Today we have something a little different for you, as well as a review, I'll also be taking a few moments (or more, lets see how I ramble) to give thanks to Ichigo and Nigo for their years of dedication.
Cause I don't know if you're aware of this, but today is their 48th Birthday!
That's right, April 3rd 1971, Kamen Rider aired for the very first time.
Just think, if it wasn't for these guys doing their thing, we wouldn't be sitting here right now, wishing we were somewhere else :P
There would be no Showa or Heisei Riders, no future Reiwa Riders either. It's doubtful there would have been a Super Sentai (Which first aired 1973), which means no Power Rangers, the face of TV would have been completely different!
Thanks to the efforts of Takeshi Hongo and Hayato Ichimoji, we now have a franchise that we love, spend way more time than should be healthy watching, and sacrifice mortgage payments buying merchandise for :D
Over the years they've faced off against Shocker, Gel-Shocker, Neo-Shocker, and god knows how many of their creations, or how many other versions of Shocker!
But it always boiled down to one simple thing, good vs evil.
Now I may be a bit of a sap, but I've always credited my ethical standing to the programming of my youth, admittedly that was things like Power Rangers, Thundercats, Transformers (Go Prime!) etc, but the message was the same, and as I said before, if Kamen Rider didn't exist, it's likely Power Rangers wouldn't either, so thanks for that!
Even with the constantly changing faces of evil, Shocker coming back in many forms, Ichigo and Nigo were always there to stand against them. But what some of you may not realize, is that there might not have been a Nigo! Of course I'm sure that there would have been additional Riders eventually, but who's to say they would have turned out the same way, and given us the power couple?
You see, Hiroshi Fujioka, who played Takeshi, often did his own bike stunts! Unfortunately while filming a bike stunt, things went wrong (I sense a Shocker agent was involved!) and Hiroshi shattered his leg! This left him unable to perform the role, suited or otherwise. So in comes Takeshi Sasaki! Briefly taking the lead in Kamen Rider as Nigo while Hiroshi healed up.
Upon his return, the Duo set off to rid the world of Shocker together, with Ichigo's stupidly high IQ and Nigo's superior strength, I think they made a good team :)
On February 10th 1973 Kamen Rider came to an end, racking up 98 episodes and 7 movies, it's officially the longest series!
The Duo would continue to make series appearances in V3, X, Stronger, Skyrider, Black RX and several team up movies!
Ichigo would also later go on to get himself an Armoured Rider form in the movie "Kamen Rider: Ichigo" featuring Ghost!
While this form is hit and miss among the fans, we're a little stuck with it now!
Looking forward, I'm excited to see what the Reiwa era brings for the Legend who started everything! Will he be armoured? Will he be his regular old self? Will Nigo be backing him up? Will he be a friend or foe?
Let's find out!
And now, on to the main event! Or the part you're skipping because I just rambled way too much and you're heading back to Facebook or Reddit to complain about this guy that just won't shut up :P
Today we have a special appearance by...
Well if I have to spell this part out then you really didn't get that this is the 48th Birthday of Ichigo...
Presenting... Ichigo!
And Nigo!
In SIC form!
Ta Da!
-tumbleweed-
SO!
A little different this time around, as these guys are essentially the same, I'll be reviewing them both at the same time, while pointing out the major differences between them!
If it gets a little muddled, fear not! If you can't make sense of any of it, imagine how I feel writing it! :D
Here's what we have in the box!
Ichigo
Muffler
Stand
Stand Decoration
Alternate Head
8x Hands
2x Attack Effects
Nigo
Muffler
Stand
Stand Decoration
Alternate Head
8x Hands
2x Attack Effects
Alternate Driver
Now I'll start by pointing this out, while these sets include a base, there isn't actually a support rod or clasp... seems like an oversight, BUT the stands fit most other stands, so if you have one kicking around it should almost definitely fit!
Lets crack on with the flexibility!
Much to my surprise, the SIC series actually has a greater range than the Figuarts series.
I can safely say this time... These guys can kick their own butts!
If you've read my other Figuart reviews, you'll know I've been looking for that feature in them all ;)
Posability is the same for both guys, so just take the part for Ichigo and change it to Nigo and you'll get the same result :P
Starting at the very top, you've got... get this... rotating antennae! Yeah that's right! My biggest complaint about most of the Figuart series that feature these things (Have you ever noticed how regular antennae have been phased out? Now it's all crests or pointy bits! Bet you hadn't!). Both antennae can rotate around from the top of the head to over the eyes!
