Big thanks to Gundam Mad for selling me this kit. This article isn't sponsored, but apparently this kit isn't easy to find elsewhere in the world, so I'm grateful nonetheless.
Ahh, I'm so happy I found that a kit of this mech exists. You've probably heard of Gurren Lagann and its reputation for hot-blooded bombast, kicking logic to the kerb and doing the impossible. And it's an anime I hold close to my heart as the first anime I ever binge watched all the way through, and the anime that got me into the mecha genre to begin with. Between this and The Big O, I still have vivid memories of passing the evenings in my first year uni dorm watching the old now-out-of-print Beez Anime Legends box set from the first to the last disc. And although it's in print as of right now thanks to Anime Limited, I still won't forgive Netflix for delisting it from their catalogue. BAH!
Anyway, I've just ordered the aforementioned Anime Limited box set, since while I do still have the Beez Entertainment version (Remember them? Back when Bandai themselves were more integrated into anime?), that version doesn't include the compilation movies with the even more hot-blooded ending fight scene...and the cover art isn't as butt-ugly as the Beez release.
But while I wait for that (Post-completion edit: It took 8 days after ordering for Anime Limited to dispatch it, so I've no idea what they've been doing this whole time), it's time to build me a model kit. Can't say I've heard of the Plaiobot line or indeed the Sentinel line behind it. Apparently this and Lazengann are the only models in this line as of right now.
Although this kit comes with some colour-correcting stickers, I've noticed that some parts come with details like the eyes printed on already, and came in their own individual plastic bags (confusingly labelled as the Z runner), like the rubber parts on the Aoshima Mechagodzilla.
Now that I've got everything else unbagged and in alphabetical order, let's get this thing together. Judging by the size of the box and the fact that the assembly instructions all fit on one side of the manual, I'm assuming this will be about the size of a 1/144 High Grade at least, or a RE/100 kit at the largest, with about the same amount of detail. Not gonna lie though, it's odd to see a manual which is printed entirely in colour, and has differently-coloured symbols for when parts are to be assembled in a specific order. Haven't quite shaken off the stigma of the Perfect Grade Unicorn's manual with no English to be seen other than the corner headers.
There's actually two face parts on the "Z runner", one of which has it's mouth hanging open ("screaming", according to the Google lens translation). Problem with that one is that it isn't coloured in. So if that's the way you want to pose this kit if you plan on getting it, you'd better be ready with the paint or be ready to compromise on detail.
 |
| The inner metallic "cockpit teeth" are the first foil stickers to be applied on this kit. |
There's also two extra pairs of sunglasses for the purpose of dual-wielding poses.
I've mostly been ignoring the prompts in the manual to glue parts, but for the hands as well as the joins between the drills and the ball joints, I've decided to add it there anyway, since those aren't the sort of things I'd want to fall apart, particularly if I'm going to adjust the pose of this thing. Something the manual doesn't say to do is glue the join between the black base of the drill and the ball joint that slots into it, and as I went on to discover when swapping the drills out for the final pose, those get stuck in the arm pretty easily. So uh...this is probably the only mecha-themed model kit I've done where plastic glue is effectively mandatory, for more reasons than the manual suggests.
Upon putting it together, the actual final assembly wasn't too bad. Little bit stiff, but I kept remembering this review of the kit from Newtype Advantage and thinking of the fact that he ended up snapping the part that the upper legs join on to. I thankfully didn't have this problem, but if I was to sum up this kit in one word on assembly, it would be "stiff". Not lacking in articulation, but compared to the kind of kits I and I imagine everyone else would be used to, I feel like there's more of a chance that something might break if I move this kit too vigorously. But outside from that and the reliance on annoyingly-precise colour-correcting foil stickers, I like the end result of this kit.
And just in general, I'm happy that a kit of this mecha exists. The fact that it comes with several different dynamic hand poses and two different sizes of large drill really shows that Sentinel really thought the posability of this kit should have been a priority. If you can get your hands on this kit (and I say "if" because everyone commenting on my Tiktok has told me that it's sold out basically everywhere apparently), I'd certainly say you're in for a striking-looking kit. And, if my relative lack of popping my notes in among the images wasn't enough of an indicator, not one too complex to build either. Just have the usual funny-smelling solvent on standby (preferably the kind with the needle so you can precisely get the dollops of it in the right crevices), and you'll be good to go.
Stay safe and clip the impossible, folks!
Comments
Post a Comment