“You truly are the best opponent I could have asked for!”
The first of the Promised Number arrives in the S.H. Figuarts line up! An extensive and elaborate repaint of the original Heart Roidmude, this figure represents the charismatic villains ultimate evolution. This is S.H. Figuarts Over Evolved Heart Roidmude!
As mentioned above this figure is nothing more than a repaint of the original Heart Roidmude. So that does mean that the physical & functional shortcomings of this mold will still persist as they always have. However the glorious golden paint scheme, the dark paint wash, and bright purple used on Over Evolved Heart bring out all of it’s best details & personality. This figure may still be limited, but Heart has never looked better than he does here. He does however still have a very limited selection of accessories, just the same 3 sets of hands that came with the first release. Here’s hoping that eventually the Brain Roidmude prototype that was shown off a while back will be able to join Heart one day.
We’ve attached a selection of images to this post, but you check out the full 50 image gallery after the jump by clicking “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” at the bottom of this post. Next time we’ll be back with a gallery from Kamen Rider W!
"My heart has reached it's apex!"
** As with a lot of releases in the Drive line, this is another repaint mold. SO my review is going to be very similar to the original Heart Roidmude Gallery.
Packaging
The packaging for this release is literally identical to that of the original S.H. Figuarts Heart. We've just got some new stock photos of this gorgeous golden boy. It's still a rather boring box design, but the intricate details of Heart go a long way even in stock photos.
Main Figure
Takeyuki Takeya has always been a master of details, and his wonderful design for Heart has made the transition to figure form, at least visually, very well. Kaijin SHF's are few and far between nowadays, gone are the glory days of the Dopants, Greed, & even Zodiarts when there were many villainous releases to accompany the heroic riders. In fact this Over Evolved repaint of Heart is only the second such release in the entirety of the Drive toyline. And that's out of about 20 individual figure releases. We saw a prototype of Brain Roidmude some time back at a Tamashii Nations event but he's never seen the light of day again. I would guess that Over Evolved Heart is likely our last Kaijin from this series, so let's take a look at him.
The original Heart release didn't set the bar very high in quality terms, but Over Evolved Heart certainly does a better job. Heart is a gorgeously sculpted figure. Seriously it's like the show suit was shrunken down to perfect miniature. In terms of sculpt it's unbeatable. The intricate designs and etching of the suits are perfectly represented here. From Hearts' feet to his incredible head everything looks great, though the weathered paint wash on his golden parts seems to be a tad bit misapplied. But perhaps the best features to point out are the actual chest and Hearts' well, heart. It's just gorgeous. It looks like it could beat with some devilish blood flow at any point. And the new paint job for Over-Evolved Heart helps bring out these details even more. The various musculature's and striations on his body just look so much more alive this go around.
This Figuart however is functionally an awful toy. Plain and simple. Where Heart excels in sculpt, he fails miserably in design. The legs in particular are just bad. Thanks to the skirt armor, which again looks great, the legs can barely move whatsoever. I've managed to get him in a few decent poses but only briefly and often only with support from a Tamashii Stage. Hearts legs can barely move outwardly and certainly don't have much range forward or back, add to this his rather clownish feet and even basic poses can be difficult. Thankfully this release at the very least has corrected to terribly loose hips. My original Heart can barely even stand. Over Evolved Heart however has plenty of supporter.
Moving up the body, the arms may as well be vestigial. They serve no purpose. Despite huge wrists the hands move freely, the elbows work even. But the bicep swivels are all but impossible to use as it only moves about a quarter turn, almost like something is blocking each arm internally from moving more. And the arms have the ability to move slightly up & forward or back, but are immediately stopped by the massive shoulder pads. Pads that for some bizarre reason can only rotate forward or back on a swivel. There is no hinged joint to allow them to move up with the arm. Effectively killing almost any good pose you want to have the arms in. Couple these issues with the torso that can barely swivel or lean forward at all, and you probably understand my disappointment. Even arching the back just slightly will topple this guy over. The head is also pretty terribly designed. Again it's a BEAUTIFUL sculpt but the massive frill/neck piece coming up out of the torso has minimal rotational movement and the head sitting atop it has only slightly more.
