S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Specter Gallery

Ready, Go! Kakugo! Doki Doki Ghost!

The second release in the fledgling Kamen Rider Ghost subline of S.H. Figuarts is here! The super cool secondary rider of the series, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Specter! And he's brought with him a nice first run bonus much like his predecessor Ghost.


** This figure is part for part identical to Ghost Ore Damashii aside from accessories, paint, and the dual horns. Most of this review will be very similar to that one.

Packaging
As with Ghost, the packaging is that of the very common slim box popularized during Kamen Rider Drive's run. Same kind of boring design really. This 1st release of the figuart features a foil sticker indicating it includes the 1st run bonus Eyecons. But all in all a very standard box.

Main Figure
Like many collectors I thought Ghost Ore Damashii would be a disappointment in hand. And who could blame you? At the time of his release there were negative reviews and more than a few stories about it's hit or miss QC. But once I had Ghost in hand I really was charmed by his design. He wasn't executed perfectly, but he worked quite well and had a ton of personality. Now I'm reexamining that same mold and those same feelings with Kamen Rider Specter.

Specter is painted in a combination of matte black & almost electric blue that manages to be applied more accurately than Ghosts' paint apps despite them being in the same places. The finer details lining the glossy translucent parts of the armor are top notch. No imperfections at all. Likewise the ghost emblem on his chest is spot on and the head couldn't be more perfect. Specter's head is a gorgeous deep & reflective blue that captures light magnificently. The toy manages to capture a bit more of the menace in his facial design than I think the show suit communicates. The Ghost Driver is the same bland opaque blue and like it's DX counterpart this opaque face plate can be removed to expose the toothy monstrous face beneath. A Specter Ghost Eyecon is present but non-removable as it's sculpted in. It is however painted pretty well for something at that scale.

Now lets talk about how Specter moves. Again, its fair to to talk about the limitations of this mold. But first the positives. Specter's leg design provides a full range of motion stunted only by the ankle tilts being more limited by the ankle cuff. If they had a bit more forward/back room to move then they'd be great. The hips just need to be pulled down and rotated a little to clear the waste which is a relief, drop down hips are something I'm not a fan of normally. But here's the biggest issue the figure has, the waist. While it certainly is possible to rotate it side to side, the flawed design of the waist also means you have to apply excessive for to the joint to make it move. This can make a scary loud clicking sound and can in some cases break the waist. This has happened more than once to peoples' Ghosts. It could happen with Specter though I haven't heard such stories yet. I can't really get Specter's waist to rotate that much and I certainly don't plan to force it. Liberal applications of shock oil to that joint seem to be the most popular fix. His Ghost Parka contributes to the restriction of the waist when it impacts the Driver, but more particularly it limits the upper body and shoulders.

The arms themselves are actually pretty well thought out and clearly made better than my Ghost, whose arms would fall off simply by being looked at. The weakest piece of their design is the soft rubber shoulder sections. The "tabs" on the end are made of soft rubber so they don't get in the way while posing, as you can tuck the shoulders sort of up into the torso recesses. But they get bent very very easily. So watch out for those. I have to mention that the wrist cuffs also nix just about any dynamic use of the hands When the hand is plugged on to the wrist it sits nearly flush so there isn't much room to work with. Finally Specter's head, as mentioned above, is perfect. But the molded folded down hoodie on his shoulders really limits how it can move side to side. Forcing him to look up when turned to one side or the other. The included normal hoodie accessory fixes that issue somewhat.

Kamen Rider Specter is more or less the spitting image of his TV counterpart and a great scale representation of a suit that I didn't particularly care for. Poseability issues aside Specter will fit right into your collection and certainly into your Ghost display. I've included some comparison shots with previous Heisei Secondary riders for fun as well; Mach, Baron, Beast, Meteor, Birth, Accel, Diend.

Accessories
Retail releases tend to come with a pretty nice array of accessories these days and Specter is pretty on par:

3 - sets of additional hands. 2 different types of "holding things" pair for use with his weapon. The "trigger finger" pair is almost pointless though. The grip is so loose and his weapon so long & heavy that he can barely maintain a pose using them. The other pair of hands are splayed open for dramatic poses.

1 - Gan Gun Hand. Unlike Ghost's Gan Gun Saber this one doesn't really transform per se. Even in show the barely plausible Gun Mode is hardly different from the Rod Mode. Basically you only need to slide up the orange hand grip and close the fingers for Gun Mode. Neither form is very impressive and it winds up being a bit more like a big bat than anything. It's painted well but ultimately does nothing and is incredibly difficult to pose Specter with because of his shoulders and large broad chest. As mentioned above the hands included to hold this thing could have a tighter grip as well.

1 - hoodie (up). Intended to replace the default folded down hoodie, this piece can be used by removing the standard one as well as a small panel on the top of Specter's head. Then just plug this hoodie down on. Weirdly this hoodie, which totally surrounds his head, provides far far better neck movement. It's free floating so it's not attached to anything but it completely covers the head. I don't particularly care for his look with it on, but I applaud the fact that it was executed so well.

1st Run Bonus
Set of 5 Eyecons - These tiny accessories are what was sorely missing from Ghost. It's kind of weird to me that they're only bonuses with Specter. Each figuart in my opinion should at least include that particular forms specific Eyecon.

What this set includes are the Kanon Ganma Eyecon, and what appear to be mostly painted versions of the Specter, Tutankhamen, Edison, & Nobunaga Eyecons. They don't quite hit the mark but at this scale I can accept some glazed over details. Their inclusion is nice, but they don't interact with anything. Specter & Ghost can hold them but that's about it. The currently released weapons and belts can't accept them. Even Yurusen can't hold them, which is a travesty.

All in all that's a pretty well rounded selection of accessories!

Final Thoughts
I only ordered S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Specter because I came away with a fairly positive experience with this mold when I handled Ghost. Ghost managed to teach me this mold was worth owning at least once. Specter isn't varied enough from Ghost to really convince that I needed it twice though. The only reason I even caved and purchased Specter was because of the 59% discount at Amiami. I suggest if you plan to build a full collection of Kamen Rider Ghost related figuarts that you wait for discounsts such as this. For the price I paid I'm fairly pleased.

Part 2
- Gan Gun Hand
- Ghost Comparison
- 1st Run Bonus Eyecons

Wow that's a big discount on Specter! I guess Ami Ami probably has a lot of unsold figures that they want to get rid of. Anyways, great gallery as always.

UNF, that assembled recent secondary Riders shot!

...although it also makes a stark case that Beast needs a re-do nearly as much as Wizard does.

The accessory counts for recent figures have already gone down, since Gaim and Drive had their Lockseeds and shift cars Ghost should've came with his eyecons and Specter should at least have Kanon's eyecon in the regular release. Hopefully Grateful and Mugen have their eyecons.

I've always thought Beast was a little sub-par, but looking at him again for that shot, man he is just bad. He has giant clown feet, he's like 90% leg, and somehow still incredibly short. Wizard wasn't the greatest thing ever but he was passable. But Beast has not aged well at all.

Wow, did not realize he was already out. Really like his design, definitely contemplating picking him up.

Still salty over Necrom being an exclusive, I LOVE his design.

And as always, I really need to catch up on the show, Necrom hasn't even made his debut yet.

Should I buy it?