Summary of SG Zero-One Riser 02

Bandai’s candy toy blog series for Kamen Rider Zero-One updates with a continued rundown of what’s new for SO-DO Kamen Rider Zero-One. 

The man currently in charge of candy toy development goes by Mr. G. He will be heading SG Zero-One Riser, a blog segment covering everything relevant to Kamen Rider Zero-One in the candy toy department of Bandai. Apart from being a word relevant to the show, the word “Riser” was chosen because Mr. G wishes for your excitement to rise whenever the blog updates.

The blog begins with a surprise reveal of Grease Perfect Kingdom, the new power-up form from Build New World: Kamen Rider Grease. This is mainly an announcement that the figure will be released, but the exact release style and price will be revealed later.

Mr. G apologizes for anyone hoping for a figure of Gut Buster Taro from episode 1 of Kamen Rider Zero-One. With that joke out of the way, now we get down to business.

Continuing from the previous blog post, this covers the “Super Serious Points” Mr. G wanted to do for SO-DO Zero-One. These are all the ways it differs from previous SO-DO lines. After that, a review for SO-DO Den-O 2 and a teaser for SO-DO OOO.

Super Serious Point 8: The range of motion, slightly expanded!!

For starters, the feet have a deeper ankle tilt. This was something previously experimented with in the SO-DO Gaiden Kamen Rider Zi-O: ANOTHER 1, and has become a standard for SO-DO Zero-One.

Next up is the knee bend, which is also slightly deeper for a more natural bend. This was achieved by shaving off a bit of the thigh in the back.

And then there is the hip joint, which now features what Mr. G calls the “drawer joint”. In a similar execution as SO-DO Build‘s removable hip, the legs and arms are both capable of being removed – the reason this is called a drawer joint is because you can use it to bring the hips higher up, sliding the hip out.

It’s worth noting that this is not a standard of the line, but is instead a convenient implementation that came about as a result of something that will be revealed later. It’s not clear what that means, but it sounds like there will be a reason you can remove Zero-One’s arms and legs.

Additionally, the shoulder armor will be easier to attach, as the dent on the shoulder has been extended by a few millimeters.

Super Serious Point 9: The pedestal, improved!!

The display stand will be seeing a new design, and the first thing of note are holes on the back for adding the swappable hands. Previously, during SO-DO Zi-O, the display stand strut was modified to include two pegholes for the hands. They’re easy to identify because the left hands go on the left side and vice-versa.

These were added to the pedestal because fans wanted easier access, and Mr. G suggests that there WILL be more swappable hands in the future, so it provides you with more places to put them. He also makes mention that these pegholes were potentially going to be used for displaying the weapons, but having pointed objects facing upright was perhaps a little dangerous for the younger kids buying these. For those confused, the pegholes do have a very slight size difference when it comes to the hands.

Another change is the ability to link the pedestals together, for those who like displaying the figures that way. An additional benefit of this will be brought up later… in this same post.

Additionally, the sticker on the pedestal has been enlarged by a couple millimeters, to make room for the lengier form name. Mr. G also suspects that the form names could become longer in the future, so this is also in preparation for that.

Despite increasing in size, the sticker won’t be covered up by the feet.

Super Serious Point 10: The strut, improved!!

In addition to the pedestal, the strut has also been given some changes. The first of which is that the pegholes for the swappable have been made into square pegs to make it more clear that they serve that purpose. There are also an L and R etched into the holes for further clarity.

Speaking from experience, these holes have always been a bit tight, and because of the differing peg sizes, it was not always clear if I was inserting them into the right hole. This is a notable improvement.

The strut also features some additional range of motion for the top peg, as well as the balljoint attached to the pedestal, giving way to more outrageous displays. The aforementioned benefit to connecting the pedestals is to help create balance for such displays.

Finally, Mr. G shows how the armor can be attached to the new strut. It’s mostly the same as before – the thigh armor can’t be added on since that’s too many parts.

Mr. G also provides an explanation for why this new display stand came about. The display stand mold that was originally created for SO-DO has deteriorated over time, because it continues to be produced without pause, being used in all the SO-DO lines as well as Sentai‘s YU-DO line. But he assures that the new mold for this display stand isn’t affecting the cost or anything – it sounds like it was an inevitability they were fine with.

Super Serious Point 11: Improved package visibility!!

The packaging design for SO-DO Zero-One has a vibrant color to it that differs from Rider to Rider. The front makes it clearer exactly what contents are in the box, along with a blurb for newcomers clarifying there is not a complete figure in just one box.

Mr. G also points out the exclusion of the Kamen Rider title in the wave contents, such as Zero-One Rising Hopper Armor – this was done to reduce the amount of small text on the box, making it easier to read, and giving them room to make the contents image bigger.

