S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Joker Gallery

"Joker!"

When the members of NEVER descend on Fuuto, a race begins for the T2 Gaia Memories. Katsumi Daido and his team will do anything and defeat anyone they have to after the tortured lives they've lead. But when Reika the Heat Dopant makes the mistake of taking on Shotaro on her own, his usual dumb luck will give rise to a new rider! Stumbling upon the T2 Joker memory, and inheriting the Lost Driver of his mentor, Shotaro becomes Kamen Rider Joker! Now after many years Bandai has finally taken a 2nd crack at this hero in figure form with S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Joker!

Packaging
The familiar Shinkocchou Seihou slip cover box makes another appearance! Nothing can be said about it this time that hasn't been said before. It's gotten a bit stale over time but it's still a pleasing type of collector's box. However, the benefit of Joker having been a Tamashii Nations event exclusive is that it got a bit of extra packaging fan fare. The anniversary slipcover around the regular Seihou box may be a bit monotone, but it's welcome change to what these releases normally have.

Main Figure
As with the previous line of Kamen Rider W figuarts, the Seihou releases rely heavily on repaints. Joker is the latest such, soon to be followed up by Heat/Metal & Luna/Trigger. The nice thing about that is, that we know what to expect when it comes to this release and others from the line. As with base Cyclone/Joker W, as well as Skull, & Fang/Joker, that's excellence. Feel free to peruse my review below, but it will be very similar in wording to my previous W related reviews due to the absence of radical changes.

This mold has accurately recreated the suits you've seen in numerous episodes and movies down to their finest details. I've said this many times with Shinkoccouh Seihou releases, but I truly think the W body is the peak of engineering in the line so far. Narrowly beating out the excellent Garo & Kabuto Hyper Form In every conceivable way these are magnificent figuarts. For a frame of reference, the original W Figuarts were largely a product of their time. The contrast between the old line, and what we have now, is stark.

For starters the S.S. release of Kamen Rider Joker nails the details and coloring. Unlike C/J & F/J, Joker has a uniform color scheme based on the Skull design. As with previous outings of the Joker half of the mold, it's decorate with gorgeous deep purple accents. The full body itself is unchanged, we have the same flat black base color, just more of it this go around. Having a dark base like this truly helps those purple accents stand out even further. The figure functions identically the previous 3 outings of the mold as well. If you've seen the C/J, Skull, or F/J or even the Eternal review, then you know what you're in for again. This mold works in every way that it must. It has not disappointed, even now.

Now, the Double Driver! This belt is still the crowning achievement of W Seihou line. A functional belt at this scale still just blows me away. This figuart includes the T2 Joker Memory packed as a separate accessory, rather than in the Driver, so as not to lose them. However, MY Joker came factory sealed from Tamashii Nations with *no memory included*. Mine's just missing entirely. Wasn't in the box or anything. So I had to make due with a Joker memory from another figure.

I think perhaps one of the few physical issues I may have with this figure is the head. The compond eyes seem a bit off to me. Almost like they're set too deep into the helmet, and too dark to see properly. But I'm just not sure, it looks off to me. The figure's form is just short of totally there in my eyes, and because this figure is a repaint of the magnificent Seihou W mold, it has the functionality spot on as well. Seihou Joker has the articulation to pull off everything, and the proper sculpting for the joints needed for it to look perfect while doing so. The extending knee joints that look like a natural expansion of the costume the near seamless thigh swivels, the way the upper arms & shoulder come together and separate just as you need, and the miraculous way the upper torso is designed. This figure just looks stunning in hand. The various Seihou W releases just have a way of doing that. I have an irrational desire to own all of these W releases even when I don't care for the show. It's wacky.

Accessories
Joker includes a lot, of the same thing:

6 - sets of hands. That's pretty much any and everything you could need, all in matching pairs.

1 - T2 Joker Memory. Just a *slight* repaint of the one from Cyclone/Joker or Fang/Joker. As a T2 memory it is of a slightly different design. But since mine was missing in the box, I don't quite have any comparisons to show.

That's a lot of hands and not much else. I would have appreciated some kind of punching effect part or something. But I also recognize that a release like this was a supremely easy repaint for an event and the fewer the accessories the better. And honestly, Joker didn't really use anything like a weapon so there's nothing that I can think of that would be a necessary inclusion here.

Final Thoughts
If you're looking to own another solid out of this mold then I recommend this release of it once again. It's just such a magnificently designed figure that I'd take any repaint of it. Heat/Metal & Luna/Trigger are on the way now, but the W novel exclusive Kamen Rider Cyclone would be quite easy, as well as the Movie Wars 2010 exclusive Cyclone/Cyclone & Joker/Joker forms. Honestly I'd be willing to buy them all. So bring it on Bandai.

Part 2

Sucks about the Gaia Memory, saw you talk about it on twitter

Also fun fact about this figure, it was meant as a lottery prize but there was so much demand the entry site crashed so they made it Premium Bandai

From your gallery, you might be right about something being amiss with the eyes. One of the things that's really astounded me about the SS W and Decade figures is the insane luminosity of the eyes. In your comparison pictures above, it does look like the eyes on CJ W are slightly better at catching light then Joker W, although I can't tell whether that's really a thing or just a "what color is the dress?" perspective thing.

There are a few things that kinda annoy me about this figure, but its way easier to get than the original Joker figuart.

I guess I need to give the new rider body type a shot, huh?

This mold is so damn good. I want every damn version of it.

Really sleek design! I imagine you could get a lot of Shotaro's poses out of it, both cool and comedic.

I've not seen much of Double, but I do like Joker's design. This figure is certainly deserving of being an SS, and I'm glad for everyone that does love W that it got a PB release.