S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Den-O Sword & Gun Form Gallery

"I..... have arrived again!"

"Well now I'm angry. 'Kay?"

Ryotaro Nogami has terrible luck. He's clumsy, easily taken advantage, frightful, and one of the best people you could ever know. Kind & strong, though not particularly brave, Ryotaro carries in him all the qualities that can make a hero. Including a revolving door of monsters possessing his body! On his own Ryotaro may seem weak, but when he's partnered with the 'Taros he's unstoppable, as Kamen Rider Den-O! With the fiery peach oni Momotaros, Den-O Sword Form is born! But when possessed by the deadly dancing dragon Ryutaros, Den-O Gun Form arrives! Travelling the train of time, righting wrongs of the past, from start to finish this rider is always at a climax!

Packaging
Obviously, Seihou Den-O comes in that familiar Seihou style box, the collector friendly packaging this line has come to be known for. And it's a big departure from what the original Den-O line featured. It's much more subdued. In the original line of releases nearly all the figures feature boxes based on the Den-Liner pass. This go around it's regular Seihou aesthetics though the box is a bit wider to accommodate all the accessories and features a spectacular double portrait of both forms of this rider. Like Ankh, this is one of the few outliers in terms of packaging for Shinkocchou Seihou. The core figure and armor components are packaged in one tray side by side, while a secondary and much smaller tray is packed beneath them with all of the various extra hands needed for either form.

Sword Form
Let's get this review going a bit differently. This is really one core figure, with two sets of armor. So separating out a review into "Main Figure" & "Accessories" as I normally would doesn't really make a ton of sense. So I'll do the two forms of Den-O with their parts included here instead. Kicking things off is Sword Form. This is the default form the figure comes packaged in. And it should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me or is reading this review, that I am the number Den-O fan you know. And that this form is one of my favorite rider designs ever. A few years back I did a belated review of the original Den-O figuart, because at the time the rumor was that a Seihou was on the way. Now that the dream has been realized, it's safe to say this this figure blows the original away.

As you can see in the comparison shots in the gallery below, the Seihou is taller, bulkier, more accurately colored, far more detailed, and all around better than the original. This figure is almost modular because of it's form change ability, something that really calls back even further in Kamen Rider history, to the Souchaku Henshin days for Den-O. To change forms with this mold you need only remove the thigh plates, the Set Touch at the core of the Den-O Belt, the upper body armor, and the head. The figure is rather naked when the parts are removed but in it's complete Sword Form state, it's really astonishing what Bandai have pulled off here. While many figures choose form over function, or vice versa, Seihou Den-O opts for both.

Gone are the nearly chicken like legs of the original figuarts, instead replaced by some appropriately beefy ones. But as I said, it isn't just the visual aspect, but the functional one that's improved as well. As this suit design permits, we get some great rocker ankles with a toe bend as well. Unusually the legs also have a small bit of extra play in the shins below the knee joint. It's akin to the way the elbow works on Seihou OOO, though seemingly much less fragile. The knees are double jointed giving us a stellar backward bend for them too. While the thighs feature the same tried and true in-set swivel design Seihou's have made nearly standard and the hips are of the modern design as well. Not drop down joints, but rather built directly into the waist, and engineered in such a way as to be dynamic without physically impacting the waist armor or the often referred to "diaper" part. Speaking of, well, Den-O has quite the sculpted booty! Depending on how you move the legs you may knock the thigh pads off by mistake as I've done though, but otherwise they work quite well. This combination of articulation cuts provides Den-O with exponentially more range than his predecessor had and looks far better while utilizing it too.

Around Den-O's waist is the signature Den-O Belt. This is a lovingly crafted recreation of the full scale piece right down to the buttons to select each of Den-O's forms to the right of the set touch panel. In fact this part is one which can be swapped to recreate the character's various other forms. On either hip is a holster for the four included Dengasher parts. Included in both it's deconstructed and fully formed appearances, you can use these parts to display your Den-O (in either form) however you'd like. The individual Dengasher parts slide into the holsters and lock pretty securely in place thanks to small square pegs on the back of each. The holsters can swing back and forth as necessary to work around posing the hips as well. We'll get into the fully formed Dengasher below.

