S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kabuto Renewal Gallery

Cast off!

This one has been a long time coming, but S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kabuto Renewal is here! So let's dive right in!

Bulk of photos in post #1, continued into post #2!

To start, the original Kabuto line of S.H. Figuarts is not terrible. At least they weren't by the standards of the day about 5 years ago. Now however they just don't hold up with current SHF engineering. So Bandai has rectified that with this Renewal release. And wow what an improvement this new figure makes.

To start it's been well publicized that Bandai sculpted an entirely new basic human form for Kabuto. This figure and other premium style releases like it from now on (Hibiki etc), will feature this new base body. The improved proportions and articulation afforded by this new sculpt already put it light years ahead of the original figure.

Note. I no longer have my original SHF Kabuto. I sold it immediately after the Renewal was first announced in anticipation. So unfortunately I don't have a comparison of the two. But I do have Gattack and Shadowtrooper from the same era to compare to this figure.

Renewal Kabuto succeeds in nearly every aspect that Bandai wanted it to. As I mentioned the articulation is nuts on this thing. The new style hips provide a wide and balanced motion that allows you to replicate some of Kabuto's most iconic poses/attacks. The head sculpt is now the appropriate size (with correct colored eyes) compared to the first figure. The shoulder pads are akin to Blade in that they can unhinge for a ton of extra motion.

A new style of hands has also been implemented here. The more "figma style" peg hands are introduced to the line with this figure. They were controversial when first revealed, and will likely continue to be for a long time. I just want to say to start, I don't like them. I really thought I would. But I simply don't care for the peg style in hand. They don't seem easier to remove that the old style, and don't make me feel more confident about avoiding breakages. Just because of their design they can spin 360 and bend up/down at the wrist, but they somehow feel more limited than the old style ball joint hands.

An odd "hand tree" is also included to store them on. This is neither practical nor well executed. Simply push the pegs from the wrists into shallow grooves on the tree. But there's no indication that any hand belongs in a particular spot. Unfortunately any degree of force applied to get the hands on the trees will pop any you may have successfully gotten on, right back off. The tree also splits in two and can be combined with duplicates of itself from future releases. Again this is far from practical as it falls apart from looking at it the wrong way.

As for other accessories Kabuto also includes the 3 versions of his signature weapon. The Kabuto Kunai Gun. The Gun, Axe, and Kunai modes are all included here. Typically the Gun mode is more associated with Masked form than the Rider form this figure represents, but I appreciate the added bonus for the price of the figure. And speaking of bonuses a short S.H.Figuarts development booklet is included which I've included scans of in this gallery.

Is Kamen Rider Kabuto Renewal perfect? No, unfortunately the short comings of the new hand/wrist system work against the figure. Is it still one of the best SHF's in the entire line? Hell yes! The new body this figure is based around is absolutely magnificent. Loads of articulation and an absolutely rock solid set of proportions go a long way to making this a fantastic figure. You should definitely pick one of these bad boys up.

POST #2
Additional Photos!

Great Gallery!

The wrists drive me insane. I am extremely disappointed that Figuarts will be using those moving forward. They simply are so much more limited by not having the free range that a ball joint offers.

Aside from a bit of sprue left on the horn of mine (grr; it's a little distracting), it is otherwise a perfect figure. Perfectly proportioned, beautifully detailed, and a joy to look at and pose. I'm quite satisfied to have such a good representation of one of my favorite Riders.

Same. I think it's a superb figure, aside from the MASSIVE flaw of the hands. I don't care for them at all

Mine should be in tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

Kinda disappointing to hear about the hands though as I was really looking forward to them. I was welcoming of the limit in motion if it meant swappage was easier, but if that's not the case then the change isn't really beneficial. Still don't think the old style is the way forward either though. With all the effort Bandai are putting into new sculpting you'd think they'd try and come up with some entirely method to do hands.

I just know this'll probably come off as dickish, but as one of the people who was kind of against the hand design change while most others were all over it...kinda not surprised at the end product.

The limited movement compared to what we're used to was a total given seeing as how they were modeled similarly to Figma hands. Honestly, I think it would have been better if they designed the ball-jointed wrists in a way that just replaced the ball peg with a straight peg. That said, it IS Bandai's first attempt at this in the Figuart line. There could be improvements or changes down the line given some time.

Actually from what one of my pal from B-Daman Wiki, he's also a BIG Kamen Rider fan *need to get him to join this place *, he's reviewed it & didn't find the up & down swivel on the wrist joint to be as big of an issue also the peg give a much LESS scary way to swap out the hands, I mean hell I ended up pulling the whole joint outta delta's left arm when swapping left hands on him. Also I like the idea of the hand storage rack, makes it much easier to keep track of hands than a f*cking plastic baggie does *I know this for a fact*.

Regardless of what he says I have to wholly disagree. This is NOT an easier system, the joints don't feel stronger, and I feel equally as scared of breaking the wrist here as I did before. The pegs are just as tight as the old ball joints were and a tiny thin cylindrical plastic pin is what holds the posts into the hands themselves. I see those shearing off and breaking down the road, just as easily as the old ball wrists.

I can see what they were trying to do but it's not better. And the plastic rack is a joke as I've mentioned. It falls apart when you look at it the wrong way. The figure is excellent but the hand and storage system leaves much to be desired.

Kabuto is the first of the renewal release I guess it is expected that he might have faults to him still he does look pretty awesom, lets hope they'll learn from whatever happens with Kabuto and improve on Hibiki.