Saturday, February 14, 2009

S.I.C. Vol. 35 Kamen Rider Blade Part 2 [Final]

All hail the King!


Part 2, the last part of my review on S.I.C. Vol. 35 Kamen Rider Blade will be about its King Form of course.


Not just the sword, all the King Form's armors are bigger than the ones for Ace Form.


No armor swapping for the head, you need to detach the entire head and swap it with the one from the King Form.

On a slightly separate note, apart from some of the joints, metal parts for this S.I.C. are all on the Ace Form. The blade part of his sword mentioned in Part One is one of them, the four armors for the forearm and lower legs are made of metal, as well. The Henshin device in the middle of his belt is also a metal part.

Since the belt is shared by the King Form, you can say that's the only metal part for him ^^;

Also, with the armors off, the potential of the figure's frame can be fully displayed:




With the weighty armors all gone, performing and sustaining difficult action poses is a no-problem-mo for the action figure.



Secrets to the wide articulation range: plenty of ball-type joints used including one for torso, two each for the neck and either shoulder, wrist, plus three for pelvis, knee, and ankle on each leg as mentioned in Part One.

Then again, even if the armors are limiting the movement, no one would complain about them at all. Certainly not me. Frankly, I'm not bothered with the articulation issue at all.

Moving on the King Form. Wuhhuh~ ^^



All hail the King~



The overall color scheme, the elaborated design of the armors, the sculpture of all the small Undead seals on the armors, the crystal blue base of the beetle in the middle of the chest, the sword, even the crack lines on the body armors.

No matter which part you look, more and more details keep coming up.

As a matter of fact, ...


... I think the overall design of the S.I.C. is way better than that in the TV series. For the later, the armors seem a little too simple, making those Undead seals seem a bit "out of place" (personal opinion), but they look much more natural on the S.I.C. version, since the armors are much more complicated. Even the cracks and rough surface on certain parts make the King Form looks more realistic, instead of merely a Kamen Rider costume.

The most obvious difference is no doubt the helmet design. I pick the S.I.C. version anytime. More fierce looking, and insect-like as well. ^^

Then again, the S.I.C. line is designed to be so - more realistic, insect-like - organic and dynamic are better words I think, and very distinctive from the TV series in the first place.








Mentioned in Part One that the Ace Form is having the issue of too much articulation for the lower leg, which is a case of strength-turned-weakness.

However...

For the King Form, both the thigh and leg armors are significantly bigger than the ones for the Ace Form, and their size lowers the articulation range of the knee, as the leg can't bend as freely now, limited by the armors.

So, right the opposite of the Ace Form, limited articulation for the leg, a weakness, provides stability as well as the strength needed by the action figure to sustain more action poses, which is a benefit.

Some weird good and bad combos found in this S.I.C., and I laugh every time I think about it XD


Option part for the device on the forearm: changeable cards.
Since the default one is embedded inside the device, you would need a toothpick or tweezers to pick it out to swap the part.


Not as cool as the card design on Blade's sword, this option part is plain silver. ^^;
But I'm not sure if that's how the design is supposed to be in the TV series.



Of all the action poses, the "standing-just-like-that" is still the coolest for me, and that's really a waste of all the well designed articulation XD


To store the figure back to the clear plastic tray, you need not return it to the Ace Form. The tray fits the King Form just right, and the compartments for his armors can be used by the Ace Form's as well, which are a bit oversize of course.

Final comment? I think this S.I.C. has too much to offer for its 3,500-Yen price tag :D

Next's up: a fierce lenglui is coming ^^

View full gallery:

S.I.C. Vol. 35 Kamen Rider Blade

5 comments:

Q said...

Those gold cravings etc must be one of the big reasons why you must get this right? ^^

Very nice how the joints are not easily seen, even when the armour pieces are removed (maybe it's because the body is black?). The standing-just-like-that pose is already very intriguing for me!

Ngee Khiong said...

>>Q

Exactly as you said ^^

Even though the standing pose is cool, I still put it back into the box after playing with it - squeezing it onto my cabinet doesn't look that cool anymore T___T

Anonymous said...

woah! it's the 1st time I c an SIC blade king form... n it's alot cooler than the tv series.. about the card, it should be a large diamond design n red bg color... but anyways, how much u bought it? where do u bought it? I want it too! A-must-have-item!!

Anonymous said...

Great post as for me. I'd like to read more concerning this matter.
BTW look at the design I've made myself Companionship in London

keropla88 said...

hi, ngeekhiong . recently i just bought a blade king form in loose condition. i would really appreciate if somehow you can help me by scan the manual of it and please email to me ??