Toy Review: FMCS 04 Kamen Rider Meteor and Meteor Star

It is time to take a look on the "Fourze Module Change Series" or FMCS Kamen Rider Meteor and his bike Meteor Star. FMCS is the current toy line following from Decade's Final Form Ride Series Kamen Rider W's WFC or OOO's OCC. So far WFC and OCC were great alternatives to the ever popular SH Figuarts or Shochaku Henshins. Will Meteor continue this legacy?

A few months ago, I reviewed the OCC Kamen Rider Birth, another secondary rider from a long chain of side kicks in the series, and I was impressed and even recommended and let you guys know that he is fun to play with. I have high hopes with Meteor so let's get start dissecting this shooting star.

At first, it seems like a pretty good deal that Meteor and Meteor Star came together in one package just as Birth was with the mechanical bio scorpion bits. The box art conforms with his suit with tiny stars surrounding the cardboard. Its windows boasts the toys inside so basically what you are only getting is the bike and the of course Meteor....nothing else.

Meteor as expected, showed less paint applications especially on the Meteor Driver and the arm brace - Meteor Galaxy. What is impressive on how the detailing on each blue highlights from head to toe is done either in a seamless blue translucent plastic or metallic paint. Absolutely spot on. To add, the sparkling star-like highlights on the costume is a nice touch over all.

The biggest pain on this figure is that the pointing finger on his left arm sticks out. It is fixed and painfully a sore as there is no way in hiding this "imperfection" on different fighting poses and when he rides the bike. Bandai's intention, from what I can see is mainly to have the finger pointing  "clicking" the Meteor Galaxy. There are a lot of ways to do this but I feel that this is not really given a good thought on its execution.

Articulation points are very familiar to those who own a WFC or an OCC rider figure line. But this shows a terrible way to apply the same engineering that went through the latter toy lines. The legs are wobbly, poseability is unstable and the awkwardness in bringing this toy in different fighting styles is evident just because of the hideous finger. In short, a really messy execution.

The bike, is just ugh plain. At least the kick stand works. Just imagine it's the same wheels, engine block and what-have-yous as Fourze's Massigler. The difference is the headlight and tail fin is different as this is fashioned from a satellite. It also fits on the DX Power Dizer and it should, since both belongs to the same toy line nomenclature. Funny note, in the instruction manual, its says that you can detach the solar panels on the rear of the bike...question is, what for?

In terms of the mold, I cannot further complain, it is what it is - a cheaper looking version of Meteor Star. My whole rider bike collection is comprised of DX or similar versions and they are amazing except from this one.

Do I recommend this? No. The package misleads that the bike and the rider can be an alternative package if you cannot afford SHFs, SHs or SICs. But an SHF has the same price bracket as these series and I would say wait for Meteor's SHF version and diss this one.