Again, Over Evolved Heart is incredibly gorgeous. The golds & purples featured on the mold this go around are incredible. They bring out all of the most delicious details of this mold. But as with the original release, physically this figure lacks proper articulation.
Accessories
And here's the worst part of this release:
3 - sets of hands. That's it. Just straight up repaints of those included with the original Heart. Not unexpected, but still a bit disappointing. As with the original, one set of hands are a type of closed fist "holding things" pair. They're open through the center as though a small pole of some sort could fit through his grasp. But no such mention is made in the instructions as to what these are for, and no accessory with any Drive Figuart that I own has any discernible way of interacting with Heart while using that type of hand.
Unfortunately Over Evolved heart does not come with the AI Drive Driver & Shift Brace. I realize this seems like a weird thing for me to bring up. But when Heart returned in the Mach/Heart V-Cinema, when he used his Roidmude form he was still wearing the Shift Brace. And later took out the AI Driver to use his first Rider form, Speed/Wild/Technic. I think it would have been a really nice touch for this figure to at least include the brace even if it wasn't just fixed to his wrist. But alas, Over Evolved Heart comes out with the same paltry selection of accessories as the original one.
Final Thoughts
I love love LOVE Takayuki Takeya's incredible design work for this show. The Roidmude are some of his best creations ever. That being said, once again the transition to figure form has been less than perfect. The original Heart Roidmude was my first big disappointment with this line, Over Evolved Heart Roidmude manages to be better thanks to it's glorious paint scheme, but that's about it. Functionally this is still the same flawed mold we got two years ago. I still love Heart's character, even more so after his V-Cinema return, so I'm always willing to own more figuarts like this. I just wish that some improvements could have been made to his articulation. As is I can only recommend Over Evolved Heart, or even the original Heart, if you can get them for a good deal. Or if you're a pretty hardcore fan of the show like myself.
Part 2
Sucks to hear that you don't enjoy this one but it was to be expected. I myself am not a huge fan of the golden forms as I prefer the original color schemes for each Roidmude.
But I agree, the basic design of them are great, whatever color they are, it's too bad that Heart doesn't quite work in SHF form. Let's hope Brain and Medic will one day do better.
Thanks for the gallery, especially since this one wasn't such a joy to work with. I still think you did a good job with the action shots even with the limitations of the figure.
And for some weird reason, I would like to see Over Evolved Heart vs. Golden Frieza now
But I agree, the basic design of them are great, whatever color they are, it's too bad that Heart doesn't quite work in SHF form. Let's hope Brain and Medic will one day do better.
Thanks for the gallery, especially since this one wasn't such a joy to work with. I still think you did a good job with the action shots even with the limitations of the figure.
And for some weird reason, I would like to see Over Evolved Heart vs. Golden Frieza now
Brain is always possible to some degree I suppose because of that one prototype that was displayed a while back. And by extension Over Evolved Brain could exist one day too. But Medic is the longest of long shots, out of everything from Drive. I could always see the other Riders happening. Even Lupin has some minor chance of existing but I just doubt Medic does. I'm optimistic that one day everything will come out, but when i think realistically about Medic, and probably Jun/MP Mach too, they will never happen.
Great photos as always Den-O! Love the design of Heart, sorry to hear that he's not a great figure, but I will say though, I'm still kinda tempted to get one!
Really disappointing it’s just a recolor, I would’ve done another roidmude instead
It sucks Heart's S.I.C themed design didn't translate well here
Like the gold paint but the original looks better
It's a shame this guy doesn't pose well, as he looks beautiful. At least he makes a good statue, I guess?
Always felt like just turning a character gold was pretty lazy, and the roidmude gold forms kind of feels like the epitome of that.
Keep reading: S.H. Figuarts Over Evolved Heart Roidmude Gallery - Page 2
Not a member yet? Join TokuNation Now!