This review has been in the works for some time but I’ve finally found time to finish it off. Thanks to Ken at Toy-wave I was able to get it at a reasonable price, and it’s one of my favourite pieces in my collection!

Background:

Mazinkaizer SKL (Skull) is a 3 episode Japanese OVA spinoff of Go Nagai’s Mazinkaizer. The story is based on Machine Island where 3 factions, the Garan Army, the Kiba Army and the Hachiyokaku battle for dominance. Machine Island is a prison island isolated to the rest of the world by a “Gravity Curtain” which all three factions have partial control of. Due to the battle for dominance on the island the Gravity Curtain has become unstable and risks exploding and destroying all of Earth along with it – enter Mazinkaizer SKL. Mazinkaiser SKL, piloted by the Death Caprice Squad members Ken Kaido and Ryo Magami is a part of the Skull Force dispatched by the WSO (Worldwide Government) to stop the impending doom…

Name: Mazinkaiser SKL
Manufacturer: Bandai
Line: Super Robot Chogokin
Sculptor:
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: ABS, POM, PVC, Zndc
Release: Dec 2010
Original Price: ¥5,800 (approx. $71AUD / $73USD)
Height: 145mm / 5.7inches

Packaging:

Mazinkaizer SKL Starter pack comes in a white outer box which contains the packaging for the toy as well as a DVD of the first episode of the OVA. I wonder if it is good design or pure coincidence that the packaging of the toy has the exact height and width of the DVD case. Inside, Mazinkaizer sits snugly in his plastic tray.

Accessories:

The biggest and most notable accessory Mazinkaizer SKL gets is his signature weapon – the Gazantou (牙斬刀). This is a huge blade that is carried on Mazinkaizer SKL’s back. The handle of this blade can be extended to allow it to be used as a pole weapon. Mazinkaizer’s second set of weapons, the Breast Trigger is also included in two variations. The first variation can be separated and held as pistols whilst the second set is a slimmer version which is designed to be attached as the breast plate only.

Form/Sculpt:

Based on the Mazinkaizer design, the SKL version has been given a demonic twist with added pointy bits and redesigned Pilder in the form of a human skull. I’m no cultist but I love this menacing design and it has been perfectly captured in toy form. The execution is also exceptionally good with nice solid die-cast lower legs giving the toy incredible stability and heft. Nothing more to say except awesome, absolutely awesome!

Articulation/Action:

As far as articulation goes, for such a small toy there is an incredible amount of engineering put into this toy to give it pretty decent movement. The head, shoulders, hips and ankles all have ball joints which move nicely and are concealed cleverly. The elbow and knee joints are both ratcheted and the chest can roll upwards however there doesn’t appear to be any waist articulation. Overall very impressive.

Paint/Print:

The incredible-ness of this toy continues on to the paint department. Mazinkaizer SKL’s head would be about the size of my pinky (I have small hands) yet the paint is so detailed and crisp. The red paint on the Breast Trigger, the forehead and the arms has a metallic pearl effect matching the glossiness of the rest of the toy and looks amazing.

Detail/Features:

One of the features which can sometimes be annoying is the detachable Skull Pilder. It is held in by a small peg in the crown but it’s not all that tight so you really need to be careful and not loose it.

Another feature is the rotating handles on the Breast Trigger, not exactly sure why but its there in case you wanted to know.

Lastly, as I don’t have either the SRC Mazinger or Great Mazaginer to compare size with, I’ll compare it to my Revoltech Mazinkaizer. Here you can see where a lot of the design inspiration for the SKL version came from, and it’s also quite a bit bigger than the Revoltech toy line, and much nicer to be honest.

Overall:

This toy easily ticks all my boxes when it comes to design, execution, paint app and playability. Although these days you will be hard pressed to find it at a reasonable price, but if you do please do not hesitate and grab him as quickly as possible, it’s definitely a keeper!

Thanks for reading!

Background:

Rei Suzumura (涼邑 零) is the Silver Fanged Knight known as Zero from the Japanese tokusatsu series “Garo”. He is one of the sub-antagonist turned co-protagonist and has a complicated relationship with Kouga – The Golden Knight Garo. Zero wields a pair of short swords which can be locked together to form a crescent-shaped double-bladed boomerang called the Ginga Ginroken (銀牙銀狼剣).

