Lets Go! Ichigo!

Welcome to another edition of "random guy rambles"!

Today we have a classic, and while it's going out early, I'm going to call it an anniversary review :)

48 years ago on April 3rd 1971, we were introduced to Takeshi Hongo as he began his fight against the infamous Shocker and his quest to empty our wallets!

As you might have guessed by now, either by knowing what you were clicking on, reading the header or hearing just how terrible this was, that this review is about a version of Kamen Rider Ichigo. Specifically, the S H Figuarts Ichigo (Sakurajima version). This is the second version of Ichigo to appear on screen, and honestly it's my favorite version of him. Though I do have a soft spot for the Ichigo that featured in The First and The Next movies, and the SIC design (review coming soon).

So really I can't call it my favorite version... but it's definitely top 3!

Now diving into the action!

With a muted green paint job, you could easily be mistaken for thinking that this is Nigo at first glance, particularly if you didn't know there have been several iterations of Ichigo in his screen run. That's right, he hasn't always had silver gloves and a bright green helmet!

I like to think that this version is his "I've had enough of this, I'm going to beat them all senseless" mood, just because it looks more back alley brawl with this paint job :)

Now here's what's in the set:

Ichigo (obviously)
Two different mufflers for his neck
Sword (yep, a sword! I know! I've never actually seen him use one either! But then I'm one of those unfortunates who only really knows Ichigo from his appearances in crossover and team up movies -biggest sad face ever-)
Punch effect
10x hands

Compared to later Figuarts, he's lacking in the accessories department, but be honest, it's Ichigo, so long as he can do his Rider Punch to the face of the bad guy, he doesn't need any bells or whistles!

On to the flexibility!

This guy is capable of doing all the essential poses, from jumping jacks to nose dives, and most of everything in between. You can either have him doing Yoga, or kicking himself in the back of the head, but be warned, there's a chance he could end up like a pretzel if you attempt both of those at the same time!

This features double jointed hips, which offers a slightly greater range of movement, and are kind of essential if you want a random pose where his leg is stretched out 90 degrees behind him from the hip! (would not recommend trying that in real life, you WILL get funny looks from your dog!)
As to be expected, you can also go a full 90 degrees forward, as well as to the side, so feel free to live through him and have him doing the splits if you can't!

There is also a double joint in the knee (those of you with Arthritis will already have one of these, everyone else will have to wait till their 60's to develop one!) which lets you bring his heel to his belt.
There's no swivel in the thigh, or the shin, however the ankle can be rotated 360 degrees and has a fair bit of tilting available. As you would also expect, the toes bend up for stepping poses or getting a pedicure!

There is a very slight hint of rotation in the hips just above the Belt, I wouldn't recommend trying to twist this way as you'll likely damage something, instead just above with the chest, there is a fair bit more swivel available. As you might expect there is a considerable amount of forward and backward tilt, so he can look up at the stars as he contemplates an oil change or stare down at his feet wondering if he should have skipped the pedicure :)

The shoulders again feature a double joint, one large socket in the main body, and a smaller one to increase the range of movement. Utilizing both of these joints, you get just under 90 degrees of range, meaning he can't put his arm out straight, it's ever so slightly facing downwards, you do thought have full 360 up and over available, so feel free to wind up that pitch for the big Baseball game!

Again the elbow features a double joint, but due to the molding of the glove on the forearm, he can't scratch his left shoulder with his left hand...
The wrists aren't too bad either, with decent tilt up and down and full 360 spins available.

Put all that together and you can come up with some very creative poses! However... it's just missing enough posability that you can't quite pull off his Henshin pose :(

Lastly the neck! You have just enough left right tilt to make it look like he's saying "awwwww" when you show him a cute puppy, minimal forward tilt due to the muffler attachment, but decent tilt back. I'm being quite forgiving on the neck movement because of the muffler attachment, if that wasn't there the entire range would be drastically increased.

Also as you might expect, there is no movement available on his antennae, so be careful of breakages when doing extreme poses!


On to the detail work!

You may be surprised about this, but Ichigo doesn't have anywhere near as much detailing as his armoured version (I know the hate surrounding that form, since it essentially made Ichigo one of the Heisei Armoured Riders, but hell... I like it! Though I wished they'd gone into a little detail about where the form came from...) but he still has more than enough to make him appealing to the eye and more than suitable for a display shelf.

