[Den-O]

The personal ride of the grim reaper himself, Mashin Chaser, is here! The S.H. Figuarts Ride Chaser! And here's a quick over view of the actual bike this toy is based on. The Ride Chaser prop is based on a heavily modified Honda NM4 that Chase used in his days as Kamen Rider Proto-Drive, continued using as Mashin Chaser, and still uses to this day as the heroic Kamen Rider Chaser. Had the bike not been retained by Chase when he was brainwashed into joining the Roidmudes it was actually meant to be inherited by Drive himself. How different would things be if this wicked bike was in red?

But enough of a history lesson, onto the the actual toy!

Packaging
Incredibly standard fare stuff here. The Ride Chaser's box is very much in the same vein as Mashin Chaser's box, as far as theme goes. Oddly this box is a bit larger than most S.H. Figuarts bikes. That's because of the Ride Chaser's size though, it's a big damn bike. Honestly the vehicle boxes tend to be the most boring in this line, so onto the figure!

Ride Chaser
The Ride Chaser is a very straight forward release, like most all Figuarts Rider Machines. At their core all bikes in this line don't really do much, unless it's a larger example like the Ride Shooter from Kamen Rider Ryuki. The Ride Chaser is a gorgeous looking bike for sure that features some exquisite flame paint applications. They're done in such a way that they almost appears to be flickering thanks to some exquisite metallic flecks in the paint. It's really striking in person.

Perhaps even more striking is the INCREDIBLY sculpted skull on the front end. It's just so, for lack of a better way to describe it, demonic. In a good way. Yeah. It just fully captures the talent of the series character designer Takayuki Takeya and calls back to his regular work designing S.I.C. figures for the last decade. A smaller version of the skull is also present on the rear end of the bike on the back of the seat.

Sadly there's absolutely no indication at all that this bike can combine with the Ride Macher to become the Ride Crosser. There are no moving parts or removable bits at all on the Rider Chaser. So my speculation would be that the Ride Crosser could be released as it's own stand alone vehicle. But the sale of such a thing would be entirely dependent on the sales numbers for the upcoming S.H. Figuarts Tridoron. For now if you want a combining version of this bike I suggest picking up the DX Ride Crosser set.

Accessories
Just one, a wheel base. This is perhaps one of the most sparse accessory selections I've ever seen. Although it must be pointed out that just due to the Chaser's nature as a larger bike this wheel base is bigger than the standard version. And though Kamen Rider Machines have never included much, they generally at least include a wheel base and a second pair of handlebars. This is the first rider bike that I can recall recently that ONLY includes the wheel base. Not that I've ever really understood the point of including extra handlebars anyway. In any case they aren't particularly missed here.

But that's it. I'm not entirely sure what could have been included with the actual Ride Chaser itself. The first run bonus below could have just as easily been included in the box as a regular accessory. As is though all 1st run release of the Ride Chaser will include the bonus and they're still in stock at many online locations now, so it's not hard to get them.

1st Run Bonus
Midnight Shadow Effect Parts. These are pretty neat in all honesty. You get two big translucent purple shurikens that emulate the energy shurikens Drive can throw when using the Midnight Shadow Tire. And they come with clear arm braces that snap onto his forearm and have poles attached to peg the shurikens into. This further enhances the look of them being used as energy weapons. They look great and I'd love to see more creative effect parts like them.

Final Thoughts
S.H. Figuarts Ride Chaser is an absolutely gorgeous bike. Much like it's Rider. The Rider Chaser may not do much but's a gorgeous shelf piece. It's laid back seat, incredible flames, and wonderfully wicked looking skulls all work together to make this one of the best looking Figuart bikes yet. More of this please Bandai. And as long as the Drive line keeps including awesome first run bonuses like the Midnight Shadow Effects I'll jump on every single pre-order every time they go live. They are 100% worth getting and they don't cost you anything more at all. This has been yet another nice drive!