S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Kiva Gallery

"WAKE UP!"

The shy young man Wataru Kurenai would rather spend his time crafting violins as his father Otoya did in life. But given that he's the son of the Fangire Queen as well, he was destined to become Kamen Rider Kiva, the Fangire King. And like the King's before him Wataru has one trusted partner, a member of the Kivat family, Kivat Bat III. With Kivat in tow, Wataru sets out to fight Fangires and protect humanity, just as his father did 20 years prior. But can Wataru overcome the fear and anxiety that have haunted him his entire life? Can he break the chains of his own fate and save the world? With a host of friends, family, and allies along the way, the history of Kiva and the Fangire plays out, across the past & present!

It's time to break the chains and bust out a long awaited brand new gallery from Kamen Rider Kiva! S.H. Figuarts collectors have waited with baited breath for years, and years, for Tamashii Nations to finally deliver on the promise of Kiva. Well it may have taken until the end of the Heisei Era but he's finally here and we couldn't be more excited to share a proper review of S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Kiva!

** This gallery contains 100 images, and is spread across the first three posts of this thread. Skip below to see the good stuff if you like!

Packaging
It's the familiar Shinkocchou Seihou slip cover box once again! Not much can be said about it this time that hasn't been said before. While it hasn't really changed, maintaining the same basic form factor with every single release, it's still a pleasing type of uniform collector's box thats great for storage. It's just great to finally see one of these boxes with Kiva's art adorning it!

Main Figure
It's been some time since the last new mold joined the Shinkocchou Seihou line. In fact Seihou Wizard was the last brand new mold the line gave us and that was last year. Since then we've had a few remolds/repaints but Kiva is the first truly new figure in a while. And with the Seihou line in particular, that always brings huge levels of excitement, and big expectations. How does the long awaited king stack up? Find out below!

Kiva is an incredible addition to the line. I've said this many times with Shinkocchou Seihou releases in the past, but this one truly looks like it walked off the screen. It's an absolutely stunning recreation. From an engineering standpoint I'd say it's one of the best as well. The W mold was my long time favorite from the line, Rider 1 really upped the ante, and Wizard was an absolute delight. While I'm not sure that Kiva necessarily blows any of the other releases away, it is remarkably nice. Starting with Kiva's feet and legs, they provide a very solid base of support. The asymmetrical design of his right leg has always struck me as well, the chains always draw my attention. It's just such a unique look that sticks with you, much like how I've always loved Kamen Rider Kickhopper's leg design. For their part, these chains are molded in place but have some minor flexibility to them so that you can hopefully avoid litearlly breaking them. Kiva's toe bends function properly on both feet despite the bulk of the chains on one and the ankle tilts seem to be pretty even as well. Always good to see asymmetry that somehow still leads to symmetrical articulation cuts. The knee bends leave a little to be desired, coming out to about a 45 degree angle, but the hips make up for this shortcoming with a wealth of range. Which is totally necessary to recreate that iconic kick pose of Kiva's.

Kiva's waist in it's dormant state out of box is just the red Kibuckle belt which holds his driver and trinkets. Fun fact, Kiva's belt was actually the final Heisei henshin belt to not be called a "Driver". From Decade on we've had nothing but Drivers. You'll need to grab the 6 individual Fuestels and 2 Fuestel holders included with Kiva and attach them to the sides of the belt to get his hips looking right. The big thing here of course is really the second star of the Kiva show, Kivat Bat III! The talkative sidekick to Watar Kurenai, Kivat also allows him to transform into Kamen Rider Kiva. On his own, Kivat is a tiny but slightly poseable bat. The ends of his wings can rotate up to simulate flight while his mouth opens to simulate his speech as well as to accept Fuestles. A small tamashii stage adapter is included to let you display Kivat flying around Kiva as well. To get him on the belt just plug his feet over the bar along the top of the belt and rotate him down, plugging him in place. He can still accept Fuestels in this state as well, plenty of clearance for the mouth to open.

