Big thanks to Gundam Mad for being open for the right kind of timing to ship me this kit. Hopefully your Christmas and New Year's wasn't as bleak and crazy as mine was.
Bad timing on my part - I finally figured out a set-up I liked for livestreaming, and the model kit I happen to have next in what I can laughably call a backlog is of a complex variety from a franchise I've never built before, from a company that I've only built one kit of before. So any confidence I would theoretically have on a livestream would be shot to hell and back! But I'm told that this one is still very good in spite of the complexity, so the only way is forwards.
A landscape manual? Blimey, even the Rex didn't do that!
And much like the Mechagodzilla and PG Unicorn, the manual is almost entirely in Japanese. Thankfully the Kotpbukiya-unique symbol key was easily translated by Google Lens as usual.
Putting both halves of the inner head together was a bit annoying, since the jaw and the front of those pipes sticking out of the back don't easily fit into their respective slots on one side, so fitting them together was kind of a balancing act. And both of them appear hinged, so everything I've heard about, "glue everything that doesn't move" doesn't apply here.
The aforementioned statement regarding glue isn't a lie - some parts are prone to falling off during some of the bulkier assembly stages, like the top rows of teeth when putting both sides of the head together (And don't get me started on fitting the pilot figures in the seats. Ugh.). Now all this plastic glue is making me somewhat light-headed, so I'm gonna take a break for a bit before moving onto the body.
Fitting this part of the torso together was very fiddly, what with the fact that the working pistons (nice!) have to fit loosely in the grooves at a specific way round. I'm still not sure how I managed it in the end, though obviously not by gluing them. I think it had something to do with holding the pistons in the front part that was fitting onto the rest of the torso segment, rather than what the manual suggests, but my memory after that part is rather hazy for reasons probably related more to interacting on a friend's livestream than plastic glue fumes. Whatever I did though, it seems to be fine, seeing how the joint moves about in its intended way.
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| This removable "Zoid core" part comes with a transparent red marble thing, which looks rather pleasing. |
WARNING TO THOSE LOOKING TO GET THIS KIT
When you get to step 43, you get the option to build either these basic parts above or the more elaborate attack boosters. Given that the manual isn't translated, you'll almost certainly not notice this until it's too late, and I spent ages trying to figure out why there weren't enough R polycaps until Google Lens translated the easily missable warning text for me, forcing me to prise open the already assembled parts.
That, Kotobukiya, is, as I said on my Tiktok, a bit of a dick move.
I hate these things. I've no idea whose idea it was to have tons of loose parts that need to be balanced on one side of the boosters before fitting them together, nor who came up with the illustrations in the manual and the order they suggest putting the parts together in...but whoever they are, Kotobukiya is clearly paying them too much.
Luckily, they do feel more secure once the blue armour is attached, so I made it in the end.
Actually, I don't really want the head sitting on its side all on its own. Let's pop it on the torso after lining the two pipes at the back up...
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| Look! It's the Blade Seal AB! |
I like how huge this thing already is. And it feels really solid and weighty as well. You really feel like you're putting together a premium kit here.
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| Suspicious-looking sausage for scale. Not pictured: Scarlet Pimpernel Sauce. |
And now for the really gruelling stuff. I have to build not two...but four legs on this kit. If you're the sort of person who dislikes the repetition that comes from doing the limbs on a mecha model kit, the Blade Liger will be the end of you.
And after awkwardly jamming the legs onto the torso...
Now the kit does provide a really large set of waterslide decals. Like...the largest of it's kind that I've seen in any model kit. The downside is that there isn't any kind of thorough guide to where to stick them. The closest the kit gives you is this one image on the side of the box, so I used a combination of that and a quick google image search for inspiration. You kind of have to use your imagination when it comes to decal placement on this kit.
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| Given the height of the lettering on the booster, these decals either seem inaccurate or asymmetrical. Either way, it bothers me. |
And that's the Blade Liger AB. This was quite an entertaining experience for me, particularly as someone with almost no experience with Zoids as a franchise, and barely any experience with Kotobukiya's kits. It's not without some obtuse or frustrating moments, but as long as you know which parts to glue down (which really isn't as difficult as I thought it would be), this kit will remain nice and solid, complete with tons of appealing details. If you're really experienced in kit building and want something just a little bit different, this is probably it. Easily one of the best kits I've ever assembled.
Stay safe and keep clipping, folks!
The Good
+ Huge shelf presence
+ Nice articulation
+ Wonderful attention to detail
+ All of the above, and this kit is from 2007?!
The Bad
- Putting the booster units together (and indeed each individual segment of the kit during final assembly of the body) is a balancing act
- There's not much in the way of guidance as to where to put the waterslide decals
- No English translation in the manual, so it's easy to slip up and build the wrong option part when you get round to the boosters
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