Name: Zero
Manufacturer: Bandai
Line: S.H.Figuarts
Sculptor:
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: ABS, PVC, POM, Zndc
Release: Sept 2011
Original Price: ¥4,725 (approx. $56AUD / $59USD)
Height: 155mm / 6.10inches

Packaging:

As this is a Web Tamashii exclusive the toy comes boxed in a brown mailing box. Inside, Zero’s S.H.Figuarts packaging gets a really nice dark themed treatment, using a deep red backdrop to make the figure really standout.

Accessories:

Zero comes with a pair of his signature weapons, the Ginroken which can be locked together to for the Ginga Ginroken. Of course he also gets optional hands to be able to weld the weapons.

Form/Sculpt:

Zero’s sculpt is super sharp, in some places literally. I can see why they reserved this as a Web Tamashii exclusive, it is very special indeed. I love the proportions of the suit much more so that the main protagonist of the show. As expected, Zero’s feet are die-cast giving it a good weight distribution and making it easy to pose.

Articulation/Action:

As you can probably see form the photos the articulation is quite good on this figure. Featuring the now standard double knee and elbow joints on S.H.Figuarts toys there really isn’t many poses it can’t be placed in. Waist joint isn’t too bad either with both rotating a rocking action although can’t be rotated very far. All the joints are nice and tight and stay in place very well.

Paint/Print:

I had never thought a green and silver paint scheme could looks so nice, but this figure has proven me wrong. Not only does the colours work well together they have also been applied very tidily. Lots of little paint apps to bring out the sculptural detail in the armour which looks amazing.

Detail/Features:

I’m not sure if Zero is shorter than Garo in the show but in toy form he stands roughly 5mm shorter, but overall he looks and feels much bulkier and well proportioned.

Overall:

As far as the actual figure is concerned, it’s pretty much flawless but I know there isn’t really much of a following for this series outside of Japan so the target market may be somewhat limited. Having said that, I’m not a huge fan of the series but I absolutely love this toy!

Background:

Bulldozer and Excavator are a tribute to the Transformers Constructicon members “Bonecrusher” and “Scavenger” who form the left and right arms of Devastator respectively when combined. These toys are unofficial and unlicensed, made by a 3rd party custom TF company called “MakeToys” who design and produce unlicensed Transformers toys. MakeToys is a spin-off company of FansProject, another popular 3rd party custom TF company, so they have plenty of experience as can be see from the quality of their products.

Name: Bulldozer & Excavator
Manufacturer: MakeToys
Line: Giant Series
Sculptor:
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: ABS
Release: Mar 2012
Original Price: ¥10,500 (approx. $124AUD / $129USD)
Height: 150mm / 5.90inches | 145mm / 5.70inches

Packaging:

Bulldozer and Excavator are sold as a set of two, as will the rest of the Yellow Giant series, and the packaging is simple but effective. The compact size makes it easy to ship and store being packed in the alt vehicle modes. The box art is also very nice with manga style drawings of both characters on either side of the box as well as nice photos of the actual toys depicted in both modes. I love the extra backing card included with the toys.

Accessories:

Included with the figures is a cannon that can be slip into two and clips into either figure in both robot and alt modes. I imagine this will also form part of Giant’s gun when combined with weapons from other sets. Even more importantly, being the left and right arm of Giant, the forearms are also included in this set. Giant’s hands are stored inside the forearms in the alt mode and will be able to be towed by Wheel Loader and Mixer when they arrive.

Form/Sculpt:

Robot Mode: MakeToys have done a great job with their homage to the Transformers G2 Bonecrusher and Scavenger. Most of the distinguishing features of these characters are present with a modern twist. Transformation is also straight forward and intuitive with really good designs in both modes. I have to say though, Bulldozer looks quite righteous, especially his head design which really doesn’t make him feel like a decepticon to me.

Alt Mode: In alt mode, Bulldozer looks really nice. The proportions and design of the vehicle is very convincing.

