Saturday, August 21, 2010
Review: [Bandai] S.I.C. Volume 52 Kamen Rider Kabuto
Figure Info:
Manufacturer:
Bandai
Series:
Kamen Rider Kabuto
Scale and Height:
Non-scale and approximately 18cm tall
Tendou Souji recieved the rider belt when he was still young, it is revealed that from that point on, he has been training and waiting for the day "it" will arrive. And one day came, that the Kabuto Zecter appeared and came to him allowing him to transform into Kamen Rider Kabuto. As starters, Kabuto starts with his masked form and upon using a command on the Zecter, the masked form casts off and reveals the more powerful Rider Form, which has the ability to use clock-up, allowing Kabuto to move at high speed enabling him to defeat evolved worms which also has the ability to do such. Just what is the reason behind for Tendou training so hard to get the Kabuto Zecter? It's some promise he made and what that is will be you to find out by watching the series. Anyway, a pic of Kabuto in the show below:
And after many months of Review-Laziness, I give you another SIC review. ^^
Box/Packaging:
Details:
The box is colored the same as Kabuto's. And the window pattern gives that feel when the Masked Form is generated upon henshin, those cell-like effects XD The box width is your typical SIC package but more deep since Kabuto does have a lot of accessories and bonuses which will be discussed later.
Details:
As typical S.I.C.s Kabuto's armor is well detailed, giving off this feel of him being a mechinal rider since the Rider System of the series is man-made afterall. Though, no matter how imaginative they can get, it doesn't save Kabuto from having such a simple leg design but still the plates have details of their own.
Design:
Well, I won't score this on the overall but mentioning this is quite a must I feel XD One of Kabuto's bad points is that when he is just standing, he looks like his shoulder pads are really really droopy. But fear not, adjusting the arms can somewhat fix this droopy issue.
Accessories and Bonus Features:
To start with, Kabuto has all the modes of his kunai-gun included in the pack, the gun/axe/kunai modes and of course, a set of extra hands which includes the hand for his signature pose. Aside from that, they also included a decade belt which can be used to change Kabuto's belt into that of Decade's turning him into Kamen Rider Decade Kabuto Rider Form. As a really nice backtrack bonus, this belt can also be used on Volume 50, which is Kiva, all you have to do is remove Kiva's upper half first then pull out his belt and replace it with Decade's. They also included a Rider booker sword here where you can remove the blade and change it to gun mode. Pics of the Decade Kamen Rides below.
And like I said in the packaging part, Kabuto has a LOT of features and so now, we have the Hyper Zecter to his disposal.
And having the Hyper Zecter means none other than having armor swap parts to turn Kabuto into his "God of Speed" mode, Kabuto Hyper Form.
With Hyper Form intact, the droopy shoulders issue is eliminated, the hyper zecter can be inserted to the left of his belt of course. Detail and design wise, Hyper Form wasn't that altered much, he somewhat captures show accuracy but still giving you the feel that it's SIC due heavily to the details of the armor. Really one of the best Ultimate Form SICs out there. Although, I'm not pretty sure if it's the same in the show but Hyper only has hyper parts for his right foot, the left remains the same as Kabuto's.
Of course, the Hyper Form madness doesn't just stop there, as the series had it, when Hyper Clock Up is activated a bunch of Kabuto Hyper's armor open up making him look even cooler than he already is. Basically, the Hyper Clock Up is the best selling point of this pack, just because this only makes the pack a totally good and awesome buy. Clock up mode just needs a few parts swapping and opening his back and attaching this epic wings which show up whenever he uses his finishers.
Last but not least for Hyper Form is that the pack includes an incomplete Perfect Zecter, so, I guess to complete it, there will have to be TheBee, Drake and Sasword releases in the future. Anyway, moving on... Yes, the bonus features isn't over yet as we now go to the last feature of this pack. Apparently, as a Decade belt was included, one of the new points that this pack introduced into the line is the ability to transform the Rider into his Final Form Ride, which in Kabuto's case is the Zecter Kabuto. The instruction manual will teach how to transform Kabuto into it. Here's a pic of how big it is, with Decade standing on top of the Zecter.
