[Den-O]

"In that case..... There's only one answer!"

Utsumi Nariaki was one of the Nanba Children. Raised to be loyal to one man only, Juzaburo Nanba, he spent his life in service to his mentor. Loyal until the day Juzaburo was murdered, Utsumi faithfully served. But seeing his master's death at the hands of Kamen Rider Evol pushed him over the edge. With Utsumi's spirit broken, he was faced with the impossible option to take revenge, or serve Evol. Accepting the power of the Evol Driver and rejecting the pain of his grief, Utsumi is reborn as Kamen Rider Mad Rogue!

Packaging
As with practically all Build releases Mad Rogue has a pleasing two tone package design. Nothing's really changed aside from color choice and stock photos this go around.

Main Figure
The 4th times the charm right? If you're looking at Kamen Rider Mad Rogue and thinking that he looks pretty familiar, then you'd be right. This is the 4th outing so far of the mold at the core of this figure from Build's lineup. Previously we've seen a lot of this figure through Night Rogue, Blood Stalk, and of course Hell Bros. So you know what to expect out of a lot of this mold. That being said, I think this may be the best version of it released yet.

Much like Night Rogue, Mad Rogue has an under suit that is ostensibly black, but upon closer inspection looks to be a dark dark blue instead. So far, Hell Bros is the only release that's used the brown suit parts. Now one of the few flaws I originally found with the mold, was the ankle design. Because of the way the cuff of the shin armor comes down around them, you do lose a small portion of movement in all directions. But the ankle ball is also designed in such a way that you can't really angle the feet outward properly. It's still a bother but it still works well enough too. Despite appearances, the bulk of the thighs doesn't impede leg movement either. As with the others, this figure can pose with the best. As before with this mold, I recommend you definitely pull the hips down far enough before moving them up, if you don't then the waist armor can dig some small grooves into the hips. The hips on this release are quite tight as well.

This release of the mold also features the first driver attached to it, as well as the first release of Evol Driver itself. While the just announced Kamen Rider Evol will also feature this Driver, Mad Rogue is the first physical release of it in this line. A lavish repaint of the Build Driver in Gold, Red, & blue and features two new Full Bottles. The Bat & Engine Bottles. Both are removable as with any version of this mold and can interact with any accessory in the line that accepts them.

The really pronounced difference with this release is of course the new molding and colors for the upper body. I should have mentioned the new white shin pads on the legs before, because they really help break up all that black as well, and tie it all together. While the upper body is hugely different, it shares so much with Night Rogue. Nearly all the parts are physically identical, but in a radically different paint scheme. And I can't be the only one who sees Mad Rogue and thinks he looks an awful lot like Transformers G2 Blast Off right? Anyways, the lower torso is the same part as what's featured on night rogue. In this instance the cables running around the ribs are left black, while the ab section is painted silver letting it stand out a bit more. The chest armor is really gorgeous. Basically the only molded difference is the new grill with the bat emblem that replaces the old gold bat on Night Rogue. But it's that stark difference from black/gold/silver to purple/silver/white that really sells how gorgeous this figure is by comparison. And I was seriously wowed by Night Rogue at the time of release. Mad Rogue has lot's of room to move in his waist and also has the same fluid movement in the upper torso as his mold predecessors.

The arms are likewise identical molds, just with the new paint job. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the way the purple on white does look like a camouflage pattern. Again it's just amazing the stark difference that a paint job and a few new parts can illustrate. While the bicep swivel works wonderfully the elbow still can only hit about a 90 degree angle. Luckily this release does have the same great shoulder pads as Night Rogue giving him plenty of range that Hell Bros & Blood Stalk did not. The wrist joint is still a bit too close to the wrist cuff so you lose a bit of up and down movement, but ultimately the loss doesn't amount to much of an issue in the end.

Finally Mad Rogue has a brand new head that takes inspiration from his mold mate & name sake Night Rogue. While still absolutely portraying a bat theme it's done very differently. Honestly this head has always evoked the look of Kamen Rider Saga from Kiva to me. Between the bat theme and the colors this rider as a whole reminds me of Saga or perhaps even Kiva-La. All in all this figure has turned out wonderfully and I think easily is the most striking and interesting use of the Kaiser/Transteam System body type we've gotten so far.

Accessories
As with any Build Rider worth their salt, Mad Rogue comes with everything he needs:

1 - Nebula Steam Gun. This is a straight repack of the accessory that Kamen Rider Rogue came with. Which is interesting given the the Hell Bros release included a purposefully different version of the weapon. This also marks the 5th release of this weapon across the line. Night Rogue, Blood Stalk, Rogue, Hell Bros, Mad Rogue.

1 - Steam Blade. A repack of the components that have been included with the Nebula Steam Gun, 5 times now. Use them as a stand alone blade, or the Nebula Steam Gun can still use them in the exact same way, combining to form the Nebula Steam Rifle.

3 - sets of hands. That's a set of open pose hands, 1 for holding the gun, and 1 for holding the blade. Everything you need!

Given the late stage appearances of Mad Rogue, his arsenal was pretty focused, so this is a pretty much perfect release for accessories.

Final Thoughts
Kamen Rider Mad Rogue probably seems like an easy pass for a lot of collectors. Boiled down it's essentially a repaint with a handful of new parts and repacked accessories. But it's a repaint with a ton of personality and a welcome addition to my personal collection. With the addition of Mad Rogue we're just 1 rider away from completing the base forms for everyone. Now that Evol is on the way we finally will have all 6. Still lots of missing forms and some variations of the Kaisers & Bros, but I'm quite happy so far with how much we've gotten from Build. But who am I kidding, I'll buy any and everything from this show that Bandai wants to produce.