Robot Mode: Excavator has more of a Decepticon feel in design which could be due to his eyes being red rather than blue and out of the two I’d have to say I favour him over Bulldozer in robot mode. Both of these toys feel solid with good quality plastics used.

Alt Mode: Again in alt mode, the design of Excavator as an excavator is very convincing and you can hardly tell if the design of one mode was compromised for the other, as is the case with a lot of Transformer toys.

Articulation/Action:

The articulation of both of these toys is pretty decent. All the limbs have a good range of movement as they also serve the purpose of transforming to the alt modes. Bulldozer and Excavator shares the exact same lower body designs which I think has one slight flaw, being that the heel of the foot is slightly too short which tends to make them lean back too far.

Paint/Print:

Both figures feature a lot of nice paint detail, not only that the paint app is very tidy and consistent throughout. MakeToys has also added print detail to make the toys even more realistic, especially in alt mode. It’s usually quite hard to mold plastic in yellow and not have it looking cheap, but MakeToys have done a great job here. Being the yellow version also help with the realism in the alt mode in my opinion – when was the last time you saw a bright green bulldozer? XD

Detail/Features:

As cool as these toys are, they would be even cooler if they are in scale with other Transformer toys. When measured up against United UN-17 Kup you can clearly see that the alt mode is completely out of whack, but transform into robot mode and they are pretty much the same height.

Up against Fansproject “Bruticus” (Crossfire), so far it looks like the combined Giant will come in at roughly the same size if not bulkier. This is going to be epic!

Overall:

I’m so excited over this release I can hardly contain myself. This set does a really good job of paying homage to the G2 Constructicons whilst keeping them in character. For most, being able to display Giant fully combined is the goal but each of these toys individually also deserve some credit as they look and work splendidly in both modes.

The yellow colour scheme will probably put a lot of people off but personally I like it more so than the green. Not that I prefer G2 over G1, it’s just that I think yellow suits construction vehicles better. In any case, the Green version will be available in June so what ever colour you prefer, make sure you don’t miss out on this great release!

Thanks for reading!

Background:

Name: Zoids Beam Cannon Unit
Manufacturer: Yamato
Line: Full Action Model
Sculptor:
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: ABS, PVC, POM
Release: Oct 2011
Original Price: ¥2,000 (approx. $23AUD / $25USD)
Length: 200mm / 7.87inches

Packaging:

The Beam Cannon Unit comes in a similar style packaging to the Shield Liger toy, thick cardboard box houses the styrene trays which keeps the contents safe. Even the size of the box has been considered as it is the same width and height as the Liger box for easy storage of the two together. It is much thinner though but it’s nice to see that packaging hasn’t been compromised just because this is an upgrade kit.

Accessories:

Directly translated from the original Yamato website, the set includes Beam Cannon x 2, Energy Tank x 2, Beam Cannon Booster x 2, Missile Pod Attachment x 2. I’m not exactly sure how they came to this description but from what I can see you get two main beam cannons, back plate which you can attach the original missile pods to and two power cable pipes to connect the back plate to the cannons.

Form/Sculpt:

There is quite a lot of detail put into the cannons and when attached to the Shield Liger it looks really nice and definitely beefs up its offense capabilities. The cannon can sit in a few different positions on top of the Shield Liger as the base is retractable. All the parts fit onto the Liger quite well and don’t feel loose at all.

Articulation/Action:

When paired with Shield Liger’s already amazing articulation it becomes simply incredible. It adds a whole new level of playability to the toy and in my opinion really completes it. With the combination of the retractable base of the cannon and Liger’s original swinging missile pod arm on the sides, the cannon can be pointed in almost any direction.

Paint/Print:

Paint app on the Beam Cannon Unit is very tidy. There is a lot of painted detail applied to bring out the design of the cannon.

Detail/Features:

The missile pods on the back plate can rotate as they simply plug into place. I love the fact that this upgrade kit doesn’t require any parts from the original toy to be discarded.

A close up look at the retractable base of the Beam Cannon reveals that the pistons actually work and the pistons are metal.

Overall:

If you own a Yamato Zoids Shield Liger full action model, then you MUST buy this kit. Your Shield Liger will be ever grateful to you and you know you will have done the right thing!

Thanks again for reading.

Firstly, I’d like to thank Angolz for reserving this one for me. It was practically sold out everywhere online within a couple of hours of its release and it’s not hard to see why!

Background:

From the stupendously awesome anime series “Tiger & Bunny” comes the most popular hero in Sternbild City, and the winner of last season’s “King of Heroes” title – Sky High!

Keith Goodman, aka Sky High is a very well mannered, good hearted and self repeating man. He has the power to manipulate the wind which he uses as a weapon by creating concentrated blasts and spiral balls, he also uses this power to save falling citizens by creating upward gusts to catch them, and with the help of a jet pack he is able to stream the wind which allows him to fly.

Name: Sky High
Manufacturer: Bandai
Line: S.H.Figuarts
Sculptor:
Designer: Masakazu Katsura
Scale: Non-scale
Material: PVC, ABS, Zndc
Release: Feb 2012
Original Price: ¥4,500 (approx. $53AUD / $55USD)
Height: 167mm / 6.57inches

Packaging:

Standard S.H.Figuarts packaging design covered in Sky High livery, very nice. On the back the photos are laid out in manga style frames to tie in with the anime. The figure itself rests in between two plastic trays, no twisty wires in sight making the contents easy to remove and place back – collector friendly design at its best!

Accessories:

Sky high comes with a few essential accessories as well as two scene specific parts namely the optional head with a broken spike as seen in the fight between Sky High and Jake. Bandai has also been kind enough to include the broken off piece on a separate runner which I’ve not bothered to remove. He also gets his jet back thrust effect parts, optional hand parts for his various air attacks and a Tamashii stage display stand.

Form/Sculpt:

I really like the 50s retro cyberpunk design of Sky High. For some reason it reminds me of the “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” movie. I was surprised to find that Bandai decided to make his robe from the harder ABS rather than the softer PVC, it looks great when Sky High is in a standing pose, but in other poses the robe looks stiff and unnatural. Overall the figure is nicely detailed and well put together.

Articulation/Action:

Apart from the robe sticking out and looking unnatural, the rest of the figure has amazing articulation as you would expect from most S.H.Figuarts toys. Sky High features roughly 29 points of articulation in total, this includes double jointed knees and elbows, counting the shoulder ornaments. So as you can imagine, he is very fun to play with!

Paint/Print:

Once again Bandai have done a great job in this department. There really isn’t anything bad I can say about the paint app on this figure, it simply looks great. The pad printing of the sponsor logos are very clear and tidy and I love that the jet pack thrust effect parts are translucent with a touch of white paint around the jet nozzle base. Even his boots have been painted to a high level of detail even though they are usually hidden behind the robe, now that’s what I call dedication.

Detail/Features:

Lastly, a shot of Sky High with his hero buddies Bunny and Tiger. Don’t they just look great together? After all, being a hero is all about working together right?

Overall:

Bandai has done a great job with this figure, I’d even go as far to say I like this more than the Wild Tiger toy even though he isn’t the main character. Everything just looks so clean and simple yet detailed if you take a closer look. With no major limb part swapping there is also less of a chance that something will break. I highly recommend this toy to any anime fan, and if you haven’t watched “Tiger & Bunny” yet, please do, you won’t regret it!

Background:

From the ever popular Super-Hero anime series “Tiger & Bunny” comes the super rookie Barnaby Brooks Jr. He is the newest addition to Hero TV, partnered with Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, a.k.a Wild Tiger. Although he possesses the same super human strength as Wild Tiger, he is much more level headed, logical and strategic.

Name: Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Manufacturer: Bandai
Line: S.H.Figuarts
Sculptor:
Designer: Masakazu Katsura
Scale: Non-scale
Material: ABS, PVC, POM, Zndc
Release: Oct 2011
Original Price: ¥4,500 (approx. $53AUD / $55USD)
Height: 154mm / 6.06inches

Packaging:

As always, the S.H.Figuart packaging does not disappoint. The uniform size packaging of this series means that it is extremely easy to stack and store making it very collector friendly, plus the artwork always looks amazing. The main figure can be clearly seen through the front window so you know exactly what you are getting!

