Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider (Shin Kamen Rider)

Release Date: March 2023

RRP: 7700 yen

The 50th anniversary of the Kamen Rider franchise brought along plenty of new exciting projects, but arguably the biggest of them all was the announcement of the next instalment in Hideaki Anno's series of unrelated "Shin" films - Shin Kamen Rider. A retelling of the original 1971 series, the film has not only found success in Japan but also worldwide - receiving a number of limited screenings across the US before releasing worldwide on Amazon Prime earlier this month. But moving back to the film's initial Japanese cinema release in March, Bandai Tamashii Nations were on the ball with the release of S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider (Shin Kamen Rider) to coincide with it. Despite technically being a figure of Kamen Rider 1, with Takeshi Hongo as the main character of the film the figure simply been billed as "Kamen Rider" - the first hero to adopt that name.

The Shin Kamen Rider version of Kamen Rider 1 comes in some gorgeous packaging, which like we saw with the Shin Ultraman Ultraman release moves slightly away from the standard S.H. Figuarts box in terms of template. Rather than have the figure be visible through a window at the front of the box this has been moved to the back, with the "front" featuring a full-size shot of the figure against a silver backdrop - similar to that of the initial Shin Kamen Rider movie posters. The lettering is all done like the movie posters too, featuring a bold Kamen Rider logo in the centre alongside the "Kamen Rider has pledged to against SHOCKER to ensure human beings stay human" tagline. Further images of the figure can be found on the sides and back of the box, the latter of which is where it is joined by the aforementioned window where you can see the figure itself. Open it up and the figure is neatly laid out on a moulded plastic tray, with the coat folded away in a deeper compartment underneath. As with a lot of recent Figuarts with minimal accessories, the instructions have been printed on the inside flaps of the box rather than on a separate paper sheet.

The Kamen Rider of Shin Kamen Rider is a new take on the original Kamen Rider 1, but as was the case with Shin Ultraman Anno didn't stray too far away from what made the suit so iconic in the first place. This is much less a reimagining of Kamen Rider 1 and more just a straight update of the suit, with less unique design flare than even the version that appeared in Kamen Rider: The First. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, because the updates that have been made to the suit all work beautifully - giving it a sharper look that brings it straight into the 21st century. The chest armour is more angular, with bits of panel lining running across it as well as silver bolts holding it in place. The Typhoon is also a lot more advanced, with all manner of switches and tech detailing that have been nicely shrunk down to Figuarts scale. The suit's colour scheme is quite interesting as while it's an obvious reference to the original appearance suit that was in the first 13 episodes of the series, the use of more obvious greens as opposed to  blue feels reminiscent of the Sakurajima version of Rider 1 as well. The key details of the original appearance suit are in the head sculpt though, which sports an exposed neck and hair as well as though milky pink compound eyes instead of the more familiar red. It's those little details that remind you that it's still a human (or what's left of one) underneath that helmet. The new helmet also features similar tech detailing without compromising its original look, with a miniature Batta-Augment symbol (in turn a variant on the Tachibana Racing Club logo from the original series) printed on the back for extra detail.

There's also plenty of articulation loaded into the body too, with modern S.H. Figuarts really not being that far off from Shinkocchou Seihou releases when it comes to poseability. Altogether this figure features;

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

- Swivel hinge shoulders, hips and ankles

- Butterfly joint shoulders

- Double hinge elbows and knees

- Single hinge toe sections

- Thigh swivels

In addition to that, each of the pectoral armour plates on the torso are attached via their own separate ball joints - giving them a very limited range of movement to further improve shoulder articulation. Interestingly Rider 1 doesn't have the bicep swivels that are seen on most Kamen Rider releases however there is some degree of swivel that can be found just above the elbow where the joint plugs into the arm. This movement is particularly prevalent on a lot of Ultraman releases to compensate for their lack of a bicep swivel, and while not a perfect replacement for it does allow Rider 1 to get into all the necessary poses one would expect from it. A minor complaint to note is that the ankle tilts on this release aren't great, which doesn't really go well hand-in-hand with the high-heeled boots this version of Rider 1 has. Balancing isn't an issue, it's more that it can be a little difficult to get the figure to sit perfectly flat-footed in some of the more action-orientated poses. But overall poseability is very good - he can punch and kick well, so he's got all the basics of classic Kamen Rider covered nicely.

As was the case with Ultraman, accessories are fairly light with this release - presumably because Bandai only had limited access to the film whilst getting this ready to release alongside it. That's okay though, because the one big accessory it does come with is an exceptionally good one. As well as three pairs of alternate hands (closed fists, knife-strike pose and open hands with splayed fingers), Kamen Rider 1 also comes with a black soft goods overcoat - something that has become a huge part of this version's overall look both in the publicity for the film and within the film itself. It's a very nicely detailed coat with plastic buttons, a removable belt strap and wiring across the frame to give it proper poseability. Some might argue that it's a little on the thick side, but for a mass production coat it's pretty great - especially since soft goods to this extent aren't usually in the S.H. Figuarts wheelhouse. The one part I would argue is a little thick is the belt part as it tends to just stick up and look out of place, but that really is a minor gripe. The figure already looks great without the coat, but slipping it on just makes it look so much more unique amongst all the other Rider 1s that have been released over the years.

There are a few other accessories this figure could have come with, but as you'd expect they've been held back for an alternate (Tamashii web exclusive) "Takeshi Hongo" version of the figure due for release in December. This version comes with an alternate Hongo head as well as a a removed version of the helmet (which lacks the mouth plate), and also features a fabric version of the iconic red scarf. The trade-off however is that you don't get the overcoat with this version, so clearly Bandai are up to their old tricks of making collectors buy multiple versions of the same character. I'm not surprised, but the thing about this instance is that there's nothing really on this forthcoming version that could be considered a spoiler - and in turn feasibly could have come with this one instead. Shots of Hongo without the helmet were just as much a part of the promotional material for the film as fully costumed shots, and fabric scarves just seem to be something Bandai want to do with limited edition versions of Rider 1 - see the event exclusive "First Appearance" Shinkocchou Seihou figure released last year for example. It is what it is and there's certainly nothing included with the other one that immediately invalidates this one, but if Bandai just decided to be a little more consumer friendly there could have easily just been one "complete" version instead.

Despite being a relatively bare bones release S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider (Shin Kamen Rider) is an absolutely fantastic release, with the inclusion of the soft goods coat really pushing it into brilliance territory. The one thing letting it down is Bandai letting their greed get the better of them once again, and splitting the means for a "perfect" Kamen Rider 1 figure between two separate releases. While it's not uncommon for a figure announced before its movie's release to have an alternate version revealed a few months later, that doesn't really come with anything that spoils the movie either. There really was no reason to do this figure (as well as the forthcoming "standard" Kamen Rider 2 figure) with plastic scarves only to do them with fabric ones a few months later. It's a really great release that even stands comfortably alongside the classic version Shinkocchou Seihou figures, but knowing that Bandai could have made it even better if they wanted to is frustrating to say the least.