Toy Review: S.H. Figuarts Roborider (Masked Rider Super Gold)

Since I'm having trouble shooting Menasor due to his sheer size, I'll post this quick review on my personal favorite version of the bugman that I grew up with. Say hello to Masked Rider Super Gold (roborider to ya'll purists).

He shoots this in the office during his free time... He's just having issues bringing a 12 inch toy to the office

Masked Rider Super Gold (or Black RX Roborider) is the 2nd form of the Masked Rider. He is supposed to be very robotic (robo-rider.. get it?), heavily armored form that allows him to physically overpower his enemies, in exchange for extremely limited mobility.

But 1st, the packaging. Old, and I mean really old (Kabuto ver 1) SH Figuart packaging is normally just a Silver box with a picture of the actual suit. Several changes were introduced along the way. Roborider's packaging is a colored box with an image of the toy in colored wireframe.

the box is such an interesting discussion point

Back of the box is more traditional, with the figure posed in various... poses.

Doublepunch and pew pew pew

Open the box, and you will be greeted with the familiar plastic tray sandwich.

The older Figuarts have a clam shell tray... this new one's packaging on the other hand is the same but with the sides cut-off... like a hood of a car.

Hood of ...car??

Anyway, on to the figure. Super Gold is black and orange, with silver accents. I guess super gold sounds better than super orange. He is actually yellower than what was represented on screen (and in these photos).

Super yellow then?

He has shallow panel lines all over, and a bunch on little paint apps here and there like in his wrist watch and the red and blue stuff in his thighs.

He has lots of nice details. His Eyes have these bloody tear drops, hence why he was called the price of sadness (no clue what the inspiration is). He has nice compound eyes (as expected) and his belt has the appropriate clock gears. All the details you expect him to have are there.

One complaint. Roborider is suppose to be bulky, and this one is a bit... weedy. Thin. The old figuarts were known for being too thin, but this is suppose to be Mr. Big Bulky. But instead, he is lanky. Lack of diecast also means he is super light. Opposite of what was conveyed on TV.

Image from tumblr

Compromise are made in his neck and waist, to basically add more articulation. and his chest is narrower. Which does not make sense since he can barely move in the show anyway. His head is a bit narrower. Overall, leaner, thinner. Looks like something that's suppose to be agile.

Le thin dynamic Brick

Now, articulation. Since some of the aesthetics are compromised, then he should be super posable no?

His head has 2 ball joints: One at the base of the neck, and one that connects the neck to the head. The ones that connect the head to the neck has a hinge that can extend the neck. Also you can see how thin the neck is.

WTF!!!

This enables him to look up, and close any gaps in the process.

The shoulders uses the new designed, employed by Shadow Moon ver 1 and Den-O onwards. It means that the shoulder pads are connected via a separate hinge connected to the lower part of the armor.

Same as his right shoulder

It gives him great shoulder poseability without sacrificing the looks too much. He has bicep swivels, a joint in his torso can go out a bit, only has a 90 degree elbow joint. Wrist is standard wil a hinge and a ball joint.

His wait has a ball joint at the chest and the waist. His Upper wait has an extension similar to the neck.

Which, enables him to perform uncharacteristically dynamic poses, sort of.

"dynamic"

He has standard figuarts hips, but the design prevents him from say kneeling, which is fine by me.

These hips are made for walking

He has thigh swivels, double jointed knees as well.

Now that's dynamic

His ankle uses the new design (again Shadow Moon onwards). I do not know how to describe it, but it's similar to the current Marvel Legends ankle, but a bit better. Problem is, his design means that much of the movement is covered by the boot.

He can't Van damme split... and you're complaining that He is not more of a brick. SMH

Accessory-wise, If you can see from the package shots, isn't that much. He comes with calm open hands, a right trigger hand, and his Ecto Ray (Vortech Shooter). It's not much, but he doesn't really need anything else.

The gun basically appears out of nowhere via a magic blue light. Black RX had an effect part to simulate this... I wish Robo Rider had this as well. Maybe even some pew pew effect part for the gun.

Wait... is this a sequence of bad phone app effects???

oh.. thank God it isn't

"pew pew pew"

wait...

HNNNGGGGG.. at least try to invest in some photo editing skills

You can pose him in something more dynamic, but again, in the show, he hust stood there and punched and shot things.

Paint me like one of your French girls

True detective

Overall, He is a decent Figuarts. If you want a posable highly detailed Super Gold/Robo Rider figure, then it's your only choice. Will I buy him ahead of the other figuarts? No. He lacks a some accessories despite having the same asking price, His colors (or just the orange) and proportions are a bit off. You'll need him to complete the RX/Masked Ri-dur line up. Other than that, go grab a different Figuart 1st.

I thought that was the end of the badly edited photo effects D: