S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kuuga Ultimate Form (Original Release) Gallery

No fear! No Pain!

We've dug up a relic from the past for our gallery today! August 2016 marks the release of the next installment in Bandai's Shinkocchou Seihou premimum line of figuarts renewals. What began with Kamen Rider Kabuto is quickly gaining steam with multiple releases per year. And this month S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Kuuga Ultimate Form will be released, and while that figure looks incredible, we wanted to recap you on exactly why this figure needs to exist. And what better way to do that than with a gallery of it's predecessor, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kuuga Ultimate Form!

Packaging
Kuuga Ultimate Form hails from a time in the line when not only were the figures more simple, but the packaging more bland. Gone are the old days of the generic gray box, but there's a bit of nostalgia in looking at this one again. As with many figuarts from this era the monotone box with a single gray scale image of the actual show suit on the front & a sampling of stock photography on the back, leaves much to be desired. Even for it's time this box was rather unimpressive. And compared to today's lavish & intricate packaging it's like a different world.

Main Figure
Kuuga Ultimate Form, at the time of it's release in 2010, actually stacked up pretty well to it's contemporaries. Released around the same time as Decade Violent Emotion, W Fang Joker, & G3, Kuuga Ultimate Form stood literally above the rest. Taller than the standard figuart of the time, Kuuga Ultimate looked pretty imposing & impressive. Due in no small part to the intricate paint apps applied to the figure. However, again it has to be noted that he was released fairly early into the line, so the polish and quality we come to expect from figuarts now, wasn't quite there yet. While he definitively features more paint apps than many concurrent releases, they're applied very very sloppily. Gold trim is over sprayed anywhere you look, areas of plastic flash are painted over making them very apparent, there are no crisp lines for color separation on the Arcle (rider belt), there are just a number of poor paint applications everywhere. Even the trim on the helmet is poorly done.

Now taking the paint issues aside, Kuuga Ultimate Form is actually very nicely detailed. The sculpted in lines on his body really make this figure seem more complex than it actually is. They also help divert your eyes from the noticeable joints in the legs and arms. You see an almost hourglass shape thing going on with his legs where the knee joint appears very tiny while the calve & hip are too large. By the way the hips are just awfull, they're the old style drop down hips but because of the sculpted lines then impact the waist cavity. they also tend to lock up rather easily. Again, it's an old figure so I cut it slack. It's done it's job in my collection for 6 years. For those 6 years it held up just fine. But looking at it now the design flaws are so apparent. I also give it a break because it still features the old style diecast feet that were a mainstay of the Souchaku Henshin line that preceded S.H. Figuarts. Many early releases in this line featured it though it's been dropped over time. Though sadly the outward swivel joint was always terribly noticeable on these feet.

Take for instance the arms and the maddening way in which the shoulder pads hinder them. They cover the entire shoulder and can move with the arm, but their hollow design interferes with swinging the arms out in any meaningful way. And they have trouble sitting flush with the torso. You can get some decent poses out of them but they leave a lot to desire. While we're on the arms this release exemplifies the strange "floating wrist" that plagued many early figuarts. The hand sits flush on the ball but the ball is extended so far out from the actual wrist that it just looks comical. It takes away from how cool this design can look in otherwise really badass poses. The head thankfully makes up for some of my problems with the sloppy paint apps and articulation. Kuuga Ultimate's head is still an intense and fantastic sculpt, And thankfully it has a swap out visor gimmick that should have been implemented on it's successor form, Rising Ultimate. You can remove the front half of the helmet to reveal a ridged sphere underneath that simulates a traditional Kamen Rider's compound eyes.

All in all Kamen Rider Kuuga Ultimate Form was fantastic for the time it was released. Like I mentioned above this figure got the job done for a long time and really just worked. Even when compared to Shinkocchou Seihou Kuuga Mighty Form, this figure really still looks like a good stand in. Compared to the final forms of some of his successors he still seems big and imposing, but as any of the official images for Shinkocchou Seihou Kuuga Ultimate Form will show you, this figure is about to be outclassed in every way possible.

Accessories
At the time Kuuga Ultimate was released, figuarts generally came with an appalling lack of accessories. Take for instance Kamen Rider Black, who received a mere 2 pairs of hands. Kuuga Ultimate was one of the first figuarts to truly buck that trend though:

4.5 - sets of additional hands. Astounding by 2010 standards, Kuuga Ultimate has 4 complete sets of hands as well as one extra absolutely necessary to any Kuuga figuart, the Thumbs Up hand!

1 - Ultimate Dark Eyes replacement visor. Meant to replicate the darker nature of this form, Godai was rarely seen using it as he overcame the power of it. Rather than becoming like Daguva he would revert to the red eyed form. However the Decade version of Kuuga has more than once reverted to the Dark Eyes form for both Ultimate & Rising Ultimate. These eyes don't look as impressive as the red ones but they give this form a look of lifelessness that makes it look very menacing.

Now that may not seem like a lot to you today, but at the time that was an impressive selection of accessories. You'll notice in the photos below that my Kuuga has a few weapons as well. Well these are indeed the Ultimate versions of the Pegasus Bowgun, Dragon Rod, & Titan Sword. The Ultimate versions of these weapons weren't actually ever used in the series but the Souchaku Henshin release of Kuuga Ultimate included them. Which I picked up years ago in order to arm my S.H. Figuarts Kuuga Ultimate. Hopefully these weapons will still pair well with the Shinkocchou Seihou release as well.

Final Thoughts
What a world of difference 6 years can make in opinions. When I picked this figure up back in 2010 I was ecstatic with how impressive it looked. It really was a great addition to my then growing collection. Holding S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kuuga Ultimate Form to today's standards is totally unfair and that's not what I'm trying to do. But I want to articulate that there is about to be a marked leap in quality with this months impending Shinkocchou Seihou Kuuga Ultimate release. As with each Renewal/2.0/Seihou release it always feels like it will be hard to bid farewell to the older figure, but in the end the new one is just always so much more satisfying. I'd have been more than happy to keep my original release of Kuuga Ultimate forever if there were no S.S. release incoming, but it's crazy how a mere announcement 180'd my opinion very quickly. I look forward to bringing you a full gallery & review of Shinkocchou Seihou S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Kuuga Ultimate in the coming weeks!

Post #2
- Dark Eyes Accessory
- SS Kuuga Mighty Form Comparison
- Agito Shining & Ryuki Survive Comparison
- Compatibility with Souchaku Henshin Ultimate weapons

Nice gallery, what a leap back in time! It's pretty surprising how much this figure has held up though, it doesn't look too bad next to Seihou Kuuga and the accessory count is still more than some recent releases such as Figuarts Drive.

This guy actually looks pretty good.

For some reason my original releases eyes faded from that dark red to a very light pink.

I've asked around on twitter as well, but did anyone find this gallery particularly useful? I've been toying with the idea of doing a series of galleries focused on older releases in the line like this one. A mix of various things. Kicking off in earnest with a number of Kabuto figuarts. Then later branching out a bit more. Would anyone want to see that?

I'd like to see some of the Kabuto stuff. Not a huge fan of the series but the suits are gorgeous and I've been toying around with getting the rest of the cast (even the movie Riders since God Speed Love is hands down my fave AU Rider movie). Would be nice to see how they look alongside the SS Kabuto and forthcoming Gattack.