Bandai 1/10 Masked Rider Faiz

The Smart Brain corporation, the world's most powerful corporation, is trying to take over the world using Orphnoch, the next stage in humanity's evolution, to covertly kill off the human population. In pursuit of this, they develop three suits of power armor, called Rider Gear (Delta, Faiz, and Kaixa), to find and protect the Orphnoch King, who can fix a defect within Orphnoch DNA which causes their genetic structure to break down, leading to death.

The Rider Gears are stolen by Hanagata, the Goat Orphnoch and former chief of Smart Brain. He sends them to his foster children (dubbed the Ryuseiji, after the school they attended) so they can stop the Orphnoch from achieving their goal. However, Rider Gears were designed to be worn by Orphnoch, and humans are unable to activate the systems without undergoing genetic modification.

A young loner, Takumi Inui, is unwittingly drawn into the conflict between the Orphnoch and humans, eventually becoming Kamen Rider Faiz to save the life of Mari Sonoda, one of the Ryuseiji. Smart Brain begins targeting him in an attempt to retrieve the Faiz Gear.

However, there is division amongst the Orphnoch. There are those who wish to co-exist with humans rather than kill them, where they begin resisting Smart Brain, who in turn targets them as well. Most of these "renegade" Orphnochs are either killed, remain in hiding, or begin siding with the Ryuseiji against the Smart Brain.

When the Tokyo police discover the Orphnoch are behind a series of bizarre murders, they begin operations to defeat the creatures, largely unaware of the various factions involved. They even begin performing experiments on captured Orphnoch in an attempt to find ways of destroying them, though this does not go well.

The Orphnoch King eventually awakens within a young boy named Teruo Suzuki, whom Naoya Kaido and Keitaro Kikuchi saved and befriended. Now, it is up to the holders of the Rider Gears to band together and fight for humanity's survival.

Gear

The Faiz Gear was the second set of Kamen Rider Gear developed by the Smart Brain Corporation to protect the Orphnoch King. The Faiz Gear had less power than the original Delta Gear, but had a much greater functionality. Like most of the Rider Gears that Smart Brain developed, the Faiz Gear can only be worn by Orphnochs or humans implanted with Orphnoch DNA.

Transforming into Kamen Rider Faiz burns Orphnoch DNA, so humans who have been implanted with this DNA will quickly run out and no longer be able to use the Faiz Gear. Humans with insufficient DNA are rejected by the Faiz Gear with the word 'error'. Orphnochs may use the Faiz Gear more often (in their human form only), but their DNA breaks down with continued use.

Faiz is illustrated on the box lid in an alert pose, ready to strike of evade a foe. Inside the box are five bags holding eight sprues, one of which is multi-colored. The other sprues are molded in silver, black, solid red, translucent red, (parts for replicating a kung fu foot strike as seen in animation) and clear. A small sheet of peel-and-stick decals is also included. No flash is present and the seams are well hidden. It’s mostly a matter of cleaning up the sprue gates. Multiple hands are included for use in different poses or holding different weapons. A five-part stand is included. Total parts count is 147

A four-fold, 34 inch long, sheet printed on both sides has the cover illustration, possible poses, cautions, tools required, and assembly illustrations with notes in Kanji and English. Construction is broken down into sub-assemblies, starting with the head, then upper torso and moving down the body. Each sub-assembly is completed in multiple steps. The joints articulate, allowing for the poses. Glue and paint are not required.

This kit is similar to a Gundam kit, so it should be a fairly easy build. If one wishes to hide the joints, they could be filled, which would freeze the figure into one pose, complicating the build.

When I noticed the photo of the cover art on the website of my primary on-line supplier, I thought it would make a great project to use metal paints such a Alclad II. I didn’t know anything about the story or the characters. After looking at the parts, painting the figure in the main and trim colors would be a tricky task and probably take more than double or triple the time spent during assembly.

https://kamenrider.fandom.com/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Faiz

John Summerford

February 2022

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