Armoured Machine Gouram (SIC Kiwami Damashii)

Gouram is an ancient mechanized stag beetle that serves Kamen Rider Kuuga. It most often combines with Kuuga's motorcycle, either the TryChaser 2000 or the BeatChaser 2000. Apparently in the ancient past Gouram served as "horse armour" for the original Kuuga and can provide enough power to drive an motorcycle through a big rig truck.

This set also comes with golden armour attachments to upgrade Gouram to Rising Form. Since I only have the BeatChaser you'll get to see BeatGouram and Rising BeatGouram, though it's not very different on the TryChaser motorcycle. The distinguishing features get covered up by Gouram.

(Gouram)(BeatGouram)(Rising BeatGouram)

Kamen Rider Kuuga Amazing Mighty Form (S.H. Figuarts)

The Amazing Mighty Form is Kamen Rider Kuuga's penultimate power up. This form appears in visions but not in actuality until very late in the series. It's basically the Rising Mighty Form but the red is changed to black and he's got a second shin-guard. It has it's own symbol on the back of the hands like the Rising forms.

This figure is an older S.H. Figuarts so he's got die-cast metal feet and some of the joints look wonky after a decade of figure engineering improvements but I like him. Amazing Mighty checks that dark and sleek box but I'm glad this wasn't Kuuga's primary look throughout the series. 

The Amazing Mighty Form didn't use any weapons so he only comes with some extra hands but that's all he really needs. I like the symmetry of Kuuga's first form being white and is last forms being black with a nice spread of colours in between. I haven't tracked down Kuuga's Ultimate Form yet but I have one more Kamen Rider Kuuga post coming up tomorrow. Stay Tuned!

Kamen Rider Kuuga Rising Mighty Form & BeatChaser 2000 (SIC Kiwami Damashii)

This Kiwami Damashii box set includes Kuuga in his Rising Mighty form, the last of the Rising Forms, and the BeatChaser 2000, Kuuga's second motorcycle in the series.

The Rising Mighty form continues the trend of the Rising Forms adding gold trim and a yellow stone to the look, with the addition of a shin-guard on Kuuga's right leg. The distorted style of the Super Imaginative Chogokin line is evident here but isn't too far out for my tastes. He still looks heroic and not horrific.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Rising Dragon Form (S.H. Figuarts)

The Rising Dragon form is the powered up of the Dragon Form. The Dragon Rod becomes a double sided spear and as with all the Rising forms all that glitters is gold. 

I don't have much else to say about this guy that I haven't said about the Rising Titan or Rising Pegasus figures. The predominance of a single colour in these various forms is part of what really attracts me to the designs. A lot of Kamen Rider designs can get too busy or overstuffed with details, especially ones debuting later in the series. I feel that Kuuga's relative simplicity in this way has led to stronger designs that still look good nearly 20 years later.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Rising Pegasus Form (S.H. Figuarts)

I got the Kuuga Rising Pegasus and Rising Dragon figures in a box set that I think was some sort of exclusive back in 2010. Five-ish years later it was less in demand and I found it online somewhere.

Again the main differences between the Pegasus form and Rising Pegasus are the gold highlights and the yellow stone in the middle of the belt. The hands are a bit rubbery which is good for switching them out but makes the holding hands have less of a grip. Though it's not as dire as I'd read in some reviews of these figures online.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Rising Pegasus is a fun addition to my Kuuga Collection and sports all the great details you'd expect from S.H. Figuarts.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Rising Titan Form (S.H. Figuarts)

The first of Kuuga's next stage of power-up forms is the Rising Titan Form and this was actually one of the first Kamen Rider Kuuga figures I got. Purple is one of my favourite colours so this form appeals to me more than the Titan Form plus now he has TWO swords. This figure was an exclusive when first released but since I'm a relative latecomer to Kamen Rider fandom I was able find it at a fairly reasonable price because it was years later.

In the Rising forms Kuuga's Amadam stone turns yellow and the trim of his armour (where the Linto Tribe hieropglyphs are) turns gold. The sword gets an upgrade too, it's almost comically longer with a golden extension to the blade and the Rising Titan Form allows Kuuga to generate a second sword.

This figure is an older S.H. Figuarts like the Growing Form figure I have and thus has die cast feet and a much shinier finish on the black of the arms and legs. The holding hands really rubbery and don't hold onto the swords as firmly they could which is the main drawback to this figure and a reason why I went for the SIC Kiwami Damashii figures for the non-Rising forms.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Titan Form (SIC Kiwami Damashii)

Kuuga's Titan form is almost like his tank mode and is armed with the Titan Sword. His armour turns mostly silver/grey with purple for the trim as well as his eyes and the stone in the Arcle belt. The Titan form has two shoulder pads and can manifest a sword from any stick-like object, usually one side of the handlebars of the TryChaser 2000 motorcycle.

