To start off this post I have to make a confession, I'm officially addicted to Kamen Rider. Think power rangers minus 3-4 colors and topped with loads of awesome. That's Kamen Rider. First aired on TV in 1971 about some evil organization trying to take over the world and the protagonist somehow gets mixed in and turned into a cyborg who can transform or HENSHIN!!!!! into a masked fighter who resembles a grasshopper and rides a bike *duh*
Now there are 20 different series of KR with the current one still on going and kicking ass hard and while I'm still waiting for the next episode of Kamen Rider W *the aforementioned on going series* I binged on a few of the newer series such as Decade, Kiva and Den-o. KR Kiva was my favorite and is the reason for this post and because I don't have any idea on how to wrap up this stupidly long intro I'll just jump right into it =P
So the other day I got my hands on this thing called S.I.C Kamen Rider Kiva
S.I.C stands for Super Imaginative Chogokin and is basically a collectible figurine containing die-cast metal parts and is also a re-imagining of the original KR designs.
Because I'm too lazy to pull up some screen caps to compare the designs you'll just have to talk my word for it or google it yourself. S.I.Cs' take on KR are wickedly sexy as they take the original and then give it a more organic and aggressive look to it.
For Kiva that means extra details such as what looks like veins running along all over his body
Ok I'm feeling super lazy now so i'll just post the pics and keep the text to the minimal.
below are the die-cast parts
Note that the chains are also made from metal and can be removed
and a better shot of the right leg guard
Similar to revoltechs and figmas S.I.C comes with quite a few accessories and part swaps. In this case Kiva comes with 4 sets of hands which are nicely detailed
8 fuesltes which are whistles he can use to summon different weapons with
Kiva also comes with his cute companion called Kivat who helps the protagonist transform with a bite to the hand
An interesting note is that the VA for Kivat also did Gintoki and Kyon
the above is another version of Kivat with his wings folded and below is a die-cast version of the folded up Kivat
All 3 can connect to Kiva's belt via pegs
while part swapping is required for the larger Kivat
The fuestles can be inserted into Kivats mouth to replicate some of the poses Kiva does in the show and heres my pathetic attempt at Kiva's Wake up Fuestle being inserted to perform his Darkness moon break attack which is really a Rider Kick.
WTF his leg opened up?!!?!?!?!! In the show Kiva's right leg is sealed with a chain and is envoked by Kivat blowing on the Wake Up fuestle and smashing through the chains. So first we undo the chain which has a clasp that you connect the loose end of the chain to the armor
Close up of the outter most leg guard
The die-cast parts are all hefty and has a nice feel to them!
Here we have the inner armor
And now
some ivan legs girl jeans the inner leg
I'll let the pics speak for themselves
I forgot to mention that it also came with an instruction leaflet telling you how to take off parts and part swap as well as the Bloody Rose violin which Kiva owns and I wont bother to explain.
Even masked heroes who fight all day show some levels of sophistication
RANDOM CROTCH SHOT!!
The material around the crotch is made from soft rubber which allows the hip joints to be hidden as well as preserve the articulation of the figure. S.I.Cs' have lots of points of articulation allowing for many hours of photography.
Some extra pics
Teh beat down inspired by Tofu
And that's it. I never said it was going to be a review but I had to post something after such a long absence and even if I tried I just cbf thinking.