Accessories:

Bunny comes with a limited number of accessories which includes one optional “Amazon.co.jp” sponsorship arm guard, pair of open pal hands, his Good Luck mode leg part and a Tamashii Stage. The first time I swapped over the arm guard part I found it extremely difficult to put it back on, but it does fits nicely in there, eventually. I can’t say the same about the Good Luck mode leg however, I tried for about 2 minutes to take his standard leg off, sweating profusely in the process as I was afraid to break his hip joint in the process. Eventually I gave up…I just couldn’t risk breaking the toy and I would probably advice you to do the same.

Form/Sculpt:

It’s no wonder this toy sold out so quickly, I mean look at it, it is absolutely beautiful. The streamline proportions of the sculpt makes it look like it jumped straight out of the screen, unrealistic for a power suit yes, but stunning as a toy! I really love the way Bandai has executed the clear parts on the figure, it gives the whole thing more depth. As usual the feet are die-cast which makes the toy very planted and easy to pose.

Articulation/Action:

Speaking of poses, this guy is pretty amazing. All the joints have just the right amount of friction making them easy to move but stay in place with no slippage. The only restriction in movement I’ve encountered is the head, due to the design of the neck cowl armour the head is unable to tilt backwards but he can look pretty much straight down at his own feet.

Paint/Print:

For such a little guy the paint job is quite incredible. The facial detail is really nice with 7 different colours on there alone, and the rest of the body is just as good. Everything is really tidy with the exception of a small area on the top right thigh being slightly fuzzy but that is to be expected from a mass produced toy. If I was to be really picky, I’d say the colour matching of the white between the foot and the rest of the toy could have been a bit better – the white on the foot is more of a standard gloss white as opposed to the pearl white used elsewhere.

Detail/Features:

Standing next to Wild Tiger you can see how much slimmer Bunny is, they really do make a great team both in their heroic exploits and on camera!

Overall:

I highly recommend this toy to any anime fan, especially if you have seen the anime series. If you haven’t, you should! This toy is very well executed, heaps of fun to play with and looks great on display.

The only downside with this toy is the fragile hip joints. I would recommend that you be very careful with it and unless you have really steady surgeon like hands, I wouldn’t attempt to swap the Good Luck mode leg part.

Thanks again for visiting, be sure to check out Wild Tiger’s review (link below) if you haven’t already done so.

Background:

Name: Robocop
Manufacturer: Max Factory
Line: Figma 107
Sculptor: Maki Asai
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: PVC, ABS, POM, PP
Release: Nov 2011
Original Price: ¥3,500 (approx. $39AUD / $42USD)
Height: 150mm / 5.90inches

Packaging:

The Figma line of packaging is always solidly built, coupled with Robocop graphics and images it simply looks great. There are some very nice studio shots of the toy in action on the back of the box as well as close ups of features and gimmicks. The inner cardboard liner has been given the 80’s circuit board treatment with a nice large Robocop logo in the centre which really gives this toy a nostalgic feel for me.

Accessories:

Robocop comes relatively well equipped and ready for battle. He has a large assortment of hands including both left and right trigger hands for his Auto-9 pistol, pair of finger pointing, open palm, fist hands and a “data spike” (not really sure what it’s called) hand. Unfortunately the storage gun compartment in his leg does not open like I had hoped for, rather you have to swap out some parts – which is also included. To replicate Robocop mowing down the baddies there is a gun firing effect part included which plugs into the barrel of the Auto-9 pistol, and to replicate Robocop having been shot up by baddies there is a battle damaged head part. A Figma stand is included but I didn’t find it necessary for this particular figure.

Form/Sculpt:

At first glance this toy really blew me away, being so small but still packing in so much detail and best of all it captures the feel of Robocop perfectly. However, after studying this figure for a little bit longer I felt there was something not quite right. The most obvious being the simplification of the face sculpt which fits nicely with the style of the Figma toy line but doesn’t really resemble officer Murphy at all. I also think the head is slightly too big and the shoulders too slim, it almost seems as if Robocop has been “cartoonified”…but that’s just my opinion. Overall it’s still a great looking figure!

