Toy Review: SH Figuarts Shinken Blue

I couldn't fathom the idea the rest of the Sh Figuarts Shinkenger team would be exclusive. I would get Bandai's ruling if Gold or Red were exclusive. But Blue? And how come SHF Gokai Blue and Green are not? For this day fourth, I wouldn't argue who should be an exclusive, who is not. I give up. Anyway continuing on.

Ikenami Ryunosuke also as known as Shinken Blue, the water samurai, is impressive despite the errrm heavy price tag. I was truly anticipating this release when I  pre-ordered this through The Falcon's Hangar. There are no big difference in terms of  design but as expected this is on a blue color and thinner because he doesn't have a Rekka. Ikenami's name is imprinted on the box and you would likely to see these human names for the rest of the Shinkenger figures. 

Since the figure is molded from Shinken Red, there are not much of a difference in the articulation points. These engineered parts works pretty well for Sentai SHFs and I am sure these will improve thus we'll see a transition when SHF Gokaiger comes along. I just hoped they improve the joints on the torso, because its movement is limited and sometimes useless.

I didn't like the head mold. It feels like he was once a cone head. He continues to have an unbalanced shade of blue on his shoulders just like Red and Gold. I wonder why they had this in a different blue palette. 

Even though he doesn't have a Rekka, it is compensated with 11 interchangable hands that can be easily pegged in. There is a pair of hands for each accessory that came with Shinken Blue, Water Arrow, Shinkenmaru. Additional unique hands are to use for the Shodophone, Ryuu Origami in Emblem Mode, the rest of the hands are for different poses. Ryuu Origami comes in a pair - a dragon that has a hinge to move the head up and down, the other is an Emblem. Other accessories are the Shinkenmaru and the Water Arrow. Just like Kuuga Pegasus, he has this pull action gimmick to have the figure in a shooting pose.

Anyway, if you are really not into Shinkengers that much, because of the price tag - Shinken Blue is an easy pass. But I guess it was compensated with the number of accessories it came with, it is not that fantastic but hey I'm not complaining as there are worse exclusives out there.