S.H. Figuarts Machine Builder & Parts Set Gallery

"Build Change!"

What's a Kamen Rider without his ride? Well in the case of most shows, still a Kamen Rider. Rider Machines come and go quite quickly in most cases. Rarely being seen regularly anymore these days. Since about the middle of the Heisei Era, their appearances have decreased quite a bit over time. Machine Builder has made only a handful of appearances since it's initial debut in Build. But it's still quite an interesting ride. In the last 4 years we've had the massive talking car Tridoron, the ghost/horse hybrid Ghost Striker, the literal Kamen Rider bike man Lazer Level 2, and now a tiny cell phone that mass shifts into a full on bike. Now, S.H. Figuarts Machine Builder (and Parts Set) is here to compliment your S.H. Figuarts Build with a full range of much needed accessories! See it all below!

Packaging
I mentioned this in my Cross-Z review, but I really have been digging the boxes on all the Build releases. But I can't help but be underwhelmed by Machine Builder's. The black & orange is a little dull. But we're not here for that, on to toys!

Main Figure
As with just about any Rider Machine released by Tamashii Nations, there's just not a lot going on here. In terms of functionality, the Machine Builder is as basic as it gets. Trasnformation gimmicks never make the jumpe to S.H. Figuarts bikes anymore. The Survive bikes Dragranzer & Darkraider from Kamen Rider Ryuki, and the Auto Vaijin from Kamen Rider Faiz are some of the only ones actually. So it's not surprising that Machine Builder doesn't feature it's transformation from phone to bike. But then again, this bikes features would be nearly impossible to replicate like that. Most of the phone kibble just fades away in the CG transformation.

What we can talk about is the sculpting and paint work that went into this vehicle. The basic form of the body comes from the design of the Honda XR 230 dirt bike. The only real physical alterations to the XR body are the on the rear end and handlebars. Starting on the back of the seat is a sculpted in Lion Full Bottle. Which is for some reason the only Bottle ever shown to interact with the Build Phone to create Machine Builder. Here, it's roughly just under the size of the actual toy Full Bottles. The sculpt is well defined and paint work quite good. It comes out looking a bit more like a jet engine than a bottle.

Another item of note is the Front Gear Light, the literal gear sticking out of the handlebars. At a head on view, I've always said this thing reminded me of Den-O. As a sort of headlamp/wind-vane stand in, it's a pretty weird component for a bike, but something that set's this vehicle apart quite nicely from other Rider Machine. Situated on the other side of the handlebars, is a small screen that essentially looks like the Build Phone mode of the bike. Interestingly, there's also a port on the underside of the engine to plug Tamashii Stage Arms into. Generally bikes have been coming with clear stage adapters that clip on over this part of the bike and plug on a stage. Machine Builder is the first I can recall to cut out the middleman so to speak.

All in all, it's a crisp and well executed bike. It doesn't do anything particularly special, but neither have the last two rider machines (Lazer Level 2, and Ghostriker). But the real meat of this release so to speak, is the inlcuded accessories.

Accessories
So the obvious selling point of this bike is what it comes with. Build Rabbit/Tank was intentionally pretty bare bones so that those accessories could come with Machine Builder:

1 - wheel base. The now standard base that clips on over either wheel of the bike to stabilize it for display.

2.5 - sets of hands. One thing that Build himself certainly lacked was a variety of hands. Thankfully this time we get everything he could possibly need. These new hands give us a pair for holding the included weapons, a pair for riding his bike, and a single hand for holding the included phone.

1 - Build Phone. Machine Builder's natural state. This to scale accessory is every bit as bulky in Build's hands as the show prop is in Atsuhiro Inukai (Sento's) hands on the show. Only one hand is designed to hold it in this set. And it does that quite poorly, so be careful or you may lose it easily. For what it is it gets the broad details right, and the decal for a phone screen actually is quite sharply printed.

1 - Drill Crusher (Gun Mode). Packaged by default in Gun Mode, the Drill Crusher is another accessory the figure has some trouble holding properly with the included hands. They just aren't tight enough to have a solid grip on the handle. The Gun Mode actually does look quite nice however.

1 - set of Drill Crusher Sword Mode Parts. You get the Sword mode spear as well as the new handle for it. Just unplug the gun mode barrel and handle and plug these new parts on. Be cautious as the sword mode grip only goes in one way and is quite thin so it could be easily broken. Luckily the included hands for holding the bike handlebars are a perfect fit for this weapon so it works very well with Build.

So that gets you several sets of hands, both versions of Build's primary weapon, and his wonderfully clunky phone. That's pretty great. I know plenty of people are irked that these accessories were pushed off to come with the bike rather than Build himself, but I completely understand it from their perspective. To ensure production of and sales of the bike, they did this as a necessity. Rider Machines do not sell well on average. That's why the last two have been web exclusives. They almost always hit deep discounts at online retailers and rarely fetch anything near or above retail on the secondary market (Lazer is an aberration). So from a purely business perspective, I understand the reasoning behind this.

Final Thoughts
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Rider Machines are pretty basic toy releases these days. Luckily this one goes the extra mile by including some much needed accessories for it's rider. I just can't fault it for that. I'm not sure where the price will ultimately settle on this thing, above or below retail. But I'd suggest picking Machine Builder up if you want maximize what your Kamen Rider Build can do.

Ryuga is smashed by Sento looks really funny.....

The bike is cool but it wasn't worth 50 euros imo

Is it bad that I'm more interested in the phone and corresponding hand than in the entire rest of the set?

I'll never forgive the Figuarts people for just forgetting that the figures should be able to hold FullBottles. Heck, the Ex-Aid line didn't figure it out until they designed Kuroto Dan, and, then it didn't occur to them to include a Driver. I swear sometimes I don't think they know why we like these things.

One of the absolute weirdest bikes in KR, but it looks pretty good next to build.

Love this stupid tube bike

Not super into bikes for figures, but this one is kind of a must get since it comes with accessories kind of vital to Build. Especially since the Rider Kicks Figuarts version doesn't come with these

I have the So-Do version, and I like the bike enough, but inclding the weapons with the bike instead of the figure still seems a little dodge. The gallery looks great though, Den, and it's a reminder why they keep releasing the bike, because Build looks damn good riding it.