Articulation/Action:

It’s not often you find a toy that is actually much more agile and pose-able than its on-screen counter-part whether it be from a movie or anime, but this is definitely a good example. The joints on this toy have a really good range of movement, much more than what Robocop actually needs which I think is a good thing. All the joints are nice and tight and can hold poses without a problem at all. The only frustrating thing I encountered was the pistons on the back of its heels falling off every time I moved its legs.

Paint/Print:

The paint app on this figure is very clean, tidy and shiny. Little details have been brought to life such as the model designation on Robocop’s helmet. What’s more commendable is that Max Factory actually attempted to replicate the pearly effect of Robocop’s armour by using subtle purple highlights throughout. It’s by no means a perfect replica of the effect but I think it’s quite well done considering the size of the toy and it definitely makes for a much more interested to look at toy.

Detail/Features:

As I was saying before, I was quite disappointed to find out that Robocop’s leg compartment doesn’t swing open like I had hoped for, instead it requires some parts swapping. Luckily the parts are quite easy to swap and fit on quite nicely.

Time to compare the Figma Robocop to the only other Robocop toy I currently own, and that is the NECA 7” version. Whichever way you look at it, the Figma version wins hands down – even if the NECA version had come with straight legs!

Overall:

I’ve been a Robocop fan since I was young and have been quite lucky to have owned a few of its toys in the past. None of them are as well made as this guy in terms of detail and intricacy although the size does leave you wanting. At around $40USD a pop it ain’t exactly cheap either but as with all toys from the Figma line you really do get what you pay for, I’d definitely recommend this toy!

Thanks for reading folks!

Background:

This fully pose-able figure of Godzilla is the first in Bandai’s new line of Kaiju toys, S.H.MonsterArts. Based on its appearance in the 1994 movie “Godzilla vs Space Godzilla”, it is sculpted by one of the best G-sculptures there is, Mr. Yūji Sakai.

Name: Godzilla
Manufacturer: Bandai
Line: S.H.MonsterArts
Sculptor: Yuuji Sakai 酒井ゆうじ
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: PVC, POM, ABS
Release: Nov 2011
Original Price: ¥5,775 (approx. $65AUD / $69USD)
Height: 155mm / 6.10inches

Packaging:

Godzilla comes in a lavishly decorated packaging fit for a king, the king of monsters that is! The box art is beautifully printed with a mix of matt and glossy finishes as well as glorious foil printing on no less than two sides of the box. Inside the box, Godzilla is trapped in a plastic liner which holds him in place very nicely. Due to the design of the character there is a lot of wasted space unfortunately.

Accessories:

As you probably know, Godzilla is a big sea monster so he has no need for fancy weapons or armaments of any sort but with the first production release batch, Bandai has decided to throw in a bonus effect part simulating Godzilla firing off his Atomic Beam!

Form/Sculpt:

This has to be one of the most detailed and intricate pose-able Godzilla action figures ever made, not to mention very affordable. The texture of the skin is incredible, and it looks as good as it does on the big screen. I especially love the sculptural detail of the head, more specifically the mouth with its tongue and teeth.

From the side, you can see just how long Godzilla’s tail is, the proportions are spot on!

Articulation/Action:

Even though this is supposed to be a full action figure, I’m sad to report that I found most of the joints to be pretty useless. Sure each limb has no less than 5 separate sections, 2 sections for the neck and more than 10 for the tail but I found most of them to be pretty limited in movement so I couldn’t really put Godzilla in many different poses. Having said that…thinking back to the movies I’ve seen, Godzilla usually just walks around and blows sh!t up with his mouth so I guess its not really that bad afterall XD

Paint/Print:

Ok, let’s get serious for a minute. This guy really does have some incredible paint detail which is worth taking a closer look at. The crazed eyes of Godzilla look like he is about to tear a new one in Tokyo. The teeth and tongue look absolutely amazing, just imagine some dude painting each teeth…individually! The claws has a nice fading effect applied to give it some realism, and the tail fins have just the right amount of highlight to make it stand out but still fit in with the rest of the figure.

Detail/Features:

One thing I was really hoping for was that the S.H.MonsterArts Godzilla would be in scale with my 6” vinyl kaiju collection so I can display them together, and from the looks of things it’s not too far off! You can see here exactly how much more detail the S.H.MonsterArt version has, hence the 5X price tag compared to the vinyl toys!

