Garo Kiwami Damashii Dan Part 3

Significant improvements
A look at Garo Kiwami Damashii Dan's articulation after the previous posting. ^^



Since the two are in the same action figure line, one would assume that Dan is designed with the exact same articulation features as Garo (along with all its limitations as well ^^;), that's actually not the case. ^^ Dan features many improvements over Garo, which I'm really happy to see. ^^


Tilting the head forward and backward is very easy. Bending the head downward can be done (far right image), but that pose is not clear at all when the figure is viewed from the front.


Like Garo, the segment of armor beneath the mandible that is molded together with the helmet makes it rather difficult to detect if the head has been bent downward. ^^;


Horizontal tilt is not a problem at all for the head.



The shoulder armor is attached to the body via a small ball-type joint, so it's capable of very flexible movement either to give the figure a more dynamic look (since the cape piece is fixed to the back of the armor), or more importantly, not to get in the way of the arm when it's moved. ^^


The shoulder itself is on a ball-type joint, so forward and backward swings are very easy.
Notice the shoulder armor can be tilted to the back to give the shoulder plenty of room to move.


Unlike Garo, Dan's upper arm is separated from the shoulder, allowing the arm to be bent much easily.
The elbow joint design is the same as that on Garo though.


As shown in the previous posting, the wrist moves via a ball-type joint.


Side-to-side bend is of course possible with the upper body.
The waist can actually be bent for a much wider degree that what is shown in the images above actually. ^^


Like this. ^^


Forward bend is quite limited for Dan (middle image), but there's no problem tilting the upper body backward.


The side skirt armor connects to the waist via a movable peg. ^^


The hip design is very similar to that on Garo, but Dan's legs seem capable of a much wider expansion. ^^


The leg can be bent forward for a wide degree, but not so much to the back due to the hip design.


While its knee joint design is the same as that on Garo, Dan's knee bend seems to be a little bit restrictive in comparison. ^^;


Nevertheless, Dan is still capable of striking a pretty natural-looking kneeling pose. ^^





Side-to-side and downward bends are easy for the ankle joint, but bending it upward is not really possible thanks to that protruding armor piece on top of the foot. ^^;
The upper arm and hip articulation are major improvements over the same components on Garo. I used to think that those restrictions put on Garo was due to its size, or maybe they were deliberate as some part of the production cost might get diverted to the material for Garo's cape (just my speculation ^^;) so some planned movable points on Garo had to be omitted, but that figure really pales in comparison against Dan. ^^;

All the said articulation points aren't exactly special, since they are available on other action figures, but their inclusion are undeniably improvements that help to make Dan more fun to play with. ^^ I'm certainly glad that the designer didn't conform to Garo's design simply because they are of the same product line and are of the same price range.

On the other hand, since Dan is the third item in the series, after Zero, I wonder if Zero is designed with those improved articulation points, or were they started to be implemented with Dan. ^^

Or maybe the improvements are unique only to Dan, and both Zero and Kiba inherited the weaknesses of Garo. ^^; I certainly hope not, but since I have those two figures in my collection as well, I guess I'll find out myself when I get to them in the future. ^^

Some action poses of Garo Kiwami Damashii Dan after the introduction on its articulation design:






With support using Soul Stage Act 3 Action Support Clear Type.



More action poses of this action figure coming up in the next posting, which will also be the last one for this review series. ^^