Friday, February 5, 2010

Light Emitting Kamen Rider Faiz

Also known as 超発光 仮面ライダーファイズ or Chouhakko Kamen Rider Faiz. Kamen Rider Faiz (555) has been one of my favourite Kamen Riders of all time. I remember hearing a lot about Kamen Rider back when I was younger, but I've never really had a chance to watch any of them. However a lot of people back in 2002 started to talk about how much Kamen Rider Ryuki was quite different from the previous incarnations, especially the costume design. I looked into it. I found that it was more serious than I thought since my opinion of Tokusatsu shows are all corny. I find Ryuki was still a bit corny though.





Here's the opening to Kamen Rider 555; Justiphi's.

Then came the next one; Faiz. The costume design attracted my attention right away. It's one of the most unique Kamen Rider costumes. I remember how much they looked like an actual bug back then, but this was nothing like a bug, but much, much cooler! Ryuki was unique as well, but I didn't find it as cool. Not only that, but the story had a very serious tone with lots of sadness and many deaths right from the beginning. I shuddered in excitement when Takumi first transformed into Faiz. The red lines over the suit lights up and the eyes glowing menacingly. And I found it more realistic when the characters physically putting on the belt instead of appearing magically. The cell phone transformation and attacks probably made me want a cell phone all the more.

Anyways... My Faiz fanboyism aside... let's get around to this figure.

A slight dent on the front of the box >_<

So back in 2003, I thought about getting this figure, but I thought it was quite expensive because all I've been buying had a lower price than this. Yet I was craving it. One day when I decided to get it, it was sold out at the store I saw it at... Despair!

For years, I kept looking for it when I remember about it, but I couldn't justiphi's it anymore because the show was getting older and I should move on.


But the coolness of Faiz never waned for me. So my quest to find this light-up Faiz inadvertently began again. Last year I won a runner-up prize from Danny's Figure.FM giveaway for my Odaiba Selphie post. The prize was a membership to Japan to Door with US$20 fund in it. It took me a while to figure out what to use it for. The membership was expiring in less than a month...

So somehow I found this figure on Amazon Japan, but it was over 10,000 yen! Then I remembered about my JTD prize and quickly looked for this figure on Yahoo Japan Auction and bam! Much less than 10k yen. Unfortunately it was also my first time using JTD, so I was confused how to get the exact funding, not to mention the minimum to add funds were $30. It's a great service, JTD, but gotta learn how to use all their features otherwise you'll be adding fund nonsensically. Good thing was, no one competed in bidding with me. Probably because the price is double that of the original price. I was hoping JTD would ship this with cheaper SAL, but I guess they couldn't, so I had to add more funds for the shipping... Sigh.

Anyway... story time over, let's get to it with Faiz doing a push up... Ok, not really, batteries not included which uses 3 AAA batteries, so I had to install it first.

Very heroic looking Faiz. I think this was used, so some of it felt a bit stiff. I think I saw pictures of his head able to turn, but this head was  bit too stiff and I hate to force it to turn and break it or something... So for now I'll keep it as is.

Close up of the Faiz Shot, which is actually a camera in the show. It doubles as Faiz's finishing punch.

The Faiz Pointer (not quite sure what it really is, looks like a lightsaber though ^^;) attaches to his kick and becomes one of the coolest Rider Kick I've ever seen!

The transformation belt and the cell phone also known as the Faiz Driver. Takumi dials 555 and presses enter to transform. Though I personally hate flip phones, Faiz makes it really cool! At one point he can transform this phone into a gun as well.

Oshiri shot! He's so hot, he's got vents on his butt! Ok, not really, that's where the sound comes from and you an also see the switches here. On and Off and the mode switch. Mode A is the Rider Punch, Mode B is the Rider Kick and Mode C lights him up constantly.

Close up of the head. The best looking Kamen Rider helmet ever! Too bad the painting wasn't that great ^^;

From the right side. He stands at a quite big 12"! I hope I can turn that hand around. It looks funny that way...

And finally the low angle panchira shot...

Finally we get to the light up feature. Here's the shot of him lighting up the room (not that bright honestly). Since it's an old and used figure it seems to glitch when I turn it on sometimes. It works after you give it a Rider Tap.

Close up photo, a bit blurry though. Unfortunately I can't take pictures of the sound or the light moving... so I made a video of it.


The light doesn't illuminate all the red lines and only a few lights per line, but I still think it's damn cool! I think I'll have a good spot for this where I'll see it when I wake up every morning, but need to clean it up first. Will take a photo of that later.

