GOLD KNIGHT GARO

 

Today I will be sharing Gold Knight Garo, the titular character of the dark tokusatsu series, GARO. An excellent release in the S.H. Figuarts line, Garo is one of my absolute favorite action figures I own. The show itself is also very cool and I highly recommend it to anyone. It's got a great, unique look to it and a compelling story. Hit the jump to see why I like Garo so much!

The show GARO is the story of Kouga Saejima, the Makai Knight of the East, also known as Garo. It is his job as a Makai Knight to cleanse the world of Horrors, demonic beings that prey and feed upon humans and their worst emotions. The way the Horrors go about their business is basically by possessing the body of their victims, like The Exorcist, although all victims in the show aren't necessarily possessed against their will. Unlike The Exorcist, instead of being confronted by old priests whose faith has been shaken, the Horrors have to deal with a badass knight in gold armor forged to look like a pissed off wolf. Needless to say, the Makai Knight's approach is a little more hands on than that of Fathers Merrin and Karras. Instead of saying “the power of Christ compels you”, Garo more or less just stabs demons with his sword. In the course of his adventures Garo even meets Pazuzu, a demon that shares the name of the antagonist of The Exorcist. 

Garo's symbol bears a passing resemblance to the Alcoholics Anonymous logo. When you fight Horrors, you take it one day at a time.

He's got legs, he knows how to use them. For stomping Horror skulls.

 

During one of Garo's battles against a Horror, in the course of defeating it, the blood of the Horror strikes an innocent bystander, the girl named Kaoru. By law, Garo should kill her immediately because she is cursed, but something stays the hand of the Makai Knight. Instead, despite seemingly being annoyed by her, Kouga (Garo) decides to do everything he can to save her within the 100 days she has before the curse takes over. Little does Garo know that his quest to save Kaoru will end up putting him on a collision course with evil powers far beyond mere Horrors.

Those tassels on his shoulders come off so you can place his cape on him. Cape not pictured. Mostly because I can't find it right now.

The S.H. Figuarts Garo is an awesome toy. Despite the limitations of the Garo armor, it is very poseable. The articulation of the Figuarts line is a real joy for action figure nuts like me. I've never been into the statues and busts that look cool but can only be displayed in one way. The term “hand candy” is often used when describing action figures, meaning how much fun/interest a person can have just fiddling with it and Figuarts are really top tier in this respect. They are highly detailed and come with a nice assortment of accessories to help you get them looking how you want them to.

Although this version of Garo is pretty accurate to his screen version, he is a little simplified in certain details. Compared to the Kiwami Damashii version and the later Makaikado release he doesn't have all the intricate parts of the Garo armor. Still, that is not a knock on the Figuarts version. This Garo is awesome to look at and his articulation more than makes up for the lost minor details.

The salute of the Makai Knight.

Eye of Thundera...give me sight beyond sight! Oops, wrong series.

Garo comes with his sword, a sheath to hold it in, his cape (not pictured) and different hands (fists, relaxed, sword holding). The one thing I wish this toy had was a way to secure the sheath on his waist as it is shown in the TV show. That would have been great. He does come with a special hand that fits his sheath so he can be displayed holding the sword in it, or with Garo ripping it out to fight Horrors. 

SH-SHAAA!

 Garo is mostly plastic, except for his feet which are made of Getter Newtype's favorite thing in the world, diecast metal. All his details are sharp and the paint is immaculate. Not to be one of those guys that rants that anything Japanese is better than American, but Bandai Japan really brings the heat when it comes to their collector lines. I'm not saying that as Bandai import collectibles vs. American retail toy lines, I'm saying that as Bandai import collectibles vs. American toys marketed as adult collectibles. I'm looking at you MOTUC and Playmates Turtles Classics (a lot of the Classics Ninja Turtles have derpy eyes painted on, luckily mine are all kosher, but I've seen some derpitude). 

Not pictured: The rest of the sword buried in a Horror's guts.

When you are a dark tokusatsu hero, deep squats are the preferred exercise.

  To sum up my final thoughts on this toy, I think it's an out of the park homerun of design and execution. My only regret is that Gold Knight Garo here is the only regular S.H. Figuarts release that Bandai ever made from the GARO franchise. Zero, who I showed you earlier in the week was an expensive Web Exclusive. After that, Bandai created a whole new toy line, the Makaikado series to do future GARO releases in. While they are super detailed and all around awesome, they are also much bigger than the standard S.H. Figuarts release. For someone like me that likes to have toys from the same root toy line, in this case S.H. Figuarts, be in scale with each other that is a bit of a bummer. However, don't let that dissuade you from picking up this particular version of Garo because it is phenomenal. Thanks for reading!

Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns... yet by the blade of Knights, mankind was given hope...