It has great range, and I never had a problem positioning it where I wanted it, again, in very natural looking ways. The shoulder pad articulation is distinct from the original figure in being attached to a ball joint, that is attached to a hinge joint in the upper part of the shoulder. Original Kuuga had great motion in the head, tilting sideways and forward/backward, and the Renewal is just as good, and looks more natural doing so, because of better proportions (Original Kuuga is a pencil-neck). All of these different pieces give Renewal Kuuga great range of movement, from deeper forward crunches, to excellent side crunches, as well as being able to twist from side to side. The chest armor has separate under-piece with the Gurongi writing, which is separate from the lower torso piece, which is separate from the belt, which is separate from the crotch. One of the ways the articulation is improved over the original figure is the torso is now five separate parts. Even just standing at rest Kuuga looks like a tiny person in a costume. And sadly, it makes the old figure look that much worse for how gangly it is. Every pose just looks so natural, it's amazing. Couple this improved look of the body with the fantastic articulation, and it's difficult to put Kuuga into a not-realistic looking pose. Where the original figure is lanky, with thin, almost stretched out looking limbs, Renewal Kuuga looks like a person, from the length and width of the legs, to the subtle sculpting of the musculature on the legs, so it looks like someone wearing spandex. Finally, the gemstones in Kuuga's wrist and ankle cuffs are separate, translucent plastic pieces, which really improves the look of them (on original Kuuga they are simply a dot of paint that wasn't always cleanly applied to the small sculpted blip).īandai has also improved the proportions of the figure. The sculpting on the soles of Kuuga's boots is also much improved on the Renewal, such that you can actually see the symbol on the ball of his foot. It just looks far superior on the Renewal. I think it's sculpted with thicker lines, that the paint then filled in in uneven ways to make it look clumpy or gloppy. This text on the original figure looks just a bit sloppy. The Gurongi text on the armor is sculpted with very fine lines and the paint is clean and thin such that no detail is lost. The detail of the arcle on the belt is also improved. The belt buttons are more cleanly separated, than on the original figure, and the black paint between all the buttons really helps them pop out. The detail on Renewal Kuuga is similarly amazing.
Original Kuuga also has a much more yellow color to the gold, which honestly looks rather bad, next to the Renewal. I do rather like the deeper, metallic red of the original Kuuga, but the Renewal is more show accurate.
It's a significant improvement over the original version of Kuuga, which lacks the matte black (it's more of a semi-gloss to gloss finish). The different finishes provide a great contrast between the different parts of the costume, and combine to look fantastic. The finish on the black is a very nice matte, the red is a nice, glossy candy red, while the gold and silver bits have a metallic finish. Inside are two trays, one for the figure and one for the hands. The front, however, features a close-up of the Kuuga's head, which is grainy in a stylized way, with heavy shadowing which just looks absolutely gorgeous. The back is pretty much the same as a standard figure with text on the back and a couple of action shots of the figure. The boxes for these Shinkochu Seiho Figuarts are both very simple, and very attractive. And let me tell you, it does NOT disappoint. As a big fan of Kamen Rider Kuuga, the SH Figuarts Renewal/Shinkochu Seiho Kuuga was a highly anticipated release.