S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Necrom Gallery

"Crush the Invader!"

It's our 4th go around with a release from Kamen Rider Ghost! I've been hesitant about going back to this line but here I am, so let's dive right in with S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Necrom!

Packaging
As with the various Ghost releases & Specter the packaging is the same style of slim box that became common during Kamen Rider Drive's run. Same kind of boring design really. Ghost's line in particular has been quite boring in the packaging department if you ask me though.


Main Figure
It's been a while since I've shot a Ghost related gallery. And that's mostly because of the dismal executions of these figures and their exceedingly poor QC. I basically swore off the line after Toucon Boost. which arguably is the best release in it actually. It's just that this line consists mostly of repetitive monotony of design. I believe Necrom brings a lot of the best things the line has to offer. But frankly it's very too little very too late. A big chunk of my review will echo Ghost, Specter, & Boost's so if you want to skip to pics at the bottom that's perfectly fine. Functionally this figure won't have much new to offer on the Ghost mold. Let's dive in.

That all being said above, Necrom is probably the best looking of the 3 main Ghost riders (zing!). There's some extensive physical detailing to his armor that helps set this release apart from the others. But sadly at it's core this is still a flawed base figure. Let's start at the bottom. The articulation of this figure is practically identical to that of Ghost & Specter. The design provides a full range of leg motion stunted only somehwat by the ankle cuffs. The hips just need to be pulled down a bit and rotated a little to clear the waste. The biggest issue of the previous releases was the waist joint, however this go around the waist succeeds in working very well. That's mostly thanks to the vastly improved Ghost Parka. Necrom's jacket is made a great flexible soft plastic and isn't nearly as rigid Ghost & Specter's were. So thankfully you can get quite a bit more use out of the waste this go around.

The arms themselves are still decently thought out at least, but the weakest piece of their design remains the shoulder pads. As with every other previous release, these pads are very obtrusive, limiting shoulder movement entirely and making natural angles with the arms very difficult to execute. I've done my best with them, they are after all better than Ghost & Specters because they don't have those small tabs on them that bend. But they seem a bit bulkier and that doesn't help matters. As before, the wrist cuffs negate about any dynamic use of the hands. When the hand is plugged on to the wrist it sits nearly flush so there isn't much room to work with the wrist joint.

Necrom's head manages to have a pretty free range of motion which is a great change of pace. The folded down hoodie doesn't ruin the heads movement like the others. I've never been a big fan of it's design, I still think it looks like a bad scuba mask, but it's at least sculpted nicely. You'll notice the small rectangular section that can be removed from the top of it, that allows you to plug on the included hoodie accessory. Other than that though the head isn't anything terribly special.

Functionality aside, this version of the old really does look great. Ghost & Specter had fairly bland designs in my opinion, not much unique molding, mostly just paint apps for detailing. Whereas Necrom features a lot of sculpted detail that makes him look great, and very out of place with the rest of the line. The slits on the legs and arms as well as through the Ghost Parka add some much needed highlights to break up what would otherwise have made for a fairly boring color scheme. I still think the Ulorder is ridiculously over-sized, I thought it was goofy enough as a show prop, but on this figure is just looks silly.

Honestly Necrom is just more of the same from Kamen Rider Ghost. A bland series with average figures. I'm just not impressed.

Accessories
Continuing the trend of many web exclusives having few accessories, Necrom is incredibly sparse:

1 - set of hands. Just one set of open hands. Just for poses. A pretty pathetic selection in all honesty.

1 - hoodie (up). Intended to replace the default folded down hoodie, this piece can be used by removing the standard one as well as a small panel on the top of Necrom's head. Then just plug this hoodie down on. Weirdly this hoodie, which totally surrounds his head, provides far better neck movement. It's free floating so it's not attached to anything but it completely covers the head. I don't particularly care for his look with it on though. He just looks a bit silly.

1 - Mega Ulorder. Frankly I don't understand why this accessory was separately included. Why wasn't this simply attached to the figure in package? That additional space in the package could have been used for more hands, or just anything really. The Ulorder is non-functional, you can plug it on one of two ways to replicate it's functionality, but that's all.

That's a pretty sad assortment honestly. I just don't quite get why it's so sparse.

Final Thoughts
That's another swing & miss for Kamen Rider Ghost's line. Kamen Rider Necrom is one of the better releases from this show, but still so average. Still so underwhelming. There's a reason I gave up on on this line after my Toucon Boost review, and I'm sticking with that. Every time I handle a Ghost figuart I come away with another bad taste in my mouth. This is it for me on this line. Pick up Necrom only if you truly love that show and want to be a completionist.

Part 2

The Mega Ulorder is... empty? I didn't expect this figure to come with a separate Eyecon, but it looks like the accessory doesn't even look like it's got a molded-in Eyecon.

Well, it's disappointing to see that even when the Ghost line was good, it still wasn't that much better. At least we don't have to worry about seeing much more of it, though I would've liked to see Sin Specter at least prototyped.

No, it's in there. It's the nondescript T-shaped chunk of plastic in the top.

Complete with Wings!

Ideally, even for shows I hate like Ghost, I want to own at least the first and final forms for every Rider. But this is just such a pathetic Figuarts line that it will never get there. I don't like the designs of Mugen, or Sin, or Yuujo Burst. But as final forms I'd buy them. But there's just no way I could ever forsee them happening. I've now reviewed 4 out of the 7 Figuarts made for Ghost and I've been disappointed every time.

Den, how hard is he to keep clean and free of dust? Honestly that's what is stopping me. All that white..

The white parts are fine, but the black parts on any Ghost figuart are magnets for dust. Necrom's jacket especially seems to attract it, and it doesn't clean off very easily.

Oh boy. Reading your thoughts on this one made me a bit sad but also glady that I decided to pass on everything Ghost. I mean I would've probably done it anyways considering how much I dislike the show but man - these figures appear to be such a letdown.

That being said, Necrom is probably my favorite design among them. The colors are cool and I like the design.

For what it's worth I think you did a great job with your gallery as always, I enjoy the battle shots with all of the three main Riders the most.

I'm looking forward to your next gallery, more Drive-stuff is always great!

I actually own a Necrom SHF. Yeah, it's every bit a disappointment. But I love the way he looks.