There are your customary wrinkles in the boots and gloves, but also over the entire body! I was pleasantly surprised by this as at the time I picked this guy up, I wasn't used to that level of detail! He's wearing bike leathers (or spandex... I know..) so of course his body is going to have wrinkles in it!
You also have the seam going down the side of the leg!

Now the essential part... The Driver! This is the original, the one that started them all, the one part of a Riders kit that gets the most attention, the most love, the most criticism (I'm looking at you here Drive!)

Side note, for those paying attention, Hibiki doesn't have a Driver! He has a tuning fork... let that settle in for a moment here...

Decked out with a white belt and silver trim, this thing is gorgeous. I'm all for bells and whistles, extra gimmicks and alternate forms, but come on... this is the original! If you don't at least respect it, you need your head seeing to! Or handing over to Shocker -evil grin-

You've got your switches on the left side, and in the center a very nice representation of the turbine. Simple yet gorgeous :)

Lastly the helmet.

Of course what would any Rider be without his helmet?

In trouble that's what!

In assorted shades of green, from the very dark green main body, with the slightly lighter mouth piece, to the bright green accent on the back, this helmets imposing. Especially when you throw in the dark red compound eyes! Yes, you see the compoundyness through the red lens!
Hell you even have hair sticking out the bottom at the back! I call that attention to detail.

The antennae are fairly solid, standing straight up, but I wouldn't recommend bending them, I don't see them lasting particularly long if you start doing that.

As someone who has lost prongs from the head of a Den-O variant, it's heart breaking to know they'll never look quite right again...
But the comedy potential for the form in question is quite promising ;)


And before I forget, the punching effect! If you pop off a hand, you can slot this effect over the wrist, with the flare towards the elbow, then put the hand back on. I'd recommend the punching hand for this, as the others kinda look a bit daft.

For the famed Rider Punch, this effect really helps set a scene, and frankly I'd love to see more of these parts included in Figuart sets, though I do know that after market effects are available, they're usually scenery pieces, not "interactive" like this one.

Now the verdict!

While a lot simpler than later releases of other Riders, as I said this is to be expected since Ichigo didn't have a whole lot of gadgets to his name, I truly think that Ichigo is a work of art. Showing you exactly what a Rider can be without being all in your face about it (take that Armoured Riders!)

The molding has brilliant detailing, excellent posing ability, though it does irk me that he can't precisely reach his Henshin pose... his lack of shoulder pads or extra panels actually increase his range of motion, so feel free to put him into a high kicking contest with G3-X or the Wizard :D

Overall I say this, or any version of the original Ichigo are a must for any Rider collector. After all, if this guy hadn't come along 48 years ago, where would we be now?

Socializing? Millionaires from not buying all of this stuff?

Bored most likely, because we wouldn't have fallen into the great abyss that keeps us on our toes every week!

Except for Ghosts run... that was a slow year for me... lots of re-runs :P

Tune in next time for another exciting episode of "Grown man plays with toys for other peoples entertainment!"


Jeez I'm a dumbed down version of Robot Chicken...


In case you made it this far (congratulations, commiserations, my apologies), here is a quiz, answers on a postcard and e-mailed to "Imtoolazytolookthisupmyself@riderreviewer.com" (disclaimer, not a real e-mail address, please do not e-mail it), alternatively please submit all answers to Reddit or the Facebook fan group of The Toku Dealer, link on the right of the page.

How many times in Rider history have Riders gone with either partial, or no helmet! For this, Riderman does not count as that was his every day helmet. I'm talking about all those times that Riders have either removed their helmet entirely, or had it so badly damaged in a fight that half of it has been missing!

Nobody wins anything for this, you just have the satisfaction of knowing that you know more than I do right now, cause aside from 3 instances, nothing else is coming to mind right now! But then it's 3am so not much else is either :P

Souchaku Henshin Den-O

Many years ago, we were introduced to a Rider that would literally shape the future... and the past... and the present... and the past a few more times for good measure :P

At times he's a small boy, others a grown man with a phobia of people, then there are the times he's literally a man possessed... by four very unruly Imagin...

