S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider TheBee Gallery – Toku Toy Box Entry

Cast Off! Change, Wasp!

We're stepping back onto the path of heaven with another gallery from Kamen Rider Kabuto! You may recall that in anticipation of the recently released Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Gattack, we featured a gallery of the original figuart of that character. And while Gattack is the true secondary rider of Kabuto, if you aren't familiar with the series you may not have realized yet that he wasn't the 2nd rider to appear! That honor belongs to today's subject, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider TheBee!

TheBee's Zecter was worn by multiple users throughout the series. Arata Kagami who would later go on to become Kamen Rider Gattack, actually got his first shot at being a rider when he became the 2nd TheBee. After a disgraced Sou Yaguruma had the identity stripped from him. And while TheBee never really found a consistent permanent user, it made appearances right up until the final arc of the series and remains a memorable design.

Packaging
As you can see TheBee was packaged in the same standard gray scale type box that many releases of the time were. It would be some time before figuats packaging would really get creative so this monotone look can seem pretty generic, and it is. There just wasn't much to figuarts packaging in this era.

Main Figure
Much has been said about the issues which plagued the original line of Kabuto releases, and while TheBee isn't perfect, it isn't stricken with all the same issues either. Kabuto still has the distinction of being one of the most complete S.H. Figuarts lineups ever. Nearly every rider from the show and it's summer film made their debuts aside from the one-note Bright Troopers, Hyper Gattack, and the masked forms of all the riders. But the figures that were produced also had plenty of faults.Kamen Rider TheBee was actually the 10th release in the Kabuto line. While the issues of the first releases in the line weren't resolved by his time, or really at any point, TheBee doesn't suffer much.

The Kabuto riders all feature a pretty similar and basic body. Just like any rider series the suits tend to share common elements especially in shows like Ryuki, Kabuto, Den-O, Gaim, etc. Lots of parts reuse. And maybe that's part of the problem for the original Kabuto line. Most have one glaring flaw, bowed legs. Inexplicably most of them have legs that bow inward near the knee giving them a rather awkward wide open stance when in an upright position. TheBee's bowlegs aren't nearly as pronounced thankfully. The legs themselves are still pretty spindly though and weirdly hyper-extended. I mean the legs appear to be highly hyper extended in the natural straight position so you'll need to play with them a bit to fix that and make him look more natural.

Showing their relation to the Souchaku Henshin line, the Kabuto riders also featured a small selection of die cast parts. Not only are the feet still the old style diecast, but so are the hip/thigh & shin panels. But where the legs meet the body we sadly get a pretty ugly breaking up of the sculpted in body lines. The much more modern Shinkocchou Seihou Kabuto fixes the hip & leg issues after all these years, but these older releases all carry that trait. Overall this line had some pretty lanky proportions that put many people off from buying them way back when. Now however they enjoy very modest prices for the most part. So it's easy to fill out a display with them.

The upper body is at least painted in a great metallic yellow that's just a shade too dark. Unlike the older Gattack release, TheBee seems to have a head that is far more to scale with his body, but the upper body itself is rather bulky in comparison to the rest. The arms are a bit on the small side and the joints stick out and seem just as spindly as with the original Gattack. But ultimately this still feels like a more solid release than that. While it can't execute incredible poses or anything TheBee makes full use of the pretty standard joints and cuts given to it at the time. He hasn't aged as poorly as some of his predecessors, but I welcome an eventual Shinkocchou Seihou release as well. I mean we just got a tease of the Hopper Bros getting the S.S. treatment last month, so anything is possible now.

Accessories
A pretty lite accessory count rounds out this release:

1 - Rider Sting part. This extended TheBee Zecter component can plug onto the open wrist socket where the normal Zecter would be. It's a little bit over sized if you ask me, but it gets the job done. It's also a rather loose fitting part.

2- additional hands. Which is pretty sad. Even for the time this figure was released, this is just a sad selection. A pair of open hands. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Again this is pretty average for the era this figure was released in, but even years later it's a disappointment.

For it's time, TheBee was a decently solid release. But one can't help but look at it through the lens of today and wish it had come with something more substantial.

Final Thoughts
While S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider TheBee isn't due for the renewal treatment at this point, I would gladly take one. As is the original release is a totally serviceable figure especially given how cheaply it can be obtained these days. While not without faults it can fill out a Kabuto display quite nicely. Pick one up on the cheap if you can.

Despite never having seen Kabuto, The Bee is probably one of my all time favorite rider designs, and definitely my favorite from that show. I really hope we can get an SS release of him at some point.

I love TheBee's design so I would like to see it getting the Shinkocchou Seihou treatment too. The old figure isn’t terrible; I think the eyes look really cool, but as soon as you see it standing next to the new Kabuto... yeah.

I think I've seen this figure on Mandarake before and was kind of tempted to get him cause the design is pretty cool and yellow is my favourite colour but since I don't know the character I never pulled the trigger. I still think the design of the suit is very nice though.

TheBee has always been one of my favorite Rider designs. Wasps have a sleek look to them that translates beautifully to a Rider. Then again, Kabuto was always on point with it's rider designs. There honestly isn't a single one that I don't love~

While not as good as many other Figuarts, I think TheBee still looks pretty solid here. He looks pretty nice by the Kabuto figure (Unless that's the original release Kabuto ), so he's serviceable, at least.
The lack of hands really hurts, since he doesn't get a hand to set up his Rider Sting finisher, and his Zector looks a little too big.
Also, I'm a little confused why he comes with a closed Zector, since it's only closed in his Masked Form, isn't it?

Anyway, I would welcome an SS release with open arms. I think he'd look absolutely beautiful with an updated figure. While a bit more flat due to his constant user shifts, his design definitely deserves the improved figure.

Thebee is actually my favorite Rider design ever. While this figure doesn't look as terrible as a lot of the original Kabuto ones, I would much prefer it to get an updated release so it would fit in with the other updated ones better.

I love TheBee's design and I've wanted this figure for years.

But now that renewals are a thing, I'll just have to keep waiting and hope they get to him too.

TheBee looks very nice.

For customizers if they had a couple of these figures, it wouldn't be hard to customize the Shinkkouchou Seihou Kabuto to make a Shinkkouchou Seihou TheBee.

I definitely wouldn't mind owning TheBee in my collection if there won't be a Shinkkouchou Seihou release of the guy.

I really like this suit, hopefully it is one of the next Kabuto releases to get a Shinkkuchou Seihou

Even Drake? That's the one design about which I'm less excited. Also, I think you may be right about the Zecter, and now I can't unsee it.

Like others here, I really like the TheBee design, and would snap up a Shinkocchou Seihou version without hesitation. The review here appears to be right in pointing out that the Rider Sting version of the Zecter appears to be a little too large. I think at that point in the development of Figuarts, Bandai was going for designs that were cool rather than accurate. (I think that also explains some of the design for their original W figure.)

This gallery is definitely making me long for a TheBee figure, but I'll do what I did with Kabuto and wait for the (I assume inevitable) upgraded version. Actually, given how the SS line leans toward reworking existing molds, I don't expect all that long a wait for more Kabuto Riders, given the similarity of their suit designs.

Also, this gallery has prompted me to notice cool details I hadn't noticed in-show: the stinger at the abs, the shoulderpads miming wings, and and the way the entire chest, from shoulderpads to stinger, gives the impression of a large bee.