Like you said, you live in the US. So trust me, theyre not good to do business with outside the US.

Bbts is a necessary evil ive used a few times, but it always takes about a month to reach me and i get nailed with a customs charge of around 25-40%.

Given how slow they can be to fill preorders on imports, id be hesitant to use them for figuarts, but i'll keep my preorders as a backup

If I'm buying something huge that's gonna cost me an arm either way, I may do BBTS. Like with NECA's Portal Gun. That thing was so big shipping was basically the same no matter where I went, and when I ordered it BBTS was the best price.

I used to buy BW figures off of BBTS, it it was just barely worth my wile. If I hadn't snagged them for the great-to-incredible prices I did, I wouldn't have even bothered.

For any that missed out on Asian retailers' preorders on Putotyra, it's available again on AmiAmi.

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...%24pagecnt%3D1

EDIT: And an hour or so later, it's sold out again. (In comparison, Ultra-Act Father of Ultra was also made available again and that's still up.)

So, Putotyra's out, anybody got him yet? Dying to see in-hand pics of the final figure. I'm buying him ASAP.

Mine should be coming in a day or two. My AmiAmi order left customs already.

Mine's being held up by an Evangelion shirt that hasn't come in yet. I probably won't get Putotyra in until next week.

EDIT:

Speaking of, HLJ still has Putotyra in stock, for those that haven't picked it up yet (AmiAmi's sold out).

I got him couple days ago

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7453/8...7b9c445fa9.jpg
S.I.C. Putotyra by Ultraman23, on Flickr

So pretty.

Sidenote, but AmiAmi didn't get my Evangelion shirt in after all (doh) so I paid for my order with Putotyra last night. Hopefully I'll get it by next Monday/Tuesday, provided it ships within the next day or so.

Do the wings have to plug into the back of the head, or can they come out of the back?

It connected through the back. They give you another piece that holds the wings up to his head
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5470/8...ce4c29f2d1.jpg
IMG_3608 by Ultraman23, on Flickr

Oh man that's awesome. I don't like Dumbo-ear mode. I'm glad you can just have him a normal winged ccreature.

Not a big fan of the wings, but that tail is just awesome.

Anyone have any experience with the SIC version of Ryuki? AmiAmi got a preowned one in so I added it on a whim to my June order (I LOVE this design, plus the Dragredder...I already have the Figuarts on its way with my May order). I know it's an older release and found pics but not much in the way of a detailed review (things to watch out for in terms of fragility, if any).

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...TOK-01781-R014

EDIT:

Also, a side question - this doesn't affect the Ryuki I bought, but another pre-owned SIC I'm looking at...for the condition of items AmiAmi lists as an "Item: B" grade, does that mean there actually are noticeablely dinged up, or are those typically solid? I've never purchased pre-owned stuff from them up until a few minutes ago, so I'm not sure how liberal or conservative their grades are.

The Japanese are kind of insane (in a good way) on their grading of pre-owned items. Any imperfection is considered damaged. I've gotten a figure from Mandarake before that the only thing "wrong" with the toy was that someone replaced the tape holding the accessories in the box. That was considered box damage. Unless they note a major flaw, you shouldn't worry.

Oh ok, I see. Cool, thanks for the clarification! That makes me feel better.

Went ahead and added the item in question, a pre-owned S.I.C. Kabuto, to my June order then. Damn this is going to be a big one (Go! combiner, Ultra-Act, Blastoise).

My Putotyra arrived today and it is a beautiful thing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps47b3b5c4.jpg

Not quite as much clear plastic as Gatakiriba (the one SIC I have in hand so far), but the metallic purple and silver is really pretty in-hand.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps5f08b964.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps0adc6305.jpg

Hands pop on and off relatively easy and the wings are easy to pop on and off as well. My only nitpick, and this is possibly/probably owed to the fact I'm still relatively new to this line, is when disassembling the figure at the waist to swap out the standard belt/skirt for the belt with the tail, it was a bitch to get that ball joint to pop back in and stay that way. A stand is included but if you do use the tail, you probably won't need it. I do find the stand less dynamic than, say, the stand that comes with SHF Ryuki (which came in the same order) plus some of the claw and pole pieces pop off much more easily than the Ryuki stand, so it's not something I'm thrilled to use either way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps4f34d454.jpg

Quick comparison with Gatakiriba. Putotyra has a lot more going on, in terms of extra parts and molding, than Gatakiriba (I've yet to get Tajadol in hand, that remains in my PoL and I'll get Tatoba eventually).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps0e6f1f39.jpg

Still, I'm pretty happy with this release. Gatakiriba remains my favorite because I love the metallic green, but Putotyra's top notch. It feels more regal, I suppose (the wings serving as a cape of sorts, as I currently have them, probably help with that vibe)?

