(Click on the photo for a larger-sized version.)

The 19cm-tall figure is pictured here with the 15cm-long Garo Sword. The articulation for Garo’s arms is much better than for the Kouga figure and you should have no problems putting Garo in your favourite swordsman pose.

The legs aren’t as posable, unfortunately. There are joints galore but they’re all restricted in some way. Nobody expects a fully armoured knight to execute kung-fu side kicks but I was hoping to put Garo in a few more dynamic poses. It must be said, however, it looks good in the poses you can put it in.

Two things that may not be evident from the photo: the figure is mostly plastic and the sword is mostly metal.

I think it’s fair to say this is the main reason most would have picked up the set. Take the beautiful armour of the Gold Saints from Saint Seiya and apply McFarlane Toy’s edgy sensibilities and you’d get Garo: a striking bestial knight.

Putting the armour on first involves dismembering and decapitating the Kouga figure and then attaching Garo’s limbs, head and armour. Getting the Garo head on is a little tricky as the instructions omit one step. You’re supposed attached a neck piece (this can be found on the bottom tray) to the head before attaching both to the torso.

Attaching the head to the neck piece took me a long time as it wasn’t immediately obvious to me which was the top and which was the bottom of the neck piece. On top of that, the fit wasn’t too good.

However, the difficulty I had putting it all together was quickly forgotten once I set eyes on the completed Garo.

Beautiful.

The figure stands 17cm tall and is articulated at the neck, chest, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. It should be quite a posable action figure but it isn’t. The problem is the ball joints at the shoulders and hips are limited laterally. The set includes the Makai sword seen above (as well as an extra right hand for Kouga to grip it) but there aren’t many cool swordsman poses you can pull off.

The other problem with the Kouga figure is the proportions. The figure seems to be missing a chunk of its trunk.

Deal-breakers? Hardly. But considering the effort Bandai took to get the face sculpt right, these shortcomings are disappointing.