Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Ghost, Reviews

Review: GC01 – Kamen Rider Ghost Ore Damashii (Kamen Rider Ghost)

GC01 – Kamen Rider Ghost Ore Damashii
October, 2015 – ¥3,200

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The Kamen Rider franchise is no stranger to a line of gimmick figures to go along with the series. Final Form Ride, W Form Change, OOO Combo Change, Fourze Module Change, Wizard Action Please, Arms Change, Tire Koukan, and finally the Ghost Change Series. The Ghost Change Series, known as GC, gives a few base figures (one for each Rider or special form) and allows you to equip them with Parka Ghosts, the ghostly souls that come from the Ghost Eyecons. Each Parka Ghosts activates a new Damashii for the Riders of this series.

The first Ghost Change release is of course Kamen Rider Ghost Ore Damashii, the main form of the main Rider for the series. The set in total includes the base figure for Kamen Rider Ghost, the Ore Ghost, and the Gan Gun Saber in Blade Mode. The figure is of course capable with all of the upcoming Parka Ghosts in the Ghost Change Series, and the Ore Ghost can be used with all of the upcoming figures as well. The set was released in October, 2015 for around ¥3,200.

The base figure of the toy is actually incredibly well done. It shares the same mold we’ve been using for years. However this one takes the ghostly theme a step further by using a good amount of translucent black plastic throughout the body. The chest features a clear plastic coating over it to emulate the look in the show, and the orange lines are all present and looks nice. Unlike most gimmick figures, the Driver is actually colored accurately, even including a clear plastic covering to come close as possible to the actual toy’s plastic covering. It ends up looking really nice and complete. The Gan Gun Saber is cast in black smokey plastic, but contains a lot of molded in detail.

The Ore Ghost itself is actually kind of neat. I can see the Parka Ghosts as being the driving force of the line more so than the base figure itself. I don’t really have any problems with it, and I think collecting them could be really fun. Unfortunately once you put the Parka Ghost on the figure, everything sort of falls apart. Standing there, it actually looks pretty solid. The Ghost adds a bit of heft to the figure and makes it look bulkier than it really should be, but if you can look past that it looks pretty solid. Unfortunately that’s about all it does. The shoulder “sleeves” are on a ball and socket joint, so movement is there, but it still hinders the movement of the shoulders, especially in the vertical path. The hood is one solid piece connected to the body of the Parka Ghost. This means that the figure loses ALL of its head articulation when transformed. No side to side, no up and down, nothing. It’s also a bummer that you can’t slide the hood down, as he’s seen without the hood up frequently in the show thus far.

At the core, the Ghost Change Series could be an amazing line if the engineering was different. Kids will probably still really like it, and I can see a lot of people buying into the line for the Parka Ghosts alone. As it stands, I don’t know what I’m going to do with the line, so if you want to see more, be sure to let me know. If you can look past the flaws and enjoy it, you’ll like it, but if the lack of fluent articulation bothers you, give it a pass and wait for the S.H.Figuarts release in the future.

1 thought on “Review: GC01 – Kamen Rider Ghost Ore Damashii (Kamen Rider Ghost)”

  1. Hey Shuki, just so you know, the articulation of the head with the hood on can be improved by pressing on the tiny rectangle thingy at the back of the hood.

    At least he can turn his head around.

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