The upper body really is a bit of a work of art too. Under the chest we see the inner workings of the figure. Down to how the shoulder joints are set within the body and how they function freely. The chest armor, any compatible with this body, plugs on by tabbing over a semi-x shape joint in the center of the torso. The upper body has so much range in it despite how it may look from the outside. There's plenty of room to arch the back and spin the torso around as needed, though I find the bottom of the Sword Form chest armor gets a bit too close for comfort to the belt on occasion. Once again this armor looks magnificent. That gloss red looks just like the show suit, and I could get lost in how well defined the track detailing up the center of the torso is.

The shoulder pads are actually built into the chest armor as well and can angle up and down on a very small ball joint. This is an exceedingly better design than the original which relied on the pads being built on a standard hinges instead. This creates a far more natural look for the figure and makes the shoulder pads a lot more functional. That's really the defining trait of this mold. The shoulder joints themselves have full 360 degree rotation and if you really push them so do the biceps. The elbows have a fantastic back bend, no restrictions due to bicep size or armor or anything like that. And thanks to Den-O's superb suit design the wrist are likewise unencumbered.

Before I move onto the headsculpt, You have to pay attention to the incredibly detailed back armor as well. Which is of course a version of the Axe Form chest armor. The sculpt on this figure is just magnificent all around, and I think the back features some of the best detailing period. Now as for the headsculpt it's pretty immaculate. The Den Kamen visor is just stunning. Where the original figuarts looked flat and the incorrect shade of red, this one is bright and vibrant, and the details inside the compound eyes are so well defined they appear to be the real show prop. But of particular note is the track along the center of the helmet and the gold detailing between the compound eyes. The original Figuart had somewhat gummy and ill defined details here, and in hindsight all over. The Seihou however could go under a microscope and still look sharp.

Rounding out this form is it's signature weapon, the Dengasher Sword Form. Since any replica of this weapon at this scale simply can't separate and recombine into it's various forms, Den-O figuarts have always opted to include the finished weapon with each of the forms they go with. This apt sword form of the Dengasher parts, is perfect for Ryotaro/Momotaros to wield. While the sculpt isn't terribly different from what we got with previous releases, it does look on the whole a bit more accurate and proportional to the figure. And of course I still own my original Sword Form and all the other original Den-O figuarts. So you'll see the Dengasher effect parts from that release in this gallery.

Gun Form
Having gotten into the mechanics of this figure above, with Gun Form it's really more about the transformation process. Like I mentioned above it's a pretty easy process to go from Sword to Gun Form. Everything you need is included. Popping off the thigh armor is easy enough, maybe depending on parts tolerances a little too easy on occasion. But on mine it's just about perfect, so snapping the new purple plates into place is a breeze. Next is the tricky part, and that's switching out the Set Touch, the Den-O emblem on the belt. It's made of a fairly rigid clear plastic while the belt is more of a soft PVC. So it's a tight fit to swap that part. I had better luck taking the belt off fully and then swapping it out.

The chest armor is the next thing to swap, and while I've seen some cases to the contrary, mine was very easy to do. Just pull the Sword Form chest off by gripping it on both sides and pull. The clip that snaps over the x type joint in the center should come free fairly easily. Now before you put the new chest on, you also need to slide the head and neck out. These are held in the chest with a square slot set within the neck, and they slide right out. Slot the new head in place first, then snap the Gun Form chest over to complete the look. As with Sword Form, Gun Form's chest is just marvelous, honestly more so simply because it's a more dynamic design. I sort of wish they'd figured out some magic way to make the Sword Armor transform into the Gun Armor since it does so in show, but honestly I can't argue with how well the parts swap works either.

The head is of course phenomenal and as with Sword Form really looks like it leapt off the screen. There are a quite a few more protruding parts here than Sword as well so be aware of that when posing him. You've got the shoulder pylons coming up and the dragon whiskers to contend with. But honestly you should have little to no trouble angling the head around these constraints. Gun Form is a pretty dynamic one for Den-O, given his possession by Ryutaros for it. This figure can look beefy & powerful & intimidating as Momotaros/Sword Form, but in Gun Form it has all the range to emulate Ryutaros' wild personality as well. It can hit some pretty spectacular poses and does an incredible job of communicating his personality just as Sword Form communicates Momo's. By comparison to the original Figuart, this one is also a massive improvement. As you can see in my gallery (and as with sword form) what we have is a massive improvement in design, sculpt, details, and proportionality.

