We continue today’s trend with yet another gallery, this time by regular Photo & Content contributor ryan!
This gallery is of the S.I.C. Chogokin Volume 57 Kamen Rider W Cyclone/Joker set! If you don’t know by now Kamen Rider W is one of the best loved Heisei rider series and the toys are equally as loved. And Bandai truly made some exquisite S.I.C.s when they tackled W. This Cyclone/Joker set not only comes with a plethora of accessories and a tamashii stage, it can replicate the Joker Extreme Maximum Drive down to the body splitting completely in half, AND it includes all the necessary components to create Cyclone/Joker Xtreme!
Check out ryan’s full gallery of this set by clicking here or by clicking “Discuss on the TokuNation forums” at the bottom of this post!
ryan says
The first of the SIC figures from Kamen Rider W, CycloneJoker includes a plethora of plastic pieces, nearly ever possible thing you could ever need for the CycloneJoker form, as well pieces to transform W to his upgraded CycloneJoker Extreme form. There's too many accessories to list them all out, but the highlights include 5 tiny regular Gaia Memories, the Etreme Memory, the Prism Bicker, two Double Drivers, an articulated scarf, a Tamashii Stage Act 5, several swapable hands, and various swapable parts to implement the form change.
The figure was released in March 2011, with a retail price of 5500 JPY. I was able to get mine on clearance from Hobby Search in late 2011 or early 2012, for I think around $30 USD shipped, and frankly, that's a much better price. The figure is very nice looking, but the stylized design of the W SICs isn't my favorite, at least, not on the regular forms. It looks unbelievably amazing on FangJoker and Skull, but I'll leave that for a later gallery/review.
Besides being of a stylized look, rather than show accurate, the SIC figures are also significantly larger than the Figuarts. SHF CycloneJoker is about 5.5" to the top of his head, whereas the SIC is nearly 7".
Let's talk accessories, since those were some of the biggest draws for me. SIC CJ comes with 5 of the regular, USB sized memories: Cyclone, Joker, Heat, Luna and Prism. These are molded in a transparent plastic, with painted silver (or gold) tips and even feature the appropriate symbols on them. They look fantastic, though I think Joker is too light, instead of being a dark smokey gray, it's only ever so slightly gray. They're awesome and neat, and very tiny and lose-able.
The Extreme Memory is made out of three pieces, two halves for to split when in the Driver, and a tail for 'bird mode'. It's super detailed, but at the tiny size it's at, that detail also kinda makes it look cluttered or messy. The Prism Shield is also super detailed, with lots of lines and greeblies and whatsits sculpted on, and looks like it has at least 5 different paint colors on it. It also has a large slot for the Prism sword and the four small slots for the Memories (which do fit in), as well as the holes needed to see the Memory symbols. The Prism Sword is also very detailed, and cast in a transparent plastic, with clear green paint on the edge, to match the prop. It too has a slot for the Prism Memory.
The five pairs of hands are very nice, including four matched pairs of fists, holding things, sorta relaxed/opened, and the henshin pose hands, and then there's a unique left and right hand, the left hand for pointing and calling out the catchphrase, and the left for holding the Gaia Memories.
I really like the playability aspect of these toys, though the execution isn't perfect. The Memory slot in the Prism Sword is too loose, the Prism Memory will not stay in, and since it's in the hilt of the sword, and always pointing down, that's a bit of a problem. The Memories fit in the Double Driver, but one side is slightly looser than the other so the Memory can fall out when your messing with the figure. Additionally, the Driver is a bit loose, and tends to want to fold up when posing the figure, rather than staying expanded in the W shape.
The form change is neat, in theory, but a complete pain to work with. The figure disassembles into so many pieces, that it's a hassle to switch it back and forth. The Prism Sword is great, amazing, perfect even, except for the loose slot. The Prism Shield, is too heavy for the arm to hold up properly, usually.
Which leads me to the articulation. By count, I think this figure is every bit as articulated as the SHF, but the usefulness and range is significantly lowered. And worse, many of the joints are far too loose to me worthwhile. Going back to the shield, it's such a heavy chunk of plastic that the arm has almost no chance of holding it up. Combined with the loose elbow joints, and I needed to use the stand to prop the arm up to make W hold the shield in any practical position, except for a few times when I got lucky.
Also, due to the way that this figure completely disassembles for the Form change means that the arms can pop out too often, and worse, the legs can fall off far too easily, at the thigh joint. Its can be pushed on tight, but then whenever the thigh cut is rotated, it loosens up so it starts to fall off again.
