Kamen Rider OOO Tatoba combo

Good day (or maybe night) my fellow toy fans or just passing through internet surfers. Now, let me introduce you to the Super Imaginative Chogokin Vol.64, Kamen Rider OOO (pronounced Ozu) Tatoba combo.

Kamen Rider OOO is the main protagonist of the twelfth Heisei Riders from the show with the same name. It’s one of my favourite Kamen Rider shows. The story line is really great. But we’re not here to talk about the show, are we? So let’s check this guy out.

I’m not one who judge toys or figures based on their packaging but man, I really like how Bandai design his box with the motive of the said character. The upper part of the box is torn because of my mishandling..sigh..

Out of the package, the whole thing is served on a single plastic tray. You will be getting

– the main figure
– medajalibur (the sword)
– two tora (tiger in japanese) claw
– two batta (grasshopper in japanese) leg
– 3 cell medals
– sets of hands(from left to right)

a) medal holding(only right one is included)
b) ’rage’
c) holding things
d) OOO’s signature pose

and of course, instructions manual.

Right out of the box, the figure which stands around 18cm is ready to go. This release of SIC is what some fans of this line call the revival of SIC because of how monstrous and beastly the design is compare to the actual suit used in the series. It’s like how Bandai used to design the old Showa Riders in SIC. I can see some people might be turned off by this and I can somehow understand but I LOVE IT! I always thought the actual suit looks a little silly with an butterfly eagle crash landed on his face. But SIC turn it into one badass redesign.

OOO relies on medal to change his form which each medal have different animal motive and power. Tatoba combo is the default combo which OOO will transform into using the taka (eagle in Japanese), tora and batta core medal. The core medal originally belongs to the antagonists called Greed, so you can see some of the Greed’s influence in the design of this guy. The leg and shoulder pad design is influenced by their respective Greed, which is Uva, an insect greed, and Kazari, the feline Greed which looks like he’s into BDSM.

Those feathery part on the neck is a nice touch as I always felt the eagle element is not noticeable enough on the actual design.

I wish the medal representation on the chest is a bit more vivid as they are too clear. As someone who watched the show, I know what they supposed to be but to people who don’t, can you really see eagle, tiger and grasshopper on your first look? Also because of the clearness, you can see four black dots there because the medal representation is removable for form changing (which I’ll cover in my next review). I’ve seen people apply a thin black wash to fix this.

The overall QC is almost great as they are some area with somewhat sloppy paint job but it wasn’t that bad really.

Other than that, I have no complaint. The detail is superb as always. The OOO SIC is also riddled with hidden writing.

Here’s grasshopper

Here’s tiger.

The diecast on this release is very disappointing. The metal is on his removable knee pad and the back part of his belt buckle.

OOO belong to the fourth generation of SIC body, a good amount of articulation is to be expected.

OK, before going any further, I would like to show something to be wary of. Just like Mister Firestarter1331 (one of my favourite reviewers), the loop on one of Tatoba shoulder pad BROKE. Although he did not state which, I’m quite sure it’s the right one in the picture and I think I know why.

As you can see, the shoulder pad is on their own loop with the difference is the left side have more clearance.

So when you move the shoulder pad upward like the left side, as there is not much clearance, the loop on the right side will break from the force of doing so.

Back to the articulation, the neck which connected to the head and torso, can move back and forth.

The head is connected to the neck by a ball joint which have a hinge so it have a very good motion looking up or down but stretching the joint to its limit will reveal some gap in the sculpt.

Sideways movement is no problem at all, you can even turn the head 360 if you want which can give quite a creepy result.

The arm can go a bit further than the first picture shown in this section above but doing so will pop off the feathery collar which is made from soft rubbery plastic.

The elbow is double jointed, swivel in the bicep, and

the wrist is on a ball joint with hinge at the base. I know the ball jointed system can give more articulation but I like the old peg system like on SIC Yuuki I reviewed. Changing hand on this guy can be scary sometimes and the peg system doesn’t give me any worry of breakage compare to this.

The leg is double jointed with a really nice bend, the ankle can tilt with good range but his toe joint can only move downward and there is no thigh swivel. You can somehow swivel the thigh at the joint connection with the hip but it’s pretty limited. I do wish an actual thigh swivel is there. His crotch piece is made of rubbery material like his feather collar and it does not have any solid attachment to the crotch. I can see why this is done as it can give the leg more forward or backward movement but it will also mess with the belt positioning as the belt is a separate piece from the torso. Sorry for this weird pose but I want to show you this guy have a very good ab articulation.

The waist can rotate but his ab crunch will be a little hindered by his belt. Like the crotch piece, the mid section is jiggly with no solid attachment which can leave quite a gap in his torso when that part gets stuck at the upper section.