Momotaros

Urataros

Kintaros

Ryutaros

Together they make up Kamen Rider Den-O, Sword Form, Rod Form, Axe Form, Gun Form, and of course the base for them all, Plat Form.

Dun Dun DUUUUUUUNNNNNN!!! -Dramatic Music-


OK so maybe I'm over hyping things, these are the reviews of a mad man so you really shouldn't be expecting too much from this ;)


For your reading and viewing pleasure today, we have the Kamen Rider Den-O Souchaku Henshin Series Den-O 5 Form set!


Prepare yourself for awesomeness, jokes, actually funny jokes and glare... lots and lots of glare!

Seriously there is a lot of chrome and mirror like surfaces on this thing, the camera flash did NOT like it one bit :P So break out those sunglasses!

We're going to start where any good Henshin sequence starts, at the base, the under suit, so here we are, with Plat Form, cute name no? :D

But you can't do a Henshin sequence without a Liner Pass right?
This things tiny!

The weakest and most basic form that Den-O has, this one sports no bells, no whistles, and is literally a "platform" for the armor of the Imagin to latch on to!

With black armor, silver tracks, and a tiny profile, you really wouldn't think much of this form. And you're right to, the few times that this form was used to fight, his butt got whooped good!

Now you may not know this about the Souchaku series, but they have exceptional posing potential, enough to even rival Figuarts!

But I do think they have one big bonus over them, metal, lots, and lots, of metal.

From swiveled biceps and thighs to double hinged knees and elbows you can really reach any kind of pose with this. Though I do think the neck could have done with some more range, the forward and back is very limited.

Nearly all additional armor pieces are metal, some with plastic added on to them, others are solid pieces, and boy can you feel it.


Plat Form is basic, I really can't say that enough, plastic chest, plastic arms, plastic everything, except... The Driver and feet are metal, and they really add weight to it. And boy do those metal feet help out, because of them always holding this thing down, the balance is incredible.

Now skipping into the good stuff, or I'll just keep repeating how basic Plat Form feels :P

Sword Form!

The Mighty Momotaros given form, and a big pointy sword :P

Apologies for not doing the world famous Ore Sanjou pose, but these hands are a pain in the backside to get on and off, kept feeling I was going to break it! Believe me if you struggle or fear with SIC or Figuarts, you'd have a small heart attack with this :P

Side note for the hands, there are several hands available, from punching to grabbing, relaxed etc. But there are two variations of the hand molding, one set with a hinge going from the palm which gives a very nice reflex range, another set which are solid pieces with no additional movement past 360 spins at the wrist, these do make it easier for long term posing though as you don't have to worry about gravity pulling that extra joint down over time :)

But that doesn't stop it from looking coooooool :)

As you can see, the added armor parts are as follows, Driver face, chest, back, shoulder pads, thighs and face plate. Each part connects by a peg system, and a wraparound hinged section connecting the front and back under the arms, seamless :)

The shoulder pads are pegged to either the front or the back piece, depending on the Form you're setting up, they are also double hinged, where they join the armor, and again further into the pad itself, this is genius as it won't affect the mobility of the arms in the slightest. Apart from Urataros... but more on that later.

Once the armor pieces are connected, they are solid, absolutely solid, really had to pry these things off when changing out for the other Forms. I wouldn't normally say that's a bad thing, but with the painted metal and chrome pieces on the armor, you run the risk of scratches. Which when these are fancy pants display pieces, can be a real kicker...

Armored, this guy stands just a shade taller than a Figuart, but for those purists out there, just blame that on the pointy bits on the helmet putting it over ;)

Rod Form!

The ultimate ladies man... Urataros!

Another prime example of how you work metallic paint and chrome into a figure, while rocking shoulder pads that wouldn't be out of place in the 80's!

With his customary fishing rod, this guy really casts a shadow. Would you mind if he reeled you in?

Painted in a beautiful metallic blue with chrome and gold detailing, this guy stands out, I mean really, there just aren't enough Blue Riders in the franchise!

Featuring the same posability of... you know, take the posability as law on this, it's the same base figure with alternating armor parts, it's the same double jointed knees, swivel thighs and pain in the backside wrists, but with big blue parts thrown on :P

I've never actually been a big fan of Urataros, but I do confess, I love the paint scheme. The black, blue and white accents really stand out!

