HGPost Disaster

STH-16/tc Ride's Io Frame Shiden Custom

The best HG frame of its generation, repainted for the kid who painted everyone else's mobile suits.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Ride's Io Frame Shiden Custom · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the strongest HGIBO frame wearing a Premium Bandai coat of paint, and I think that combination earns it a real recommendation.

The base Io Frame Shiden was already one of the best High Grades Bandai put out in that run, and this Ride Mass variant keeps every bit of that engineering while adding new head and shoulder tooling plus a molded-color scheme you do not have to paint to get right. It is a Premium Bandai exclusive, so it is pricier and harder to find than the standard release, and a couple of the decorative details still lean on stickers rather than color separation.

Best for: IBO fans who want a full-inner-frame HG with genuine articulation, not just another Tekkadan grunt suit repaint

The full review

What it is

This is a Premium Bandai variant of the STH-16 Io Frame Shiden, retooled with a new head shape and reworked shoulders to match Ride Mass's personalized paint job on his mobile suit. Under the armor it is the same excellent HGIBO frame that builders kept singling out as one of the best High Grades of its era, a nearly complete inner skeleton with only a handful of armor pieces clipped on at the end. Building it feels less like assembling a shell over a skeleton and more like actually building a little robot, joint by joint, and the molded plastic already carries most of the color story so I was not reaching for paint every five minutes.

The catch

Being a Premium Bandai exclusive means this one only shows up through resale or secondary channels at a markup over what the standard Io Frame Shiden runner would cost, and it will not sit on a regular shop shelf. Some of the finer decorative touches, including the eye-catch detailing on the head, come as a foil sticker rather than molded color, so the finish is not 100 percent sticker-free the way the vanilla release nearly is. Builders also note that a few surface details pay off better with a Gundam Marker or a wash than they do straight off the runner, which is a small ask but worth knowing before you start.

Who it's for

If you are building through Iron-Blooded Orphans and want more than the standard grunt palette, or you just want to feel what a genuinely well-engineered HG frame is like before jumping to Master Grade, this kit delivers. It rewards people who like full inner-frame construction and real pose range at 1/144 without a huge investment of time. Skip it if you are strictly budget-first and can get the standard Io Frame Shiden for less, since the frame underneath is functionally the same kit. But if the Ride Mass color scheme and story matter to you, this is worth tracking down.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

Assembly follows the same logic as the standard Io Frame Shiden: most of your time goes into the inner frame itself, with armor panels clipping on near the end rather than dominating the build. Gates are placed reasonably and cleanup is not a chore, and the joints lock together tightly enough that nothing feels loose once it's together. The new head and shoulder tooling for this variant fits cleanly onto the shared frame, so there is no sense that this is a rushed reissue.

The articulation is the headline. The neck runs on a double ball joint, elbows bend to around 100 degrees, the waist spins a full 360, and the skirt armor pivots out of the way so the legs actually get to use their range instead of fighting the hips. It comes armed with a Partisan, a rifle, and a gauntlet shield, giving you real loadout variety for the price point, and the molded color on the signature paint scheme means the finished kit looks the part straight off the runners.

Lore & trivia

01The kit depicts Ride Mass's personalized version of the STH-16 Io Frame Shiden, the standard-issue Tekkadan grunt suit introduced in the second season of Iron-Blooded Orphans.
02Ride Mass was the artistic member of Tekkadan, responsible for the group's emblem design and for hand-painting repaired mobile suits, including the eyes and pink accents on Orga's Graze Custom known as the Ryusei-Go.
03This variant was released as a Premium Bandai (P-Bandai) exclusive in July 2017, distinct from the standard retail HGIBO Io Frame Shiden kit released the same year.