Neither would I. Doesn't SIC Kabuto come with the parts for Masked Form, Rider Form, Hyper Form, Hyper Clock Up Mode, Zecter Kabuto, and Decade Kabuto?

Masked form parts are not included with the Kabuto release.

They're included with the Dark Kabuto/Gatack release.

Yup, plus the Zectrooper parts.

Finally got around to opening these guys! It was...well let's just say an experience.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps4xoenopm.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psgudrffhb.jpg

Kikaider is preeeeeeeeeetttty. The use of clear plastic along with the metallic red & black works great. He does feel noticeably lighter & less bulky compared to the average SIC figure, for what it's worth (including those without much add-on parts and low on the Chogokin aspect of SIC).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psrnznflmb.jpg

How the effect pieces connect to each arm is different for some reason. Whereas the left side swaps in by just sliding onto the end of the forearm, replacing the (die-cast) wrist cuff, the rigth side swaps in by aligning a small groove on the end of the forearm with a slot on effect piece (same for its swapped-out wrist cuff). I'm not sure why that was necessary.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psts8xhf1r.jpg

You can interconnect the effect pieces by swapping out this gap filler piece out of the blue/green effect. It's easy to swap in and out, but I found it a really tight fit to connect the red effect with the blue/green. Having the blue/green connect to the right arm in a more specific way lead to it frequently popping off the arm, so I had fun connecting one, then reconnecting the other, and then trying to pop the hand on in the meantime.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps8rjva43t.jpg

Once you do get a stable connection though, it turns out pretty well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps1nmwg3mg.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pswywu4eve.jpg

The Figuarts didn't do much for me personally, but this SIC of Kikaider turned out gorgeous. I'm not as big on the upcoming SIC Hakaider, but I do hope some of Kikaider's other forms get SIC releases down the line.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps4jswvwd7.jpg

Now, Birth. This sucked.

Compared to not just your average OOO SIC, but most other SIC in general, standard Birth feels pretty plain. It's not ugly, but a relative lack of shiny color or clear plastic amidst all that matte black & metallic silver makes Birth feel a bit dowdy for a line that's so eye-catching.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps1gxo5f6a.jpg

The handle on Birth Buster is VERY soft plastic. At first that didn't feel like a bad thing, given Birth has the typical hard-to-pry-open gripping hands of many SICs, but maneuvering the Birth Buster into his hand meant bending the handle enough I became worried that I could start tearing the plastic a bit if I'm not careful. More on the soft plastic in a bit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pszd65vyqp.jpg

So, you figure armoring him up will do the trick right? Well, this is where the "fun" starts.

To armor him up, here's all the stuff you remove. The small green/clear pieces are surprisingly easy to remove (I could just use a finger to pry each one up, despite there being no obvious groove to squeeze a finger or even nail into), though be careful about removing it too forcefully or it will slingshot off its body. Pretty much every single green/clear piece on his body (including the ones you're not instructed to remove) are removable in the same fashion, and all appear to be the exact same piece, so you don't have to memorize which piece goes into which slot on his body.

The small gray pieces on his arm are easy to pry out as well. The gray pieces on his leg though are a BITCH to remove. To top it off, they're made of noticeably soft, pliable plastic (more soft than I'm used to seeing in a SIC). I pretty much had to rip mine out of the pegholes to remove each one; there's some scuffing on the peg, but I can't tell if it's just scuffing from a reaaaaallllly tight connection or if I actually stressed the plastic by removing them. Be careful with these pieces; if I had to use any more force than what I did, I really wonder if I would've ripped them half, that's how soft the plastic feels.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psxnpyupkr.jpg

(The swappable head pieces, at least, can swap in and out with no problems.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psw5cscotn.jpg

Now the part that made me want to chuck this thing into the next zip code. I haven't inspected each SIC I have to confirm this, but from a brief glance I'd say most SICs have shoulder pieces (like Figuarts) that attach to the body via a hinge joint or some sort or peg in to the body from the front & back. Not Birth; his shoulder pieces connect by a peg to the back of the shoulders only. The shoulders are not die-cast, but they are still made from a thicker plastic, so there ends up a lop-sided kind of feel to them. I didn't think this would be bad, until I tried armoring up Birth, starting with connecting the drill arm to the body. Birth has really loose floating pieces that make up the upper arm (on both arms, actually), which isn't uncommon for SICs. What's annoying is that on Birth, the pieces on mine constantly slide down as I'm trying to connect the drill arm, meaning it wouldn't peg in securely. I tried gripping the body from around the head/shoulder area while using my other hand to peg in the drill arm, without using great force, just angling the arm in the right way so I could get the proper clearance for everything. Then this happened.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps1xtwknp7.jpg

Both shoulder pieces broke at their peg in the back. Part of the pegs remain stuck in the body, and though they're not frighteningly thin, they're also not so large that trying to glue them back to the shoulders looks like an easy thing to do.

