[TokuChris]

To the stage!

Known for making relatively good looking statues of the Kamen Rider heroes, Banpresto released their Kamen Rider Gaim statue of our favorite fruit-hero not long after the show began airing. Having seen a few vague previews of this statue, I thought it looked pretty neat, so I managed to snag one from Mandarake not long after they were released.

And I was wrong - this thing doesn't look pretty neat. This thing looks absolutely gorgeous.

The statue is, with the stand that the figure is on, over a foot tall (12 inches plus). The statue itself is hallow inside, making it incredibly light weight. The parts that you see (the Musou Saber, the crest on Gaim's helmet) may frighten you as "easily broken pieces", but that is not the case - the crest is actually made of either hardened rubber or super soft plastic, meaning that if the statue fell, that piece wouldn't be the first to pop off. The saber is a bit harder than that and, if you aim it right, could easily poke an eye out, but it's not going to cut you.

The amount of detail that went in to this statue is incredible. The part that stands out to me the most is the effort that went in to the visor - as you can see in pictures, it just looks beautiful. Even the Sengoku Driver receives a nice bit of love that keeps it faithful to the show. The Pine and Ichigo Lockseeds that are attached to his belt do not have the same level of detail that you see with the rest of the statue, but it's a very minor complaint - they are so small and, compared to the rest of the figure, is easily forgivable. They do have some intricate details (the Pine Lockseed has the ridges and bumps actually sculpted in).

Needless to say - if you're more than a casual fan of Kamen Rider Gaim then you need to pick this statue up. Banpresto outdid themselves with the Kamen Rider Gaim statue, and I cannot recommend it enough. While I am collecting nearly all the figurines from the Kamen Rider Gaim various toy lines, this will stand as a centerpiece to that collection because it just looks so cool.

It's difficult to find this item still for sale in new condition at a reasonable price - however if you're familiar with Mandarake they have listings (as of the time of this post) for 1,500 yen. (For reference, I purchased mine for 2,500 yen).