[FiguReview]SHFiguarts Kamen Rider Meteor

Another day, another review! Today I'm going to write a review of the walking planetarium-slash-meteoroid Bruce Lee Kamen Rider, the secondary protagonist of Kamen Rider Fourze, Kamen Rider Meteor!   隕石キター! Your fate and scoring, is mine to decide, wachaaaaa~!!!!

SHF Kamen Rider Meteor
July release | 3360 yen | Bandai

Character History

Kamen Rider Meteor human alias is Ryusei Sakuta, a student of Subaruboshi High School who transferred to Amanogawa High School to find Aries Zodiarts who has the power to wake his comatose friend, Jirou who used Zodiart switch foolishly. Under the condition of Tachibana from Anti-Zodiart Alliance who granted him the power of Kamen Rider Meteor, Ryusei keeps his identity as Kamen Rider Meteor secret, put a facade of shy and timid boy in the front of Gentaro and other Kamen Rider Club members even though in actuality he's a good fighter under the disciple of a Jeet Kune Do Seishin Dairin Fist style. Ryusei joins KRC as a spy for Tachibana and keeps distance from its members, fighting on his own. It was until he realized Gentarou and KRC saw him as true friend that he came out as himself, rejoins KRC for real, and plead to fight Zodiarts and the Horoscope together with Gentaro & co.

Packaging

Mimicking Meteor design, the box of its SHF is just like a planetarium with black as its main color, with circular white as the stars and blue for the secondary color. You can see the figure and some of the accessories included in the front via the blister window while on the back you can see more official pictures of it, showing a glimpse of what you can do with it. It's good packaging overall, the design is nicely match Meteor and you can use the box to store all the accessories you didn't use. And since it can be consider not too thick or wide, it won't take much space to store the box.

Set and Accessories

Meteor doesn't rely on many weapons, or Astro Switch, like Fourze does since he's a martial artist who use his bare hand and foot mostly for fight, but he also has a fighting gimmick using his Meteor Galaxy gauntlet to enhance his fighting ability with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn planet power harnessed by Cosmic Energy. But unfortunately even though Bandai like to release their figure with effect part, SHF Meteor didn't come with any of those, so we only get:

• Meteor figure
• Optional interchangeable Meteor Driver without Meteor Switch plugged
• Optional interchangeable Meteor Galaxy with Meteor Switch plugged
• 2 Hulashake Foodroids; one on food mode and one on robot mode
• 6 additional pairs of interchangeable hands + 1 left hand for pointing pose

For me who really likes an effect part, it's kinda disappointing but on the second thought those Meteor Galaxy attacks effect are not that cool anyway, so in the end I think it doesn't really matter.

Sculpt

Job well done again from Bandai. They keep the great proportion of Meteor very well, the usual slimmer design of SHF looks perfect for Meteor. They made the blue meteor 'visor' separated from the head and have Meteor eyes still compound like most Kamen Rider. The blue 'vest' on his right shoulder was also separately sculpted, it looks great but it greatly hinders Meteor chest/abs movement and slightly limits his right hand movement. But overall the joints are well hidden and Meteor looks great.

Paint

My pictures don't really do justice but Meteor was well-painted too. Though if you're nitpicky, those rough paints on small parts like Meteor Galaxy and Meteor Driver might bug you, but again it's so small you won't really notice it unless you looks really close on it. Those 'stars' on Meteor whole body on the other hand, might be a problem for some people. SHF is also known for their accuracy with the actual design, but here, Meteor 'stars' on its whole body looks really visible and too much when it should be much more subtle. It's also bug me a little but now I'm use to it and somehow now I don't really hate it, though if I can choose I still prefer it to be subtle. But aside from that, unlike what they did with Faiz series, Bandai didn't forget to do Meteor's nails so it looks accurate. 

Articulations

It's SHF, the articulations is obviously great! Remember when I said the blue 'vest' hinders (slightly) Meteor's arm movement and (greatly) it's abs movement so Meteor couldn't crouch? Well you can see the former on the picture, where he couldn't rise his right arm straight; while for the latter I forgot to take the picture, haha sorry for that. 

But to compensate, Meteor can do a full split! And its leg joint are so easy to move, not very tight as Fourze did. Thanks to double hinge joint on the elbow and knee, ball joint on the crotch, articulation on the lower and upper neck, also the ball-hinge joint on the shoulder, Meteor is really dynamic and very poseable. His articulation is just great and perfect for a martial artists like him.

Gimmicks

With the actual Meteor Galaxy gimmick off the table, the only gimmick Meteor has worth noted is the optional Meteor Galaxy and Meteor Driver interchangeable part. Bandai include Meteor Galaxy with Meteor Switch plugged, on the series this will allow Meteor to use his Rider Punch variation of Limit Break called Starlight Shower. So with Meteor Swith plugged on Meteor Galaxy, of course it shouldn't be on Meteor Driver so Bandai also include the Meteor Driver with Meteor Switch unplugged part. You gotta love when Bandai really cares about the details.

As a guy who lost my SHF Fourze's switch, twice, because it was removable, I salute Bandai when they took this different route for Meteor. Instead making the Meteor Switch as removable item so it can be put on Meteor Galaxy or Driver, they gave optional Meteor Galaxy and Driver. Those two are bigger so it won't be easy to lost compared to the freaking small Fourze's switches.

Pose

This section is dedicated to all visitors who lazy to read and prefer to see more pictures instead XD

Kamen Rider Meteor! Your fate is mine to decide!

The 'vest' hinders his ab joint,
making the pose a bit unnatural 

Who's deciding your fate? This guy!!

The lack of effect parts he's given doesn't stop me to pose my Meteor with effect parts I have =D

I know it should've been blue, but I don't
have Robot Damashii Arbalest Lambda Driver :3 

Let's introduce Meteor with other figure from my collection. First, Tomo(ko-Kuro)neko!

Tomoko doesn't like when you bully Bonta-kun, Meteor...

Who's the man behind Meteor? It's Ryuusei, right?

Wachaaa together~!!

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once,
but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

But in the end, Meteor should be with his bud Fourze...

"Your fate is mine to de-- buhh" "IT'S SPACE TIMEEEE!!!"

If only Nadeshiko were still around when Meteor appears :3

"We should be more like them too, Ryuusei-san" "EEEH?!!"

End Verdict

Being a martial artist, I think SHF Meteor should have been poseable and Bandai does deliver. They've done great job but I think they could be better if they find a way so the 'vest' won't get in the way of its ab articulation. The visible 'stars' on Meteor body and the lack of Meteor Galaxy effect for me are not really a major flaws. I really enjoy taking my time posing Meteor, he's really fun and I really recommend Meteor to be added into your collection.