Tuesday 15 May 2012

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Diend


A few months ago I bought Figuarts Kamen Rider Decade (Violent Emotion ver.), and since then my display shelf has felt like its been lacking something. And this figure is exactly what was missing. Originally released in August 2009, Kamen Rider Diend is the secondary rider from the Kamen Rider Decade series - a treasure hunter named Daiki Kaito who travels through the various Kamen Rider worlds searching for their treasures. He also crossed paths with the Shinkengers, and more recently the Gokaigers in Kamen Rider X Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen.



Diend shares the same body type as the Decade figure, and so also has all of its flaws. The sculpt is accurate and the figure has (those sorely missed) diecast feet to give it extra balance, yet boasts less versatile hip joints and the slightly-oversized hands that were so noticeable on Decade. While Decade's shoulders felt a little restrictive, this is only amplified by Diend's massive shoulder pads. Just as well Kaito isn't much of a fighter so the most strenuous show-accurate posing you'd have him doing is pointing a gun.


In comparison to all the other Figuarts I've bought in the past, Diend's accessory count seems rather meagre. Included are the Diend driver/gun, 3 additional sets of hands (gun holding, open and card holding) and a cardboard set of various cards. While the cards looked punched on first glance, they aren't punched all the way through and so would require cutting with a scissors or knife. Since I'm afraid to lose the cards, I think I'll be scanning them and making my own replica ones (the pictures here are with the ones I made for Diend). While arguably Diend has everything he should have, I still can't help feel he hardly comes with anything. The Complete Form Diend Figuarts has a second driver with open card slot, so maybe that could have been implemented here? Even something as trivial as pointing hands would have been a nice touch I suppose. To make up for the lack of accessories, in homage to the show, my Diend has stolen Shinken Gold's Ika origami for the near future.


It was a matter of time before I ran into a figuart that I didn't think was amazing, and Diend is the first of what will probably be more than a few. While he's a great representation of the character, he's nowhere near worth his after-market price (which can be £80+ on eBay) and in comparison to others, would be lacking if bought for retail price too. Diend was my favourite character from Decade so I'm thrilled by owning him, but unless your a huge fan of the show/character/design - there are better Figuarts out there you can get for probably half the price.



 



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