Toku Toy Box: S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Ibuki Gallery

Kamen Rider Hibiki finally joined the S.H. Figuarts line for the first time over 4 years ago, as only the 2nd Shinkocchou Seihou release. And it set the bar fairly high at the time. Many collector's, myself included, expected more Hibiki and for the matter Kabuto riders to begin releasing shortly after these inaugural Seihous. Man were we wrong! It's taken 4 years for another rider from Hibiki to make it into the line. So was the wait worth it? Let's see!

Iori Izumi was born into the head Oni family of the Kanto region. A prodigy driven by loyalty to his family, and to his duty to defeat the Makamou, Izumi fully abandoned his human identity and fully became the Oni of the Izumi family, Kamen Rider Ibuki! Convinced that he cannot be defeated, convinced of his family's strength, Ibuki is a formidable fighter and master of the trumpet weapon Ongekikan Reppuu. This Oni of breath will blow away any Makamou that stand in his path. And for the first time ever, Ibuki makes his debut in the S.H. Figuarts line as a Shinkocchou Seihou!

Packaging
It's the familiar Shinkocchou Seihou slip cover box once again! Not much can be said about it this time that hasn't been said before. It's gotten a bit stale (to me) over time but it's still a pleasing type of uniform collector's box.

Main Figure
First things first, like Hibiki, Ibuki is just a really pretty figure. The sculpt of this body type is superb, really bringing to life these unique Oni Rider suits. In every way imaginable it captures the look of the on screen suit right down to the textured musculature. The design process Seihou's go through has always been much much more involved than that of the standard figuarts line. The best example of this having been the special booklets that were included with Kabuto & Hibiki. When the design begins with a sort of skeletal inner frame, and builds out what would be like a suit on a real body like this, you get a much more realistic application of articulation and proportion to the body as a result.

Now despite the obvious cosmetic changes, Ibuki is exactly the same basic figure as Hibiki. Featuring identical articulation even. When Bandai nails the design of the body, it can be truly astounding how outer level changes can create two vastly different figures from the same toy. But of course, even 4 years later some of my issues with this mold still persist. I've always found the legs to be quite odd. To me, they look really long and at odds with the torso, especially when bent for crouching poses. Something about them looks off. They function well enough, though I've always thought the Hibiki mold had one of the more strange figuarts hip joints out there. While the part separation undoubtedly gives them great range, the hips look very small by the time you angle them out fully, making the thigh seem huge by comparison. And while the knees function just fine, the feet irk me to no end. Despite being pretty big, too big if you ask me, they don't easily rest flat on any surface, and the toe bends are perpetually difficult to line up straight. It's just hard to get Ibuki or Hibiki for that matter, in a flat footed stance.

Ibuki's belt is really loaded up with accessories like Hibiki. This figure comes with a lot any way, luckily you can store multiple things on the belt, in various interchangeable forms. When loaded out for static poses, Ibuki's right hip has the Henshin Onibue Onteki, Ibuki's transformation whistle. The left hip features a Disc Animal holster with 3 non-removable discs sculpted in. Straight out of the box, the center of the belt has Ibuki's Ongekimei Narukaze attached. This disc piece is removable to simulate how it combines with Ibuki's Ongekikan Reppuu, though it does not actually combine with either of the Reppuu's included with the figure. It can be used with any Oni Rider that has a similarly designed belt.

The upper body is identical to Hibiki, just removing the silver accent parts and replacing them with golden trumpet like tubing. The upper and lower halves of the torso move well enough, independent of one another, though it's a tight fit to get either to move very far. I've always felt this body type was a bit stiff, but it gets the job done. Ibuki's arms are basically identical to Hibiki, though like the rest of the body are painted in a nice glossy blue rather than Hibiki's metallic purple. The shoulder pads still annoy me to no end, they just pop off basically all the time.

And like Hibiki, Ibuki has a stunning headsculpt. In particular the blue lines along the faceplate and visor are crisply painted, while the visor itself has a near perfect silver fade into the blue of the helmet. Likewise the blue on the visor transitions into gold on the horns near perfectly. And the sculpt on the second Oni face on the forehead is just spot on perfect. The tubing around the neck can impact some of it's outward movement, but overall it's just incredibly nice looking. While I have my gripes about the various components of the figure, the total package taken at once is really very nice.

