And so I was finally able to give this assembleborg guy some proper joints, and I even have just about enough left to attempt a modifiation on my SIC kuuga, but I'll get to that after the yearly trip up to Baguio. 

Everything on Fire.

another grail off my wishlist. 

It's one of those days where one just feels lazy.

So damn pointy:S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii Wolf Orphnoch Review

Okay, I think I've played around with this guy long enough to form some opinions about him so here it goes.

Boy, I was excited, I was really excited. And now here he is and suddenly my enthusiasm becomes lukewarm. Not because of the figure itself, no it has a lot of strong points, it's just that after the Horse Orphnoch figure was previewed, suddenly (spoilers for anyone who hasn't watched the show) Takumi's figure didn't seem all that great.

For sure it's beautifully sculpted, even more than the regular rider figures, his look really does bring him closer to the Garo kiwamis though. But, as a design, there isn't really anywhere you can push in terms of making him look more SIC, since well... Orphnochs are pretty SIC already. What they just did was take the wolf orphnoch design and make it pointier. And it's really really pointy (probably why he's 95% soft pvc).

And despite these guys being absolutely boring in terms of color (every monster's palette is composed of varying shades of dull grays ), they did a great job with the colors, cutting up the predominant ash gray color with some worn silver/steel, a black detail wash, stark white eyes and if you look closely, gradients of rust. 

I'm only a little put off by how glossy the ink wash is, since it doesn't (for me at least) really add depth so much as scream WE ARE BREAKING UP THE GRAY. It does, however give the figure a certain "drawn" look, since the ink wash makes the detailing pop.

This is pretty much the extent of the figure's lateral movement, which is limited for obvious reasons, but hell, I've seen it happen so much on every  other release that I've almost stopped caring about it. The range is pretty believable though when you put the design into consideration. 

The way they were able to conceal the joints is pretty awesome though, and it shows especially on the knees, where the design isn't really broken up at all. I wish that joint was a bit dirtier though, as it is it's too clean and smooth.

The motion in the neck is pretty good as well, despite having a thick neck, the double ball post and sleeve design really makes it more flexible than it appears, which is crucial if you want to make him do a howling pose.

unfortunately here's the downside (and I'm hoping it's just a problem with mine), his joints go floppy real quick. He felt a bit loose out of the box and the more I played with it the quicker they got worse. But no worries, I just keep dripping pledge/ future finish into the joints to tighten them, though this shouldn't really be have to be something the buyer must fix themselves.

Here he is standing next to faiz, the dude is pretty tall with his legs straight but I prefer arching his knees in a more dog-like stance and hunching his torso to make him look more feral. And that way, he sees eye to eye with Faiz and Kaixa. Just to give you an idea how big he is,

 

Standing next to a Joe, he is monstrous. 

The only accessories he comes with is an extra pair of open hands which doesn't really do much (even if you have a vivid imagination).

It took me 20 minutes just to get him to balance for that.

Worth getting? Well at the price of  800 php (18 dollars) which is already at discount price, I can't really say.
Sure the design is great, paint apps are awesome though the color is outright dull, he doesn't have any other accessories, the amount of plastic used doesn't really feel like a lot, and he goes floppy fast. Buy at your leisure, but I'd suggest waiting until it goes for a good sale price, even if you are a 555 fan.

It really isn't justiΦed for now.

Gonna be collapsing soon. 

Ah, finally got him. Guess that rounds out my wishlist for 2011, next year will bring some more stuff, namely Sidebasher and Horse Orphnoch. I'll review Takumi here by next week, there's a lot I have to say about this guy, but I figure I'll be more articulate with my opinions after I play around with this figure for a bit. 

just another step-by-step painting grid.

because I watched a disappointing youtube tutorial about painting 'anime faces'

One small step for me.

Had to happen sometime. I've been practicing this for over a week, and I think I'm getting the hang of  resin recasting, using cheap RTV silicone caulk from tubes for making molds, and using Easycast Epoxy Resin (which is nice and flexible making it an ideal material for stuff like this) for the actual casts.

I'm starting small and reproducing extra parts. particularly, I recast Kaixa's fist so that Faiz would finally have a pair for himself. In the pic above you can see the results of the project, with the original placed next to the resin recast and in turn being placed next to another recast set that I resculpted a little to make it look different from the Kaixa set. 

The recasts are surprisingly a good fit, nice and snug and what's great about it is, as I've mentioned the material is flexible and can withstand a good amount of bend and pull without deforming or tearing. If I could try and describe how the material feels it's almost like pvc, which is great since the majority of the figure itself is PVC too. 

now here's the other resin fist set that I modified, raising the 'photon blood' vessels on the hand and making the fingers themselves rounder and less claw-like. After that was done all that was left was a quick paintjob and viola!

Now Faiz has three sets of hands (Still need to make a bit more for riotroopers and the hand armed with a faiz shot). next to him is my modified Kaixa, with replacement torso joint and brightened eyes.

time traveller!

Sometimes, retro toys are way cool.  Bought this from a friend, it's a 1999 reissue of the Microman Rescue Line, one of the clear variants. I actually bought 2 of them,but gave the clear black one to a friend of mine. Thinking about making a review of this guy but I'll save that for a rainy day.