Saint Cloth Myth - Phoenix Ikki

Series	Saint Cloth Myth
Title	Phoenix Ikki
Release Date	April 2004
Manufacturer	Bandai
Suggested Price (JPY)	3,600
Scale	1/11
Height (cm)	Figure: 16.5 cm (approx) Object: 16.0 cm (approx. wing tip)
No. of Parts	1 figure + 33 armor parts + 1 color instruction manual
My Rating	Very Good

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Phoenix Ikki is the elder brother to Andromeda Shun, who is a caring brother and yet one who will not express himself. He considered Shun to be too reliant on him and doubt that the continued dependency on him might jeopardize Shun's survival. Moreover, his lone ranger character did not help to jive well with other team mate. Thus, for Shun to grow stronger, he choose to shied away from the rest and secretly guards Shun and Athena. He usually appear to interfere whenever Shun got beaten up. He is a no-nonsense, nasty and uncompromising fighter who is more calculative on the battlefield. In the retaking of the Sanctuary, in order to defeat Virgo Shaka, whom strength nearest to god among the Gold, he planned from start to sacrifice six of his senses and his life in order to draw out his seventh sense to point where he could surpass Shaka's cosmos. His cloth, Phoenix has a feature where not even any Gold Cloth has; resurrection whenever the phoenix cloth is destroyed.

Ikki is the last but not least release among the five bronze saints which comes packaged in a 'book-box'. It opens to reveal that it consists of two window boxes; in one window box is a really well-articulated figure of Ikki, along with some of his cloth parts while the other half has 2 sections where the upper section contains the rest of his Phoenix Cloth and eight spare hands in gauntlets for various poses. The lower section consist of the phoenix tail feathers and its wings.

As usual, this release tried to comes up with a anime-like head sculpt where the job is close but no cigar. It is a good effort to imitate the anime to the point where the scar on Ikki's forehead is replicated but shape is slightly out. His hair looks messier and 'afro' like big without his crown. The neck is too long. All of this makes Ikki looks awkward without his armor. This is understandable as his hair has too be too big and his neck to be too high to accommodate his armor design. The top front section of hair piece which connected to both sideburns can be detach to fit in the crown. The crown can falls off easily as it has only one connector, where as 3 sockets are available on the head.

Ikki comes with a well articulated PVC body where the shoulder and feet could be elongated for some serious posing, where Ikki's special attack such as "Phoenix Genma Ken" is executed without any problem. I am still figuring how to pose "Hou Yoku Ten Sho" though.

Phoenix, the bird that never die, is beautifully recreated and the more intricate compare to the rest. Paint job is excellent where the combinations of metallic purple and flat silver is great. A welcome change is that the front portion of his chest plate is attached on to the back section in 2 separate pieces as oppose to the standard wear-on wrapped around armor. No chest armor comes popping off like Hyoga's. Buckle is reverted to Seiya's design where it is not detachable thus solve the problem of loose buckle. Shoulder armor is connected by a neckpiece instead of snapped on and slotted in from the top. Both shoulder armor can move upward 90 degrees. 3 pieces of phoenix tails is attached to the back of the chest armor which looks very cool. I will say that this is the most solid design among the five releases.

Phoenix Object while not the best looking but by far the most intricate design. It is quite a challenge to construct the Object. Both feet are moveable and a balance must be achieve in order for it to stand still. Snapped-in 3 long piece of phoenix tails and the balance has to be adjusted again. A good replication to anime but for a bird object, Cygnus still holds the top position.

Preordered and purchase this online from HLJ. The last among the five bronze saints and by far has the most parts in count. Excellent armor design and paint job makes this a collectibles that can't be missed.


The 'book-box' opens to reveal that it consists of two window boxes.	Box Packaging

Gimmicks

Metal parts consist of: 1 chest plate (back portion), 2 feet at figure, 2 arm guard, 2 leg guard, 2 knee cap, 2 shoulder pads jointed by 1 hard plastic neck piece, 1 belt w/ buckle, 1 main connector piece for object's frame.

Non-metal parts consists of: 1 fully articulated Ikki PVC figure, Phoenix Object frame: 2 wings, 3 phoenix tail feathers, 2 jointed and detachable bird feet, 2 pieces for phoenix neck and tail, 1 frame connector piece, 1 crown where the the face guard is detachable to be replace w/ a smaller version and 2 feet armor. A total of 8 extra gauntlet; 2 fist, 2 tight grip, 2 loose grip and 2 open palm.

Object