S.I.C. Vol. 16 Kamen Rider Black RX & Kamen Rider Black Part 4

Sturdy, not-very helpful joints
Continuing the review on Kamen Rider Black from S.I.C. Vol. 16 Kamen Rider Black RX & Kamen Rider Black set with a look of its articulation design after focusing on its overall design and details in Part 3.




Limited side-to-side swivel for the head, obstructed by the collision between the palpus and the neck piece.


The vertical tilt of the head is much more flexible though.
Besides the head itself, the neck piece can also be tilted up/down slightly via its hinge connection to the collar piece to support the head's movement.


As the collar piece is connected to the top of the chest via a ball-type joint, it can be moved independently of the head to create some interesting poses for the head.


Swinging the arms forward/backward is very easy.


Severely limited movement range for the arm to be lifted from the side of the body. ^^;


Despite having ball-type joint for its shoulder, the connection located in such a tight and narrow spot is too limited to support the joint's movement. ^^;


The elbow joint, which is fixed to the forearm, allows the the latter to be swivelled around the upper arm.


About 45 degrees is how much the elbow can be bent. ^^;


Ball-type wrist joints allow the hands to be swivelled in all directions without much trouble.



Side-to-side and forward-backward bends are possible for the waist.


The insect legs on the chest can be lifted, although it isn't counted as one of the figure's articulation points I suppose. ^^


The hips are designed with very ordinary ball-type joints.


Rather standard hip expansion enabled by the ball-type joints shown above.


Using the same joint, the leg can be bent upward for a very limited 45 degrees. ^^
Unfortunately, bending the leg backward is impossible thanks to the figure's buttock that gets in the way. ^^;


90-degree knee bend.


The knee bend is enabled by the double-pointed ball-type joint that connects between the thigh and the lower leg.



Thanks to the ball-type knee joints, the legs can be swivelled inward/outward. ^^;
It's a very unnatural-looking articulation point that may come in handy in certain poses perhaps. ^^



Turning the foot to all direction using the ball-type ankle joint is very easy.
Despite having ball-type joints for all of its major movable parts, the articulation on this S.I.C. action figure is very limited. Theoretically, ball-type joints should allow for flexibile all-range movement, but the slots that those joints are connected to weren't designed with enough space for the joints' maneuverability, so they really can't move much. Following that observation, it's not surprising to see that the most articulated joints are located in the waist, knee and ankle. The head has wide range of vertical tilting as well, when the palps aren't obstructing the movement; the waist's ball-type joint is not limited by the hips and can be rotated rather easily on top of them. The abdomen is perhaps the articulated movable point, featuring flexible forward-backward bends, but that's only because it's on a hinge and the body armor made of soft plastic isn't blocking it in any way.

In essence, the joints themselves can provide the flexible articulation range to the components they are attached to, but how well that actually work out depends on how much the latter are willing to "cooperate". On Kamen Rider Black, it's obvious that that "cooperation" is lacking.

Then again, I can understand that the lack of articulation is a compromise for a better and more solid-looking image of the figure without any action pose - the plain standing pose in the previous posting. Most of the joints appeared to be "hidden" quite well on the figure, being encapsulated by their connection points. On top of that, the round shape of a ball-type joint blends in better with the figure as opposed to say, a double-hinge joint, which would be able to offer more superior articulation range, but would look too obvious as an artificial joint.

Overall, I'm pretty sure the figure wasn't designed to be good in the posability department, and the joints were designed to blend in with the overall look while offering minimal level of articulation. As mentioned in the previous posting, I do like the figure's look, so I'm certainly not going to complain about the lack of posability when it was deliberately designed with that flaw to look good.

But I'm going to get it to pose for action nonetheless. ^^








Supported using Soul Stage Act 4 for Humanoid Clear.





Some more action poses from this S.I.C. action figure in the next posting. ^^