Kamen Rider’s a more recent interest of mine, something I got into around 2019, when Kamen Rider Zero-One premiered, and advertised itself as a jumping-on point. Since then, I’ve watched a bunch of the shows and movies, and grabbed a little bit of merch to go with it.
It’s true, it’s up for streaming right now.
Kamen Rider’s a storied old japanese Tokusatsu superhero-action franchise, existing on the same spectrum as Power Rangers, but a bit more serious and serialized. The original show (which started in 1973) began with gifted student Takeshi Hongo being kidnapped by an occult terrorist group called Shocker, and changed into a transforming cyborg superhuman warrior, to serve as a part of their army. But, he was broken loose, and spends the rest of the show fighting their monsters and evil schemes. The whole thing’s up, legally, for free on Tubi and Tokushoutsu if you want to check it out, it holds up better than one would expect, and can be equal parts shockingly dark, and shockingly goofy. The other Kamen Rider shows that are up on these services (Kuuga, Ryuki, and Zero-One) are all pretty great choices, too, and are all a little bit more digestible (and to be honest, I haven’t actually finished the original series, at 90-something episodes, it’s a bit of a commitment, the new ones are all 40-ish episodes). As for this original guy, there’s a new movie coming out next year, called Shin Kamen Rider (trailer below) serving as a rebooted retelling of the original series, so now’s a good time to get on that train, and get a version of that original suit (which is usually called Kamen Rider Ichigo, if you’re hunting around online).
There’s a few lines of modern merchandise for the whole franchise, ranging from the more expensive SH Figuarts, to the cheaper guys, like these Shodo action figures, not to be confused with So-Do, a series of model kits (I have a few of those, too). I picked this version of the original Kamen Rider up at Ontario Collector’s Con a year or two back, from Youtuber Internet Personality Vangelus, funny enough. This is the “Shin” version of the suit, from later on in the series, and is also the default one used whenever the character re-appears in later media, so it’s a good all-around representation of Hongo himself. So, here’s a look at what a Shodo rider figure’s like.
In all his retro glory.
There’s a tiny bit of assembly out of the box, but it’s just putting the joints on, and once you’re done, you have a solid little action figure. I’m pretty sure that the various Shodo figures of Hongo are just repaints of each other, with the sculpt staying the same (which is accurate to the source material). Either way, it’s a design that’s replicated pretty well here.
Ready to punch fascist cultists.
He’s got the insect helmet, the mouth plate, and the sculpted antenna uptop. He’s got the sculpted pecs and muscles upfront, his transformation belt with a ton of tiny details around the middle, and gloves and boots at the ends of his limbs. Those, and the undersuit, have nice little wrinkles in them. To finish the design off, he’s got his scarf dangling from his neck, a solid but semiflexible piece of plastic that hangs down across his chest (his antenna uptop are also a bit soft, for safety). Most of his joints are on the undersuit, hiding them pretty well, save for the ones on his ankles.The only bit of weirdness is his neck can look kind of long from a lot of angles. It’s an iconic, simple design, compared to a lot of the busier modern Kamen Riders, which means it scales down pretty perfectly onto this guy.
He heard what I said about his neck (and is hiding it in this photo).
Speaking of scale, Shodos are really firmly the same size as Star Wars figures, and GI Joes, meaning he plays along with them really nicely.
Funny enough, the release of these two media were only a few years apart, so this crossover’s more likely than you’d think. Also, he’d have made a much more aggressive mentor than Ben.
Real recognizes real.
Speaking of crossovers I’d like to see.
Importantly, the overall figure’s construction feels really solid. Not only is he the same size as Star Wars figures, he feels the same way in terms of durability. This isn’t fragile like a model kit, or Figuart, this is a knockaround action figure. That’s part of the reason I prefer Shodo to So-Do, that sense of durability. While I’m here, really quickly: So-Dos are slightly bigger, are full-on Model Kits with sprues, using stickers and paint for detail. Shodos are action figures, get all their detail from paint, and are slightly smaller.
Shodo Ichigo versus So-Do Zero-One and Kuuga. Back in the day, people were shorter.
Meanwhile, a criticism I’ve heard about Shodos is that they’re a bit underpainted, but that’s not the case here.
He’s ready to square up against anyone that says so.
Hongo’s got a black undersuit, with a pair of white stripes along each of his arms and legs. His boots and gloves are a nice shiny silver, and his belt is red, with more silver. His chest’s deep green, and his helmet’s a nice combo of metallic silver, and metallic green, with red eyes, and black accents. Again, the fact that it’s such a simple design means that it’s all accurately represented here . I think there’s a little bit of deco missing from his belt, but that’s it. Honestly, I prefer his earlier-in-the-series look, without the stripes on the undersuit, since they make me think of an Adidas tracksuit, but I’m not too bothered that this is the one I ended up with.
He’s got plenty of experience taking on giant bug monsters.
So, Hongo’s incredibly poseable for a little figure, more like a Joe than a Star Wars figure. He’s got balljointed ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and head articulation, all with a ton of range of motion on them. The one odd omission is he doesn’t have a waist joint, kind of a big loss. Instead, he’s got something I’ve seen on Joes, a sort of high-up ab crunch, right below his pecs, that can sort of function as one. I do appreciate the torso bending that the joint gives him, though.
The classic pre-battle pose. If you watched the show, you can hear the sound effect.
It’s really easy to pose him dynamically. This is one of those figures with that feature I love where the sculpt and articulation combine into something really dynamic. He also stands surprisingly easily for a guy with ball-jointed ankles, usually that’s a death sentence for being able to stay standing.
This is a real accomplishment.
There’s a port in his back, though, if you have a more traditional figure stand around.
The Rider Kick, his traditional finisher.
He’s got a stand, though! And it was handled in an interesting way. It’s a little slab, with a U-shaped cutout for the back of his foot, which you slide in. It’s very unobtrusive, and good for kicking. It’s also where you stash his other accessory: Swappable hands.
His whole pile of accessories is a bit horrifying to contemplate.
These hands pop out pretty easily along the wrist swivels, and are easy to swap. He’s got fists, Karate Chop hands, and grasping hands. As for what those last hands can grasp, they’re too small for most Transformers accessories, but he can hold Joe and Star Wars ones pretty well.
He’s an old expert at taking on genre fiction Nazi stand-ins.
See?
He’s like the anti-Batman. If you oppress people, he *will* kill you dead, with whatever he has on hand.
His gripping hands are really meant to clasp bike handles, though, since he’s the Kamen Rider, and motorcycling was a big part of the show (and the franchise, in general). There were a few Shodo bikes released that he’s able to interact with, though I don’t own them myself. I managed to get him to fit on Transformers Prime Arcee and Robot Masters Sideways’s bike modes pretty well, though.
He senses evil in this bike.
Bike bot battle!
Overall:
The one other Shodo I have, Kamen Rider ZO.
This figure’s just clean fun. Shodo Hongo, or Ichigo, or whatever you call him, makes for solid action figure of an iconic design, done well. He’s really fun to pose and play with, especially if you have anything else in scale with him, and is a cheap-but-good alternative to one of the higher-end Figuarts. It’s definitely worth tracking some version of him down if you’re a fan of the franchise, or just like the design. The aftermarket prices for these Shodo guys are all over the place, though. I want to say I paid about $20 Canadian for this guy (it’s been awhile, I might be way off), which was definitely worth it, for how good he turned out. I wouldn’t pay ridiculous amounts, but it’s worth shelling out a bit of dough to own one.
Hongo at the end of every episode, when the narrator talks about how his life is eternal misery.
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