Great.

I went ahead trying to armor him up anyways and found out the following:
- The tank tread booties are made from a soft-enough plastic, which is a very good thing, because you really need to squeeze the feet in there.
- The additional tank tread pieces you peg onto the sides of his tank tread booties don't align with the bottom of the booties, leaving you with this if you want to pose him with the legs straight or flat-footed in any way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pso5vx7802.jpg

- The tops of the tank tread boots have a front & back that disconnect & then reconnect by pegging into & around the leg. The left reconnects around the left leg just fine, but the right doesn't reconnect as well, for no reason I can discern.
- The pegs used by the back boot pieces, the additional tank treads, and the pincher arm are kind of thin, which, given what happened to the shoulders, makes me more afraid than I'd usually be about fragility.

Armored up, he looks like this; I can at least use the pincher arm to peg into the left shoulder pad and have it "hang" there over the shoulder, the I can't say the same for the right. it's OK, but not quite as impressive in-hand as I was thinking it would be (even if the shoulders hasn't broken off), and it's not helped by the hips being a bit loose and causing it to sag (the lack of a flat base for the tank tread feet compounds this).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps0idk7xvb.jpg

All in all, I haven't been as frustrated and annoyed by a SIC release since I purchased some of the older pre-Den-O figures and had them randomly break on me. At least those are known to do that, and even some disappointing post-Den-O releases I own (TheBee, Hopper Bros) are boring mostly due to a small accessory count but are still functionally fine and aesthetically interesting to me. This is just a flat-out annoying release with a lot of decisions that perplex me (why the hell do the shoulders connect the way they do? why such soft plastic used in certain areas? why leave the tank tread feet like that?).

I'm not sure this is something I really want to buy another to replace this broken one, and now I'm really unsure whether I want to track down a Birth Prototype. If I recall correctly, some of the other armor pieces come with Prototype (the ones not included that are shown on the back of the box & promo pics), which do include pieces that can connect to the right shoulder pad, so maybe that can give the illusion that the shoulder pads aren't busted...but yeah this experience makes me wonder if I should even bother.

If any of you bought this or were thinking about it, I sincerely hope my experience is an outlier and you guys enjoy a much better figure than the one I got.

Ugh, that sucks about Birth, man. Can you glue the shoulder pads on and just have them be immobile? Or would it restrict movement too much?

At least Kikaider is good, and you also have New Den-O which I think is a great figure. They really need to release Teddy and Seig, though. The only Imgain we never got.

I think I could glue them on and still retain decent movement without it being hindered too much. I'll have to take another look at it soon (right now it's back in its box, I was just so irritated with it I didn't want it even out on display) and see what my options are.

Yeah New Den-O is top notch, I'm glad I finally snagged one. I need to pick up more of the Den-O SICs; the ones I own (New, Nega, Super Climax) are all pretty cool.

Hey all, I've got a SIC OOO TaToBa, which I'm absolutely in love with (he's my first and only SIC figure), but one of the shoulder pads broke off the teeny-tiny hinge. Is there a website where I could theoretically/potentially find a used TaToBa for parts?

Also, the swap-able arms and legs have gotten oddly loose as time as passed, so when I try to insert the peg in, it's super loose or doesn't even stay in. Is this common for SICs? Is there a fix for it?

Gaim Orange Arms S.I.C. will be release retail in June

http://tamashii.jp/special/pickup/20.../img/03_01.jpg
http://tamashii.jp/special/pickup/20.../img/03_02.jpg
http://tamashii.jp/special/pickup/20.../img/03_03.jpg

This..... this is bad ass!! I want it!!

Oh hey, a retail release even. First on that front since Flame Dragon/All Dragon. Maybe not all that surprising, but given what's (not) happened with the MonsterArts and Ultra-Act lines of late, I'm just glad SIC's still able to justify a retail release now and then.

Gaim's special page is up, we get a look at his weapons in Naginata-mode, and we also get his price: 8,424 Yen. That was kind of what I expected; he's not as expensive as Wizard Flame Dragon but not as cheap as the regular Flame Wizard.