Yeah, the stand that came with TaJaDor was a piece of junk barely useful for holding up a Figuart. Also I'm sure the ball joint with loosen over time. The waist ball joints on the W SICs were quite good with being tight and secure but not offering resiistance when reattaching them. Weird the OOO SICs don't have that.

The stands they've been including with SIC's lately are Act 5's. Which are supposedly intended for SHF's SIC's and Robot Damashii's. But they're called mechanic stages for a good reason. They're mainly meant to be used with RD's and the like. SIC's are just far too large and heavy for that kind of stage to hold. Something more along the lines of a Cloth Myth stage would work.

Anyone know what the difference between the Tamashii Nation event exclusive Wild Chalice from 2008 and 2010 are aside from the box?

I love this line. Kabuto is pretty awesome and Ryuki is solid as well. I do wonder, if they could do Ryuki over, if they'd do a more, well, dragonish look for Ryuki a la the OOO figures? Either way he's still cool and thankfully doesn't feel fragile at all, which was a bit of a concern considering he's an older SIC figure. The Dragredder definitely could've been longer, but I'm still glad they threw it in. Kabuto's fun to take apart and switch between the different forms. Also, I know "chogokin" is part of the name of the line, but it was a bit surprising to see much more visible die-cast in these two figures in comparison to the OOO figures, which is currently my primary frame of reference for this line.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps27936459.jpg

Yeah, older SICs deffinitely keep the Chogokin in them. Zeronos has metal bracelets and anklets, but also metal shin guards that are kind of shiney metal. It's quite cool and an effect they couldn't have acheived with vac metal or something without looking too tacky. I don't mind the lack of metal, but it's nice when it's there.

Kabuto looks awesome, and he's a great SIC set since he has both his regular and hyper modes.

I don't know. Honestly I wouldn't mind if they made the whole line the more affordable SIC KT's. I own Decade and Kuuga Mighty and I love them. Kuuga's waist could be better, but I don't own a FAIZ. The big ones look amazing, don't get me wrong.

But the price point makes me cringe.

I'm on a budget damn it!

That is really what puts me off SICs, like the OOO SICs are gorgeous but I can't justify with myself paying that much money for a single toy.

Least Kickhopper and Kickpuncher are somewhat better priced.

It's funny, because past SICs are usually two-packs or sets where it's basically two figures on the same body.

Though I guess the OOO SICs make up for it somewhat with the large extras.

And it is nice to see that you can make alot of the different combos.

It's just... damn that's alot of money.

Doesn't help that most combos are exclusives.

That really sucks, because that just bumps the price up again on and already insanely priced figure.

I'm sure there is justification for their pricing but I'm a casual collector at best, in my mind figuarts are expensive as really all they do is sit on my shelf, I don't really 'play' with them as I would have as a kid and you can't really play with them anyway. Let alone SICs which are like three times the cost.

I know there are collectors out there that don't blink at the idea of like selling their car for a single toy or something nuts like that, and power to them, but I'm just not that hardcore a collector.

Regarding the price thing, yeah they are expensive (and Tamashii exclusives make it even worse if you can't middleman it for a decent price), but I look at it as getting, in a sense, two figures in one package considering so many come with multiple accessories to switch back and forth between appearances. What usually takes two figures or a figure and an upgrade set in the Figuarts line can be banged out in one release in SIC. That and the larger size help balance out the price for me, though I understand that they're not for everyone even then. They are damned impressive though, so if you ever have a favorite Rider that really stands out to you, it may be worth it to invest in that SIC release as a one-time splurge rather than jumping into the entire line.

Yeah I'm in this line for the aesthetic rather than some die-cast fix, but when it is integrated into the occasional figure like the two I picked up, it is pretty cool. And yes, Kabuto is fricken awesome. I think I'll keep him displayed in Hyper Mode for now. He'll go well with Tajador when I get that in-hand around the end of the month.

