S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Cross-Z Magma Gallery

"My soul is on fire... my magma is surging!!"

To stop Blood Stalk, to save Sento, to reclaim Pandora's box, Banjou will bathe in the fires of his own rage! Born from the burnt Dragon Magma Full Bottle, Cross-Z undergoes his ultimate transformation. Let's see just how bright this fire burns in our latest gallery, with S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Cross-Z Magma!!

Packaging
As with all Build releases the standard two-tone packaging is back with an orange fade. Nothing particularly fascinating or noteworthy, but Magma has some seriously hot stock photos. Oddly the interior tray is pretty wide open to accommodate the Pyro Wings molded on to his back. So be careful if you plan to store his closed fists in the tray, they will fall out on the sides.

Main Figure
Cross-Z Magma is yet another outing of the excellent Build/Cross-Z mold we've come to be familiar with. Each time it sees release it feels like it gets better to me. I've been a big fan of Build releases, and Magma is one I was very excited for. Thankfully it turned out wonderfully.

While the basic structure of the body is what we've seen before, there are a number of new cosmetic physical details and paint applications that have been added. The legs are essentially the same. They're symmetrical like the previous two Cross-Z releases. The bulk of them, as well as the rest of the body, has also been painted in a vibrant metallic orange that looks even better in hand than in photos. New remolds to the legs include cracked magma ankle cuffs, dragon face/skulls running the length of each shin, a pair of smaller faces above the shin serving as really wicked knee pads, and cracked magma bands around each thigh. As before the knees can be tight, the hips have a pretty great range to them, and the ankles could always have a better tilt, but thankfully are very strong on this release.

At the waist is the standard Build Driver, carried directly over from the previous Cross-Z(s) so the driver itself is identical to that of Build's as well. The new addition here, taking the place of the Cross-Z Dragon, is the Dragon Fist Magma Knuckle! This new bit is removable and can change modes. If you want to get it into the handheld weapon mode for any figure to hold, just rotate the handle backwards, you can also add or remove a Full Bottle as you wish. Pre-installed in the Knuckle is the Dragon Magma Full Bottle, a burnt version is included as a separate accessory as well. The front panels of the Knuckle are held on by small pegs, you can pop them off and center them back up for the close fist mode. It makes for a great little weapon and let's you display regular Cross-Z prior to the Magma transformation. If you want to leave it on the Driver, it plugs down snugly into the full bottle slots. As always there is a Full Bottle holder on the left hip if you wish to store extras.

The upper body features an array of newly molded parts. The entire torso is new parts in fact. The lower section is an insanely ripped looking set of abs with a fading gold paint job. The chest section is molded to look like another really wicked dragon face while the orange accents around it mimic the stylized flames of Cross-Z's compound eyes. On his back, Magma features an enormous pair of appropriately named Pyro Wings. Styled like dragon wings covered in magma, these are easily the coolest and most striking feature of the figure. There is also a really cool spiked spine coming down the center of his back.

Similarly to the legs, the arms feature the same style of magma bands around the bicep. While the forearm armor has been replaced with a dragon's head that appears to engulf the arm itself. Like the legs and chest, the eyes on this head are painted gold giving them a really striking look. The shoulders likewise have incredibly gorgeous heads protruding from them. Be wary of the shoulder pads as they can impact the chest protrusions. These ornate heads all over the body lead right back to the piece de resistance of the figure, which is Cross-Z Magma's own helmet. The usual dragon design takes on a slightly more fiery and fierce expression here. A bit larger than the previous figures and featuring gorgeous orange compound eyes, Magma is absolutely gorgeous. The head brings the whole design together in fantastic fashion.

I got a bit experimental with my lighting in several shots and couldn't decide what I liked better, so I included a bunch of choices below

Accessories
Harkening back to numerous other web exclusives through out the years, Magma comes in a little lite:

2 - pairs of hands. One pair for holding things, primarily the Build Driver crank or the Magma Knuckle, the other pair open. I would have liked to see a little more variety here but these get the job done. The Holding hands leave a bit to be desired, getting previous Cross-Z weapons into these hands can be a tight fit, but it works well enough.

1 - Burnt Dragon Magma Bottle. A burnt black version of the bottle already in the driver. This is a fun and totally unnecessary inclusion. Banjou only had it until he finally raised his Hazard Level high enough to release it's full potential with the Magma Knuckle.

That's pretty scant. I would have liked to have seen a few more hands and maybe a repacked Beat Crosser? Some flames effect, of any kind, would have been great too.

Final Thoughts
This is a stellar release. Lack of accessories aside, Kamen Rider Cross-Z Magma is a drop dead gorgeous figure. It's a form that really takes center stage in any Kamen Rider Build collection, and particularly if you have a focus on Banjou. Given we've gotten all of his other forms so far, I'd really really like to get Cross-Z Evol and Cross-Z Build at some point as well. For now, I'm ridiculously pleased with how lovely this figure turned out.

Part 2

The greatest suit in Build, a show full of pretty great suits! Figure looks equally incredible

This is a form I didn't enjoy as much as I wanted to in the show; not only was the original form cooler than anything I've ever seen and hence in comparison this is a bit of a letdown, but something about the suit felt off. More than other live-action shows, Sentai and Rider will always feel a little more unrealistic due to the explicitly rubber suited monsters and the mostly unmoving mouths; but the wings on Cross-Z Magma just looked so... plastic and rubbery. It felt on a whole other level and I just could not get into it because of that.

But as a figure it just looks absolutely phenomenal. It does a way better job in portraying the idea than the show did imo and it easily upgrades the form from a meh to a I-quite-like-this-actually! Those poses you put him in certainly help as well, this is gonna be a hard one to resist

What I would want from a release like this is a pop up diorama of the smelting cauldron effect from the henshin. Between that, and the overall design of the suit, it makes it one of my favorites from Build, short of Grease and Sparkling.

Absolutely adore the experimental lighting

Truly, a MAGNIFICENT design. The show suit looked a bit off to me due to it being a suit, but in SHF form . . . man, it pops. The colors just work better in these proportions.

Love the Build body, and with the wings and this design . . . one of my favorite SHF's out there

I really wish i had the Magma Tamashii effects, but the impact set with flames works well too

EDIT:
There's some KO magma sets on ebay that are tempting me

Real ones are $70+
KO is $30

That rarest of phenomena: upgrade form that's as good as (or better than) the base design. I'm getting pickier in my figure purchases as shelf space gets more limited - I'm already aware that I'll probably buy at least the primary and secondary Rider for next year, and the year after that, etc. - but Cross-Z Magma is tempting enough for me to consider an exception.

This form really does remind I need to watch build, I keep hearing gushing over it's design, debut, and use thru the series.

In a worse show, Magma's design wouldn't be as liked by my as it is. I'm not the biggest fan of the giant wing-spike-things, and the orange is very garish. But those both fit Banjou "I'm gonna punch the thing 'till it breaks" Ryuga perfectly. So this is, therefore, a great form.

The experimental lighting works really well, btw. How'd you manage it? Coloured filters?