Onore Decade! A Kiwami Tamashii Kamen Rider Decade Review

I have to confess that I've never watched a single episode of Kamen Rider Decade in my life. 

I've been advised by friends to stay away from it because of the badly executed premise and supposedly rushed production that affected the overall story, well that and the confusing storyline (I've read summaries and they give me a headache).

Still I thought I'd give the Kiwami a chance, it looked good in the production pictures, so does it deliver in-hand? Mostly, anyway.

It's quite obvious how most of it is based on the full scale SIC figure, except he's not hilariously fat, and you can see the attempt at a good SIC design better when he's had some bulk shaved off. the paint applications are pretty good, though my preference for a silvery white wins out over the dull white they used for the figure, and the pink painted parts could use a detail wash of dark red ink to make the sculpted details come out more.

Meanwhile, the articulation on the thing is rather stunted. 

It's this type of shoulder joint again. Everytime I see it on a figure I cringe. It's so unnatural, and restricts movement. Luckily there's enough swing range for the arms to do some decent poses but nothing really frontal or convincing due to the orientation of the shoulder armor.  Then there's the issue of the neck; while it's thankfully double jointed, the ball connection at the top of the neck is too loose and wobbly. you can fix this by adding another layer on the ball joint with superglue but these are the types of errors that ideally shouldn't exist in production figures.

waist and leg movement isn't so bad, they have a wide spread and can do a variety of stances, but the armored design can really limit the good poses. 

I haven't tried this posing test on any figure in a while. I am glad to note that the Kiwami Tamashii line hasn't lost its affinity to be well balanced. Again though, another flaw may hound you. The thighs on my copy tend to pop off the ball joint due to the ball itself being too small. Again, another layer of superglue fixes this, but again, minor flaws like these shouldn't have to be fixed by the consumer in the first place. 

Despite this, the figure is still likeable, and the sculpt is pretty good. 

 definitely a nice rendition of the decade design, not too adventurous but not plain as well. the little extra details help a lot in making the figure attractive. Had they made the suit like this on the show I'd give it a chance. 

The back though ends up being far too wide and covers a lot, including the back of the upper arm (triceps). It gives a shelled look to the design and makes a connection to an insectoid motif with some robotic elements mixed in. Others dislike it, I personally see it as cool

the leg and arm detailing are consistent with the detail on "tech" riders like faiz and to a degree, Den-O. it really gives the rider design a more "armored suit" feel rather than a spandex and fiberglass costume.

The accessory count isn't too bad. 

Extra hands,

Handles and a blade for the different modes of the ride booker

and my favorite, the Violent Emotion head. 

the weapon modes of the ride booker are pretty cool though the pegs might be a bit too loose. and easily misplaced. though they could have saved time and money by just making it a hinge instead of three separate handles. 

And of course there's the stand. This is the second time we see a stand included with a Kiwami Tamashii figure and it looks nice. But I wish it came with a few more attatchments for effect parts for his Dimension Kick. 

Is Kiwami Tamashii Decade a good figure? Yes.

Should you buy him? Well it depends. He's definitely a fun toy that comes with a lot of accessories for play value, but you can skip him of you're not into the character. I've grown lukewarm towards him since I got Kuuga Rising Ultimate and that's even a figure with less in the package.

I got mine for 138 HKD ($17.81/ 730 PHP)

Pretty reasonable.

Decade is plain. He's fun but plain. A cool design though it doesn't really stick with you and unless you're a decade die-hard you'll get bored and just leave him on the shelf.