I’ll want to see how much discounts certain retailers offer before I pre-order, otherwise I just wait and see if he goes on sale eventually.

Yeah at that price I don't need him right away. All I can do is hope that he won't shoot up with being Gaim and all.

Hmmmm Kachidoki is the one Gaim form I don't own any version of.

So if they make an SIC Kachidoki sign me up!

Shit that's like $100 Canadian. No thank you.

The product page is up and we get some new pics:

http://i.imgur.com/bC3ZuoS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/sEQjDz7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KeFB1wI.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tFfcvtr.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QEfUX6S.jpg

Man he looks great. Like, I didn't even realize how huge the Musou Saber is, it's now proper Katana-size, I love that.

Damn, I may not be able to resist getting this on release... I hope he sells like hotcakes so I don’t feel bad when I see him on sale later ;)

Garren King time!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psyn6ax4ua.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psu0c8k0rs.jpg

Garren's King Form looks similar to Blade's; a little disappointing for me, given Leangle's Jack Form figure is so much more unique compared to Blade & Garren's. I like Blade King Form's design so it's not a bad thing to play off that look, I was just hoping for a more unique look.

Posability is decent, but a bit limited in some spots (mostly the shoulders) thanks to the armor, as one would expect. Unlike Leangle Jack, he's not absurdly top-heavy so balancing isn't an issue.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psaouttx8l.jpg

The cape/wings are almost entirely clear black plastic that attach to the mounting piece via swiveling ball joints. The clear black is a nice departure from plain clear plastic I'd normally expect to see for insect wings. Random bits I wasn't expecting - the peg that the wing mount attaches to is part of Garren itself, rather than the mounting piece. Also, the clear black has an oily, slick feel to it. It adds an air of realism to the bug wings, but it's slick enough that you'll want to watch what you're doing if you're trying to swap hands while gripping it from the back with the wings attached. I literally double-checked my hands multiple times to see if any residue was being left on my fingers.

Posability of the wings is decent, able to swivel up & down and back & forth a bit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psaasihtod.jpg

His BFG is large but not annoyingly bulky (his hands are another matter, which I'll get to). The cards are die-cast again and can unroll (unlike Leangle Jack's, but similar to some of the earlier SIC Blade figures). They also threw in a swiveling grip on the underside of the rifle, which comes in handy when trying to pose it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psxtspio7w.jpg

You can pose Garren King with just the one hand gripping the gun, or one gripping while another propped beneath it, as below, but because of its size and the upper torso armor, it's not an exact fit. What complicates matters is the gun is a bit of a loose fit in the prescribed gripping hands; it won't fall out easily, but as you're trying to arrange the arms you have to watch what you're doing to make sure you don't loosen the grip and then knock the gun out. That's where that swiveling grip on the bottom comes in handy, providing that extra leverage to keep it in place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psa4l8ausj.jpg

I've enjoyed this trip back down Blade the SIC line has provided the past year or so - Leangle Jack & Garren King aren't perfect, but they're both interesting in their own ways, and (paired with the 2010 Wild Chalice) allow people to own SIC figures of the other Blade Riders that won't fall apart in their hands. What this release does stress further though, is the lack of a new Blade itself. Be it a re-release/renewal of the earlier figure (that doesn't break on people this time) or a made-up design, I really hope we see something like that someday soon.

Got my Hakaider in the mail and he's definitely another winner. I wasn't expecting to be quite so wowed compared to Kikaider since he came with gorgeous effect parts and Hakaider's design doesn't feel quite as radical (due to the Amemiya movie) but he came out great. The detailing is superb and all the new little flares like the translucent purple pieces work really well on the suit.

Also impressed it came with an alternate Gill Hakaider chest piece. If it had the cape too I could have seen myself picking up two :lol

http://i.imgur.com/iA9TsRS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jkDNqfD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/buFcxAD.jpg

A wee bit belated, but it's SIC OOO Latorartar!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psps8tfwfd.jpg

Latorartar manages to feel plainer than the other OOO SICs, or most SICs in general, honestly. I think him being relatively devoid of as much metallic paint and clear plastic bits contributes to that. Either way I can't imagine leaving him displayed in this form.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pszzhgeiil.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psk8uu2ixk.jpg

His alternate head is, thankfully, mostly clear plastic, so Super Saiyan mode looks nice. (Seriously, what else could have inspired that?)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psntuqu81s.jpg

The alternate hands are much more similar to Super Tatoba's than normal Tatoba's. Oddly, on Latorartar, they feel awkwardly oversized in a way they don't on Super Tatoba.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psndhqhgkn.jpg

