Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Valvarad

Release Date: October 2024

RRP: 9900 yen

If there's one thing you can almost be certain of in a modern Kamen Rider series these days, it's that most of the principal characters will become Riders at some point. When Kurogane Spanner was first introduced in Kamen Rider Gotchard as the "masked warrior" Valvarad, it created the surprise dynamic of having a transforming protagonist that wasn't necessarily a Rider. However it didn't take long for Spanner to cast this transformation aside - confronting his dark past and, with the help of a new Driver, evolving into Kamen Rider Valvarad. Released as a Tamashii Web exclusive toward the end of 2024, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Valvarad rounds off the core trio of Gotchard's Rider roster.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Valvarad comes in the usual windowless Tamashii Web exclusive packaging, the style of which nicely matches the rest of the figures in the Kamen Rider Gotchard range. The big difference however is that this adopts character-specific purple colouring to go alongside the standard orange, grey and white. Due to the suit design, the box is also a little thicker than previous entries in the Gotchard range. The front of the box features a nice big image of the figure alongside the character name and series/brand logos, with a smaller full body shot (in a fairly neutral pose) featured on the left spine. The back of the box however features a number of images showing the figure off in a variety of action poses. Inside Valvarad and his accessories are neatly stored in their moulded plastic tray, with instructions on how to swap/use the parts printed on the inside flap of the box.

Despite being an upgraded version of the original Valvarad suit, comparing the two it's surprising to see how little they share in terms of shared parts. The main design feature shared between the two other than colour scheme is the helmet, which has been very slightly remoulded here to give it a cleaner look as well as add a second compound eye on the left side. The unique shape of the helmet already makes Valvarad stand out amongst other Riders, but the mismatching colours of the compound eyes is a particularly striking feature. Moving downward however all of the Machwheel-styled armour adorning Valvarad's body is new, despite sharing similar design traits. Mirroring the Madwheel Chemy's evolution into Machweel, Kamen Rider Valvarad sports a much cleaner look opposed to the dingy junkyard aesthetic of Valvarad. The detailing on all this armour is fantastic, but it's the scorch mark gradient painting on the pipes that really brings the design together. Around Kamen Rider Valvarad's waist is his new Valvadriver, cast in clear orange plastic with black and silver paintwork for the detailing. Finally the lower half of the body is completely new, swapping out the original suit's bulky white legs for a sleeker black design more akin to the other Gotchard Riders. Overall it's a great design that feels like an evolution of Valvarad whilst bringing in a lot of its own elements and looking more like a "Kamen Rider" as such. The back of the figure also features a slot that the Valvarusher can be pegged onto, allowing it to be stored just like it is on the actual suit.

It would also be fair to assume that all bulky/spiky armour affects poseability, but Bandai have clearly taken this into account and attempted to offset it where possible. Altogether Kamen Rider Valvarad features;

- Ball jointed head, neck, torso, waist and wrists

- Swivel hinge shoulders and hips

- Butterfly joint shoulders

- Drop down ball joint hips

- Double hinge elbows and knees

- Single hinge toe sections

- Bicep and thigh swivels

Those long shoulder pads are connected to front of the shoulder via small ball joints, allowing them to rotate separately from the arm itself. This is extremely handy when trying to make full use of the shoulder swivel, even if they still clash with the torso when using the butterfly movement. As such that butterfly movement is quite noticeably impacted, with the figure really struggling to hold the sword two-handed. The torso section isn't without its problems either, that bulky chest armour affecting articulation just as much as you'd expect it too. While the sideways and backwards movement from the upper torso and waist joints is great, between the armour and Valvadriver forward movement is extremely limited - basically, any sort of ab crunch is non-existent here. Similarly sidewards head movement is affected by the suit's large collar, even though the neck articulation itself is excellent. However the lower half of the body is significantly better, with each segment in that spiky "skirt" made from soft plastic so not to impede hip articulation whatsoever. There also aren't visible gaps when pulling the legs down either, which is something Bandai seem to have perfected on newer figures that still feature drop-down hips. 

Valvarad's rather modest accessory count consists of three additional pairs of hands as well as his signature weapon, the Valvarusher - an accessory carried over from the original Valvarad even though it no longer acts as his transformation device. The alternate hands include closed fists, weapon-holding and open/posed hands to compliment the default relaxed hands, giving Valvarad a nice little selection even if there isn't anything especially unique about it. However it's the Valvarusher that is the main talking point here, which like he suit itself is beautifully detailed and painted. There are lots of little details all over the sword worth appreciating, but the little taps on the hilt are particularly impressive given their size. In addition to being able to be stored on the figure's back, the Valvarusher blade can also be pushed down to fully expose the Chemy Rider Hangar - aka the sword's Chemy Card reader. It's a nice little feature, but does come with one rather significant drawback - the figure doesn't actually come with any Chemy Cards to insert. In fact the same can be said about any of the Kamen Rider Gotchard Figuarts, which is pretty ridiculous when you consider how much of a key part of the series it is. If the Ryuki, Blade and Decade ranges can all come with their respective cards, why is Gotchard any different? Bandai didn't even think to just print them on the inside flaps of the box to be cut out, which while not ideal would have at least been something. While Chemy Cards aren't necessarily a make or break factor for Kamen Rider Valvarad, they would have been that extra special something to take the accessories beyond what one would expect from the release.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Valvarad is a pretty no-nonsense release that does everything you'd expect it to. Bandai have done some quite clever things to ensure poseability isn't too weighed down by that bulky armour, and the sculpt's detailing remains as impressive as always. That said - although the figure meets the line's usually high standards it also doesn't offer anything especially new or innovative for longtime Figuarts collectors, and the inclusion of Chemy Cards could have really elevated the accessory count above what was expected as the bare minimum. Nevertheless, Kamen Rider Valvarad is a great evolution to the previous Valvarad suit and in turn a great way to round off Gotchard's core trio of Riders.