I was really happy with my Kamen Rider Skull figure, so I decided to try out another one. This time I went with something a little different though. Instead of S.H. Figuarts, Kamen Rider Siren was made by MAX Factory for their Figma line, and the differences between the two lines are pretty striking.
Siren is from the Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight series. Although it was only the second Rider series to be adapted for US audiences, it never really took off in popularity and was cancelled just before the finale. One of the reasons they chose to adapt the Dragon Knight series is because it had a large cast which included Siren, one of the few females to become a Rider. Unfortunately this series never aired where I live. But it does sound interesting as I’ve been reading up on it.
Like with a lot of my recent purchases, I bought Siren solely on how she looks. I’ve always been a fan of female knights, and Siren adapts that look particularly well. The metallic silver and gold work nicely with the black and white colors of her costume. Plus there’s a cape! I’m not familiar with a ton of Riders, but don’t recall ever seeing one with a cape before. Probably because capes and motorcycles don’t mix, but I still love its inclusion here.
Since I’m talking about costume design and capes, I might as well address the figure’s cape here. The cape on this figure is made of fabric and attached to a plastic armor piece. The plastic armor piece is what plugs into the figure and can easily be removed. The cape itself has two twist tie-like wires, one on each side. The wires allow you to bend the fabric into any configuration, making it appear her cape is billowing in the wind. This works really well, but there are two problems.
First, the twist ties are very noticeable unless the cape is folded over to hide them. Not that big of a deal, but kind of annoying. Second, the glue they used to attach the twist ties to the cape is incredibly weak. The slightest amount of force will cause the ties to separate from the fabric. So you have to be extremely careful when positioning the cape or even posing the figure. The right tie on mine is already half off. I love the effect these twist ties produce, but they need to be much more durable.
Siren has a very basic color scheme, and most of her parts are either molded in black or white. These areas came out with very little problems, even the places where white was painted over black. The problems start to creep in on the silver and gold detailing. Again, it’s nothing too big, but the more you study/play with her the more tiny imperfections you discover. A couple of the more annoying ones appear on her helmet. On the front, the two silver marks beneath her visor are uneven. One is noticeably wider and longer than the other. A similar problem is duplicated on the back, where the gold mark is printed a bit right of where it should be.
Interesting, there was a Kamen Rider series in the USA some years ago, but I hated the designs (they barely had any articulation, not like these) but until now I had not seen these, but those are cooler than I expected.
I remember that toyline. These are definitely way better. I’ve your a big fan, and don’t mind the extra cost, you should check them out.
Check out Amiami, they’re probably the cheapest you’ll find unless you wait for a sale or clearance somewhere. http://tinyurl.com/3plg4eb
Dammit, Vault!
Rabbit hole, remember?!
But that aside, I’m pretty interested in these Dragon Knight Figmas. But then Bandai is making their own version of the main Rider based on the Japanese source show.
That comes with a big dragon. I think I might stick with Bandai :p
I was going to order him, just because the dragon looked awesome, but the preorder sold out before I could. So I guess that’s fate telling me not to bother.
You’ll have to let me know how the figure is.
you know vaulty, just as a suggestion for future “random import toys” reviews, you should consider a scale photo w/ some other figs we’d recognize, like a gi joe, a motuc, a dcu, something… or maybe even a couple somethings. one of my issues on imports is trying to get a scale guage, since some lines can vary wildly.
i don’t want or need all the figs in my collection to be the same size, but i’d like the big characters to actually be big, and not have all my chicks be the figure equivalent of primordial dwarves either.
Great review! Thanks. You and I must have similar tastes, because although I know nothing of the characters, both Skull and the Chick Rider appeal to me (and the weird green guy who carries what looks like a battle yo-yo). So I am still thinking of picking this one up.
While Figmas have been my favorite toyline for a while for lots of reasons, I’m starting to come up against some lack of range of movement in all those joints. It’s good to hear the limitations of the piece to help with the buying decisions. I haven’t gotten any of the SHFiguarts toys but I’m glad to hear the articulation is better engineered, because I like that. (although I did get a D-Arts toy, Rockman X, which I heard is the same basic company and line, just marketed different, and the range of motion in its joints is amazing)
Oh, also I’m gonna echo Dayraven’s request to have a pic of these next to a ML Bullseye or DCUC Flash or something, because knowing size in that kind of comparison is VERY helpful.
Hi i love that figure where can i get kamen rider dragon knight figma figures please answer
I’ll field this one.
Best places online to get Figmas are AmiAmi.com and HLJ.com
Sure there are other places, but me and lots of Figma fans agree those 2 are very good.
Yup, I usually buy my imports from Amiami.
http://www.amiami.jp/shop/?set=english&vgForm=ProductInfo&sku=TOY-TOK-1172&template=default/product/e_display.html