The only drawback I can find to this form is the prongs on the helmet, they seem like they're of the flexible kind, but if you try and bend them, you quickly reach a breaking point. If it's only for a moment, there is no apparent lasting damage or discoloration as the plastic stretches, but I wouldn't risk doing it too many times or you'll end up with a very sad looking Urataros... How will he get the ladies if his prongs are broken? :'(

Now as you'd expect from a form with shoulder pads so big you could use them as a football stadiums foundations, they do limit the movement of the arms somewhat. But as with Sword Forms shoulder pads, they have a double hinge, where they join the armor and slightly further in, so it is quite easy to move them out of the way, but they can look odd... So I'd recommend you do your best to keep the biceps down, and if you need a dancing Den-O Form, go for Sword or Gun :P

And now...

Goldmember!

er...

Midas!

wait...

The goldest chromiest (that's a word i swear!) Form I've ever seen!

Axe Form! The chosen colours of Kintaros, the Axe wielding brute!

To top things off, this guy has a HUGE blade on his helmet. I mean really, I don't actually recall it being this big in the series, but woah... would NOT like to get a headbutt from him!

What does surprise me a little is that there is no chrome on the helmet for him, instead it's more of a mustard yellow. The English kind, not French ;)

While still possessing oversized shoulder pads when compared to Sword or Gun, Kintaros here doesn't have a pair of pads that's overly cumbersome, they have minimal impact on the poses you can achieve. And he can still do a merry jig if the mood takes him :D

As before the shoulder pads share the double hinge system. The chest section in particular for Axe Form here was a pug to apply, probably because it was the first time being used, the pegs didn't want to fit into the holes for them. With any luck this will ease over time, but really I don't plan on changing forms every other day.

Even with his increased bulk (the chest piece is also huge to match the blade on the helmet!) Axe here shares the knack of incredible balance, I dare you to try and push him over! But if you do, he'll just make you cry ;)


And finally we have Gun Form!

Let's hear those cheers!

Speak up a bit, I don't think he can hear you.

Big surprise with this one... Minimal chrome and metallic paint! It's almost like no one would spring for metallic purple paint :P

Where the other Forms have metallic colouring on the chest areas, Gun Form only really has it on his back panel, the silvers on the chest are of the dulled Bandai Silver kind. Looks great, but makes it a step down from the others...

The raised panels on the chest, the signature chest piece of Gun Form are picked out in a very nice shade of purple, not quite metallic, not quite matte. These same panels are also separate pieces, at first it looks like they can be moved down into their original places on the chest plate, but the hinge that holds them up doesn't quite reach that far. You'd also expect the back of them, which is red, to be metallic to match Swords chest piece, but no, again this is a matte effect red, very out of character with the rest of the set.

Big improvement on the face plate compared to Urataros, the gold prongs coming from the "mouth" area are only connected at the bottom, so no fear of them snapping off if you press on them too hard, and the blades coming up from the eyes seem to be a little more forgiving when bending, but I still wouldn't risk it too much... Be warned.



Pros and Cons:

Pros are... weight, the heft of this thing in hand when it has armor on is really impressive, you really feel like you're handling something. Because of the weight in the feet, the balance is incredible, absolutely incredible, even with the top heaviness of it with armor on, you can get into some really imaginative free standing poses. That's right! Every pose shown in this review is unsupported in any way, it's just a case of getting the center of gravity right, shifting enough to the left or the right. That's something I've always struggled with with the Figuart and SIC series, there's just no weight to them, with the exception of some Figuarts having metal feet that is (See G3-X)

With the exception of the hips, which no matter the figure series, I've always found to be somewhat limiting in movement, you can achieve almost any pose! It's added bonus that these can be done without support, or with minimal support if you're being adventurous. But for the more dramatic ones, and one leg poses, I'd recommend a stand, just to be safe.

The versatility is impressive too, while it might seem obvious, you can mix and match the armor parts, while you may not see much point in this, for someone who prides himself on making jokes and setting scenes (more on that to come in another review/blog series :) ) it conjures up some really nice jokes! Imagine Climax Form without the cellphone... parts shifting all the time as the four of them argue... ah happy days :P

Cons... I'd love to say I didn't find any, I'm the Eternal (be honest, you heard that in your head like the Gaia Memory said it didn't you :P Comment on Facebook if you did!) optimist, but I wouldn't be doing my job here if I was 100% biased, so sadly...

