God Speed Love Special: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Riders Hercus, Ketaros, & Caucasus Gallery

"Cast off."

With Shinkochou Seihou releases in full swing, particularly for Kamen Rider Kabuto, I thought it was time we went back to take an extensive look at the trio of new riders that were introduced in Kabuto's film. Exclusive to God Speed Love, each of the 3 riders, Hercus Ketaros & Caucasus, has their own allegiance to one of the various future factions of ZECT. And even though ultimately each of them were sacrificial lambs for Tendou's path to the past, they all had particularly strong designs.

We'll focus on each briefly below, be forewarned that the mold each of these figures uses as a base is the original Kabuto/Dark Kabuto mold, NOT the Seihou release. These are the original releases, they are quite dated, they do still have many faults of that original mold. Faults that most of the releases in the original Kabuto line suffered from. I won't focus on their functionality for too long as that mold doesn't really have much to offer in discussion anymore.

Post #1 will focus on Hercus & Ketaros while Post #3 will primarily focus on Caucasus. If you'd like to hear my thoughts on this older body mold please feel fee to thumb through my original release Gattack & Dark Kabuto galleries for an idea.

Packaging
Each of these figures hails from an era of S.H. figuarts when gray scale plain boxes were the norm. So it's no shock that the packaging is incredibly boring for each of these figures.

Main Figures
Hercus:
We'll start here with the silver Hercules Beetle themed Kamen Rider Hercus. A pretty basic repaint of the original Kabuto mold, Hercus does feature a new head and right shoulder. The new shoulder reminds me more of a Rhinoceros beetle than his actual head does, but I do like the double pronged nature of the heads' design. One large horn striking forward from the forehead, and a small upward pointing blade from the chin. While not the most exciting of the 3 new riders, it has a uniqueness all it's own. Aside from these changes Hercus also has a remolded right wrist which now has a brace and port for the included Hercus Kabutech Zecter to attach.

Accessories: 2 sets of additional hands, 1 Hercus Zecter, and 1 ZECT Kunai Gun (gun mode). That's pretty lite, but also quite standard for the time of his release. I can't recall any of the original Kabuto riders actually including both the Kunai Gun and it's actual kunai mode. Technically he can wield it as the axe form too, but it's not quite the right shape or size for that.

Ketaros:
Next up we have the rust brown Centaurus Beetle themed Kamen Rider Ketaros. Another basic repaint of the original Kabuto mold, Ketaros does feature a more elaborately molded new head than Hercus. The new shoulder is identical to the one on Hercus, just with different paint apps. The new head however is a vast departure, I get the impression of dragonfly & scorpion combined in his visor design. It really is something else. The way that unique part splits the compound eyes is pretty striking, it's much less safe than most of the Kabuto rider form helmets were. Not exactly my favorite of the 3 movie riders, Ketaros is still a nice departure from Hercus' blandness. Aside from these changes Ketaros also the remolded right wrist which now has a brace and port for the included Ketaros Kabutech Zecter to attach.

Accessories: 2 sets of additional hands, 1 Ketaros Zecter (a repaint of the Hercus Zecter), and 1 ZECT Kunai Gun (Kunai mode). That's pretty lite, but still standard for the time of his release. My guess is that he includes the Kunai mode of the kunai gun simply to differentiate Ketaros a bit more from Hercus. And that actually does help some.

Caucasus:
Now we arrive at easily my favorite of the 3 movie riders, the golden Caucasus Beetle themed Kamen Rider Caucasus! While still not a huge departure from the original Kabuto mold, or in fact the other 2 movie riders, Caucasus somehow winds up as my favorite of the 3. He features the same remolded shoulder as the other 2, with different paint apps again. And he also features another fantastic elaborate head. Ketaros was really interesting looking, but Caucasus almost appears to have a giant mustache. Which is somehow way more awesome? I also really like how the blue compound eyes offset the gold armor. Each of these molds carries about the same weight personality wise, but this one some how squeaks out as my favorite. Like the others his right wrist has been remolded with a new brace to accommodate the included Caucasus Kabutech Zecter.

Accessories: 2 sets of additional hands, 1 Caucasus Zecter, 1 Hyper Zecter, and 1 blue rose. Even though Caucauss doesn't even include a simple repack of a weapon like the others do, he really comes with all he needs. The signature blue rose he's seen with in the film is a fantastic touch, and the Hyper Zecter is a must.

Final Thoughts
I have to say that even though these are all based on a pretty inferior mold, these figures still hold up decently. Obviously they're a bit undersized to scale correctly with today's line of Shinkocchou Seihou riders from Kabuto, but they can get the job done on a budget until the real deal comes out. If you see the trio cheaply I'd recommend picking them up to fill out a display at least. Kamen Riders Hercus, Ketaros, & Caucasus are worth that at least.

But I'm also a huge Kabuto fan, the movie especially really worked for me. Often times people site Den-O as the first time that a Kamen Rider theatrical movie directly impacted the plot of the TV series, but really, it's Kabuto. If future Tendou hadn't managed to defeat Caucasus & steal the Hyper Zecter, as well as travel to the past, the original TV series would have never happened. Without this alternate future that's actually a prequel, the show wouldn't exist. And I love that. That's probably where a huge chunk of my attachment for these 3 designs comes from as well. But enough of me pontificating. Check out the full gallery below and let that be the deciding factor for you.

Part 2:
- Hercus VS Ketaros
- Caucasus
- Group Shots

I like the designs of these guys, even though I never watched the movie. Would be interesting to see if these three ever get new molds.

Thanks for the great pictures as always!

The movie is one of my favorite rider films period. But it requires a love of the series to appreciate. If you don't like the show you won't like the movie. But as I mentioned in the review, it's time travel aspect and the way it loops back to the events that sat the series in motion really worked for me.

And thanks! Every once in a while I feel like busting out some older releases for a good photo shoot they never got the first time around.

I actually quite liked Kabuto. I ignored the movie because alternate universe shenanigans but hearing you talking about it makes me curious. I think I even have it on my hard drive too, so why not give it a try.

You're welcome, I appreciate all your galleries but the ones of older figures especially since I only started collecting with Gaim and even though I know which figures they did in the past, I never got to see most of them in-hand, let alone in high-quality pictures

God Speed Love is one of my favourite Rider movies (which is funny given Kabuto is one of my least favourite shows) so I've always thought about picking this guys up. If they got Seihou's I'd probably bite (though they aren't really a priority for that line), but I'm a bit more hesitant about mixing older figures into my display.

Thanks for another great gallery!

Thanks for the great gallery Den! These guys have such good designs- it'd be nice to see them get som SS love

Wow, great shots!

It's one of the better non-canon movies, but most heisei and neo-heisei series don't require you to watch them to fill in the gap even if it's canon. Hope to see Tendou return for a special or even Kagami since he was promoting the toys a few years ago.

Nice shots of Cool riders from a great movie