S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Ohma Zi-O Gallery

"You fools could never defeat me."

50 years from now, there are no Kamen Riders. The world is ruled by one all-powerful overlord of time and space, Ohma Zi-O! Taking as his own the power of the 20 Heisei Riders, Sougo Tokiwa conquered the world. But in another time Kamen Rider Zi-O was a hero, thanks largely to Swartz and his Time Jackers altering history. But even here the young Sougo is still on the path to becoming Ohma. Destined to have the powers of the demon king, and with the fate of all worlds in the balance, will Sougo destroy time itself? Or will he choose to rebuild everything? The day of Ohma is here!

Packaging
Ohma Zi-O comes in the same standard style of box as the rest of Zi-O's line. The only difference here of course being the really ornate official images of this gorgeous figure.

Main Figure
Ohma Zi-O is another extensive remold of the base Zi-O S.H. Figuarts. Though it may seem less apparent because of all the ornamentation on the armor, Zi-O is in there. Unfortunately I'm not sure that enough of him shines through to really make this release a winner. The box of course lists this character as "Kamen Rider" Ohma Zi-O, which feels a bit odd? Ohma Zi-O is only ever addressed as Ohma Zi-O in the series, or as the Demon King/Overlord etc. The term Kamen Rider is never applied to him. It makes sense given his rule over and subjugation of the Heisei Riders and their powers, and because he was originally a young Kamen rider Zi-O. None the less, it's odd to see the character named in this manner.

While the legs in this line have been pretty standard (aside from Woz), Ohma's don't feel nearly as dynamic. The foot and ankle structure are identical to that of Zi-O, Geiz, etc. which gives you a solid base to work from. Beginning with the ankle cuff though we have new molding. In fact the entire calve section of the leg is a new bulkier part compared to original Zi-O, while the thighs and hips are carried over. Again there's a ton of gold accenting going here, with very elaborate boot cuffs, knee pads, and thigh strips. The one thing this release has going for it is indeed the stellar detailing to the new bits of armor. While the legs function identically to previous releases, I found them to be extra tight, as well as difficult to even out and position symmetrically. There's a lot going on with the upper body in terms of new parts and attempting to get everything settled without messing anything else up, can be a real challenge. So the legs in particular can be hard to maneuver given this, and the extra length "Mid Band Liner Anthem" watch band that comes down the torso.

Ohma Zi-O also features a brand new Driver on his waist in the form of the Ohma Zi-O Driver or just Ohma Driver. An incredibly ostentatious design, this is contextually a far more powerful version of the Ziku Driver from Sougo's future. Unlike Ziku & Beyondrivers, the Ohma Zi-O Driver has no way of accepting Ridewatches, nor does it need to. Ohma Zi-O accesses Rider powers simply by activating the Ridewatches in his hands. Now it may confuse some a bit, but the Ohma Driver features the year 2018 on it's readout. This is because in Sougo's original timeline he became Ohma Zi-O in the year 2018. Whereas the lead character of the show, the 2nd timeline Sougo, did not become Ohma maliciously, only doing so in 2019 after the sacrifice of Geiz. So ostensibly this figure only represents Ohma Zi-O from the future, though it can double as Sougo from the series finale technically. As with Ziku Drivers, the Ohma Driver can spin though you'll find that difficult.

Running diagonally around the torso is the "Meridian Sash", A giant gold watch band/glitzy bandoleer. Functionally it doesn't serve any purpose on the figure, and unfortunately it's more or less affixed in place. It's fixed at the upper left shoulder and to the back, it's really only flexible on the lower right of the figure where it crosses in front of the Ohma Zi-O Driver. You can techincally bend it back behind the driver to see the entire thing more easily, but I wouldn't leave it there for an extended period or you'll risk warping it. The rest of the base upper body is identical to base Zi-O, but the sash largely neuters the articulation built into it since it hooks around the lower body. The upper right of the chest also features a number of Ridewatch bases sculpted in. While Ohma Zi-O does not generally carry ridewatches on his person (as he can summon them) these pieces remain as a show of his collection of the Heisei Rider powers.

