Garo Kiwami Damashii Zero Part 1

The in-between figure to be reviewed
After featuring large-sized (Play Arts Kai Cammy) and mid-sized (Sci-fi Revoltech Skeleton Army, Super Robot Chogokin Alteisen and Weissritter) action figures in past few review series, it's time for one from the small category to make an appearance. ^^


This is Garo Kiwami Damashii Zero from Tamashii Nations. Released in December 2010, it's the second release in the overall series, after Garo. However, I didn't follow that release sequence chronologically, as Dan which is the third release in the series was been featured in September last year. As compared to Garo, Dan was designed with improved articulation which enabled more flexible action poses. It would be interesting to see if Zero who sits between the two spots the same improvements (making Garo the only "poor" benchmark used by all subsequent releases to improve themselves XD), or did it began with Dan. The reviews I read in the past point to the latter actually, ^^; but it would be good for me to find out about it myself. ^^

On the other hand, the level of sculpt details is consistently high for all the items in the series, so comparison isn't necessary in that area I suppose. ^^


I always like the design of Zero the Silver Fanged Knight (銀牙騎士・絶狼). ^^ Even though Kiba is Garo's arch-nemesis in the story, I always think Zero is the closer match to Garo in terms of design. It's gold versus silver, one sword versus two between Garo and Zero - a good match in my opinion. ^^ For that, I really enjoyed the initial conflict between the two in the TV series. Then again, because of the close, almost mirroring images of the two characters, and story cliche in general (which isn't necessarily a bad thing ^^), Zero turned and became Garo's ally against the forces of evil halfway through the show.

I like the silver armor design of Zero, more than Garo actually because the color is a lot easier to associate to armors worn by Medieval knights and soldiers, which I'm quite fascinated of since I was a kid. ^^ Gold as the color to ornate certain special parts of an armor suit (or pretty much anything ^^) is great, but a full golden armor suit looks too lavishly outstanding in my opinion. ^^; It's definitely worthy for the hero in terms of its meaning, but not necessarily the best of design. ^^; Zero's silver armors seem cooler to me in that sense. Still, the evil Kiba's armor design is my definite favorite in the entire series. ^^ The manifestation of evilness and darkness as a set of armors with skulls, horns and spikes is very awesome, but I reserve more words of praises for it in its own review series. XD


A very small overall package it is. The figure and all of the accessories included can be seen through the front window.





Closer look at the figure and accessories through the front window.


A large closeup on Zero's head on the right side of package.




Simple introduction of the figure on the back of the package.




Comparison with the package of Garo from the same series.
As you can might have guessed, the pictures were taken before the review on Garo. ^^;


Garo's box is a little thicker because of his cape. ^^


Package open.


The paper "holder" and separate tray that contains the figure.


A simple hard paper cutout as the package's backdrop.


Like Garo and Dan, an instruction sheet is stored inside the backdrop between the cards.




The instruction sheet shows the package content and how to equip the swords, Ginroken (銀狼剣) in different configurations to Zero's hands.


Front view of the package content.





Closeups on the content.


Rear view of the package content.




Closeups on the content.


A few tiny string to removed when getting Zero off the plastic tray.



Straight out of box Garo Kiwami Damashii Zero.
A look at this Garo Kiwami Damashii figure's accessories and option parts in the next posting.