Figure News: Prototypes of the remaining Kamen Rider figmas, next Sci-Fi Revoltech unveiled

Well, this is slightly old news, but pretty much everyone in Japan is celebrating the new year (which they hold in very high regard). So the past four days or so have been completely devoid of any new updates from retailers and companies alike, although most of them will resume normal operations tomorrow or Wednesday (Amiami resumes business in about six hours, if memory serves me). So I figured I'd share some news that's a bit old, but still worthy of reporting.

Hobby Magazine of Japan recently ran an article about Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, the Americanized version of Ryuki that's proven surprisingly popular over in moonland. With this article, they showed off images of the Figmas of all thirteen of the series' Riders. While eight of them are already available for preorder, they also showed off the last five in the collection.


"Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon,
you come and go, you come and go..."

First up would be the chameleon-themed Rider, Kamen Rider Verde Camo. Now, Camo doesn't have much in the way of accessories - only two versions of his yoyo-based weapon (which has a posable metal wire). But when you realize that Camo's combat style is based around copying the abilities and weapons of other Riders, combined with the fact that reach of the other KRDK Figmas includes at least one spare weapon, it'll be easy to fully equip Camo. There's also one other benefit to Camo's lower number of accessories - he's 200 yen cheaper than the 3200Y MSRP for the series.


So many potential tsundere jokes!

Also joining Camo is Kamen Rider Taiga Axe. Both of those two are due for an April release, so preorders will probably open pretty soon. Axe includes an axe (duh), as well as his huge tiger-gauntlets. With what looks like individually-posable claws, I'm sure many people will be displaying Axe with these rather than his namesake weapon.


"I'm the Ryuki who shops at Hot Topic."

May is the month of release for the last three Riders. Despite this, Max Factory already has a colored prototype of the mysterious doppelganger, Kamen Rider Ryuga Onyx. This figure, like the character, is literally a repaint of the Ryuki Dragon Knight Figma (right down to the accessories), so only fans of the character and completionists need apply.


"Aw, c'mon. You guys get big claws and swords and stuff, and all I get is... an antelope on my leg..."

The last conventional Rider of the thirteen would be Kamen Rider Imperer Spear, the impala-themed Rider. Despite the name, he doesn't actually wield a spear - instead, he has an awkward drill-gauntlet and... a leg-antelope. Yup. Not sure why you'd want an antelope on your leg, but to each their own, I guess.



Last up would be the big guy himself, Kamen Rider Odin Wrath. Wrath looks to include a particularly large number of accessories - in addition to the alternate hands and Advent Card standard to all the KRDK Figmas, he includes two staffs, two blades, and the large shield-like weapon you see in the picture.

One thing I can't help but notice is that Max Factory seems really devoted towards getting all the Riders in the series out on the shelves in Figma form, as standard releases. As much as it pains me to admit, if these were S.H. Figuarts, they'd probably give Ryuki, Knight, Zolda, and Ouja standard releases, and then release the rest as exclusives. While the Figmas don't have some of the nice details the Figuarts have (diecast parts among other things), they do pack a lot more accessories (STANDS), and look just as screen-accurate without sacrificing articulation. This may sound somewhat blasphemous, but I think Max Factory have beat Bandai at their own game - the only thing hindering them is their limited licensing options (they can only pick up the Americanized versions of any Toei productions). However, since the Dragon Knight Figmas are selling pretty well (Dragon Knight and Wing Knight have sold out pretty much everywhere, and preorders for Torque and Incisor have sold out on many sites), I could see Max Factory delving further into the tokusatsu market. Maybe they'll go for some of the Power Rangers series, effectively letting them make Super Sentai Figmas (something that Bandai has done very little of).

Kamen Riders not your thing? How about a Revoltech?



Yup, Captain Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is getting a Sci-Fi Revoltech. This has a lot of potential as far as accessories go, so I hope that Kaiyodo get this right. But where has all the rum gone?