Kamen Rider Garren & Kamen Rider Chalice

Review by Ghost_XIII

Before reading this review, I highly recommend that you read the review of Volume 35 here as they have the same base body and I’m not gonna cover the same stuff.

Greetings my fellow brothers and sisters in toys collecting or whoever it is that is reading this. This is Ghost_XIII reporting in to bring you yet another review. I’ve been busy with life(studies, finals, presentation and whatnot) but here is the continuation of the SIC Volume 35 review, the SIC Volume 36: Kamen Rider Garren and Chalice. As I mentioned in my previous review, Blade SIC series is plagued with fragile joint and this set will showcase the issue.

The box is a standard SIC deal themed after Garren and Chalice with hearts and diamonds. Not something I usually expect on SIC ^^;.

Out of the box, everything is served on two layers of plastic trays. You will be getting:
The first tray:

-Garren
-Garren Rouzer
-alternate head piece for Garren
-Garren Rouzer’s holster
-two heel attachment thingy for Garren
-Chalice
-Joker Undead head
-Joker Undead front chest piece
-Undead belt buckle
-Joker Undead belt buckle

The second tray:

-splayed open hands for Chalice(left,right)
-holding things hands for Chalice(left,right)
-splayed open hands for Garren(left,right)
-holding things hands for Garren(left,right)
-two straps for Garren’s thigh when using the holster
-and a heap load of Joker Undead part which is really a pain to point out(Sorry ^^;)

and of course, instruction manual.

Lets start with the undamaged specimen, Garren.

To complete the figure, you gonna need to attach the heel attachment thingy just like Blade.

And here is the pink beetle. Just like Blade, Garren redesign is on the extreme side but I like it(as usual :p). The details are all over the place in a good way. I particularly like how Garren’s shoulder pads are redesign.

The diecast content is the same as Blade which is a good thing. They are at his forearms, belt buckle, kneepads and shins.

Articulation wise, he is the same as Blade but no Ironman pose. I’m scared I might break something in the process :p.

As for arsenal, Garren came with his signature weapon, the Garren Rouzer. Seriously, what is wrong with the QC on Blade SIC series weapons? The paint apps are as sloppy as Blade’s Blade Rouzer but nicely detailed nonetheless.

Garren Rouzer can also fan out its card deck but disappointingly, its blank just like Blade Rouzer.

You can attach Garren Rouzer on Garren like a holster kinda deal with the included thigh piece for the right side. You also need to use the longer alternate straps to attach the holster on the thigh.

The holster did a good job storing the Garren Rouzer but things look very awkward because of Garren Rouzer’s size.

Despite its size, Garren Rouzer looks like an effective weapon in Garren’s hand and he could hold on to it with no problem.

The final piece of accessory for Garren is this alternate head piece with a green highlight to show him charging up for his kick.

I think I like this looks better than the default.

“BURNING DIVIDE”

That’s it for Garren and lets move on to the problematic side, Chalice.

When I bought this set(used by the way), the right elbow and knee is broken and the previous owner already glued them permanently. I used revoltech joint to fix this issue and went to revo-fied the left side too to balance things out. If you did use the same solution as I did, you will lose the elbow pad but its hardly noticeable in my opinion so I don’t really mind.

Without the joint issue in mind, the figure is gorgeous. I really, really like this rendition of Chalice. Who would have thought a character with a heart motives can look this badass. I also particularly like how the diecast pieces are designed on him. They remind me of a dragon’s scale rather that a cockroach which Chalice supposed to based on.

Its quite hard to see Chalice card deck without removing the thigh armor. You cant fanned it out by the way which I don’t really mind.

The diecast on him is the same as Garren except his belt buckle.

Articulation wise, Chalice is the same as Garren and Blade.

This is the picture of before and after I revo-fied the joint. The range is 98% the same I would say.

Since I revo-fied the whole joint, I don’t have any fear of joint breaking. So here’s the usual Ironman pose :p

Moving on to the accessories, Chalice came with this diecast belt buckle to show him in his Chalice Undead form. Its quite amazing to see the intricate sculpt on such tiny piece.

Next is the Chalice Arrow. Not as detailed as Blade’s or Garren’s weapon due to the surface area available but there is some on it. One thing I don’t like about this weapon is the two holes at the center. They are meant for Chalice to peg in his belt buckle like in the show. I wish Bandai came up with a better way to do that particular gimmick.

Chalice can’t really grab it firmly but it will stay in his hand and the weapon is light so that’s a good thing.

Just like in the show, you can remove the default belt buckle on Chalice and peg it in the center of the Chalice Arrow but by doing so will leave an unsightly holes in Chalice’s gut. I just use the Undead buckle to cover it up. Screw show accuracy :p.

As we all know, Chalice is the Joker Undead(uh...spoiler?) so lets transform.

You need to reduce Chalice down to his core. With the fragile joint issue, I can see why some people broke their Chalice’s joints. You need to pull on some parts which even after revo-fied my Chalice’s joints, feels a little scary.

And here is the winner of the previous Battle Royale, the Joker Undead. Putting on all his part is a pain in a literal retrospect. There is so much sharp stuff on him which I don’t know where I’m supposed to grab to push stuff in. But the end result is worth it. Joker looks awesome. He doesn't look like he gets much redesign but his looks is pretty imaginative to begin with so I don’t mind about it at all. His crotch piece really likes to fall off by the way which is very frustrating.

That face will certainly haunt some kid’s dream.

The chains are metal by the way.

Articulation wise, Joker is almost the same as Chalice. Just the arm is a little bit more hindered by the shoulder pad.

As for accessory, Joker came with his dagger but it is permanently being held by his left hand. I also wish a set of fist is included for Joker. Oh well....

Some reminder, be careful when trying to remove the Joker’s head as there is one time the chain get stuck somewhere and I broke one of the chain’s link when yanking the head.

The verdict, should you buy this?

This is hard to put in words. Lets ignore the fragile joint issue first. This set is awesome. The redesign, the diecast usage, playability rubbed me all the right way. SIC fans will surely get the kick out of this. The price maybe a little on the high side but its worth it.

But there is that joint issue which I just cant ignore. I have no problem with it as I was able to fix the broken one on mine(maybe with some frustration) so I only recommend this set if you can fulfill these criteria:
-get it as cheap as you can(how much? Its up to you how to value it as long as you are ok with the price with consideration that the joint may break)
-get a used set(if it didn't break with the old owner, favorable chances it wont break with you)
-you know how to repair joint or know someone that can do it for you.(if you know a better way than using revo joints, do hit me up on my Facebook)

With that, that’s the end of this review. Hope you guys enjoy reading it. As always, any comments or critics(positive or negative) are always welcomed. This is Ghost_XIII reporting out :).