13 comments:

  1. Hahah, this is purely better than SH Figureart by 100%!!
    Light up feature still works even for a year old figure,lucky^^

    And though not a fan of Faiz I seems to grow fond of the red line design.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, nostalgia ^^;;. I remember having some toys that looked just like this one, though most likely they're in the garbage dump now since I never kept any as a child. Pretty cool that the lights still work and it looks good too.

    I added you on my blog roll, mind adding me back?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @GunStray: Well it's not as poseable, but definitely the light up wins it for me ^^ And actually this is a 7 year old figure, lol.

    @AS: Ah that's too bad. I kept a lot of my toys that aren't broken (or even so that's broken) but this is definitely not something I'll throw out.

    And you have been added now ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool my all time favorite Kamen Rider is Kamen Rider #1 or also known as KR V1

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks good.well i am a kamen rider fan..That figure looks great but the special of that is can really light up like a X-mas tree lines!! but it's only for display (feel better if have many pose like SHfigurearts or SIC)..looks rared indeed ^Y^

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great, you didn't forget the low angle panchira shot!
    Wait.

    You're right though, having vents on your ass would mean u'd be unbelievably hot. I'd tap that, but then my finger might get burned off which would make it a bad idea.

    You sure went through a lot to get him...
    Imho, the heisei riders just don't have the charm of the showa ones. My favorite will always be V3, who I watched in my childhood (even though he was already really old then). He took apart the styrofoam bigbad of his series in like 4 seconds in the last episode. can't get much more badass than that. new riders and their fancy CGs have got nothing on V3. That's why decade's all rider movie infuriated me so much when decade could take on three showa riders at once. BS.

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow the lightning mechanism is damn cool ^^ i agree that faiz design is unique and awesome at the same time, especially at night

    ReplyDelete
  8. My mother bought me a bunch of these toys when I was kid. I never knew they were from Kamen Rider.
    I need to check out this show.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Faiz is cool! It drew me back into the series after losing touch with it, because Internet came to age, there was no way for me to really catch up with Kamen Rider to be honest. When my little brother told me there is this new rider who transform into cell phone, I just had to jump on the bandwagon again! I even have 2 sets of Faiz belt! One DX, One complete collection which I never showed anyone!

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Yamada: Ah a classic. They made a movie out of V1 that I have but haven't watched yet.

    @Jowy: LoL yep light up like a Xmas tree! A very apt description. I rarely do poses for my figures anymore so I'm quite satisfied with this one. I do have my Faiz action figure somewhere though :)

    @Ningyo: Kekek, can't forget the low angle panchira :P Ah I know a lot of people have their preference. I did like that clip you linked me yesterday of V3 though. Really funny and badass at the same time. It's because of the modernization and CG that attracted me to Faiz ^^;

    @BlackSun88: Yeah, I dunno if I want to turn it on at night since it's noisy, lol.

    @Yi: It's a bit older show, but I think you can still find it. And yeah I got lots of toys back then that I didn't know where they were from. Turned out they were Macross and Mospeada toys! Wish I knew where they were now...

    @Wolfheinrich: Yay another Faiz fan! It really got me interested into the KR series again, but nothing ever matched the maturity in Faiz. I wanna see those Faiz belts now! I'm tempted to get them now, but I know I'll never be able to wear them XD

    ReplyDelete
  11. i have seen this toy but sadly they diddnt do a kamen rider delta that glow like that they only have kaixa and faiz.

    i have a problem please help me . ive seen this toy and i am a kamen rider 555 fanatic. im so surprised that on a toy store a have seen one faiz and one kaixa . i am a big fan of those two kamen rider's but my money is not enough to buy those two. only i can. my problem is what do you think i will buy kamen rider faiz or kaixa. please answer back thank you.

    but im really looking forward for kamen rider delta but it's sad that they did not do any of it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah yea, that's unfortunate they didn't do Kamen Rider Delta. Well for me it was easy because I loved the design and character for Faiz. Just ask yourself who do you like better and it'll come to you. Sorry I can't help you make the decision, but it won't be my figure. It will be YOUR figure, right? So you should decide what makes you happier :)

      Delete
  12. well i actually have decided to buy them both. because one time the store have its sale about 30% off the price . so i decided to buy the two. but actually kamen rider faiz is gone . and kaixa left there so ive just bought kaixa. since kaixa is rare now too.

    ReplyDelete