Kiva's upper body does some really interesting things that I appreciate too. The red armor that makes up his chest extends down around the ab area of the figure. Despite appearing to be one piece, the lower section actually sits under the chest and is independently articulated. As you push the torso down towards the waist, arching the back, the abs push up into the chest. This increases the range of movement and makes for more natural articulation as well. If you straighten the torso back out, you can see where th e tip of this ab armor is sort of tucked up into the chest and there's a small gap, pushing it back down seamlessly fills the torso once more. It's really genius. Likewise the figure's back also tries something interesting. The entire chunk of armor that makes up the collar around Kiva's neck and the armor extending down his back, is on it's own sort of raised joint that allows it to lift up from the back & shoulders. This gives the figure an interesting clearance extension. It's unnecessary, kind of bizarre, but really cool and appreciated. While side to side torso movement may be hindered somewhat by the silver armor around Kiva's ribs, it's hard to deny just how good and seamless the entire upper body looks. At first glance every bit of it look likes one piece, but there's so much complexity involved.

I was worried that Kiva's shoulders would potentially suffer as well, but I'm happy to report Bandai has really made them work. The area surrounding the shoulder joint is actually spaced out from the arm, there's a sort of ring of clearance sculpted around the in-set shoulder socket that gives it some more range than it appears to have when static. The shoulder pads are then on hinges with ball joints letting them pull down and turn slightly. That combined with the standard rotating shoulder and the extra ring of clearance around the joint coming out of the main body, give the arms far more range than I really expected. They look totally natural extended out from his sides. Kiva's elbows are pretty much standard fair, while the wrist joints sit out just the perfect depth from the cuff around them to give you plenty of posing options. And finally Kiva's head, those glorious compound eyes. I'm always mesmerized when looking into a set of truly perfect compound eyes and these truly are perfect. Bright, clear, sharp. Each individual bead in the eye captures light uniquely in such a way that sometimes it appears there's an LED in there. They literally seem to glow. And despite having a rather large head relatively speaking, Kiva's does not suffer any loss of neck movement at all, giving him all the opportunity to strike the ferocious and acrobatic poses he's known for.

Perhaps the most satisfying thing about this release though, is that it at last gives us the final Heisei Rider. It's an excellent figure, but it's real draw is giving us a full line up of 20 main Heisei Riders. The Heisei Era of Kamen Rider spanned 20 years, and it's taken Tamashii Nations about a decade to get us here. While there have been hiccups along the way, requiring the creation of the Shinkocchou Seihou line in the first place, ultimately it's so satisfying and emotional to have them all together now. It's been a long time coming, but it's oh so satisfying to have Kuuga to Zi-O completed at last just at the end of the Heisei Era itself. (I'm still holding out hop for G though!)

If you're curious about anything else you see in this gallery, I've included cameos from the original line of Kiva S.H. Figuarts. There are several shots with Kamen Rider Ixa (Save & Burst Modes) as well as Kamen Rider Rising Ixa. There's also the one figuart everyone used as their own Kiva base form stand in for the last 10 years, Kiva Emperor Form. And of course I couldn't forget the stylish and sexy Dark Kiva! On top of this, I've also included 2 major blasts from the past with the Souchaku Henshin set of Kamen Rider Rey & Kamen Rider Arc! The Kiva Souchaku line is the immediate predecessor to S.H. Figuarts so having these guys from 2008, next to Seihou Kiva from 2019 is a master class in design evolution for this toyline. And last but not least there are a few shots with Kamen Rider Kiva-La from Kamen Rider Decade! Though Decade primarily dealt with AU versions of riders, the original Kiva made a handful of apperances too. In the case of Kiva-La, she is actually the AU Kivat Bat III's sister and is used by Natsumi to henshin in the same way as Kiva.

