worked on the horns before priming the figure gray. i covered the eyes in liquid frisket beforehand.

after initial priming i started sculpting the bracelets, smoothening out the calves, working on the thigh details and parts of the face again.

when those dry i'll sand down and sharpen them before moving onto the belt and anklets.

fixed the neck so it looks somewhat less-derpy. more soon (maybe)

he represents magic and stuff. (SIC Kiwami Tamashii Kamen Rider Agito- Trinity Form)

Impulse buy today...well actually  I liked the Agito ground form that I bought earlier in the week to turn into Kuuga so much that it made me goback to Great Toys (greenhills branch) to see if they had another one, but sadly it was reserved to some dude. I was very tempted to pretend to be the guy and get it anyway but bad karma is still bad. instead i saw another box marked Agito on the side and asked what it was. What i got was the Trinity form of Agito which...really looks nicer to me for a couple of reasons.

now I really don't watch much of the show unlike Kuuga or Faiz or OOO, but the design of this dude was just too cool to pass up. I really dig characters with contrasting colors as part of their design but i'm not a real fan of W if that's the assumption you're making. Think more along the lines of Kikaider and Kikaider 01, Barom 1, or if you're still lost, Two-Face. That's basically where I'm coming from  and I think the black base with bright metallic red and blue sides are what drew me to the Trinity form.

Paint:

The colors of this guy are very vibrant, of course it shows around where the flame and storm forms are, but the gold trim all over the body is pretty shiny too.

the red is a metallic candy red that is much brighter, and hotter than the blue on the other side which is a bit more toned down and cooler but still bright. it could be brighter yes, but as it is the blue is comfortable to look at and blends well with the red. on a side note the open palm of the red arm really reminds me of Ankh's hand from OOO. the rest of it fades into a matte black that really isn't all that interesting but brings out more of the sculpt. speaking of which...

Sculpt:

the sculpt is as intricate as you'd expect from the SIC Kiwami Tamashii line, or in SIC in general. and it shows very well in the details on pauldrons-

also the compound eyes on this figure are big and...friendly, but the sculpt underneath is really well done.
can't really say much else about how neat it all is but there are drawbacks in the design.

Part of it is how big the shoulder pads are and how they need to be mounted next to the collar that lifts it via a hinge. what it does is make the shoulder joint look very, very weird when the pauldrons are lifted up.

Another thing that contributes to this is the slightly elongated neck (yes I'm aware his motif is a dragon ), which doesn't look bad when the pauldrons are down but looks derp when they are, thanks to the low angled shoulders.  i would understand why though, proportionally it looks okay when in any pose other than the picture above. And I learned this when I worked on Kuuga using Agito Ground form as a base. 

 what bugs me as well is why they chose to mount them on hinges in the first place instead of ball joints which I think would have a more realistic range of motion when the arms are moved forward.

Articulation:

The articulation is well done on this figure and it can pull off a lot of plausible and dynamic fighting poses while being able to hide the joints convincingly. It's pretty much expected with these figures at this point.

It's pretty decent but nothing astounding. for one thing the pauldrons inhibit a lot of  frontal arm motion, but the sides are no problem at all. the waist joint isn't really all there and the hips are a tad limited. but for poses like the ones above, it's much more limber than a GI Joe.

Accessories:

Trinity form comes with a good amount. of course he comes with the finely detailed Flame Saber and Storm Halberd both of which have flip-out parts.

and yes, he can dual wield.

personally I favor the Flame Saber better, but it just wouldn't look fine held alone by Trinity form, and the damn Flame form is a Tamashii web exclusive.

damn. I really love the flip-out stuff on this dude.

Overall:

Agito Trinity form is a good deal because of the stuff he comes with, mainly two big weapons. the red and blue thing he has going on for him really draws attention to itself in a good way because they work well with each other, he's pretty poseable and to my experience nothing on the figure was loose at all. Kiwami Tamashii as a line is getting better and better and if you want to start buying the figures, but the ones you want haven't been made yet then I'd highly recommend this figure to you because of the fun factor he has. He has weapons, some cool play features, tight joints, and  excellent detailing. the only thing you really need to think about is the price. 

I bought him for 750 php (about 17$), which for a 12cm figure (4.72 inches) is pretty steep but  felt I got my money's worth. of course your mileage may vary.

it was only a matter of time.

 just hoping I finish this before Bandai unveils theirs. :\
 note to self: fix neck length.

krillin finds a dildo.

fun find of the day.

went on a short toy hunt today and snagged this small krillin figure for 150 php (more or less, $3). neat little guy, i think he's a good addition to my collection of 3" figures even if he does look proportionally scaled to 1/12.

pretty nice detailing and the paint's pretty decent. the poseability isn't half bad as well

also, i found out while playing around with him that he has magnets in his feet:

aside from that he comes with two orange....things, with the one star and four star dragonball designs on top. which you probably don't see but oh well.

i think these things work great as seats:

aside from that he has another cool accessory:

alternate hands holding a nudie mag.

dat ass.

this figure really isn't phenomenal, but it's decent and has lots of nice things going for it (the magnet feet for one). well sculpted and articulated, with a good even paintjob--the only only error is one of the eyebrows but it's fixable with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol. other hands would have been nice, maybe even an alternate head. but as it is krillin's pretty nice to have. 