The "Apocalypse of Kingdom" clock hands on Ohma's back can present some big frustrations most of the time as well. While gorgeously sculpted and painted in bright silver, these rigid parts also impact the main body and appendages rather easily. Thankfully they can spin independently of each other and stay in place, but moving them out too much risks throwing the delicate center of gravity for the figure out of whack. You really don't want this guy to take a fall. Breaking something on him or scuffing that golden paint won't make anyone happy.

The arms likewise present their own problems. While gorgeous like much of the figure, they are quite limited. I love the giant angular shoulder pads on Ohma, but they aren't really hinged at all, thus you lose nearly all the upward & outward movement of the shoulder itself. They can still rotate fully, and in most cases that would alleviate the problem, but as the shoulder pads extend down and around the top of the bicep as well you lose all that outward articulation as well. The combination means that all you can really do is rotate the arm and extend the arms forward, creating some very odd and awkward poses. The elbows function fine, but the wrist ball joints are very tight. And the gold pads on the back of the hands are so thick that they impact the Ridewatch holsters on the wrists as well. The holsters themselves are gorgeous, though because of the added paint it's a much tighter fit when you actually put watches in there.

This bring use to Ohma Zi-O's head, an insanely gorgeous and villainous take on the lead heroes rather basic (by comparison) design. The texturing on the silver parts of the face as well as under the compound eyes is just magnificent. But really everything about this sculpt it. Unfortunately you lose a fair bit of the neck's articulation in large part because of the large collar around the neck. Forcing you to tilt the head to one side to really get any kind of sideways glance. What this all adds up to is an incredibly gorgeous figure, with some devastating faults. A magnificent shelf piece, Ohma Zi-O is ultimately not a great figure in it's own right. Though based on a tried and true mold, it suffers greatly from the additions made this go around.

Accessories
I suppose when you're the overlord of time, your accessories can be rather sparse:

3 - sets of hands. This gives us a couple varieties of expressive open palms, as well as a dedicated pair for holding Ridewatches. They have small rectangular cuts in them designed to hold watches, something the other Zi-O Figuarts are all sorely lacking I'm afraid.

3 - Ridewatches. That's Ryuki (silver face), Kiva (yellow face), and Kuuga (gold face). These watches are very signifcant, as they are the powers Oma Zi-O used against Zi-O in their first true encounter in 2068. Each time Sougo used the Rider Heisaber, Oma used a corresponding rider power. Each watch is as detailed as any other watch in the line, meaning the correct faces are sculpted into them though no appropriate labels or paint apps are present on the front to truly distinguish them. Thankfully Oma has both the dedicated hands to hold them as well as empty holsters on each wrist to store them when not in use. Though at no point in the series that I can recall, did he use them in this fashion. Of course the Oma Driver does not have Ridewatch slots, as Oma Zi-O doesn't need to use watches in this way. Simply possessing and activating them gives him access to a rider's powers.

Aside from Ohma's throne, which is admittedly a pretty big reach, there's nothing else I can think of Ohma Zi-O coming with that he didn't already. More ridewatches maybe? Honestly I'm pretty happy with what we got here.

Final Thoughts
As I mentioned above, Ohma Zi-O is an imperfect release. It's a figure that I was very much looking forward to, but now that I have it in hand I find it so hard to put it in expressive poses. It's still a wonderful design that I truly appreciate the regal aspects of, even if that means it didn't translate well to figure form. Should you find S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Ohma Zi-O below it's original retail price, I'd recommend giving him a go. But I can't say I'd do the same if it's going for any sort of increased aftermarket value.

Part 2

Great pics as always!

I missed the pre-order and then saw one on Mandarake for 10,000 yen. Was tempted to pull the trigger but the lack of accessories (not that he really needs that much I guess) and sash limiting articulation held me back. Haha. Definitely a very nice looking figure though.

To be fair, Ohma Zi-O didn't have a lot of dynamic moments in the series. Most of the time he was was just waving his hands or summoning other Riders or their powers to fight for him.

He's so gorgeous I'm going to explode. Absolutely love the gallery too, and is clashing the first and last Heisei Rider! (It's such a cool series of shots that I won't even argue that you used Rising Ultimate *coughs*)

Damn, shame that the articulation is bad as this figure would be perfect for dynamiv stuff,

Sculpt and paint look gorgeous. It's a shame his articulation is limited, but just standing there menacingly, he looks perfect