Neck movement, as mentioned there is minimal back and forth movement which limits expression with some poses.

You can't do a super hero landing! (Watch Deadpool to get that reference)

Scratching is way too easy, particularly on the metal parts, which after a while will really ruin the look of this guy, unless you go for the worn battle weary look, in which case you might love it!

Some of the parts are a real pig to connect, this is especially true of the Axe Form chest piece, just did not want to go on, as a result, you really have to force it on, everything lines up, it was just really really tight, which also presented a problem when separating them.

The last con I'm going to mention is one that every figure lover has, wrists... some of them are alright, popping on and off no problem, not tight enough that you fear breaking it when putting them on or taking them off, or loose enough that they fall off as soon as you put a weapon in the hand, but others were just... I was honestly scared I was going to break a tab or yank off the elbow :/ But such is figure life!

This con is for me, I really think I over estimated how much I could ramble about this set before I bored people. After reviewing Plat Form and commenting on all the posability, balance etc, all that was really left was to comment on the way the armor looks when it's applied... And I really think that there are only so many times I can mention "shiny!" and "chrome!"  :P

So I really do apologize for wasting your time.. I'll do better... I promise!

Overall I have to say, this thing is a beauty, really feels like there is something in hand and looks amazing on display. I'd definitely recommend picking up something from this series.

Though I'd suggest not getting one with a bare head option, they... they don't look right... Two of those to come later.

If you made it this far, you have my congratulations, my thanks, and my sympathy for sitting through this :P

Many thanks to the Toku Dealer for his sponsorship!
If you would like to join the community, you can find them on Facebook by following this link

Hope to see you there!

Plamonsters Strike!

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here tonight to tell you a very strange story — a story so strange that no one will believe it — but, ladies and gentlemen, seeing is believing. And we — my partners and I — have brought back the living proof of our adventure, an adventure in which twelve of our party met horrible death. And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive — a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!

Wait...

Wrong franchise!

Today we have a little cutie for you!

Presenting... Gorilla Plamonster!

This cute little charmer is one of my favorite Plamonsters.

First off, I need to mention it's size.

It. Is. Huge.

When I first picked it up, I honestly thought they'd be tiny, but when you realise that is an actual

Wizard Ring on the top of his head, you get an idea of the size!

For those that are lazy and don't want to measure one, or don't have one to hand, its 5inches high and 6inches wide. I consider that huge, especially when it was planned to be monitor decoration on my desk! :P

Onto the details!

Inside the box you'll find everything you need to create your own little Plamonster monster!

One frame board, main body, waist, two arms, two legs and a ring!

The entire thing is made of a very nice translucent purple plastic, just clear enough to see what's going on inside.

The chest and eyebrows are a matt grey with a glittery purple over the chest and stomach areas. The knuckles and under eyes are your well known and loved Bandai silver.

The little beast goes together via a series of pegs and sockets, most of these still allow full rotation for posing purposes, and its absolutely solid. Like... the first time I took it apart to rebox it, I thought it would break from the force needed to seperate the arms.

Most of the sockets supplied are used in the general assembly, however several are still exposed, these are for the other combinations with the rest of the Plamonsters.

As I don't own another Plamonster, I can't comment on this feature!

There is a little gimmick with this guy, a nifty 1-2 Punch :D

On the wrists you'll find a pair of buttons, pressing those releases the fists and sends anything in its path flying!

Now as per Wizards theme, this little Rocky Balboa wannabe comes with a Ring!

The Ring is usable with the Wizard, and White Wizard Drivers, which simply calls out "Plamonster!" in the White Wizard, and "Golem!" in the Wizard Driver.

The Ring fits nicely in the top of the little dudes head, just push it right in there to complete his look :)

Any Ring will work here, it isn't dependent on a particular one, though he does look a tad daft with a Beast Ring there ;)

Overall this guy is just solid, even with it's larger bulk it's still perfect for decorating larger desks or putting into comical situations... No... I haven't used this guy as a book end... honest!

SoDo Gekitotsu Robot

Alright guys,

Something a tad different this time!