Super Serious Point 12: Sticker guide now easier to see!!

Typically for SO-DO, the box features instructions printed inside to show you where the stickers go. These are pretty small, but for SO-DO Zero-One, they have been made larger.

This is thanks in part due to the removal of an assembly guide. This mainly served to show how the figure is assembled, but apart from the balljointed parts and the front of the shins, none of this is utilized for the form change gimmicks – I suppose it was included in case a child pops off the arm in a way it wasn’t intended.

In any case, it has now been omitted to make room for the sticker guide.

Additionally, the sticker guide also features some color on the stickers to make it clearer where they are located. This was something they previously introduced in SO-DO Gaiden Kamen Rider Zi-O: ANOTHER 1.

Super Serious Point 13: Equal ratio of bodies and armors!!

This one only makes sense to a specific demographic of collectors. Online retailers sell SO-DO waves as a box set, or a box of 10, the latter being pictured above – this is the thing retailers buy.

Mr. G admits that previously, this box of 10 distribution resulted in more armors and less bodies, which will be changed going forward. He also clarifies, for those worried that the Zero-One body would be in short supply due to the standardization of its design, you can rest easy – the Zero-One body, as well as other characters’ bodies, will be reproduced when necessary.

He very specifically says that you no longer need to purchase spare bodies in advance – this was a thing I did in particular with SO-DO Zi-O. We’ll get into why in this next point:

Super Serious Point 14: Multiple bodies/armors in the box set!!

This point is about the box set for SO-DO Zero-One – since it can’t be shown just yet, the picture used here is of SO-DO Zi-O‘s RIDE 11 box set. The box set is convenient for those who want to buy the whole wave in one go, but as Mr. G explains, there is one catch:

“Even if you buy a box set, you don’t have enough bodies or armors to [go with it]…”

RIDE 11 is a pretty good example for this, actually. Included in the set are DecadeArmor subforms for RyukiForm and FaizForm, which share an armor design. They included only one armor set, with stickers for both forms, so you would need to buy an extra armor set elsewhere even if you bought the whole box set.

To this, Mr. G says worry not! SO-DO Zero-One will be reproducing as many bodies or armors as needed so that all of the things in the box set can be assembled. For this reason, the box sets will now be called Complete Set to signify that it is a definitive box set.

Super Serious Point 15–

. . . 

Decade: “I get the gist of these Super Serious Points so far.”

[KamenRide: Zero-One!] 

Zero-One: “KamenRide for Reiwa Riders? You’re 10 years too early!”

Super Serious Point 15: Neo DecaDriver compatible!!

Yes, it seems that a talking point for this line is that it can use the DecaDrivers included with Decade in RIDE PLUS. The blog doesn’t say as much, but I suspect that this was brought into question due to the fact that none of the Riders in SO-DO Zi-O could actually wear the DecaDriver due to having a larger peghole for the belts.

Build: “This is the worst… another musclehead has appeared…”

[Batta! Robot! Best Match!?]

[The comedic speed jumper!?]

As if that weren’t enough, Mr. G then shows Build in Zero-One Form, making use of the same sized pegholes for the belts! It seems like this is somewhat of a legitimate point to bring up, as Mr. G thought it was fun to be able to have the belts be compatible like this. His thought was “I’m sure someone will enjoy this~” – he is among those who do.

And that’s it for the 15 Super Serious Points. Mr. G remarks:

This half of the year has been all about questioning the specifications, designs and sales with…

“Is this necessary?”

“Is this alright?”

“What do customers want?”

And all of the practices, including customs, were re-examined from zero. With the cooperation of a large number of stakeholders, and everyone’s opinions, these 15 Super Serious Points were made possible.

As of this post, the second wave of SO-DO Chronicle: SO-DO Kamen Rider Den-O has been released. Mr. D presents photos of the wave.

First on the list, Climax Form!

Next, the Expansion Parts Set which allows you to display the various Climax Form finishers, as well as the wings and helmet for Super Climax Form!

An unexpected collection of pictures is inserted, featuring Another Den-O from October’s ANOTHER 2 set!

Thirdly, Wing Form!

And finally, Liner Form!

In only two waves, SO-DO Den-O has grown quite a bit. This second wave is out now.

And finally, news about SO-DO Kamen Rider OOO. The wave is titled COMBO CHANGE 1, implying there will be more than one wave. The teaser here shows silhouettes of GataKiriBa, LaToraTah and SaGoZoh, with the promise of more details next week.

Concluding the post, Mr. G explains that the next post will come September 15th, which will cover a second character from SO-DO Zero-One: AI 01, as well as the full SO-DO OOO wave.

Source: Bandai Candy Staff Blog