Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Jin Flying Falcon

Release Date: August 2020

RRP: 6380 yen

Bandai Tamashii Nations have been fairly on the ball with their Kamen Rider Zero-One S.H. Figuarts releases, because even though the number of alternate forms has been fairly minimal it’s only taken them a few months to get all of the core cast released. Rounding off the key five is S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Jin Flying Falcon, who of course is a Tamashii web exclusive since that’s seemingly the fate of all Zero-One figures going forwards. The second of the Metsuboujinrai.net Riders, Jin is another rogue Humagear fighting for the liberation of his kind and the subjugation of humanity. However unlike his “father” Horobi, Jin began to question the will of the Ark - his obtaining of singularity becoming a key factor in the battle between humans and Humagears.

As per the rest of the Kamen Rider Zero-One S.H. Figuarts range, Kamen Rider Jin comes in a plain white box with additional colouring based on his suit design. The combination of pink and black is particularly striking against that white background, and the big image on the front makes this some fairly eye-catching packaging even though it was stuffed into a brown mailer box and not on store shelves. The front and spine also denote Jin as a Metsuboujinrai.net Rider, just like how the others have all marked them with their respective organisations. The box is also slightly thicker than the rest of the Zero-One Riders, which is due to the wing parts being stored under the figure itself in-package. On the back you’ll find a nice array of stock images showing off the figure in various poses, and then inside both it and the accessories are stored on the usual moulded plastic tray.

As another Forceriser user Kamen Rider Jin shares the same base aesthetic as Kamen Rider Horobi, which is a metallic undersuit with various bits of metal armour strewn across the body and bound with a series of straps. It's a very suitable look for an evil Rider and the distinct iron patterning on the armour really gives Jin this super cool industrial vibe. What's much less expected for a villain Rider is the overall colour scheme, as Jin Flying Falcon proudly joins the ranks of pink Kamen Riders. There's nothing "magenta" about this, it's full on vibrant metallic pink and looks absolutely brilliant. Amongst all the Zero-One Riders released so far, Jin immediately stands out and that base suit colour just brings all the more attention to the armour surrounding it. The unpainted grey plastic look of the smooth armour is a little off-putting at first (it immediately made me think of the blank body Figuarts), but the colour is very accurate to the suit itself and sticking to unpainted plastic for those parts likely means they could do a sharper job on the paint apps elsewhere. The detailing on this figure is super sharp, from the raised patterning on the body suit to all the moulded detail on the armour and black straps holding it all together. The pièce de résistance though is that incredible headsculpt, with that falcon crest in the middle that stretches out into a wing over his left eye. Both Jin and Horobi are all about those sharp angles in their helmet designs, as well as huge compound eyes that really show off the reflective material used. Whereas Horobi's head sculpt felt slightly off due to some squished in detailing, Jin's is right on the mark. 

The figure has non-functioning Forceriser belt with removable (open) Progrise Key. Said key is of course the Flying Falcon key, which despite being under-detailed is obvious from its pink back plate and tiny sticker on the side. The lack of detailing on the Progrise Keys are raised much criticism from fans, especially when much older and smaller pieces like Gaim’s Lockheed’s were properly detailed. While I haven’t drawn much attention to it in my previous Zero-One reviews, one thing I did notice with Jin is that the Progrise Key DOES have a detail sticker on the packaging images. So clearly Tamashii Nations did consider properly detailing these pieces at some point, but decided to omit it at the last minute. Given how little of the key you can see when inserted into the Forceriser it isn’t a huge flaw, but as I’ve stated multiple times with Hasbro’s Lightning Collection figures I am not a fan of packaging misrepresenting the figure inside. Arguably the more pressing issue here is that the key doesn’t really lock into the Forceriser properly, so falls out pretty easily. Just be careful when posing the figure, or that key could very easily get lost or misplaced.

Jin has the same base body as Horobi, which is identical to the rest of the Zero-One Figuarts. It’s a great body that sports the most up to date joints and articulation, practically rivalling that of a Shinkocchou Seihou figure. Altogether it features;

- Ball jointed head, neck, torso, waist and wrists

- Swivel hinge shoulders and ankles

- Butterfly joint shoulders/pecs

- Double hinge elbows and knees

- Bicep and thigh swivels 

- Single hinge toe caps

Again the lack of shoulder pads makes Jin a curious case where the shoulders have a brilliant range of articulation, but pose them slightly the wrong way and you end up making the whole arm look dislocated. If Bandai really want to keep the drop-down hips going on the mainline Kamen Rider Figuarts this is absolutely the way to do it - Jin has plenty of movement in the hips even without pulling them down, but then if you do need that little bit extra it doesn’t break up the sculpt whatsoever. Every other standard bit of S.H. Figuarts trickery is just as satisfying as ever, because the bend you can get on those double jointed elbows and knees never gets old. I’d imagine if you’re picking up Jin then you probably already have experience with at least one of the other Zero-One Figuarts but even if this is your first, Jin definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Jin comes packaged with eight additional hands to go along with those default open ones, as well as swappable wing parts that clip onto his back. The hand selection is nearly identical to that of Horobi’s, ranging from closed fists and a number of specific pose hands to weapon holding hands. Jin does however get an extra pair of posed hands on top of what Horobi had, which is surprising given that Horobi was the more mainstay suit in the Zero-One series (Flying Falcon naturally being replaced with Burning Falcon partway through). While Jin himself might not come with any of the Attaché weapons, he is able to wield all of them perfectly fine - in fact the box even makes a point of showing him off using Horobi’s Attaché Arrow. But it’s the wings that are the real beauty here, especially since none of the other Zero-One Riders come with a swappable body part like this. Swapping the wing pieces is surprisingly easy given how tightly plugged in the folded ones are initially, and once it’s done it gives Jin a pretty impressive silhouette. The design of the wings themselves is like a more industrial metal version of the Jetman wings, however these simply sit on the back rather than fixing to the underarms. This means Jin still has full use of all articulation even when the wings are plugged in, resulting some great posing opportunities both mid-flight and on the ground.

It's a little strange that the wing parts are enough to push S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Jin above the price the previous Zero-One web exclusives were, but nevertheless this easily one of the best Bandai have put out from the series so far. The colours and detailing are both super sharp, with that metallic pink immediately catching the eye and drawing you into that metal detailing and brilliant head sculpt. Although the accessories here are solely for Jin's use rather than the whole line, there's no denying the way they enhance the figure. But the best news of all though is that if the pink colouring really doesn't do it for you, the Kamen Rider Jin Burning Falcon figure is on its way too. While the colouring is different and the armour has been buffed up considerably, that base body and wing parts are essentially the same thing (not to mention the Burning version has additional accessories on top of what you see here). Personally I have far more fondness for the original (and arguably it suits a core-cast Zero-One display much better), but whichever you choose Kamen Rider Jin is definitely a character not to miss out on.