That's exactly why I can't pull the trigger and buy Figuarts. They're beautiful, I'd love to own some. But.. They are expensive. And in some cases fragile. And I know if I own them they'll just sit on a shelf, and if I break one I'll never be able to afford another. That's why when I had extra cash recently I went with Transformers instead. I can play around with them, and if one accidently breaks I won't have to sell a kidney to do it.

That's another reason why I love the SiC KT's. I've played around with Decade alot and he's built really solid. And he was cheap.

There really doesn't seem to be much logic behind the quality control of figuarts either, considering the money. Like my ShinkenRed and Pegasus Form for example are both as high quality as the hype says they are but then stuff like my DekaBlue is pretty damn flimsy and my Flame Style is just a piece of shit, it looks great but that is if you can stop it from falling to bits every minute.

And there's my problem with Figuarts and Masterpiece Transformers that suffer the same problems. Figuarts builds itself as the new standard in action figures, yet you get Fourze where the figure is solid but the switches fall off if you breath to hard. And ShinkenRed where you could run it over with a truck and it'd still be fine. And the same for Masterpiece TF. If you're going to call you product line Masterpiece or The New Standard then it'd better be damn near bulletproof. And they just aren't.

This set is incredible.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...psda2ddca1.jpg

I have a hard time disagreeing with Sentai when this is the kind of thing SIC does almost all the time. (or did) The amount of parts and options is staggering, overwhelming even. Granted I can't use some of the included pieces because I don't have CycloneJokerXtreme, but that doesn't diminish the experience. Cracking this open was like Christmas.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps49b6f0b5.jpg

One thing I stupidly forgot to poorly photograph was the memory gadgets. These things are tiny and incredible. They retain just about every single feature of the actual roleplay toys sans sounds of course. They are TERRIFYING but incredible.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps7a5a6057.jpg

The other thing I forgot to photograph (in detail at least) is the amazing sculpting on areas of the body. The asymmetry is subtle but gorgeous, giving every Philip half swirly, esoteric and organic stylings, while Shotaro gets very angular, greebly machined details befitting Metal and Trigger's abilities. But not to the point where it looks Two-face or anything, it's subtle. (it technically was present on CycloneJoker, but only in the chest instead of the torso, head, shoulders and braclets/anklets)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps4fd2a2f8.jpg

The paintwork is stunning. The application is surreal. It's not just the colour and paint used, though the colours are outstanding and perfect, it's the method of applying semi-clear coloured coats overtop of shiney silver for a metallic-without-being-sparkly effect. They glean in the light. It also goes without saying that the general sculpting is top notch with intricate details that manage to be greebly and organic without looking messy or futzing the shape of the body parts or overall look. Really makes me wish I had a better camera/setup.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps1ec2c4b2.jpg

One weird (i.e. the only negative thing I'll say about this whole thing) is that they took the time to cover up the hole on Metal's back from the connector, but left the whole for the Trigger Magnum. This is especially weird when you consider the Metal Shaft spends way more time holstered than the Magnum, which only ever sits on the chest when he first switches to Trigger or if he's on his bike, but also that the uncovered hole on the back is technically accurate to the show costume, wheras the Magnum leaves no visible connector. They should've covered up the Magnum hole instead. But the cover for Metal does make the figure look much better from behind and thanks to the detailing on Trigger's half of the chest the hole really isn't noticable as anything more than aesthetic choice.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps2f13fcc3.jpg

Also, formswapping could not be more fun. I also noticed some rather odd changes that were made in W production as time went on, sort of artifacts detailing it's evolution. Like how on CycloneJoker, at least the Tamashii Nations book version, his buttcrack is full silver, but on LunaTrigger and HeatMetal it's just the suit line. Fastforward to FangJoker and he's got no silver on his crack to no negative effect whatsoever. Also the W driver has slightly more painted detail on these than the book set or FangJoker, sporting the black middle section to complete the "W" shape.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps8c670b23.jpg

I also neglected to show the Metal Shaft Maximum Drive since, it's cool and all, but it really is stage one of the MD since it's less burning and inflamed and more like it's just heating up. I may get the effects set one day for a full-on Maximum Drive. (plus it's got other cool stuff like an extra long Luna arm for LunaJoker) I notice a lot of SICs, between multiple hands and effects parts would make excellent stopmotion or sequencial art because of just how many subtle actions you can replicate. Speaking of, the shaft itself is nine pieces total and can replicate any stage the show version can be in from tiny back-mounted to full-sized to fully extended. The Trgger Magnum is also nice (very cool shade of blue, just like Trigegr itself) complete with window for the memory, but I already have Skull so I knew that.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...psafc89bc0.jpg

