There’s always something so wonderfully heart pumping about henshin sequences, no matter what form they take. While the SHFiguarts Kamen Rider Zero-One, Rising Hopper 50th Anniversary Edition is already in costume, it shouldn’t stop you from playing the appropriate theme song, should it?
THE BOX
The packaging itself is pretty simple, with the 50th Anniversary Kamen Rider emblem on the front with the name, and the poses the figure can do on the back.
THE FIGURE
The Rider of the hour, Rising Hopper must be freed from his plastic containment. He’s in his base form clad in black, neon yellow and red highlights rather than the silver sheen of the MetalCluster version (which itself is a different figure).
Having only owned Nendoroids and standard scale figures, having a posable figure that doesn’t require a stand is a bit more of a novelty for me. Just work those joints! As you can see, SHFiguarts has also included a number of detachable hand parts so that Rising Hopper can gesture appropriately.
I have to say I’m quite impressed with the detailing, with that honeycomb pattern on the suit and the belt especially, which makes for nice touches for connoisseurs.
CLOSING
All things considered, sometimes, simple really is the best. In this case, simplicity hasn’t meant the details have been sacrificed for this extremely clean, cool look, as a friend can attest after helpfully giving me Zero-One primer. As someone who still needs to finish watching Ex-Aid, this series sounds like a great time, and I wouldn’t mind adding this Rising Hopper to my shelves (if they’d let me).
Meanwhile, surely you could justify another Naki, too? Please.