The Zecter Kabuto shell is one massive piece of Die-Cast metal, enough to probably knock down some annoying guy when you throw it to him, it's really big, inside the shell would be where you'll need to split Kabuto into half and place him there. Apparently, because of this, Kabuto sometimes have QC issues that his pelvis detaches easily. Anyway, details of the Zecter below
Just for a few more additional stuff. The back of the Zecter can be opened to actually show it in flight mode, the wings you attach are the same as the ones you'll use for Hyper Form. Though, I don't really care for the FFR, it's still a pretty nice addition. The same concept will be used for the upcoming Kuuga Decade Edition this December.
Poseability:
Kabuto's pretty much as flexible since the start of the double jointed SICs came. You can easily grab most of his poses especially since his drooping shoulders allow you free control on the shoulder joint with nothing limiting it. His Zecter's horn can also be played with by shifting it to the left and back to the right. Below would be some poses I did with him as well as Decade Kabuto Rider Form.
Sorry! No Rider Kick pose this time, the one I made was using the wrong leg XD
Decade Kabuto Rider Form
As you shift to Hyper Form, the shoulders get better in terms of appearance but this also limits the articulation for the shoulder since the pads are now attached to the armor but still Kabuto doesn't really fight with so barbarically so, it still doesn't affect the poseability part unless you really go all out and play with action figures that is. The Signature hand pose was included as well for Hyper so you can still do it.
Hyper Clock Up doesn't really make a difference in terms of poseability since you just swap a few armor parts but this form is more likely for his finishers alone but still the most badass feature of this wonderful pack.
Overall:
Kabuto is by far the most bonus-packed SIC release I've ever seen. Aside from only to himself, it also features back issue capability for SIC 50, making it a really worth it buy to the bit if you have Kiva. By far, nothing's a waste in this pack and it's pretty much at a good price as well, almost as expensive as a 2pack but heck, he's priced the same as Decade but is overall MUCH worth than him, just the die-cast content for Zecter Kabuto makes this pack rather "cheap" already for its price.
Remarks:
Detail - 10/10
Accessories and Bonus Features - 10/10
Poseability - 9/10
Price - 10/10
Average: 9.75/10
And finally for some closing remarks
God Speed, Kabuto... God Speed! XD
Well, as you can see, my rating is quite high for him, it's supposedly a 10 but his articulated just lacks a few more flexibility in terms of his leg but other than that, he's one of the must haves SICs out there, I mean, just look at the Hyper Form, it's definitely better than the really thin upcoming SHF version, detail wise that is. This is pretty much a 4 in one body release but really really epic, Hyper Form is also one of the best SIC ultimate forms along with Kiva Emperor and Blade King forms.
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For some reason, I think the droopy shoulders are part of the design. For me at least, it makes him look more bug-like. I find the Zecter mode awesome though, I'd like to sling one on a belt if I could, which reminds me, is it big enough to be a scale accurate Zecter?
ReplyDeletebro...can u review all sic model..really love it when see ur review..beside can be use for me to choose wat model i need to have...thx bro
ReplyDeletespecific model(s) would help XD since what I usually do is review my new hauls first unless someone requests for a review on a specific figure since I only review backlogs when I'm out of new reviews :)
ReplyDeletekamen rider X,apollo geist,kiva..say do u have another sic model beside the picture u put here??
ReplyDeleteOkay, will try to put them up by next week since I have to retrieve the pictures on my other home on the weekends. Nope, only the ones in the pictures and there's Volume 58 Luna Trigger as well, I don't have Heat Metal though since I shared the set with a friend, and NEW Den-O Strike Form for the limited bunch. Vol. 59 on the other hand should be here by next month, only dependent thing is if I'll be able to pick it up by mid Sept or late Sept.
ReplyDeletei love luna triger also..so weird...hehehehehhe....new den-o strike form?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the guy from Den-O Movie 3, Movie with Decade and Episode Blue
ReplyDeleteowh..i know that...wah...u got that?nice 1 bro
ReplyDeletebro..i already got 3 figure right now..so satisfied..hahahaha
ReplyDeletebro...where there review....hehehe
ReplyDelete