I've been shit :D but all is not lost! As the likelihood of using Kiva again for Cosfest is pretty high, I decided to upgrade my belt. That means, I got a custom 'adult belt' kit from good ol' HK/Yahoo.jp auctions. Here's a comparison
Kivat Belt Ver 2.0
As you can see, the new belt is made of a much nicer, plastic/fibreglass(?) material that's painted metallic red. Looks more show accurate and awesome, and of course, it has the chains!
The new belt also accomodates the DX Kivat, which means I have a Kivat that can talk, light up, and of course, give me access to all the SPECIAL MOVESSS!!!11one.
Also, he's not as flat as a pancake like my prop belt.
Lookit ze chains!!111one Excuse the droopy belt, it needs a fair bit of futzing and adjusting, and it's obviously still too large here. I actually had to puff my stomach out so it wouldn't totally fall off XD. Oh, and excuse my butt too. Yeah
The old belt. Kivat on it looks decent enough from the front, especially his eyes. However, I never was satisfied with how flat Kivat himself looked from every other angle, nor was I satisfied with how plain the belt itself looked. Having the eyes always red was nice, but the molded in fuestles (whistles) were a bummer.
The back of the old belt. Just doesn't look as good as a whole package.
In short?
Belt Ver 2.0
Pros
Metallic red colour looks great
Chains add show accurate detail
Plastic/Fibreglass material and chains add a satisfying jiggle whenever I move (which is very Kiva-esque, woot)
Access to the DX Kivat's electronic sounds and speech (Can you say... WAKE UP IRL?)
Smaller sized Kivat is actually a better scale for me
Cons
Adjusting it is annoying
Putting the chains on needed tons of futzing
The eyes don't look as good when Kivat's not turned on
Belt uses the buckle and whistle/fuestle pouches from the toy version, so they don't quite mesh well with the rest of the belt as of now.
Belt Ver 1.0
Pros
Already custom made to my size
Prop Kivat on it looks good from the front
More show accurate 'scale' in a way?
Cons
Prop Kivat looks bad from the side
Belt looks bad kinda cheap from the back
Molded fuestles/whistles are a bummer
No access to the electronics (obviously)
And well, that should be it! I'm fairly certain I'll be using this new 'upgraded' belt for my Kiva this Cosfest. KIVATTE-IKUZE!