Accessories
As with most any Seihou, Kiva comes packed with all the essentials:

6 - Fuestles. The collectible trinket of the Kiva series isn't one that's largely or fondly remembered as having taken off. Being one of the first true collectibles of that nature for the franchise, things really took off the following year with Rider Cards in Decade and more so with Gaia Souls later in W. Outside of those created for each rider in the series and films, there are only a handful of toyline exclusives. This figure includes Kiva's 6 iconic Fuestles for every display option. Wake Up for Kiva's Darkness Moon Break attack. Garulu, Basshaa, & Dogga which are used to summon the Arms Monsters for his alternate forms. And the Doran Fuestle to summon Castle Doran as well as Buroon to summon the Burron Booster. Curiously the Tatsulot Fuestle,which summons him to access Kiva's Emperor Form, is not included. Not a major omission and one that could easily come with a Seihou Emperor in the future, just something I noticed.

2 - Fueslots. These hip mounted holsters allow you to store all 6 Fuestles when not in use. It's a very snug fit once they're in slot so there shouldn't be any danger of losing them once you get them in there. Just be careful not to force them in.

1 - Hell's Gate leg. This alternate leg replaces the standard one from just below the knee. Normally wrapped in the Catena Chains, when Kiva's right leg is awakened with the Wake Up Fuestle it opens up with massive red wings. This allows Kiva to perform his Darkness Moon Break rider kick.

2.5 - sets of hands. That gives you two different posed open display options and 1 right hand specifically for holding Fuestles. More variety would be nice, but isn't particularly necessary.

1 - Kivat stage adapter. This small clear plug can peg onto the same pegs on Kivat's back that are used to connect him to Kiva's belt. It's a tight fit so just try not to apply excessive force getting it on there.

1 - Ridewatch stage. A hallmark of Kiva's release in the Kamen Rider Zi-O era, Kiva comes with his own Ridewatch style stage. It's two clear plastic halves that plug together with a thin cardboard ridewatch face in between. Any time a figuart includes a tamashii stage, I'm eternally grateful, and this is a pretty unique one that I'm happy to have.


Now, I know many of you will be upset that Kiva did not include the Bloody Rose violin. And many more yet will be upset that it's only being included in the pricey Machine Kivaa accessory set. I completely understand the frustration. As is, I'm really not terribly bothered by that release pattern. If anything it's just become the standard with Bandai to do things like that in recent years. I would have likely bought the bike on it's own anyway, but getting the violin and chair really sweetens the deal for me. I feel like there was probably room to design a parts tray capable of holding the violin along with everything else, but it's also a big draw for the bike set too.

Final Thoughts
What a long journey it's been to get here. Kamen Rider Kiva aired in 2008 right in the middle of the Heisei Era. Now, in 2019, with the Heisei Era officially over and Reiwa having begun, Kiva has finally gotten the figure he's always deserved in this line. S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Kiva is a magnificent addition to your Heisei Rider line up that blows away any other Kiva figure which came before it. An intensely detailed and sculpted figure with a wealth of accessories and a bonus stage too! Maybe Kiva is the one true king the Time Jackers should have gone with in Zi-O. Because this figure absolutely rules. Thank you Bandai.

Part 2
- Ixa Save/Burst/Rising
- Rey & Arc
- Darkness Moon Break
- Climax Deka

Part 3
- Emperor & Dark Kiva
- Kiva-La
- Ridewatch Stage
- 20 Heisei Riders

Love this figure, hopefully we can get figuarts saga someday.

Nothing compares to getting this figure in hand.

The feeling of completion. The sculpt and paint. The articulation. Kiva's one of the most photogenic rider releases they've done, bar none.

Something I wonder is how do you even get the belts off the figures for the henshin pics?

Well basically any figuarts' waist and torso are just connected via ball joint and can be pulled apart. It just varies from figure to figure how hard they are to pull apart. Seihou Decade was made to do it so you can simulate his Kamen Rides. He comes apart easily. Kiva however is a very very tight fit at the waist. Getting him back together was much more difficult than taking him apart. On the flip side the Blank Body-Kun I use to simulate all those henshin poses comes apart with only moderate effort. It just kind of varies but you can basically do it with any SHF.

Ah, that makes sense.

The meme itself, what a beauty. Also nice shot with the chains

These pictures make it look even more stunning than I'd hoped; but that might just be the excitement speaking!