Armed with his own combination of the Dengasher parts, Gun Form is appropriately given the Dengasher Gun Form. I'm glad to see the additional weapon included rather than trying to make a combining set of Dengasher parts. There's a lot of TV/CG magic at play when any of Den-O's forms use the Dengasher so this was the best option. Give him the full weapons and a set of individual parts to leave in the holsters if you wish.

Other Accessories
While I've included the armors and weapons with their respective forms, there are another grouping of parts included to help give your Seihou Den-O's even more play value:

2 - Den-Liner passes. One with the ticket in set so you can see it through the faceplate, and one with the ticket printed on the panel so it's a bit more clear. Honestly I'd have been fine with just one pass but I appreciate Bandai going the extra distance and including both.

7 - pairs of extra hands. That's a ridiculous number! But hey, this figure is meant to recreate two different forms, two almost entirely separate characters. You need these hands to recreate their personalities and man do you really get some options here. Weapon hands, Liner Pass hands, bike riding hands, expressive, open, the works!

Final Thoughts
It's hard to argue with these results. The Skinkocchou Seihou line has stepped up it's game consistently with each release and Den-O is absolutely no exception either. This release is light years beyond anything the first line of Den-O Figuarts ever managed to produce. What we have year is something exponentially different and infinitely better. A figure capable of reproducing multiple forms. I'm beyond happy to finally have this figure in my collection. Or rather, two of this figure! You know me. As the #1 Den-O fan out there I simply had to have 1 for each form and I'll continue that collecting pattern for every consecutive Den-O form that comes out.

I included some additional guest stars in the gallery below as well. Den-O's alternate Axe Rod & Wing Forms, the villainous Kamen Rider's Gaoh, G Den-O, Yuuki, Nega Den-O, other heroes like New Den-O, Zeronos, even Kiva, the Imagin, Den-Bird and Hana! I love to have all of these characters together and I cannot wait to see them all done up in Shinkocchou Seihou styling one day. Make the dream a reality Bandai! Bonus photo at the end of my Den-O display, I'd love to see more collection shots from our community, so feel free to share!

Part 2

Part 3

I hate to say it, but is it just me or is the Sword Form visor still not right?

Thing with these dual form figures is that I'd want to get a second one to get both forms, but the quality is amazing.


Sidenote, why does the gallery only have 2 pages show up down on the thread lists?

I still think the upper legs look really, really off

It's not just me right

Sword Form's 'eyes' might seem a little bulbous, but otherwise I consider these the perfect Den-O figures! Very nice gallery, are those old Imagin figures actually capable of splitting like that or is that some really clever editing at work?

You super huge Den-O collection at the end there is especially impressive, and it's nice to know that SH Figuarts will be continuing to add to it even now.

Yeah these are pretty much perfect figures at this point. Maybe the proportionality seems slightly off at this scale, but this absolutely nails it in my opinion.

And yeah, any Figuart is basically capable of that split. I just pulled Momo apart at his waist ball joint and used a Tamashii stage out of shot to hold his legs in the air.

And I'm very excited that after all these years, not only will we be getting do-overs on this line, but also figures that never made it into the first one. Plat Form only ever saw release in the even older Souchaku Henshin toyline, no SHF for him at all. And Seihou is giving us that. We know Momo is coming too, and I highly doubt they'd forget the other core Imagin, but I'd love to see their sand colored pre-contract versions too. There's actually a Souchaku Henshin Momotaros like that that I've been meaning to pick up for some time.

I've actually seen like 3-4 of those souchaku henshin pre-contract MoMo's on Manda recently. They also had Kin and Ura for about 2200 yen. I didn't see a Ryu though.

On the figure, it looks excellent and your pictures convey that beautifully. Considering how good this iteration of Den-o is, I really hope they go with something similar with the figure-rise line, like including swapable form change parts, like they did with kuuga amazing, but at retail.

The SS Den-O figure looks fantastic. I got rid of my old one a while ago and I look forward to upgrading soon.