Accessories
Much like Hibiki, Ibuki is fully loaded:

4 - sets of hands. This gives you basically everything you need to hold any of the included accessories, though the ones intended to hold the Reppuu do not work well at all. In it's complete form it's intended to be held from the center like an actual trumpet, rather than the trigger and stock as the gun form is. But the hand meant to hold it has a very very poor grip. I also really wish there were more and proper expressive open hands. There just aren't really the right hands to make Ibuki feel like he's really moving.

1 - Ongekikan Reppuu (gun mode). This incomplete form of the Reppuu is what Ibuki uses most often for basic attacks against Makamou. Held like a traditional side arm, this is how I prefer to pose him for display.

1 - Ongekikan Reppuu (trumpet mode). The Trumpet mode in show takes the Reppuu and combines it with the Narukaze on Ibuki's belt to form the end of the instrument. The mouthpiece would also be removed from the front section and plugged onto the back. The Figuart opts to just have this version of the Reppuu included as a complete weapon so you don't risk losing any tiny parts. Which at this scale I'm totally okay with.

1 - open mouth head. When Ibuki uses the Reppuu in Trumpet mode to actually play it properly as an instrument to attack Makamou, a sculpted mouth appears on his helmet. Thankfully the Seihou includes this as an alternate faceplate. Unfortunately, this does not plug on very securely at all.

1 - empty Disc Animal holster. Just to be used when you have your ibuki holding his disc animals for any reason.

3 - (non-transforming) Disc Animals. As with Hibiki these don't transform, nor do I think that should be expected at this scale. Transformation joints made of plastic this thin would be ridiculously brittle. I'd like to have seen alternate already transformed animals included, but it's honestly not that big a deal either. The Discs included are Nibi-iro Hebi, Kiaka Shishi, and Asagi Washi.

4 - versions of the Henshin Onibue. One in it's dormant stored form with the prongs covering the oni face, one with the prongs folded out when Ibuki is ready to transform, and a third version with the belt clip molded in so it can be "stored" on the belt as well as a 4th version which is just an empty holder to use on the belt when Ibuki is actually holding the Onibue.

Ibuki really comes with everything, much like Hibiki. I honestly can't really think of something that he should have come with, that he didn't.

Final Thoughts
Hibiki was a long time coming. And I never would have guessed that it would take another 4 long years before we'd see another rider from his show. Funny enough, at the time Hibiki was released, we were only 1 rider short of having some form of S.H. Figuarts representation of every lead Heisei Rider that had existed up to that point. Kiva was outlier then, and 4 years later he's still out there though finally confirmed for release. It's just amusing that no matter how much this toyline or this hobby changes, that things still wind up being the same as well. If you're a big fan of Hibiki, a show with a pretty damned dedicated fan base, then you owe it to yourself to pick up Shinkocchou Seihou Ibuki as well.

Part 2

It's really great that the Hibiki-fans finally got to add new figures to their collection; I didn't think it would happen after Hibiki himself sold so poorly.

I can say nothing about the character as I still haven’t watched Hibiki, but he does look cool.

It may have taken four years, but it looks like it was worth the wait for something so gorgeous, and which actually has accessories. Of course, if it's just a remold of Hibiki, they probably could have released it years ago... but, like Kiwami says, Hibiki didn't sell all that great. Top gallery.

So love the transformation photos. That's great.

I'm not a big fan of hibiki but this guy looks awesome. Love the trumpet and that we've got the transformation trinket.

Feel like we need a photo gallery of these guys as a band

Wai wai wai wait wait. Is that a custom Kamen Rider Kabuki?

I love this figure, and it looks amazing in your photo set; the lightbox adds so much. I liked that you did the "throw the Ongekimei Narukaze into the air before attaching it" thing. I'd totally forgotten that bit.

I kinda want some disc animals in their animal forms, but feel like it's sacrilege to criticize the accessory count on these things.

Looks awesome, the transformation pictures were great. The Hibiki designs look so good in the renewal line.

Part of me really thinks that I should pick these Hibiki Figurats up, even though I haven't bought one in years. There's just always been something I wanted to spend the money on more.

IDK why ive never thought to use Body-Kun figures as unhenshined riders or rangers thats a super cool way to use the henshin devices in photography. Thanks for the great idea for future me.

Four years since Hibiki was released? Are estimating at least another 4 before the guitar playing oni is released lol. Kidding aside that is a good looking figure, despite the tiny issues with the hands that you mentioned.