Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider No. 0

Release Date: October 2023

RRP: 8250 yen

Although Shin Kamen Rider stayed fairly true to the original 1971 series in a lot of ways, there were also some key areas where it diverged quite significantly - the main one being the portrayal of SHOCKER. Rather than a secret terrorist organisation bent on world domination, the Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computational Knowledge Embedded Remodeling (or SHOCKER for short) is a cult-like organisation that has vowed to "lead all mankind to happiness". Another major difference was the  identity of the film's main villain - Ichiro Midorikawa, the son of Doctor Midorikawa (and brother to Ruriko), who was transformed into Chou Augment-01 by SHOCKER. Planning to exact his version of SHOCKER's goal through the Habitat Project, at the end of the film he assumes the identity of Kamen Rider No.0 to battle against the Double Riders. S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider No.0 is the fourth release in the Shin Kamen Rider range - following on from Kamen Rider 1 and Kamen Rider 2 as well as the Cyclone motorcycle. As per everything else in the range past Rider 1, the figure is a Tamashii web exclusive.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider No.0 comes in packaging that matches the previous Shin Kamen releases, with the box keeping the "Masked Rider" naming convention that the film has used for both its title and characters since picking up international traction. The front of the box features a plain silver backdrop similar to that of the film's theatrical posters, with the Kamen Rider No.0 figure simply standing there in a signature pose. Further images of the figure are on both spines of the figure alongside the Shin Kamen Rider film logo - one a standard side-view pose while the other a profile-style close-up. Even more images are included own the back of the box, showing off the figure in various poses as well as some of the accessories included with the release. Inside all these parts are neatly laid out on a moulded plastic tray, with the parts count/instructions printed on the inside flap of the box.

Kamen Rider No. 0 is a brand new design created exclusively for Shin Kamen Rider, taking the standard template of the Double Riders and replacing the grasshopper motif with that of a butterfly. Key changes include the move to a blue and black suit as opposed to the usual green, coupled with a white (soft plastic) scarf. The armour plating on the torso has a very obvious butterfly design, while No.0's belt is a V3-style Double Typhoon known in the film as the "Ultimate Half Typhoon". The sculpting on this is great, with lots of tech detailing around the belt as well as prominent moulding on those twin blue turbines. The most impressive aspect of No.0's design though is the head sculpt, which again takes the standard Kamen Rider template and mixes it up with a more menacing eye shape, lengthy antennae and a curled up proboscis in the centre of the maw. The colouring on the helmet is fantastic too - the front having that clean silver look with piercing purple eyes whilst the back has a metallic blue and purple gradient. There's even a little SHOCKER logo on the back along with some text around it, although said text is so small it's barely even legible. The design itself is solid and Bandai have done a fantastic job realising it at this scale, but that soft plastic scarf just feels so uninspired at this stage. It just sits there flat over the torso, and without any replacement part really doesn't gel well with action poses. Though admittedly it does match the initial Kamen Rider 1 and 2 releases (and in their defence, they had soft goods coats which is A LOT cooler), the subsequent ones have had wired cloth scarves and it makes a hell of a difference. This is likely to be the only release Kamen Rider No.0 has, so it's a pity they couldn't have gone that extra mile for it.

Despite a few little differences the basics of this figure are identical to that of the Double Riders, giving Kamen Rider No.0 near-identical articulation. This consists of;

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

- Swivel hinge joint shoulders, hips, and ankles 

- Butterfly joint shoulders 

- Double hinge elbows and knees

- Single hinge toe sections

- Thigh swivels

Much like the other Riders, No.0 also has ball jointed pectoral muscles, or more specifically the upper butterfly wing armour pieces on his torso. Since these pieces are much more pronounced than the standard circular ones on the Double Riders, the movement looks more obvious as well - on top of moving around they can also pull out from the torso a fair bit too. They can still get in the way a bit of specific poses (such as that signature cross-armed pose on the front of the box), but a bicep swivel would have probably come in handy for that as well. That said, the elbow joints do have a surprising amount of swivel at the upper arm cut to help alleviate that a bit. Perhaps a bigger annoyance for the torso though is the butterfly body in the centre, because due that that sitting between the upper and lower halves of the torso it does render that ball jointed upper torso pretty useless. The ankle tilts aren't great either, but after a couple of versions of this mould that is to be expected. Everything else however is to the usual S.H. Figuarts standard - not really excelling in any area but doing enough to get some good poses out of the figure.

The accessory count is fairly limited, but does consist of a few interesting items of note. Altogether there are three additional pairs of hands included (giving him relaxed hands, closed fists, knife-strike hands and posed open hands in total), an alternate hair piece and alternate coloured compound eye piece. The alternate eye piece changes the colour of the eyes to a darker purple, and can be added by disassembling the helmet and swapping the pieces. That said I didn't a picture of this for the review, because at the time of writing I couldn't actually see any instructions printed on HOW to disassemble the head. Turns out they were printed on the other side of the box from which I opened it from, only they were printed on the flap that sides against the inside back of the box - meaning you wouldn't even know they were there unless you opened the box from that side. Bandai's stupid decisions aside though, I'm still a little hesitant to do it on a head sculpt that has several fragile parts, particularly when nothing really seems to want to budge on my copy. The alternate hair piece is very cool though, giving No.0 a windswept look where the strands of his hair are moving off in all directions. But as great as it looks, it definitely highlights the need for the ability to make the scarf look equally windswept - whether it be via a separate piece or a wired cloth scarf. 

Kamen Rider No.0 was revealed not too long after the film's Japanese release so there's every possibility that Bandai didn't have the knowledge to cover off all his abilities as accessories, but given the figure came out so late afterwards some definitely wouldn't have gone amiss. At the very least some effect parts to recreate his forcefield powers, but an alternate Ichiro Midorikawa head might have been nice as well.

As the main villain of Shin Kamen Rider S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider No.0 was a pretty essential release, and when it comes to the look Bandai have definitely done the suit justice. The blue colouring and butterfly motif on the torso are a stark contrast to the Double Riders, and the sculpting and colours on that helmet are to die for. But when it comes to some of the other areas S.H. Figuarts usually excel at, it can't help but feel No. 0 comes up a little short. A few articulation gripes here and there, overly fiddly (and worrisomely fragile) parts, and a somewhat basic accessory count. It's a great looking figure and displays wonderfully with the other Riders, but just seems to be lacking that little extra bit of S.H. Figuarts magic.