One final complaint: the stomach portion of the figure floats loosely over the articulated skeleton. What this means is that the piece is almost never positioned the way you want it, and it easily, almost always moves to a position that make the figure look unnatural while you're arranging the rest of the figure. I especially had problems with the CJX stomach, in that it would float up high enough and sort of get stuck under the chest piece, so there was a visible gap above the belt where the stomach should be.
The scarf, however, is perfect. It has a hinged peg joint that plugs into W's back, and it can be put in any direction desired. And the hinge is sufficiently tight that you can have the scarf posed pretty much anywhere you want it. Additionally, it's a nice sculpt that works in both dynamic or more static poses.
SIC CJ/CJX looks great, the paint is excellent, CJX in particular is really beautiful, with the clear plastic over a metallic center strip, and it can be put into some nice poses, but it takes more fiddling than I think it should. It definitely feels more like a display piece than a toy. You put it in a pose you like, and leave it for a while. It can do most things you want, but no deep stances, and nothing too crazy with the shield, and it will look good once you get it there, but it can be a chore to get it to that point.
Oh! It even comes with a bunch of extra pieces, and special stand bits, to recreate the Joker Maximum Drive finishing kick. It looks just as weird on the figure as it did in the show, and it's kind of neat, but also not something I would display for very long.
Sentai says
I love you can do Joker Extreme, I love it can become Extreme, and I love the look of him. Despite the stomach.
Young Optimus14 says
I drool at the sight of this toy. I want CycloneJoker KT'd though cause I'm a poor
uchihabro77 says
One of the few figures I want to buy SIC wise... But I know Ill get shoved into that Rabbit hole as well
Kidflashdbn 2 says
I love S.I.C. The figure looks great.
ZeoRangerV says
The W SICs aren't ones I were particularly fond of. Then I saw this gallery and am beginning to rethink my stance.
So job well done I guess
SPLIT LIP says
This is actually the W SIC I got last, so it was weird to see basically the lines evolution in reversed. I was completely caught off-guard by the stomach, and the general tolerances of the joints, all things not present on succeeding releases.
Even regardless of all that, this set is FANTASTIC. Even today it goes for only about $50-$40, and it's a steal. SIC's are big, durable, and have a TON of well-thought gimmickry. Some of the best valued KR I've seen.
I hope this means we'll see galleries of them all, just so more people can see what wonderful figures these are. Shit, if I had a slightly better camera I could help, as I own them all except for CJGX and Joker and Cyclone. I love the W SIC Aesthetic. On the regular forms it nicely details the design in an organic way while keeping it's appealing, simplistic design. On CJX, it takes what I always considered a sub-par suit design and GREATLY enhances the look. It really makes Xtreme look like a final form, rather than a less attractive upgrade. The weapons especially get beefed up in a deserving fashion, verses their comparitively tiny in-show appearence. The Prism Bicker can actually function as a sheild now!
It really is a testament to this set that, despite easily being the weakest in terms of value and options... it's still a tremendous set in terms of value and options. It really dissapoints me that the OOO SICs are so slow to release and there's no Forze SIC's. The line is so good at integrating collector-quality figures and complete gimmickry.
algo448 says
I had no idea it could also become Xtreme, dang this figure is awesome.
ryan says
So job well done I guess
I hope this means we'll see galleries of them all, just so more people can see what wonderful figures these are. ...
The CycloneCyclone JokerJoker Tamashii set features the full form-swappability introduced with HeatMetal and LunaTrigger. So if you have no inclination to own two forms that lasted seconds in a movie, that set is excellent as you essentially get an upgraded CycloneJoker, and it frees up the original's skeleton for CJX to be displayed alongside rather than having to choose which one, which is the only major drawback of this set none of the others share.
It really is a testament to this set that, despite easily being the weakest in terms of value and options... it's still a tremendous set in terms of value and options. It really dissapoints me that the OOO SICs are so slow to release and there's no Forze SIC's. The line is so good at integrating collector-quality figures and complete gimmickry.
I was thinking that someday I would get the CC/JJ set, so I can display CJX and have whichever 3 of the other 9 forms I want, but I've lately been thinking of selling these, because I need money, because I need the space, and because I didn't think I liked them as much as I first thought. But playing with it for this review, seeing all the neat accessories, makes me want to keep them again. And get CC/JJ.
Full Thread: Super Imaginative Chogokin Vol 57 Kamen Rider W CycloneJoker
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