They're also incredibly flexible, so don't worry about putting a hat on these guys!
I wouldn't go bending, poking, prodding these too much though, just to be on the safe side :)
The neck is a little tricky, there's two joints in there, one holding the neck itself to the body, and another holding the head to the neck. In theory this would give you extra range, but due to the design of the suit and the helmet, it actually hinders it a bit. You have minimal left/right tilting, and almost no head back, unless... and I'm not really fond of this, you expose the upper neck joint, you can tilt the head back far enough that it uncovers the joint inside. It's alright when looking from the back, and due to all the black and shadow, it's hardly noticeable from the front, but from the side... boy can you see it, it's like he's been partially decapitated! Not pretty :/ You've also got yourselves about 90 degrees of left/right turning, not bad really, it would be a fair bit more but as I said, the neck/helmet design hinders the movement a bit...
You've got yourselves some very flexible shoulders! With a greater than 90 degree range, full 360 rotation and movable shoulder pads, you can line up some very nice Hero poses :D
Biceps have a spiffy swivel with full 360 spin, double jointed elbows, 360 spin wrists and a little up/down motion.
Unfortunately though, he still can't scratch his own shoulder!
Surprisingly there is also movement in the chest, the breastplate has a fair bit of up/down movement, this is to help with the posing!
The mid-chest also has some backwards movement, the panels on the abs prevent it from moving forwards, these guys can really arch their backs! Cue gymnastics!
On to the hips!
You can get these completely vertical front to back, however attempting it to the sides will likely pop the joints. Not an issue, they pop right back!
The knees are double jointed, and with the range you get out of them, they can kick their own butts!
Did I mention that before? Cause I've been looking for that for ages now :P
Finally there is minimal ankle movement, minimal up/down due to the shin guards, but there's generous left/right rotation. The toes are also bendable, but not to any degree that would greatly impact posing.
On to the looks!
One thing I have to really credit the SIC series for is this: THEY LOOK AWESOME!
They take classic designs and make them a hundred times better!
Blade looks like a rhino, Hibiki looks even more like an Oni, and Ichigo and Nigo... they kept the general appearance off the Riders, but gave them a more beastly look, like their animal sides were way more obvious.
This is more obvious in the heads than the rest of the body, with a more pronounced mouth area with defined teeth, smaller eyes and generally a scaled look to the armor like an insects carapace.
The hands, forearms, shins and feet have a much more mechanical look to them, kind of fitting since the shins are made of metal!
But my money is this was done to reflect their cybernetic nature!
The chests have a wonderful shade of metallic green over them, with Nigo's being a lot darker than Ichigo. In fact everything about Nigo is darker, if it's at all possible, the black actually looks darker! Though that's likely due to the darker green on the chest, forearms and shins, coupled with the black helmet.
Both of the Drivers are silver on reddish brown belts, with a translucent red in the center. Nigo's however has a black trim and more definition on the fan blades in there, it also sticks out where Ichigo's is recessed. Nigo's also features a black ring around the red center.
Running down the side of the arms and legs are a very shiny silver, Ichigo's even features the black stripe running down the middle of it.
As an added bonus, you also get a bunch of attack effects with these guys. Each one comes with a kick and a punch effect!
The effects split into two parts, so that they can clip on around the wrist or the ankle. The kick effects add a fair bit of weight, so I'd recommend using a stand.
The effects are also switchable, so Nigo can use Ichigo's and Ichigo can use Nigo's.
You might think this is witchcraft, but honestly the body sculpts are identical for these two, except Nigo has chunkier shoulder pads (which honestly makes him look a LOT bulkier than Ichigo), slightly different Drivers and different head sculpts.
For large SIC figures, these two are impressive. While they lack the form changing that some others have (Hibiki, Faiz etc) or the collection of weapons/extras, you really can't beat a classic. Even if that classic has been brutally mutilated and turned into something resembling a monster :P
So there you have it folks, Ichigo and Nigo, making their final appearance in a review on their Birthday!
Unless I get around to doing the Souchaku Henshin versions... But I'll be nice and give it some time before doing them :P
Now be nice and say Happy Birthday in your best Kousei Kougami voice!
No comments:
Post a Comment