S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Amazon Gallery

"A-MA-ZOOOOOONNNNNNNNNN!"

When the village Elder Bago passed the Incan GiGi Armlet to the wild boy Daisuke Yamamoto, he also performed an ancient ritual to save his life. In order to battle against the Ten-Faced Demon Gorgos, Daisuke would learn to use the ancient artifact he'd been entrusted with and master it's powers as Kamen Rider Amazon! Today, we see how Daisuke has evolved with a brand new figure, and the Amazon Series' first foray into the renewal era with S.H. Figuarts Shinkkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Amazon!

Packaging
The familiar Shinkocchou Seihou slip cover box makes another appearance! Not much 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. For Amazon we do have some cosmetic changes however. The new Bandai Spirits blue logo is featured on the box, as well as a new holofoil Tamashii Nations brand sticker.

Main Figure
7 years ago, the original S.H. Figuarts Amazon was released, we reviewed it in 2016. At the time of it's release, this Amazon was already beginning to shift the quality of Showa figuarts, though it would be some time before real change came about with the Black & RX Renewals. Looking back now, Amazon is an extremely dated figure. But for it's time, it really was something else. The functionality & detail presented in it's sculpt was unprecedented. But things change, and now we have something of a next leap in the decade+ long history of S.H. Figuarts.

Shinkocchou Seihou has slowly, but much more rapidly in the last 3 years, reshaped what figuarts are. Redesigning characters from the ground up with engineering that takes into account what these suits really looked like on screen, while accommodating the fact that there would be an actual person inside. As the first figure in the line, Kabuto really set the bar high, and I was highly impressed then. When Seihou W was released I found it easily to be the greatest release in the line thus far. Rider 1 was also an incredibly impressive change from it's original counterpart. With ALL of that being said, Shinkocchou Seihou Amazon is absolutely the best the line has to offer so far. Bar none.

This version of Amazon, finally puts the original Figuart to shame. Just seeing the two side by side, it's evident just how short, wrongly colored, disproportionate, small overall, and frankly emaciated looking that figure was. The entire shape of it is just wrong. The Seihou is a thing of pure beauty to me. From the ground up, the suit has been fully realized and given the absolute best articulation possible given the design. Where the original had hollow ankles you could see straight through, the Seihou has fully formed feet on wide angle ball joints that provide plenty of posing opportunities. The knees are likewise just about perfect, they have far more range than the original, but like it, the calve spikes will impact the back of the leg when bent far enough. The hips also feature that wonderful interlaced style joint we've come to appreciate in recent years. Some people call it a diaper, but I greatly appreciate the separation of parts and joints in these hips. This complex design allows Amazon to assume some of his moist savage and acrobatic poses.

Aside from functionality, the legs are detailed *perfectly*. Every red stripe is sculpted into the body of the figure, and this applies to their placement on the entire body. Then it's painted over. The sculpt is shallow as well, allowing the paint to look like red color on green fabric as with the actual suit. But the detailing isn't limited to just the body and appendages, Bandai has gone the extra mile and made sure that even the connecting joints of the figure feature this detail. Gone are the days of miscolored joints holding limbs together. This is perhaps my favorite minute detail. Moving up, we see Amazon's belt, the Condorer. Though not his henshin device, the Condorer is still just as iconic. The Seihou's belt is a bit more properly round, and has the black detailing the original lacked, while also being more proportionate to the body. Like the original it can be replaced with an open Condorer accessory.

As huge an improvement as the legs are, the arms may be more so. The original figure suffered from long scrawny arms that lacked girth. Seihou Amazon is kind of jacked. Thankfully these arms also have a wealth of articulation. Fully unencumbered wrists, a natural elbow joint that fills in the gap as it moves, in much the same way as the knees. A full 360 bicep swivel, and possibly the best shoulder joint I've ever handled. More so than some other Seihou's (looking at you Rider 1), Amazon can bring his arms down to his sides a bit better, though still not totally flat. The trade-off is the excellent shoulder which allows full movement of the arms up and down in nearly any direction. The left arm features the GiGi Armlet, which looks a lot more natural this go around than with the original, as it actually goes around the entire bicep. The sculpt for it is phenomenally better as well.