Just like in the show, the tora claw on the forearm can be flipped down. Each of them can be moved individually. Those serrated design looks sharp and they are, so be careful.

Along with the claw, I would also like to point out the signature OOO’s hand. If you have seen OOO, then you know those signature hands he always make in pics. I actually thought they were just splayed open hand at first.

Still in the hand alley, next is the rage hands. Actually this is supposed to be used with the purple-eyed Tatoba head which is included in the exclusive effect part release but the regular head work just as well.

Next up is the medals. In Kamen Rider OOO series, there are two types of medal, cell and core medal. They can be distinguish very easily as the cell medal are just plain silver and the core medal are coloured. So what we’re looking at here is the cell medal. CAUTION, they are effing small. I’ve dropped one of these during the review and it took quite some time to find it. Given their size, I’m amazed how those sculptors at Bandai manage to do the animal motive on it. They are chromed but as you can see, the chrome starting to peel off. Is it possible to make this using diecast metal?

Also included is the core medal. Basically, they are just coloured cell medal. Nicely coloured though I must say.

They core medal can be accessed by removing the front cover of the OOO driver which is on a peg and can be remove quite easily but it will hold the medal in their place nonetheless.

The OOO driver can be tilted like in the show when Hino Eiji (OOO user) want to henshin or form change. The medal holder can be open to store the cell medal but it doesn’t feel that secure.

These medals can be used with the included medal holding hands and it does look quite cool.

The OOO scanner can be removed from the belt and is actually attached to the belt by an also removable silver piece. The OOO scanner, like the rest of this set, is highly detailed.

You can use it with the holding things hand for some henshin or scanning charge action.

Other thing that can be held is the medajalibur. This sword look 10 times more badass than its in-show counterpart. It is nicely made with clear and solid plastic. The slotting system is not present and I can see why, instead you can remove a covering at the sword’s body to simulate cell medal being inserted.

CAUTION!! The covering is held in place by two pegs. One of them is bigger than the other. The first time I try removing it, the smaller peg broke like in the picture I’ve shown. But it can still hold the cell medal nicely. There’s also a lever at what supposed to be the slotting point that can move up and down.

OOO can hold it with no problem.

Now, let’s move on to the best part. Some people call this the beast mode of OOO and the reason I love this particular SIC series so much. But let’s look at the part first shall we?

The giant tora claw is something original to this figure alone. I don’t remember seeing this in the show. The top of it looks somewhat mechanical while the bottom is clearly organic. The fingers (?) are on a ball joint and can be moved individually but it doesn’t have any significant range.

Love the paw detail.

Talk about QC, is it just me or the top one looks more orange than the bottom?

Next up is the batta leg. This part did appear in the show when OOO jump to perform his scanning charge attack. This is grasshopper leg on SIC steroid. The feet can tilt with quite a good range given its design and it can also move forward and backward but a lot more limited. The top part of the leg just above the shin is on a hinge and can be move up or down to some degree.

Before attaching this part on OOO, you need to pull of his limbs, leaving our hero in quite a sad state. The arm can be pulled off with relative ease but the leg can be scary at first as it will be really tight. My advice, just try to swivel the leg from the knee down side to side while pulling on it with SLOW AND CONTROLED force. I was worried I might break the knee joint when doing this for the first time. The process gets easier with each tries and it doesn’t feel like the connection point will become loose or break.

Once everything is attached, you will get a figure standing on a whole new level of badass-ery at the height around 23cm.

You might think the added height will make balancing difficult and I’m glad to say that is not the case. The batta leg can support the figure just fine without the feeling of it will topple over. Of course, some delicate balancing won’t hurt. The only point of contention is the arm. The mass of the tora claw will cause the elbow joint to droop at certain angle and poses but when you get a good pose, this thing is a pure beauty.

Should you buy this?

As always, if you’re the ‘show accurate’ guy or the change of aesthetics doesn’t jives with you, then this is not for you. If not, yes, you should BUT with some forethoughts in mind. I’ve read through forum and reviews that OOO also have the fragile joint issues like some of the old SIC release. It didn’t happen on my copy, save for the shoulder pad which I think is some molding error. I would say it’s a matter of luck really. You’ll get used to it when collecting SIC. Saying you should avoid this figure totally is quite unfair for it but just be prepare. Next, the price. I bought mine for MYR 220 (about 67USD) which is for a single figure, is quite pricey. You can get a two-pack with that kind of price. After handling this set, I would say the price is justified with the sculpt, gimmick and what he came with. My only complaint is there is no Ankh! I felt OOO (Tatoba in particular) wouldn’t be complete without him. But Bandai kindly amend that by including him in the EXCLUSIVE release of effect part for OOO with price that could almost bought you another Tatoba. Thanks Bandai.

So, that’s it for this review. Hope you enjoy it. As always, comments and critics are always welcome to improve my reviews.