[Den-O]

"Henshin!"

Takeshi Hongo, the original Kamen Rider. The first human ever to be altered into a cyborg warrior and fight for justice. This iconic hero is nearly always the single most recognizable character in the franchises' 47 year history. The character has certainly received his fair amount of love from Tamashii Nations over the last 10 years as well. Between 3 uses of the old Rider 1/2 S.H. Figuarts mold, a couple of releases of the First/Next mold, and then the very recent 2016 Movie form, and the even more recent Shinkocchou Seihou Rider 1 release. Now, after all this time, Tamashii Nations has finally seen fit to fill the biggest gap in the Rider 1 collection by producing his civilian identity as S.H. Figuarts Takeshi Hongo! Following in the footsteps of recent release of Dan Moroboshi & Retsu Ichijoji, how does Hongo stack up?

Packaging
Hongo comes in a rather plain box actually. But one with just enough charm to really sell me on it. There are great stock images of Hongo on the front of the box and one of the spines. But I'm really attracted to the lettering on the other spine. I don't know why? It just looks really good to me for some reason.

Main Figure
As mentioned, Hongo is the third in Bandai's new sub-line of civilian identity tokusatsu figures. Dan Moroboshi was the first release, one that underwhelmed me a bit in all honesty. Then Retsu Ichijoji came along which, despite some faults, I really really loved. So what does Hongo bring to the table?

While Hongo wore a rather traditional looking suit jacket and slacks for a number of his early appearances, he would eventually make the change (for a time) to the black casual suit depicted in this figure. A look that is (arguably) one of his most iconic civilian attires. Though there are many looks that people would consider just as if not more so. For now, unless another civilian Hongo comes along, this will be THE civilian representation of him.

So like our last two civilians this is a brand new mold created just for this character. Each has been tailor made to their character to sort of maximize their accuracy to the actor. Hongo is no different. Like the other two releases, Hongo relies heavily on molded in fabric folds to recreate realistic textures for the outfit. I love the look of the pants, but right out of the gate I take issue with the way the pant legs are molded around the ankles. They severely limit the potential of the ankles, you just lose so much outward movement because, no matter how good it looks this is disappointing. While the knees are pretty much perfect, the hips again run into a literal wall. They hit the sort of "skirt" fabric of the jacket that protrudes from under the Typhoon. So you lose a little bit of movement there too. On the topic of the Typhoon I really like the sculpt of it. It's approximately the same piece as what we see on the recent Shinkocchou Seihou Rider 1 figure. I'm a bit miffed it can't be removed as I wouldn't have minded a just basic Hongo without the belt for alternate display. But the whole thing is molded as one piece onto the jacket. Because of how thick this portion of the figure is, I found it very difficult to find a tamashii stage that could actually hold him well for a prolonged amount of time.

Unlike Dan & Retsu the torso is sadly one piece, without an ab joint. So you just have the basic twisting motion of the upper body to work with. Again the textures and sculpt are on point but one joint for the torso just isn't enough to make this figure look as dynamic as it should. The arms thankfully take after Retsu's design. The shoulder joints are incorporated more properly into the upper body so they have a good range. The shoulder flows very freely as well, so you can spin the arms 360 degrees quite easily, extend them out fully and really get some great use out of them. The elbows are similarly free and have a full range of movement.

Finally, the head. Like the last two releases we get a really fantastic likeness of the actor, in this case the legendary Hiroshi Fujioka. The likeness to Fujioka is spot on to this 1971 look, honestly I think it's a much better likeness than either of the previous two figures. But I do feel it has much more of a dead stare than the others as well. Hongo's eyes appear to be constantly looking up and from certain angles they almost appear crossed. But the face print is otherwise on point. Aside from some unfortunate mold flashing on the nose on mine. There's a chip of plastic flash bonded to the end of his nose that's been painted over. I can't remove it without exposing bare unpainted plastic beneath. A bit of a mixed bag this time around, I do still find that this figure captures the essence of Takeshi Hongo.


Accessories
Like Retsu, Hongo doesn't really come with much:

3.5 - sets of additional hands. Not a ton of variety here. Relaxed open palms, flat "karate Chop" hands, a pair for holding handlebars, and one right pointing index finger hand. The bike riding hands are a welcome addition this time. It's something I felt was sorely missed with Retsu. But otherwise there really isn't a terrible amount of variety here.

1 - Henshin Effect Sheet. This is probably the best new trend in figuarts of late. Retsu included a similar effect sheet as well, and it works great. Hongo's is quite a bit more colorful, but the print does look a bit more blurry to my eyes. It's harder to see the subject through the sheet this time around. But it works quite well none the less.

1 - Effect sheet stand. Just a basic stand with a small slit to hold the sheet.

I know that's not much but really I couldn't think of anything else that wouldn't require just a brand new figure anyway. Alternate heads would be nice, but Hongo's entire appearance would change dramatically whenever he got a new outfit. So alternate heads wouldn't really work as well with this specific suit for him. They really skimped on the accessories but I can't find any omissions to validly complain about either.

Final Thoughts
S.H. Figuarts Takeshi Hongo is the realization of a wish many collectors have had for years. The first prototype of this figure was seen way back at Tamashii Features 2016. But it finally saw release just at the end of 2017. For now we haven't seen any more revels for new civilian type figures for our favorite toku heroes. But I believe quite a bit of momentum has been built up thanks to Dan, Retsu, and now Hongo. Despite some flaws each is unique and enjoyable in their own way. Surely if nothing else, we will see an Ichimonji to go with Hongo at some point. But that's purely speculation on my part as well. Next time we'll look at Hongo's other new figure with S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1!

[Den-O]

Part 2
Cyclone(s)
Henshin!

[Annuga]

Oooh, the Henshin effect is really damn cool

[SPLIT LIP]

I really hope we get more human form Riders in the future.

[Kiwami]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

I really hope we get more human form Riders in the future.

So do I. I decided against buying these just to save space and money but I do want to see where this leads to eventually.

[kawii]

The human form is great. Love it.

[Spearichu]

With a figure of him made does this mean the legendary hero of Sega Segata Sanshiro will be graced with a figure?

[Den-O]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

I really hope we get more human form Riders in the future.

I think at this point, at least Ichimonji is a safe bet. Gotta have the Double Riders.
Beyond that though it's really gonna be determined by sales. I'm unsure how well this figure has done at this point, but I imagine it's sold decently enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spearichu

With a figure of him made does this mean the legendary hero of Sega Segata Sanshiro will be graced with a figure?

I've seen some hilariously bad headswaps where people put Hongo's head on Figuarts Street Fighter Ryu. That's about as close as it gets for now

[Duerer]

Nice face sculpt, though eye painting looks a bit off.

[AkibaSilver]

That Helmetless Ichigou almost makes this guy worth purchasing. Maybe if they do release a Segata Sanshiro...