Overall:

If you are a Godzilla or even just a kaiju fan in general then this line is an absolute no brainer, especially since this guy is sculpted by Mr. Yūji Sakai. The price is quite steep for such a small figure but once you pick it up you can really feel how solid it is. I think it was well worth the investment – afterall Godzilla was one of my childhood favourites!

Thanks again for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay!

I thought long and hard before I decided to take the plunge and make the purchase. I figured if I wanted to spend a good sum of money on a toy, I want it to be of an iconic character, I want it to be super limited, I want it to be big and I want it to be made by a reputable company – and this is it!

Background:

Those of you that are into model making will no doubt have heard of G-System before. G-System is an independent product design company based in Hong Kong. They specialize in resin kits and accessories, mainly of Gundams and robots from the franchise. Traditionally they only offered unassembled/unpainted kits which made them unsuitable for casual modellers such as myself. However lately they have started to offer pre-finished models in limited quantities, from weapons, to single heads, to desktop busts to full blown figures – all of which look absolutely amazing. (www.g-system-shop.com)

Name: RX-78-02 Gundam Ver Ka
Manufacturer: G-System
Line: Pre-Finished Resin Kit
Sculptor:
Designer:
Scale: 1/72
Material: Resin, PP, ABS, PVC, Aluminium, Photo-etch, Copper
Release: Nov 2011
Original Price: $636USD
Height: 285mm / 11.22inches

Packaging:

The pre-finished kit comes in a massive cardboard box, stuffed to the brim with protective foam. The cardboard box material is thick and heavy and the graphic is very simple but effective. A single image of the finished model is adhered on the front, presumably so that they can reuse the same box for various models. The parts for the Gundam are housed in three separate layers with each part wrapped in a plastic bag and fit snugly in their designated spaces.

Accessories:

To be honest I was hoping that the set would come with more accessories than it did for the price I paid, just to give you an idea, the first picture shows everything that is included in the set. Of course there is also an instruction manual, single sided only.

As for the actual accessories, the Gundam comes with a beam rifle, a shield, a beam sabre and a bazooka. Both the beam rifle and beam sabre are pre-attached with glue to a hand each so they stay in place quite well, however there were no extra hands for the Gundam to hold the bazooka so the only thing you can do with it is to clip it to the back. Speaking of no extra hands, there are also no extra empty hands for the right arm so you can only ever display the Gundam holding a weapon.

Form/Sculpt:

This to me was the biggest selling point of the model. I absolutely love the G-System design where they’ve kept all of the traditional elements and tweaked the proportions to make a very emotive and modern interpretation of this legendary Gundam. However, the execution of the model was not as good as I had hoped for. I understand that being a limited quantity resin cast figure the moulds will never be as clean and precise as an injection moulded kit. This figure feels to me more like a moveable sculpture with its little imperfections than a model kit, but perhaps that’s where its appeal comes from? Putting this pre-finished kit together was mostly a breeze however the legs were an absolute pain to attach. I had to do a bit of surgery to get them to fit without risking a breakage. Some model making skills definitely recommended with this one!

Articulation/Action:

I was quite surprised that G-System had included ratchet joints in this figure, but unfortunately some of the joints were not up to the task of holding poses due to the weight of the resin parts. The worst of them are the hip joints where the Gundam would involuntarily do a split if placed on a semi-slippery surface. The other thing I found strange was that arms were unable to rotate forwards or backwards very high, so to aim the beam rifle at anything bigger than an ant the Gundam has to shoot sideways or bend at the elbows. All together there are about 31 points of articulation, with double jointed knees, ball jointed head and toe joints being the more note worthy ones. No waist joints unfortunately.

Paint/Print:

Overall the paint job on the Gundam is quite impressive, especially with the addition of the computerized camouflage design decal. There are a lot of nice little paint detail all throughout the figure, with light panel lining applied to set off the model even more. On top of the camouflage decal, there are also tonnes of caution and label decals to make this figure even more realistic. Unfortunately the paint used is not very durable so some paint has already chipped. This Gundam needs to be handled very delicately!

