New Arrival: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Skull Crystal

Oh look, using that Ott-lite again.  And filters!  Lots of filters.

Recently got a hold of Figuarts Skull Crystal, another damn annoying Tamashii Web exclusive middlemanned to me by Yokatta.  And so ends an annoyingly long wait for Skull!  The original version of the figure was solely responsible for me even bothering to look into Kamen Rider and the Figuarts line (and possibly by extension, Pretty Cure), but since that was also an exclusive I wasn't able to get it at the time.  But then Bandai kindly announced this upgraded re-release and the pre-order was committed with no hesitation.

Skull is specifically from the series Kamen Rider W/Double, and more specifically from the assorted W movies.  I'm not too sure what the "Crystal" part is about yet, but I assume it has something to do with a more movie involving Skull that I haven't seen yet.  Although both this figure and the newer movie were made pretty much just because Skull was that damn popular, which makes him yet another really strange exclusive, since he is so popular.

Continues after the cutting!  But I don't know how informative this might be.  It's not my first Figuarts, either, but I didn't do this kind of post for LunaTrigger.

Before I get into the figure, let's take a quick look at Skull's box, which is the standard Figuarts box.  Let's also look at a Figma box.

HMM.

Accessories!  Skull has two scarves (one flat, the other blowing in the wind), two hats (one has a small cut in it, representing the hat after a certain point.  But it also seems like they give you two hats because it's such an awesome hat), his gun, the Skull Magnum, an alternate "cracked" head, and five sets of hands.  Hands are fists, trigger fingers for the gun, and three sets of varying levels of splayed.  One curious thing about the Figuarts line is that most of them don't come with stands, so if you want stands you have to buy your own, which Bandai provides in the Tamashii Stages.  The stands are cheap, but it would still be nice to get a stand with these figures, especially since the Precure Figuarts all seem to always come with their own stands (which are variants of the Tamashii Stages).

Skull also comes with two small plastic...skull caps that are meant to be put in between his head and the hats. Apparently, the original version of Skull had problems with the hat rubbing paint off the head or something like that, but I'm not sure of the specifics and I haven't seen it happen to mine yet.  However, a lot of people are also saying the skull caps are worthless, as they make it so that the hat falls off entirely too easy.

I fail at making Moonwalk poses.  He may not come with a stand, but one nice thing about these Figuarts is that they have die-cast metal feet, which makes it really easy to get them to stand up on their own without assistance.  I've seen plenty of pictures where people have balanced their Figuarts on one foot/toe, which the heavier feet help with.  Although apparently they've been changing the foot design with some of the newer Figuarts, and they lack the metal feet.  Seems kinda odd, since this design works pretty damn well.

While Skull uses the same body as the rest of the W forms, Skull feels a lot better made than my LunaTrigger does.  At least, he's a lot easier to work with.  Most importantly, Skull's hands are actually easy to put on, being made of a softer material, where as putting hands on my LunaTrigger is a damn nightmare and usually involves hot water.  The variety of hands lend a lot of character, too.  If you haven't watched W, you should know that it involves a lot of hand-gesturing, so all these hands are practically essential!

The main Skull Crystal head has a slight translucent effect going on, which makes it look pretty neat.  And like other Kamen Riders, he does have the compound eyes effect, although it is hard to see with the eyes being so dark.

The alternate head.  Or really, the head from the original figure.  Also, the wind-blown scarf, which looks pretty nice.  Both scarves have some tabs on them that help keep them in place and not float around while worn.  Also, the underside of both scarves is painted a darker color than the rest, which actually works pretty well to give it a shaded effect.

Can't have no Kamen Riders without riding any kamens!
Actually bought this Maisto bike long before I knew Skull existed, but it's quite nice that it's basically perfect for him.  Also, you may be wondering how he is able to not lose his hat while driving a motorcycle.  Well, he's just that awesome.

SHOTARO, GRIT THOSE TEETH!

Attempting to recreate a particularly awesome piece of fanart.

I think I'm going to be able to have a lot of fun sticking these hats on other figures.

Dinobot, Private Detective.

Menace looks particularly nice.  She's ready to plunder her own tombs!

Can't forget Takoluka!

Don't worry, Skull Paper, you'll always have a special place in my heart.

Figuarts are pretty nice figures.  But I don't know how many more I might get.  I watched all of Kamen Rider W, but I managed to resist the temptation to buy a bunch of W's forms or Accel.  And so far I've only watched twelve episodes of Kamen Rider OOO and none of the suits really interest me enough to want a figure, though I do have Ankh on pre-order.  Probably better that this collection stays small, it seems like everyone else that likes these figures has a bunch of them and practically nobody has just a couple.  As of now, the only other Figuarts I want is a Figuarts Infinite Silhouette Precure, but naturally one hasn't been announced yet and it'll probably be a year before they do.