The abdomen and chest now are really something else. The original figure was separated into two chunks, with the pectoral section rotating a little above the lower half. The Seihou takes a cue from Rider 1 and separates this into 3 sections, which can each move independently. There are 3 rows of "abs", the lower most one being it's own ring on the torso, plugged into the waist itself. The middle section has the most movement, then the pecs can rotate a bit as well, but are actually more for arching the back or bending forward. Sometimes this can expose an ugly gap on the side, but it also just goes to show how much this figure can move. This section of the suit is just so much more accurate than the original, and thankfully doesn't have those wacky articulated pecs it did either. While these can move on the Seihou, you don't have giant gaps in them that expose the plastic underneath. And on Amazon's back is a finned spine that is mostly one piece, save for the small chunk at the bottom. There, it's on a tiny hinge and can sway in and out as needed to touch the body while posing, therefore keeping the sculpt from breaking up too much.

FINALLY, the head. But first, the muffler/scarf. My one big gripe with Rider 1 was the tight ring around his neck for that accessory and the way in which the head would impact it while posing. Amazon is the same but worse for it because of his head's protrusions. The head itself however, is magnificent. Much larger than the original, the head finally feels proportionate to the body and gets the accurate shape it needed. The original was narrow and long, where this one is wide and squat as it should be. The compound eyes are a bit brighter, and the hinged mouth a bit more natural. It really is a vast improvement, suffering only minor articulation hindrance. Now, parts!

While designed years apart, Seihou Amazon also looks right at home on S.H. Figuarts Jungler, a bike which the original figuart always seemed dwarfed by. This figure really is everything Amazon fans have been waiting for.

Accessories
This is the only area where the original figuart has a *slight* leg up:

4 - sets of hands. One with an open grip for riding the Condorer, two open "savage/fighting" sets, and one set of hands opened so wide that the fingers nearly bend backwards.

2 - scarves/mufflers. One static to rest against his back, one windswept for action posing. The ball they plug onto can be a little tight, so use caution.

1 - alternate Condorer parts set. When you pull off the standard belt you can plug on this empty version, which this go around has the proper black recess within. While the other part simulates the removed center of the belt, which would be the core of the Condorer Rope.

Speaking of the Condorer Rope, that's exactly what's missing form this release. The original at the least did include the Rope, however flawed it was. I can't believe the Seihou didn't come with it. The original figuart also included the GiGi Armlet's counterpart, the combined GaGa Armlet. While something that really only was integral to the end of the series, I would have liked to see it here. But by far the BIGGEST omission, is the lack of the Dai Setsudan effect part. That's a huge disappoint to me, and while you can sort of use the original part with the Seihou, none of the fingers on any of his hand are posed correctly to interact with it correctly. The Amazon.JP edition of the original figure also came with a Tamashii Stage decal, but that's of less importance to me.

Final Thoughts
Any issues with accessories aside, this is THE iteration of Amazon to own. Seihou's have improved steadily with each release culminating in this truly excellent figure. I'd love to own this mold in one of the other possible variations it could be released in. There's always the classic blind Amazon Bandai could do, maybe even using such a release as an excuse to include the missing accessories. And of course there's the slightly less likely Pre-Amazon that I would love to have. No matter what though, it's clear that S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Amazon, is one of the best figure's this line has to offer.

Part 2

Gigigigigiiiiiiiiiiii! A shame I didn't preorder this, Amazon's the only Showa season I saw fully

Same! I liked Amazon and the design is a pretty unique one among Riders, so hearing this is apparently the best Figuarts ever is making me really excited to eventually get it!

I love Amazon's design, especially when compared to the uniformity that can be some of the other Showa designs. And this figure knocks it out of the ballpark.

I was really trying not to overstate things in the review, but this truly is an excellent figure. It's light years beyond the original. It's one of my favorite Figuarts period. There are lots of figures I love for their personality, or rather that of the character they represent, and then there are those I appreciate from an engineering standpoint. Seihou Amazon is all of those things.

GET THIS FIGURE- it's easily one of the best releases from the entire line,in my opinion.Just got mine yesterday,it's great(kinda missing the Gaga bracelet though..)..DH2!

I'm really surprised how much better it looks over the original.

I just love how much Amazon stands out amount the rest of the showa riders.

Oh my gosh, the beach and the burger! My favorite here are the Decade shots. (Also, outside of City Wars, it was my only exposure to the original Amazon.)

Weird for a Shinkocchou Seihou figure to come with fewer accessories than the original release. I don't like the thought of Bandai getting less meticulous with these releases.