S.I.C. Kiwami Damashii Kamen Rider Hibiki Part 3

Less is more
After introducing its accessories and option parts in the previous posting, the next part in this review series on S.I.C. Kiwami Damashii Kamen Rider Hibiki will be about its articulation design. ^^




Bending the head downward is very simple.


Tilting the head backward is not possible due to the collision between the helmet and the rear collar. ^^;


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



Side-to-side and forward/backward bends are possible with the upper body.


Without large shoulder armors like those on Garo Kiwami Damashii Garo or Zero to block their movement, the arms can be bent upward from the side for a wide degree.


Swinging the entire arm forward or backward is no problem at all.


Near 180-degree elbow bend - the best as compared to the other Kiwami Damashii figures reviewed on this blog in the past (Garo, Dan, Kamen Rider Blade Jack Form, and Zero). ^^


Swivel joints available between the shoulder and upper arm, elbow and forearm, wrist and hand unit to give each arm a wide range of posability. ^^


Ball-type joint spotted between the elbow and forearm, but only swivel action is noticeable with that particular joint.



Pretty standard expansion for the hip joints.


The conventional ball-type joint design for the hips.


The leg can be bent forward for a wide degree, but not to the back at all due to restriction from the hips.


Double hinge-joint for the knee allows it to have a full 180-degree bend. ^^


With color matching that of the main body, the hinges of the knee joint is not obvious at all.


Separated thigh swivel spotted. ^^



Hinge joint for the ankle similar to that on Kamen Rider Blade Jack Form gives the figure almost unrestricted ankle movement. ^^




The combination of all the leg joints help to give this figure a very natural-looking kneeling pose. ^^
Interestingly, despite being the pilot release of the S.I.C. Kiwami Damashii series, Kamen Rider Hibiki's articulation design is not only close to that of Kamen Rider Blade Jack Form, a relatively newer release (February 2011 release), two of its major movable points: elbow and knee are actually more articulated. ^^ On a related note, Kamen Rider Hibiki's articulation design is way better than that of the three Garo Kiwami Damashii figures reviewed in the past: Garo, Dan, and Zero. For that, I'm not sure if I should conclude that Kamen Rider Hibiki's articulation design is extremely awesome, or the three Garo Kiwami Damashii figures have really poor posability in retrospect. ^^;

The character design of Kamen Rider Hibiki certainly plays a significant role in enabling many of its flexible movable components. The lack of large armor pieces and appendages on the figure is certainly helpful to avoid collision between parts when they are being moved. The same point would be an obvious weakness for the three aforementioned Garo Kiwami Damashii figures, where all of them have large armor pieces with very elaborate details which are good to look at, but not very helpful in supporting the figures' articulation. ^^; For that, Kamen Rider Hibiki represents a case of "less is more" I suppose - fewer armors, but better posability. ^^

Utilizing the many articulation points introduced above, performance of action poses is certainly not an issue for Kamen Rider Hibiki: ^^









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













More action poses of this S.I.C. Kiwami Damashii figure coming up in the next posting. ^^