Detail/Features:

This model features 8 groups of metal thrusters, loads of photo-etched parts and other metal bits throughout.

The Gundam also features light up LED eyes which is operated by a button on the back of the head. Battery is stored inside the head, with access from the top panel.

The shield can either be carried on the back or on the arm. I found however that the hole on the back is quite loose and the shield barely stays in place. Luckily there is a cover for that hole when not carrying the shield.

Another detail worth mentioning is that all except for the beam rifle hand has a copper rod built into the joint, effectively making them only able to rotate around 1 axis. A closer look at the leg reveals that as the knee joints bend, the thigh panels expand and slide, quite a nice mechanism.

Lastly, a size comparison just to show how big a 1/72 scale Gundam really is. First picture shows the G-Sytem Gundam paired up with the 1/144 scale GFF RX-78-02 Gundam. For good measure, the second photo shows the Gundam paired up with a 3.75” Stormtrooper. It really is quite big and impressive!

Overall:

This is a nice looking piece of kit, looks great on display provided you leave it in a neutral pose on a non-slip surface. I don’t think I will “invest” in another G-System figure for some time, this one will probably keep me happy for a while – I hope!

Thanks again for reading, I know this was a long review so good on you for making it all the way to the end!

Background:

This version of War Machine hails from the 2010 live action “Iron Man 2” movie, played by Don Cheadle. The War Machine suit was modified from the “stolen” MKII Iron Man suit and beefed up with extra armour and weapons by Stark’s business rival Hammer Industries.

Name: War Machine
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Line: Sci-Fi Revoltech
Sculptor: Enoki Tomohide
Designer:
Scale: Non-scale
Material: PVC, POM
Release: Oct 2011
Original Price: ¥3,334 (approx. $42AUD / $43USD)
Height: 155mm / 6.10inches

Packaging:

War Machine comes in the standard Sc-Fi Revoltech flip open box with lots of information about the character and toy all over the packaging. The box surface feels really nice with the celloglaze finish giving it a high quality feel.

Accessories:

War Machine is pretty much a self contained unit so there isn’t really a need for a lot of accessories. He does come with two extra pairs of optional hands, but to bolster the display-ability of this toy Kaiyodo has made some gun firing effect parts for the shoulder mounted Gatling gun and the arm mounted machine guns. Then there’s the name plate and Revoltech coin box but no coins.

Form/Sculpt:

It is quite difficult to say if this toy is movie accurate or not, I mean it looks great and highly detailed but all movie War Machine toys I’ve seen differ slightly in their appearance and design from one to the other. I will point out though that this version seems to have a rather large ass. Other than that I think it’s great!

Articulation/Action:

When it comes to articulation, there’s no doubt Revoltech has it down packed. There are heaps of joints, 24 in total which allows you to make any pose you can think of. I do have to reiterate that I think the toy would be much nicer with stronger joints, as the revolver joints tends to have a bit of play in them which don’t always hold poses particularly well. Because of this I find it hard sometime to balance the toy, would help if it came with a stand.

Paint/Print:

War Machine comes highly finished with great paint app and fine print detail. The paint job is incredibly tidy, possibly one of the best I’ve seen on a Revoltech toy. The silver parts have panel lining detail applied, combined with the pad printing it makes this guy look quite realistic.

Detail/Features:

War Machine features a folding down thigh panel, I’m not sure what this does as it doesn’t really interfere with articulation but its there just so you know.

Here’s War Machine with Iron Man MKVI, you can see he is much beefier and the details look much more refined. I think the War Machine sculpt is a very nice improvement from the MKVI. Stacked up against Hasbro’s version of War Machine you can clearly see there is a lot of difference in the designs although both are instantaneously recognizable as the same character. There are aspects of both which I prefer over the other but in terms of overall design and quality I think Revoltech has a slight edge here.

Overall:

This is a really nice depiction of the movie War Machine in toy form. The build quality of this toy is quite good, accompanied by a nice paint app there really isn’t anything bad I can say about this toy. Being a Revoltech it is also quite readily available at a reasonable price. If you’re a fan of War Machine you’ll definitely love this toy, and who doesn’t love War Machine!

Thanks for reading:)