The only thing left to mention is the formswap gimmick itself. I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but I love it. I knew how it worked from the other W SIC's I owned, but that was all just kind of leftover from this. THIS makes the gimmick more worth it than it already was. Seeing the SICs in person in every combination has sold me, more than I already was, on these line of figures and SIC overall. Why this kind of figure isn't being produced in show-accurate designs and marketted as "the new standard" baffles me. THIS is what the new standard of action figures should be. Durable, beautiful, chock full of sensible, unobtrusive gimmickry. I could pay hundreds of dollars for all of the.... okay W figuarts figures of all his forms. But instead I went for the slightly expensive magazine set and this set so I could have great-looking, solid, and all around superior in every practical fashion W figures at nearly twice the size and a fraction of the cost. Again, this is what figures should be. If these were accurate to the source material I could see this method of construction being the method of construction. Which is not a slam on the aesthetic in any way, in fact having W in all his half-and-half forms honestly makes me wish he looked like this in the show.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...ps65f61e24.jpg

I'd nomally say something like "to anyone and everyone who likes W in any capacity and wants to check out SIC, go for these" but sadly these aren't easy to find, and for good reason. I really wish bandai would reissue these, maybe even give the original CycloneJoker the form swap gimmick. So people like me wouldn't feel obligated to get the Tamashii nations set so they could have a formswapping CycloneJoker. (Then again this way I not only have CJ alongside CJX when I get him, but I can use the extra parts to make a Kamen Rider Joker custom instead of paying out the ass for the real one)

My very first bad case of breakage on a toy occurred just now. I picked up a Vol. 37 Leangle/Blade Jack Form set from AmiAmi a couple weeks ago and am just now getting around to opening it. Though both figures look really nice (I really like the different Blade forms), each figure had...issues:

- Leangle's left fist broke off at the joint as I was removing to swap it out for another fist. The ball is now stuck in there and I'll have to pry it out somehow to get another hand in.

- Leangle's left elbow snapped off as well; the joint isn't completely broken (I can try reattaching it and it loosely hangs onto the pin at the elbow), but yeah that'll be fun trying to superglue it or something.

- Blade Jack Form's left elbow also snapped off while popping on one of the other fists - on this one, it completely broke off.

Yikes. At least I didn't pay much for it. There were no signs of stressing at the elbows either, as far as I could tell, and I wasn't using excessive force or anything; they just broke/ripped off. It's too bad, each figure looks great. I haven't tried moving the right elbows too much so I don't know if those are at risk of breaking either.

From my understanding all of the Blade figures are really fragile, especially Leangle. I've heard that most of them break immediately out of the box.

Yeah, sadly basically all SICs pre-Den-O are prone to fragility.

That's unfortunate, especially because the actual Blade figure looked really good (especially since it has the parts for King Form, if I recall correctly). It had been on the "to-do" list for me, but now I'll have to really think long and hard about taking a run at one.

I own Ryuki and it actually seems pretty sturdy, closer to Kabuto and the OOO SICs. I have the Ouja/Knight two-pack on the way, so that'll be my next experience with older SICs.

I had heard that older SICs had fragility issues, but after Ryuki turned out well I admit I let my guard down a bit mentally. Oh well.

Okay after seeing people raving about the KT line in the SIC Bee thread and various other places, I'm beginning to wonder whether I should get a sample figure just to see if this line is as good as everyone says.

So, any recommendations?

I know people say Rising Ultimate Kuuga is one of the best, but the design/character doesn't really do anything for me. So as far as affordable ones go, are my only other options for now standard Kuuga and Decade?

Mandarake usually has a pretty decent selection: http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en...A5%B5%E9%AD%82

Personally, I think that most of them are very fun and solid little figures. The only ones I'd actually advise against as a starter are Blade (limited articulation due to bulky armor and hips), Garo (limited articulation for no apparent reason), or Zero (arms will not stay on to save their damn lives).

My personal favorites are the aforementioned RU Kuuga, any of the Faiz Riders, Den-O, and the Hibiki guys (although they have a different style of wrist peg that is more limited than the ball joints that later figures use).

Edit: forgot to mention Agito, he's really good, too.