Courtesy of the Toku Dealer, I have here one of the very popular SODO Series figures!
This one is one of my favourite combinations from the Ex-Aid series, Robot Action Gamer Level 3! Or Ex-Aid Mighty Action X Featuring Gekitotsu Robots :D

Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!


So, this figure comes in kit form, meaning some assembly required.

It's not as complicated as I'd hoped (I'm a sucker for big model kits), push here, click there, sticker sticker sticker! Took maybe 5 minutes to assemble and sticker up.

Should probably say, these sets come in two parts, one with the body, one with the armor.

The armor part goes together to make a little robot dude, the avatar of Gekitotsu Robots in this case, I'd imagine the other armor sets do similar, but without getting my hands on them i can't confirm this, so please don't quote me on it!

So should you just want the armor sets decorating your desk, or to go on display with your figuarts collection, have at it!

(Above information is vaguely accurate for the Ex-Aid SoDo series, and may or may not apply to the figures from other series such as Build, Zi-O etc)

To start off with, carefully remove the parts and sticker sheets from the bags.

Be like me, and make out that the little red robot is coming to destroy the world, and get some very confused looks from your dog...

Then, you can either unfold the box and read the instructions printed on the inside, or be bold... and just jump straight in!

To be fair though, it's pretty straight forward :P

Remove the grey Ex-Aid head that came on the body, from now on you'll be using the red one that came with Gekitotsu Robots.


After pegging on the new head, you can either go straight on to the stickers, or assemble everything and then question if you want to build it at all or just leave it as the little robot dude who you've named Bob...

For this anyway, I opted to build it :D

Now, I'll skip putting on stickers, that's your own little headache to enjoy, and I really wouldn't want to take anything away from that ;)

Since it's a kit, my experience with it compared to everyone else will be different, it's all down to your skill, patience and general drive to make things look right.

So unlike other reviews where I detail every little thing, I'm actually skipping to the impressions part!

In terms of pose ability, you're looking at an Olympic Gymnast here.

Not me, the figure.

Hips go the full 90 degrees to the side, with a swivel in the thigh, knee's go a tad further than 90, and ankles can swivel around and have a fair bit of tilt in them. You won't be able to pull off Figuart level of posing, but its not that far off.

No waist or lower chest movement, its all one solid piece, and the neck has full left/right motion and very limited up and down, this guy won't be looking to the stars for inspiration one night, not unless he's lying on the ground!

Arms are again pretty decent, 90 degrees outward in the shoulder with full rotation up and around, upper arm swivel, elbow hyper extends just a little but does... you guessed it, a little more than 90 degrees (seeing a pattern here?). Also no hand, wrist or forearm motion.

The Gekitotsu Robot parts have a little movement too! The big hand that goes over Ex-Aids little hand has movable fingers, or rather two of them move, they're on little pegs so can easily be removed.

The Gekitotsu Robot arm is actually two parts (this is to allow use as both arms in Robot mode), the underside of the arm pegs in to the bottom of Ex-Aids hand, and the upper part clips in to the lower part of the arm, quite a nice system really as it doesn't put too much peg strain on one particular part, and is easily removed when changing things around.

The shoulder pads also feature a little movement due to how they connect. And lastly the little arms attached to the Robot head, which is now attached to Ex-Aids butt rotate. You can leave these facing any way you like when everything is assembled, but they can get in the way of the actual arms... so dealers choice there.

And now the stickers...

Quite honestly,  I have a low opinion of stickers. If you can't get them in the right place, first time, they either tear when trying to peel them off for attempt number two, lose their stick and just peel, or barely stick at all...

For me, this was the latter.

In the hour or so since assembling the figure, nearly every sticker has started to peel, only ones that haven't are the eyes, ankles, white parts on the Robot hand and shoulders... everything else is about ready to drop off!

Really makes a case for painting details on!


(Painted picture will be added to this review at a later date)

Overall, I do actually like this thing, it's quick, its simple, and it's a very nice stand in until you can afford a Figuart version... Or if you just want something to decorate your desk with :D

Stickers for me might have been a one off, so I'm not marking them down too much, and as a notorious model painter it actually works out well for me! Gives me an excuse to try and colour match Ex-Aid green! (stay tuned for total loss of sanity!)