Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Geats MagnumBoost Form

Release Date: March 2023

RRP: 4400 yen

Let the curtain rise on another Desire Grand Prix! It's that time again where S.H. Figuarts unveil a whole new series of Kamen Rider releases, and with a series as big as Kamen Rider Geats Bandai Tamashii Nations certainly aren't going to run out ideas any time soon. But the best place to start is always at the very beginning, and the release of a new titular Rider also brings about another Bandai tradition – the cheaper entry point figure. This year it's the turn of S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Geats MagnumBoost Form, giving fans an all-round version of Ace Ukiyo to kick things off sporting his two most commonly used Raise Buckles.

The start of a new series marks the debut of a new packaging layout, and once again the Kamen Rider Geats range does a great job of matching up to the figure inside. S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Geats MagnumBoost form comes in a predominantly black box (matching the base colour of the Entry Form suit), however the corners of the box are white and red – representing the Magnum (upper half) and Boost (lower half) elements of this particular suit as well. On the front of the box we have a nice big bust shot of the figure alongside the usual name tag and brand logos, with the transparent window also sporting Geats' ID core logo. On the back of the box there are a number of images that show off the figure in various poses, together with an advert for the forthcoming (Tamashii web exclusive) Kamen Rider Buffa as well. Inside the figure and accessories are neatly laid out on the usual moulded plastic tray, with Bandai reverting to printing the instructions on a paper leaflet as opposed to on the inside flaps of the box like they did with Revi and Vice (which admittedly required much less involved instructions).

Right from his reveal Kamen Rider Geats has been an incredibly striking design, and although it's not his "default" look as such its fair to say that MagnumBoost is a pretty definitive choice for a base form Geats figure. This way not only do you get what is largely considered to be his signature form (Magnum), but you also get the additional leg detailing that the Boost Buckle brings with it. As usual Bandai have done a great job capturing the details of the suit, with the pearly white finish of the Magnum armour a nice contrast to both the black Entry Form under suit and the solid red of the Boost armour. There's even some nice weapon functionality built into the figure, with the Armoured Guns on either forearm able to fold out for additional firepower. Though it's not necessarily a suit with lots of finer details, everything on here looks great – particularly the orange compound eyes peering out from behind the fox mask and the blue/purple/yellow scorch mark gradients on the Boost exhaust pieces. The scarf is made from a glossy, rubbery plastic that doesn't have any significant articulation (other than being able to slightly rotate it on the peg it's looped around), but has some really nice crease/fold detailing on it. It would have been nice to get it attached to some sort of ball joint for additional movement (think the Showa Riders or Kamen Rider Double) but the material can't really be faulted. Honestly it's a suit that ticks every box for me – it shows off the fox motif beautifully (both from the mask and colour scheme), while the armour is simple/clean yet impressively imposing.

The Desire Driver has proven to be one of the more involved Kamen Rider transformation items in recent years, so it's great to see that some of its gimmickry has tricked down into the S.H. Figuarts release. Both the Magnum and Boost Buckles are removable (and can also be clipped onto the slots on either side of the belt), while the Driver itself can be rotated a full 360 degrees just like on the show. So although parts to have Magnum as the legs and Boost as the body haven't been included here, you can at least pose Geats as if he's just activated the Driver to do so. The centre of the Driver also sports a tiny painted ID core, which isn't removable but that's just as well since it could be VERY easily lost. Rather than dismantling the Driver completely for the form change gimmick (more on that further down), the body is easy enough to take apart that you can just slip the belt off of the figure altogether.

These days it feels almost redundant to comment on how good the base articulation is on these most recent series Kamen Rider figures, but you never know when another Kamen Rider Ghost scenario will pop around the corner and it'll be a step down from what the line had previously. Geats isn't one of those instances though and the body is pretty much in line with what we saw with the Revice figures, consisting of; 

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

- Swivel hinge shoulders and ankles

- "Drop down" swivel hinge hips

- Double hinge elbows and knees

- Single hinge toe sections 

- Bicep and thigh swivels 

Then on top of that base body articulation there are also a few little flourishes with the armour – the shoulder pads are attached to hinged ball joints, the wrist guns can fold out (as previously mentioned) and the Boost exhaust pipes on the legs can rotate a full 360 degrees. Articulation is generally very good, although curiously the elbows don't have much more than a 45-degree bend. To offset that though, the boxy design of the Magnum armour shoulder pads don't really affect arm movement at all, with them able to raise quite far off of the arm and rotate without any real issues. Everything else here is to the usual high S.H. Figuarts standard, with the drop down hips also maintaining a good balance between providing a wide range of articulation and not breaking up the seamless of the sculpt too much.

As a cheaper entry point figure Geats MagnumBoost is a bit lighter on accessories than subsequent Geats Figuarts will likely be, but there's still enough here to give you a good all-round figure that doesn't necessarily require accessories from elsewhere. Altogether it includes three additional pairs of hands (closed fists, weapon holding and open/posed) to accompany the default open hands, as well as the Magnum Shooter 40x in handgun mode. When not in use, this can be clipped onto either side of the Desire Driver belt (though it's intended to go on the left side). The Magnum Shooter 40x is nicely sculpted and painted, including nearly all the detail from the onscreen version. There is also a port on the front which allows either the Magnum or Boost Buckle (or any future Buckles released in the range) to be attached. Rather than have a single Magnum Shooter that can switch between handgun and rifle modes, the rifle mode has instead been included with the Kamen Rider Geats Entry Form figure. While it's nothing new for Bandai to pack in accessories with a totally different figure, it is kind of sad that it comes with a different version of Geats rather than a totally different character. That said, clearly Bandai want people to go all-in on the form-changing gimmick and for people to do that they'll require the Entry Form Geats anyway so I suppose the logic is sound. No clicking fingers definitely feels like a missed opportunity though.

This last part will be explored fully in further Kamen Rider Geats Figuarts reviews when more characters have been released, but Bandai have managed to implement a makeshift form change gimmick by making the body parts easily switchable. It's worth noting that it's not the armour pieces themselves that are removable, but rather that the bodies themselves are modular. So since all of the male Geats characters will share the same base body, the Magnum torso or Boost legs will worth with Buffa/Tycoon/Pumpjack etc. This unfortunately leaves Na-Go out of the equation, who'll likely not have the gimmick incorporated unless Bandai release any other female Riders from the show. Of course for the gimmick to work properly pieces of the helmet also need to be removable, with Geats' fox mask, eye lenses and mouthpiece all separate pieces. Though they are a bit fragile (particularly the fox mask), they unpeg from the head easily enough that switching between forms shouldn't be too much of a chore.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Geats MagnumBoost Form is another fantastic release that's WELL WORTH the lower price point Bandai are charging for it, but it's also an interesting one in that it's a figure that's only going to get better as more Geats characters are released. While figure itself is arguably the "definitive" version of Geats and therefore perfect for anyone only picking up main Riders or some similar arbitrary collecting rule, it's only going to get more fun with different Buckles to mix and match the Riders' powers. With that kind of potential, it's much easier to overlook things like the Magnum Shooter rifle coming with a different version of the character. Is this going to be another great year for Kamen Rider Figuarts? MagnumBoost Form certainly seems to suggest so.