Bandai
released S.I.C. Vol.23 Masked Rider Ryuki set in June of 2004.
Vol.23 was the first in the S.I.C. series to feature character
from Masked Rider Ryuki (means Dragon Knight) TV show. S.I.C.
version of Ryuki was a slight departure from the others in the
series. Ryuki was more heavily armor (which was in keeping with
the knight theme of the show) instead of the often skinny insect
look of the previous S.I.C. Masked Rider figures. The basic core
body was very well design with many articulation joints that were
very well hidden. The body also had good amount of die-cast
and this really added to overall look of the figure. Vol.23 was one
of the convertible set and Ryuki can be changed into his
"Survive" mode. Bandai included all new parts for the
Survive version of Ryuki and used only the core body so the
figure look great in both modes, which made for interesting dilemma
of what version of Ryuki to display in. The sculpting was well
done with nice features like flip-open visor (molded in clear
PVC and painted over so one can slightly made out the eyes
feature behind the visor). Other standard S.I.C. features like
die-cast henshin belt (complete with removable Vent Box) and
clear eye lens were all present. Beside the convertible
option, the set came with full size Dragreder monster figure with
various parts that can be removed and used by Ryuki as weapons just like in
the TV show. The Drag-Saber sword was done in die-cast, while I
do like
the die-cast weapon, the weight was a little too much for the ball
joint hand
and made it hard to pose. There was some fit problem with the
pelvic armor which tend to fall off easily. It would have been better if the piece
would have a small peg to plug into the body instead of snap on
type which never seem to work well with PVC material.
The paint job was another minor gripe, while the figure look
great overall the head area had many poor paint applications.
These minor complain aside, S.I.C. Ryuki is probably one of the
best figures from the S.I.C. series and I can highly recommend
to any Kamen Rider aficionado.
