Sôchaku-Henshin Scoop!

(Photo courtesy of 101fwy.net)

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but here it is: upcoming Sôchaku-Henshin figures! Apart from the expected Den-O forms (Axe, Gun & Rod are there, with Swordy up at the top) we can look forward to finally getting Ryuki Survive & Knight Survive- assuming, of course, you want them. Also, the dude on the left is apparently the inevitable second Rider for Kamen Rider Den-O, although he's just called "New Rider #2" right now (no, I don't think it's that Rider 2 either) and the picture doesn't exactly give away much. But hey, that at least means there is one. This is good or bad news depending on your POV, personally I just want them to cap it at 2-3 Riders tops for a change. Actually, if there's just one other Rider, and he's like an anti-Rider/Shadow Moon-type, that might be pretty neat. Maybe he'll even be Den-O's superior, more high-tech self from the future: Kamen Rider Shinkansen!

But back to Ryuki & Knight for a sec, that basically takes care of everyone from that series Sôchaku-Henshin-wise. The 13 Riders plus these two super-duper-special versions are/will be out, Alternative got his moment to shine, and Alternative Zero was a magazine exclusive. Although it's easy enough to customize a regular 'ol Alternative into him, and the only real special things were he came with a pair of glasses (cuz, you know, he wore them) and extra parts to turn a regular Ryuki figure into Ryuki Blank Form, assuming you also have a can of off-blue/gray pain handy. Yeah, they didn't do Ouja Blank Form (who infamously got a vinyl RHS figure) but come on- does anybody really want a guy who is on screen for like, 10 seconds, and does nothing but fall down? People give Scissors a lot of flack for going out like such a punk, but lemme tell you, he's 100% bad to the ass compared to Blanky Ouja's "big moment".

Aside from the much-asked-for Riotrooper, Faiz is pretty much all set. Axel/Accel/however the hell you spell it-Form was regrettably, another exclusive, but again, expert customizers unable to score one shouldn't have too much trouble apart from the chest piece. The rest are all out there, and people- take it from me- Orga & Faiz Blaster are two of the greatest SH figures made yet, so pick them up.

The big four from Blade were done, along with Glaive & the almighty King Form, but I suspect we'll see Blade & Garren Jack Forms some day. Lance & Larc are a bit further of a stretch, but I'm still holding out hope for Larc- she's a female Rider, and dammit Bandai, we need more toys of them! Chalice Wild Form has yet to see the light of day, but I think he's as got a good chance of coming out alongside the Jack Forms.

Hibiki- well, the important guys were all done, and after that, it boils down to whether Bandai really wants to go through the trouble or not, because there's a lot left to cover. Danki, Sabaki & Eiki are pretty possible, as they've gotten plastic incarnations in several scales (albeit usually as exclusives) but beyond that, things get a little grim. If enough people asked for them, Shuki & Kiriyama's Oni state are possible, but I'd want to see the movie's Kabuki done first. Because Kabuki was awesome.

And as for Kabuto, they just need to give us the Hopper bros. and Dark Kabuto, and we're good to go. If we go backwards, virtually everyone from Kuuga and AgitΩ have been done, although you'll have to do some searching to find those everywhere-but-Japan-exclusive AgitΩ characters. The big exception is, of course, Another Agito, who I'm still waiting on. And that brings us to the good 'ol days. The success of BLACK & co. means Roborider and Biorider will probably show up some day, and eventually, I hope Bandai revisits the early Riders and does new, improved versions of those old SH ones they did a couple years back. Especially now that the FIRSTy SH figures proved you can do classic-style Riders as great SH figures.