S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider W Heat/Metal Gallery

"Heat! Metal!"

The two-tone detectives of Fuuto, Shotaro & Phillip, are best known for their traditional Cyclone/Joker combo as Kamen Rider W! But when the situation calls for it, W can adapt. When a ferocious fighter is needed Fang/Joker arrives, when you need that special trick shot, Luna/Trigger has you in the cross hairs. And even on their very first case, against the T-Rex Dopant, a special mix did the trick. Kamen Rider W Heat/Metal brings the heat and the force to wield it! Armed with the metal shaft and some hot hands, Heat/Metal was the perfect combo to stop a rampaging dinosaur and save Akiko's life.

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.

Main Figure
As with the previous line of Kamen Rider W figuarts, the Seihou releases rely heavily on repaints. Heat/Metal is just the latest such, though currently it is the last scheduled W release. The nice thing about the almost straight repaints of these figures, is that we know exactly what to expect when it comes to W releases now. As with base Cyclone/Joker W, as well as Skull, Fang/Joker, Luna/Trigger, & Joker that's true, is 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 was the peak of engineering in the line until they absolutely incredible Wizard Flame Style was released. The W mold really is still a solid as hell winner of a mold, much like Garo & Kabuto Hyper Form. In every conceivable way these are fantastic 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 Heat/Metal nails the details and coloring. The original H/M figuart had far from accurate colors, including lots of weird paint defects and missing applications, but color imperfections were prevalent and often accepted early in the line. This go around, both halves are gorgeously painted though. The body itself is physically unchanged aside from the always different chest, ankle & wrist details which always correspond to the memory on that half of the body. The figure functions identically the previous outings of the mold as well. If you've seen the C/J, Skull, Joker F/J, L/T, 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, after many repeated uses. So I really don't have much of anything to say about it's functionality, please feel free to peruse any of those previous reviews for a more in depth look at how the figure functions.

Now onto the Double Driver! This belt is still the crowning achievement of W Seihou line. A functional belt at this scale blows me away and simultaneously manages to frustrate me to no end. This figuart includes the Heat & Metal Memories packed as separate accessories, rather than in the Driver, so as not to lose them. I however lose them very, very, often when shooting galleries of W figures. Just be extremely careful as the fit is quite loose in the Double Driver.

Seihou Heat/Metal has the articulation to pull off everything it's known for in show (though I may think it needed some more accessories to make some it look better) 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 variants even when I don't actually like the show. It's wacky.

Accessories
As with other W releases (mostly), Heat/Metal comes with all the necessities:

6 - sets of hands. A wonderful smattering of options to choose from, these are all just repaints of hands that came with Cyclone/Joker, Fang/Joker, Joker, and Skull. Pretty much everything you're gonna need.

2 - Gaia Memories. 1 Heat, 1 Metal. Same mold as any other memory, exquisite paint apps on each. Just as easy to lose as every other Gaia Memory you've ever handled.

1 - Metal Shaft (holstered). This version of the shaft has a peg built in to use with the hole in the back of the figure. It can also be held but feels a bit too snug for the hands it's intended to be used with. It can accept 1 Gaia Memory and has a plug to use the included Stag Phone.

1 - Metal Shaft (full). The full sized version of the weapon works spectacularly well with W. It also has a Gaia Memory slot and a peg hole for the Stag Phone. The ends are also open to accommodate the included shaft extenders.

2 - Metal Shaft extenders. These plug into either end of the Metal Shaft, They have grooves cut into them so they only plug in one way. In the original W Figuarts line, there was a two-pack of Heat/Trigger & Heat/Joker that included a Metal Shaft with built in flame effects. Luckily I had an old junker of this two-pack, pried off the flames, and they actually work perfectly with these new Seihou extenders. As you can see below they work really well, I wish this figure had come with it's own proper flame parts but this was a pleasant surprise.

2 - Stag Phones (phone & Stag modes). Luckily rather than opting for a single version this release gives us both. So W can have his trusty cell phone, will also having one in Stag mode to plug into the Metal Shaft. The Stag mode has a sculpted in Heat Memory as well.

14 - alternate hands. As W Seihou releases continue to prove, they have all the damn hands Bandai can manufacture. It's a staggering number of options, even if I wind up generally just using a few types, I welcome having so many to choose from like this.

And that's a basically perfect assortment of parts. Bravo this time.

Final Thoughts
Once again Bandai has really done right by Kamen Rider W. A form from a really well loved series that never got it's proper due in the original figuarts line up, has again gotten the high end renewal treatment. Shinkocchou Seihou Heat/Metal is another really gorgeous offering from W, and I very much look forward to whatever comes next. The last thing we saw a prototype of that hasn't made it to market yet, was Nasca Dopant. There are still several more W & Accel forms for the line to tackle as well though. Hopefully something comes sooner rather than later. With Bandai focusing Seihou towards Hibiki, Garo, and even Wizard, we'll see what comes next.

Part 2

For a form that in all honesty wasn't too memorable to me this doesn't really stand out, though it's purely my own personal preferences

I promised myself I wasn't going to get too invested in these, but then I found Heat/Metal on Mandarake for a decent price. Whoops.

So does the Metal Branding piece from the original two-pack actually fit hands that come with this release, or did you have to borrow hands from the original Heat/Metal?

I always love W Heat Metal Form and Finisher. I really curious if W Heat Metal are using Spider, Stag, or Bat Memory Gadget in Metal Shaft for finishing attack......

W Heat Metal also looks badass when he ride a bike especially HardTurbuler....

Hopely the Renewal version of W Cyclone Joker Extreme and Accel Trial will be releases too....

I'm no fan of the Double designs, but for people who are, I'm glad Tamashii managed to put out all of Double's major "base" forms, so they can do things like the amazing shot at the end with them all posed together. This only leaves Xtreme for release at some point, right?

Great pictures.