S.I.C. Vol:42 Kamen Rider Den-o Sword Form and Momotaros Imagin Review

Hey guys I am back with my first SIC review. Sorry I’ve been a bit busy because I just finished with most of my university exams. Anyways, it seems Den-o is really still the rage for most people so I really would like to review perhaps what I think is the “best SIC made to date”.

I just got my hands on Gun Form and Batman and Batpod Movie Realization. Both are great as well and I will review them as soon as possible But first let’s get started with Den-o Sword Form and Momotaros!

S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) has been my personal favourite toy line. I am sure most of you know the gist of what SICs are. If not well, they are 18cm figures that re-imagine characters created by Ishinomori Shotaro and stuff related to him. Not only do they have amazing design but also excellent articulation. To be honest the articulation in some of the previous sets such as Faiz and Hibiki were a bit mediocre but with the recent release of Agito (Tornadoer Version) and Kamen Rider THE NEXT, SIC has reached an all new level of playability, to the point where it really can’t get any better!

Den-o got the S.I.C treatment earlier than predecessor, 2006’s Kamen Rider Kabuto. I was a bit ticked off that they skiped Kabuto but they did the same with Blade and Blade turn out to be way best looking SICs ever! Sword Form and Momotaros is the first set released this summer in late July. More sets are coming till the end of this year and early 2009. So Den-o fans can rejoice! Depending on where you get it, Sword Form comes with a special Momotaros Die-Cast Sword or a SIC platform to pose your SIC. I got this in Japan, and I got the extra Die-Cast sword.

Enough talk, here’s some pictures:

Great Detail.  Lots of little SIC type touches with the engraving on his chest armor

Once again, it looks really nice here.

The back armor aka Axe Form’s Armor, although obviously flatter.

The Articulation is superb! The arm joints are so well designed, Den-o can do any poses such as this one. The Ore Sanjo thumbs up is included. Similar to Agito, they no longer use ball joints for the wrist. It’s a long peg now allowing both wrist movement and an easy way to switch hands without the fear of breaking the ball joint.

Momo’s core body is identical to Sword Form’s in terms of articulation. Translucent material is used for his red armor. He comes with three face plates one with his eyes open, semi open and fully close. Momo is sleeping on this picture.

On the website, BANDAI states they’ve included everything so you can recreate iconic moments from the show. So no doubt they included Momo’s favourite cup of Naomi’s Coffee. Semi open eyes were used in this picture.

That’s not all. Though its not stated in the name, this set comes with Plat Form!

Plat Form with Rider Pass.

Momo with his sword. This one is just a plastic sword but its painted compared to the bonus Die-Cast one.

Den-o with his sword. Dengasher can be detached exactly like the DX version but you cannot change it into anything except a “short version” of Rod Form. This picture kinda turned out cooler than I expected.

Alright now, enough pictures so what’s the verdict:

Holy Crap, its the never before seen Gold Plated Review Score of 100%!!!

No seriously, this is like I said the best SIC made to date. It might not be my favourite one since I am not a huge fan of Den-o but it’s just so well made it makes me want to throw away all my older SICs and hope they remake it into something as good as this!

Design: What can I say. Kenji Ando has done it again making a figure that looks way better than the one from the actual show. Den-o Sword Form looks amazing. The colours are well used. There’s a nice bright red some slick white paint combined with the use of die-cast for selected areas of the body. The pictures pretty much tell the whole story. I do have my problems with Momotaros. He doesn’t exactly look like Momo from the show, mainly because his horns are a not as, umm…erected, I guess. Still it looks great, and it nice and tall unlike some SICs which are sometimes made a bit too short.

Playbility: The most important aspect for me is “cohesiveness”. Anyone who has the Faiz or the Hibiki SICs will know what I mean. When you pick up those two figures or even just let it stand on a table, things fall off. Shoulder pads, chest armor, weapons on the belts just come off because it’s poorly made. This isn’t the case for Den-o. Everything sticks in perfectly. The shoulder pads and the thigh armor are ingeniously design. They went really crazy this time with the leg armor because you have to open it up like a door to change the red piece on his thigh to a black piece for Plat Form. Also the Dengasher stays on the Belt perfectly!! I cannot emphasize this more enough. The part that holds on to the Dengasher cannot be remove which is fine by me because the Kaixa Blay Gun one on Kaixa just comes off way too easily. But Den-o’s work, and it just doesn’t fall off. Overall it’s cohesive which is why I love it. Other SICs that are cohesive would be the new Agito SIC, but unlike Agito, Den-o has a lot of things going on. You can change form and you got weapons, so this is really a milestone for SIC and you really have to own one to truly apperciate how great it is.

Durability: I will keep it short. It’s strong. No loose joints!

Value: Excellent set for Den-o fans. You get Sword Form (which is really the main Rider here) and probably everyone’s favourite Imagin as well as Plat Form. All for a normal Double Set price. You can’t get better than that.

Final Words: Get it! If you like Den-o or SIC or both really you can’t miss out this set. I won’t give out 100% too often so go out and buy this now!

By: Adrienzo