[Lbsammills51]

Garren King time!




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.



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.



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.



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.



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.