Similar to the Kiwami Damashii Pegasus form figure, this guy has some more accents and detailing on his armour than the screen version. Also the shoulder pads are pointier. Despite the diminutive size of the figure it still manages to project a regality. All thumbs up on this one too!

Kamen Rider Kuuga Pegasus Form (SIC Kiwami Damashii)

Kuuga's green Pegasus form is the next to appear in the series. Armed with the Pegasus Bowgun, this form heightens Yusuke's senses allowing him to target aerial foes and eliminate them. The main difference in this new form is the addition of a shoulder guard on Kuuga's left shoulder. The Bowgun is a fairly common hybrid in tokustatsu and anime. Probably because archery has a cool aesthetic but is more complicated to incorporate into live action fight scenes certainly and ordinary arrows tend not to have the power to stop the dangerous monsters faced by our heroes.

Pegasus Form has a more armoured look than the Dragon form figure with a few more details than on the show but but in general looks very similar. Articulation is the same and again it's an overall good figure.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Dragon Form (SIC Kiwami Damashii)

The third form of Kamen Rider Kuuga is his blue Dragon form which comes with the Dragon Rod as its weapon. Kamen Rider Kuuga was one of the first series I watched and is one of my favourites. It's very bare-bones compared to some of the later series and is the only Heisei series to feature only one Kamen Rider.

As mentioned when I talked about his Growing Form and Mighty Form I also just really love the design of Kuuga and as such he is one of the few Riders for whom I wanted to get a figure representing all of his forms. The S.H. Figuarts version was not particularly well reviewed online nor was it easily available so when I found this three pack of the Dragon, Pegasus, and Titan forms in the smaller SIC Kiwamii Damashii line I scooped them up.

Super Imaginative Chogokin is a toyline that reimagines characters (mostly Kamen Riders) through a darker lens, typically ratcheting up the insectoid features. I'm not a huge fan of most of those looks but for Kuuga it didn't through out the parts that I really liked. The Kiwami Damashii sub-line are smaller scale figures in the SIC motif.

Each figure in the set has a stand with a unique deco. The articulation is not as great as Figuarts but is certainly decent for a smaller figure. The sculpting and moulding are very impressive and the energized version of the Dragon Rod is a super fun accessory.

Today marks the start of the longest stretch of daily posts I've done thus far. I'm going be posting a new form of Kamen Rider Kuuga every day until I exhaust my supply so stay tuned!

Kamen Rider Kuuga Mighty Form (S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou)

Kamen Rider Kuuga heralded in the Heisei era of Kamen Rider television back in the year 2000 and is one of my favourites. Previously I spotlighted his "Growing Form" and today I'm going show you his red armoured base form. This figure is from the Shinkocchou Seihou sub-line of S.H. Figuarts and is definitely the beneficiary of several more years of action figure engineering research than the earlier figures. Gone are the die-cast feet, the shoulder pads are much more elegant, and the range of motion in the shoulders and elbows is improved but I think the hips don't have the same capacity for doing the splits. That said there are no major holes or cuts in the sculpt so the figure looks intact in every pose. The matte black of the arms and legs is great and really helps the glossiness of the chest to shine. I've gushed about how much I like Kuuga before and this figure is an excellent example of how great the design is. Now I just need to track down the Tamashii-Web Exclusive Amazing Mighty Form and Ultimate Form figures then I'll have a representation of all 11 Kamen Rider Kuuga forms.

Kamen Rider Kuuga Growing Form (S.H. Figuarts)

Continuing my journey through Kamen Riders we have Kamen Rider Kuuga in his first, almost prototypical, Growing Form characterized by the white armour and orange eyes. The 90's were a lean decade for Shotaro Ishinomori's motorcycle riding henshin heroes but in the year 2000 the bug-eyed battler for justice joined the Heisei era with a blast. Kuuga was the second Kamen Rider series I watched in full after finishing Kamen Rider Black. Godai Yusuke is a bit of wanderer who returns to Japan from abroad just in time to discover an ancient magical belt that allows him to combat the newly reawakened Gurongi Tribe and thwart their attempts to subjugate the human race.

I love the Kuuga design. It is well balanced and calls back to the original Kamen Rider design while still having a distinctive look of its own. Kuuga is the first Rider to have more than 3 forms and one of the only Riders for whom I'm trying to acquire figures of every form. This is an older Figuarts much like the original Kamen Rider Black figure I featured a while back. His joints aren't as pretty and his shoulder pads are a little weird but he's still a really fun figure. Plus die cast feet!