Auto Vajin get!

i'll probably get around to a review soon. not too bad a figure, and now faiz has a sweet ride!

exceed charge

testing something out on GIMP. i like it. 

joyous returns.

aaah Faiz. how i missed you.

after giving away my first KT Faiz last christmas 2010 on a kris kringle kind of deal, i went and got another one today thanks to my brother.  well now i'm pretty much motivated to get KT autovajin, the Wolf Orpenoch and Kaixa....and Sidebassher...oh fuck my wallet's not gonna make it. oh well.

back on the sad bench for you, Faiz!

He's Well Trained. (A Review of Kiwami Tamashii Kamen Rider Hibiki)

I've recently started watching Kamen Rider Hibiki, and I'm about 4 episodes in (good show, has a lot going on for it, with the musical oni motif with a coming of age story written in as well),and bought Kiwami Tamashii Hibiki on a whim. cost me about 650 php ($15), which is a good price since this figure delivered for me in many ways. originally i had other plans on using the body but decided to keep it since the character has grown on me a bit. who am i kidding, after Kuuga i'm enjoying Hibiki's character now  as well he's a bro among bros, and not some pansy 20 something generic japanese prettyboy. the day they make a KT Kuuga mighty and Kamen Rider Birth (Akira) i'll be able to make a tiny shrine of manliness.

I didn't really pay much attention to the series when it came out but i was sort of attracted to the design of the costume when i first saw it. it's very... unique and almost certainly distances itself from the norm as far as  kamen rider is concerned, but as a henshin hero it's really a very intricate and interesting design, and the SIC version only heightened my fondness of it.

moving on,

The Figure:

this figure is really very detailed with the sculpt being very sharp and  doing well to keep your eyes looking around without getting bored in some places. the sculpt also does a great job of hiding the points on the articulation on this figure and still retains its unity when being posed (gonna come back to that later). 

from the sculpted disk animals on his side, to the holsters for his Ongekibou Rekka drumsticks, no minor detail is left out, or left bare. this is what makes the SIC figures very appealing to its fanbase, and generally the first thing newcomers would notice about the line that separates it from other rider related toylines.

some would call this style grimdark or gritty but it's not really as drastic  a re-imagining as the older and much larger SICs like Amazon or Black. if anything most of the new SIC toys are just hyperdetailed designs of the original concept, which is okay on most of them and works very well with Hibiki's designs.

The Paint:

the paint job of this thing? just wows me continually. the sculpt on the chest is accentuated by the very reflective silver paint that works pretty great with the glossy, metallic violet finish on the body. the red gloves, brown codpiece and detailed bits are a nice touch as well but jesus, that violet sheen! i'm in love with it. 

it's especially amazing in the face, notice how it's a bit darker, and blends into a silver highlight in the middle of the face.

 in the original design that point in the middle of the face was the most pronounced and reflected the most light and it translates well in how they painted clear violet over the shiny silver face but blended it in a way that it fades in the middle, making it look even more shiny. 

so shiny.

The Articulation:

Hibiki has a nice range of motion thanks to how his joints are done which ,while it isn't crazy articulated it still has enough in the figure to pull off believable poses (the swivel-hinges on the ankles really help this out a LOT), and it's done in a way that it doesn't break up the unity of the sculpt itself. in fact it does well to make the joints and their movements blend into it so it becomes very natural looking. 

he also has a killer center of gravity without even needing any diecast on him. 

Accessories:

Not a lot and it really could have been a better selection of parts. for one, alternate hands (even just one that depicts his trademark salute),  and those oni drumsticks as separate pieces.

 but seeing as he was the first ever Kiwami Tamashii figure ever made it's understandable that he has so few things. in fact  he only comes with the deployed drumsticks already attached to the gripping hands--which the tiny demon skull tips detach and also attach to the holstered Ongekibou Rekka drumstick accessory, and an empty holster piece to switch on his waist when he's holding the drumsticks,  his tuning fork that doesn't fold and can't be held and only attaches to a hole on his waist, and a pack of disk animals sculpted as one piece that also attaches to his waist and the other pair of open palms

recap:

1. Ongekibou Rekka attached to the gripping hands.(2x)
2. Ongekibou Rekka demon skull tips (2x)
3. Open hands.(2x)
4. Onggekibou Rekka holstered piece.
5. empty alternate holster piece.
6. Tuning fork.
7. Disk animal holster.

Overall:

Kiwami Tamashii Hibiki is a very nice piece for any kamen rider or 3 3/4" collection even if you don't know who he is. his design is very detailed sculpt and mystical looking design with a beautiful paintjob, his articulation is executed better than most western toys out there in this scale and price tag, he's tons of fun to fiddle around with, and a lot of care and attention went into his design and playability. that makes him well worth the price you buy him at.

i'd really recommend this figure for anyone looking for something different in this scale, and i haven't been so endeared with a toy in a while.