Monday 30 March 2020

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Ankh (Arm)

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Release Date: January 2020
RRP: 3960 yen

If there's one Kamen Rider series S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou looks as though it's going to go all out on, it's Kamen Rider OOO. Much like how Bandai Tamashii Nations previously showed the same dedication to Kamen Rider W, between all the combos already teased OOO looks set to rule the roost for some time. But it's not just the titular Rider taking centre stage, with Bandai also recovering old ground with the S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Ankh (Arm) set. This is the third time the disembodied arm of rogue Greeed has been released – originally appearing as a first-run bonus with the original TaToBa figure before receiving a better quality accessory set version. The new edition takes notes from that second version – releasing in a very similar fashion but with added Shinkocchou Seihou quality.

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Though it may be rather different from previous releases Ankh is still very much part of the Shinkocchou Seihou range, as evidenced by the special two-piece boxes these figures are packaged it. The box may be about half the size of a standard one but the design and layout are very much the same. The lid piece sports a single image of the Ankh arm alongside the various Bandai logos and Tamashii Nations holofoil sticker, while the sides simply feature "Ankh" (no mention of it just being the arm though) in silver foil lettering against a solid black backdrop. On the underside you won't find many more pictures since there isn't a whole lot of space to work with, but it does at least show you all the pieces you'll find inside. Speaking of which, Ankh and his accessories are spread across two trays – the top half being a transparent tray while the one underneath holding the Cell Medals the usual white plastic variety. Underneath that you'll also find a sealed bag housing the included Tamashii Stage.

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Just in case you hadn't fully realised it already, this "figure" is the right forearm of Ankh only. It's exactly how the character appears when he doesn't have a body to possess, and for Rider fans who'd like to have a range of characters on display but keep costs down, this makes the perfect companion piece to OOO. But that also means there isn't a whole lot to say about it in regards to a review. Rest assured though that Shinkocchou Seihou quality hasn't been lost – the moulding is absolutely superb, with the underarm itself retaining that scale-like texture while the top/gauntlet piece is smooth and perfectly shaped. True to Ankh's avian-qualities the colours are nice and vibrant, particularly where that metallic red transitions into yellow and green. A smaller canvas has allowed for no detail to go lost, with even the fingers (on every hand included no less) painted to perfection. Rounding it all off are the bandage-like swathes of cloth around the arm's end, which have been replicated with soft goods materials. While there's no wire in the cloth to specifically pose them, when Ankh is fixed to a Tamashii Stage they'll just droop naturally as they should.

While not pictured here the Ankh arm is a fully functional forearm, as it has been designed to work with the forthcoming S.H. Figuarts Ankh (human) figure and so presumably will also work as a replacement right arm on most other Figuarts as well. Of course that also depends on just how willing you are to remove your figures' forearms to test it out, and given how fragile many have found the new OOO elbows to be that might not be the ideal test subject. Doing so will also require removing the fabric pieces, which is explained rather ambiguously in the instruction sheet inside the box.

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Being just a forearm the single point of articulation comes in the form of the standard Figuarts ball jointed wrist, however Bandai have done something a little different here that's worth mentioning. Rather than the usual ball-peg the figures usually have to fix the hands on, Ankh's wrist instead has a cylindrical peg akin to one seen on Figma and MAFEX figures. While a ball peg locks on with much more security, connecting the two parts does require more pressure – and with very little area to apply said pressure on such a small piece like this something would almost certainly break. Therefore Bandai have definitely made the right move here. Pushing the hand all the way down onto the peg is a little fiddly, but when done properly the connection is secure and the hands are still easy to remove when needed.

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With the main attraction being so small Bandai had to find a way to justify that that 3960 yen price tag, so as they did with their previous Ankh arm set they've included a number of accessories to make the release a little more enticing. Also included is a Tamashii stage with an adaptor peg to hold the arm (shaped similarly to a Figuarts elbow joint), five additional hands, orange popsicle, phone, a holdable set of TaToBa Core Medals and a holdable set of TaJaDor Core Medals. All accessories can be held very comfortably in the hands provided, with the medal sets even having an added peg to fit in securely. While they may be small, little touches like the popsicle and surprisingly accurate iPhone (is this the reason for the pricing Bandai?) are a lot of fun that not only go well with Ankh but also any other figures at this scale.

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Rounding the accessories off is a rather extensive collection of Cell Medals, all laid out on model kit runners much like the Core Medals included with the OOO figures. However unlike those, these aren't painted so sadly look rather cheap with their moulded grey plastic finish. A total of four runners are included in the set, giving you a whopping total of 100 medals. That certainly sounds impressive, but handling a hundred loose medals really isn't all that fun (in fact, I only took half of them off the runners for these photos). They're very small, very easy to lose and fiddly enough that stacking them is a bit of a nightmare. The original Ankh arm accessory set came with moulded piles of medals that would have been perfect here, specially since then Bandai could have gone all out on the moulding and paintwork. While I get what they were going for here, the actual execution feels a little bit cheap. Individual medals are great figure props, but this is just excessive.

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Bandai Tamashii Nations might produce some of the best looking 6" scale figures around, but there's no getting around the fact that S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Ankh (Arm) is quite literally just a forearm and some accessories. Sure Kamen Rider OOO fans will already know and accept exactly what they're buying, and there are some great accessories in there too. But then you see that price tag. This set is over just over half the price Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider OOO retailed for, and when you look at it like that you're getting half a limb, some tiny accessories and a Tamashii Stage. And at that sort of price and in a premium line like Shinkocchou Seihou, getting less medals and them being actually painted would have been far more preferable choice. But perhaps the biggest sting of all is that the human Ankh figure doesn't even come with this arm, so the collectors out there who want a full Ankh figure to go alongside their OOO have to fork out for both. The Ankh arm being an glorified accessory set is perfectly fine, but Bandai are definitely showing their inner Greeed with this one.

1 comment:

M said...

My Shiny Toys Robots (Alex), Tv-Nihon subbed Garo -Gekkou no Tabibito-