[Toys] Souchaku Henshin Series: Kamen Rider Amazon

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Another eBay item I got. I was very lucky to find this at the price that I did. I believe it was around $20. Normally it can be found for at least twice the price. Sometimes it pays to be OCD on finding cheap prices.


That said, let us go on and learn about the boy who must fight the ten-faced demon...

Amazon is from one of the earlier SH figures from the "Classic Kamen Riders" line of 2001. I will say now, as I have been informed of elsewhere, he has the height of the original SH figures, which is about 5" in height. The reason I point this out is because this means he is sadly not tall enough to fit in the SH Figuarts line, which are 5 1/2" tall figures. However, he's still nice considering his age.

Please excuse the hilariously tiny head. This is a fault of the gimmick the toys have, their head is small in order to accommodate the removable helmet. But on topic, his armor. He comes with the chest piece, the forearm part of the gloves, the belt, the helmet, and even his GiGi armlet. For the most part they all just peg in, and the helmet splits in front and back halves to fit over the head. What I did not expect was that the chest DOESN'T split in half like this. Rather, the back portion splits in half, on hinges, and you wrap it around his torso. The back pieces are then pegged into the screw hole on the back, and that combined with the strong metal hinges makes for a solid connection.

This also brings me to another thing. These pieces of armor are all made of diecast metal! I figured the chest would be since I read about that, but every bit of armor is basically made of metal. Except for the helmet, and oddly, the armlet is also not metal. Which is weird, since I completely expected it to be. Regardless, this is still a lot of metal content which makes for a hefty figure. And it may be my imagination, but I think his poses are made more solid thanks to his weight.

Lastly I would want to comment is just the fact that... Well, aside from the armlet, this guy doesn't come with any additional accessories. But that's a bit of a stupid argument considering Amazon is one of the Showa era Riders (one of the original seven, even), and back then the weapon gimmick was not very prominent in the franchise as it is now. Ahh, the difference in the eras is a subject all on its own.

Overall, is he worth it? That depends on your budget for toys, honestly. As said in the beginning, I managed to find him cheap, which is rare. And I feel that the lack of additional accessories would hurt the price, this may make him less of a must-buy unless you're REALLY into the character (as, currently, he has no better figure, aside from that may-or-may-not-happen prototype of the SH Figuarts version.) Still, if you ARE into him, that's all the more reason to get him.

Thanks for reading. And remember: GI GI GI GIII!!