S.I.C. Vol. 54 Kamen Rider Ixa and Dark Kiva Part 4

Metallic blood red
After Kamen Rider Ixa in the previous posting, it's time for the king to make his grand entrance. ^^
























Using the slot on the fixed type Kivat-Bat the 2nd to hold a Fuestle - same gimmick to be found on S.I.C. Vol. 50 Kamen Rider Kiva.








Kamen Rider Dark Kiva always looks like the exaggerated form of Kamen Rider Kiva to me. ^^ I imagine some of the points the designer came up with when he was designing this Kamen Rider may include, "How do I redesign Kamen Rider Kiva's horns/bat ears? Oh I know, I will make them stretch out to becomes wings." ^^ or "How do I make the chest more powerful-looking? Oh I know, I will add a protruding chest piece on top of it", and perhaps in the end, "Let me just add armors to all the parts Kamen Rider Kiva don't have, and the existing armors that he already has, I'll beef them all up with extra size and sharper edges, and let me throw in a cape for him too to wrap things up" ^^

I'm sure that's not how things played out when this Kamen Rider was designed, ^^; but that pretty much sums up my feeling about Kamen Rider Dark Kiva. Beneath all the large armors and spiky details, it's still Kamen Rider Kiva. The same goggles, the same mask, and the same belt as well, just in a different color scheme. Although I like flamboyance and fierce designs (flamboyantly fierce would be awesome ^^), and that this is a really fierce looking figure, I still prefer S.I.C. Vol. 50 Kamen Rider Kiva's design - the original one. Somehow the "basic" design has the most balanced mix of design, details and look for me. Kamen Rider Dark Kiva's showoff of those three aspects is a bit too much for me. ^^;

And Kamen Rider Kiva Emperor Form? That's the over-exaggerated form for Kamen Rider Kiva in my opinion. ^^; "What? Vampire likes darkness and blood? Never heard of that before." and so a set of golden armors and a bright red cape were given to it; "What? Zanvat Sword is not awesome enough? Let me throw in an extension for it then." and so Zanvat-bat biting down on the blade is added. ^^;

I'm seemingly criticizing Kamen Rider Kiva Emperor Form's design, but no, it's definitely a very interesting design. I mean, a golden Kamen Rider, I can't remember another Kamen Rider who can be as shiny as Kamen Rider Kiva Emperor Form. XD Garo most certainly does not qualify to be in the comparison since he's technically not a Kamen Rider. XD As a matter, it's so interesting that I actually own the S.H. Figuarts version of it - the very first S.H. Figuarts figure I bought. ^^ Not as flamboyant as the limited S.I.C. version, not even close, but it's very good nonetheless. ^^

Back to Kamen Rider Dark Kiva's features:



Lesser die-cast parts on Kamen Rider Dark Kiva as compared to Kamen Rider Ixa, despite its larger overall size.


The shoulder armors are non-removable, or at least not as easily removable as Kamen Rider Ixa's.


The neck guards are movable, allowing quite a bit of room for the shoulders to bend upward without the shoulder armor colliding with the neck guards (too soon ^^;).


Kamen Rider Kiva's insignia in front of the neck ...


... and curvy line details deep inside the innermost neck armors are very nice details not to be missed. ^^


The chest piece is detachable, for whatever reason. ^^;


A closer look at the "bare" chest XD
Very nice clear green parts used for those three gems.


The separated semi-transparent chest piece. The silver layer painted on the back of the part is meant to shine through the smoky clear black front portion I believe.
In a way or two, it's similar to how I usually paint the mono-eye camera part of my Zeon kits. ^^




The cape pieces move using the two pegs that connect them to the extension part on the back. Plus, they are made of soft rubber as mentioned yesterday, so they can moved very easily.
First round of (random) action poses for the two figures in the next posting. ^^