint job. The best paint among the three of them is Cyclone|Joker.

These are really a great figures, the prices are nice, detail sculpt and marvelous paint job. Some customizers buy RHS for S.I.C custom. Why? Because it not only have good sculpt but very it’s detail. I’m really looking forward other Double RHSW, Kamen Rider Skull,Axel and Fang|Joker. I think these RHS series really deserve to be called a collector’s items, not just toys for kids.

I give these figures;

Packaging: 1/5 at least it should be in a plastic bag..

Design/sculpt: 5/5 really love it

Articulation: 2/5 each shoulder and waist

Accessories: 4/5 for both Heat|Metal and Luna|Trigger

Paintjob: 5/5

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