The cat legs are big, bulky in the thighs, but surprisingly stable despite the odd proportions. He remains well-balanced in most poses I can put him in, and that's despite the feet not appearing to contain any die-cast.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pstz4vkket.jpg

The way the legs are designed, you can go for a four-legged cat mode. Though the alternate head contains a double-hinge joint and there's some decent maneuverability with the actual neck, I can still only get him to look up only so much. It's not bad, but not quite as dynamic as I was hoping.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psa49aspq8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psfiwcczx6.jpg

(You can do this though.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psct4mxko7.jpg

In the earlier pics, I forgot to plug in the tail. It's uncoincidentally a pretty forgettable piece. With as much flair and over-the-top batshittery that SIC usually features for accessories, having a tail this small and wimpy feels lame. I don't know about doing something ludicrously long, but maybe something with actual joints in it?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psjke4vvjv.jpg

All in all, OOO (presumably) caps off with a decent release, albeit not their best. Latorartar really would've been helped by metallic paint and/or clear bits in his lower body to blend in better with his other forms. Together with the others, these are still among the favorite figures I own.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psbjqyvmnp.jpg

P.S. I went and re-purchased another SIC Birth a little while back (I'm stubborn). As long as you pop the shoulders off first and then parts-swap, you shouldn't end up breaking anything. The right arm swap for the drill arm remains frustrating as fuck, thanks to the upper arm being a bunch of loose floating parts that slide around. OOO Latorartar doesn't have that problem with the claw hands at all; it's amazing how so unfrustrating a figure can be when you don't design an arm with crap sliding around as you're trying to peg something in (having a really tight peg hole on the drill doesn't help either). I guess I'll track down a Birth Prototype eventually, but this is still one of the more frustrating figures in a line that I typically love.

Hacchaka has gallery for SIC Gaim:

http://blog.livedoor.jp/hacchaka/archives/51982322.html

I didn't realize SIC Gaim was going to be so huge compared to SHF Gaim. Are SIC's usually larger than their SHF counterparts?

Those picks are awesome!! And yes. The SIC are always bigger. SHFs are about 6 inches, whereas SIC are 8 inches I believe.

It looks great but the fake scabbard is bugging me a lot. I know it's a huge nitpick, but I just love poses of swordsmen drawing their swords.

But hey, as usual the figure is still in stock at a lot of places so maybe it will still be there when it's sales time.

SIC Gaim Orange Arms makes me wonder how crazy Kachidoki Arms would look if it was made into a SIC figure.

I don't want to think about it just yet. :lol

Yup. S.I.C.s usually stay within the seven inch area whereas SHFs fluxurate between five and six.

Is that folding screen actually included with the figure?

Upon further inspection, I can't help but realize how long the neck is on the figure when you take all the armor off it. It looks almost alien in a since. :lol

SIC Kiwami Tamashii Den-O Sword Form for around 21 USD: a steal? just okay? overpriced? Any thoughts on the figure itself?

I wouldn't think about getting this if I had an easier time finding the SHF version, to be honest.

IMO, 21 is a steal. Most SIC can cost as low as like 40/50. Grab it and run like your life depends on it.

Shishio's gallery is up and apparently the scabbard does work, the peg is just to hold the sword in place so it won't fall out.

http://i.imgur.com/spJ5pQQ.jpg

Yes, but it’s the back piece of the box so you’ll have to cut it out yourself.

Y'know, continuously seeing the armor off makes me wonder.... SIC AC? Or at the very least, potentiality?

I think they're going for that yeah. SIC usually goes for interchangeability.

Looking at the lines that came before its very likely thats what they are going for.

Uggggggggggh. It's not right that I'll have an SIC Gaim Banana Arms before an SHF...

It's not the full sized SIC though. Kiwami Tamashii. Still a good deal?

21 is a little bit pricy for a kiwami tamashi imo

Most KTs hardly reach far past the $10 mark.

Also SIC Gaim looks phenomenal. I desperately want Kachidoki and Kiwami, and I bet the energy riders are going to look intense. Hopefully the aftermarket prices are favourable because there's just no way I can afford this.

It is not a steal. The Kiwami Tamashii line is the smaller variant of S.I.C.s. When it comes to them I do suggest going through sites such as Mandarake or Jungle where they are sold for their retail price or less ($10 USD or lower).

Definietly check Mandarake as I'm seeing it hover around 600-1000 yen.

Regularly too, as does Nega Den-O.