So Bandai has been making high grade revive kits for about a year now. To most people this is nothing new as, well, we have been receiving them for a year. But to me, after finally picking up my first revive kit, the Gundam Mark II titans version, I am very impressed. So the first part of todays article is dedicated to my thoughts on the model kit I have just purchased, as well as the whole concept of revives in general. Enjoy.
Now, as the MK II is one of my favourite UC mobile suits of all time, as well as being in one of my favourite colour schemes of all time, this kit is very impressive. The amount of parts separation, combined with the great sculpt just make for a nice looking kit, even straight out of the box. However, its improving this out of the box look without putting substantial time and effort into the kit proved to be more of a challenge than I though, and as such we encounter my first problem with revive kits. They have very little in the way of complex surface detailing that panel lining would highlight. This isn't necessarily a problem with the line as that is the look that Bandai are going for, a simple design that mimics the TV, but with the proportions that would be expected of A kit in 2016. This is a problem for me, as, being as in love with the RG line as I am, I love my kits to have a high amount of surface detailing and panel separations that, when panel lined makes the kit a real visual treat. Another problem specific to the MK II, also stemming from my love affair with the RG line, is the lack of marking stickers that have the ability to make the kit truly unique to a variant that you like. Halfway through this and it seems that I am comparing the high grade line to my treasured real grades, however, looking at other high grades coming out around the same time as these revives, such as the origin series, these fix a lot of the problems I have. Lots of surface detail and marking stickers that add to the look of the suit. You now could say "well these kits are a lot cheaper than the origin kits" to which I would respond, fair enough, but what about the IBO kits. These feature really nice surface detail and almost all are cheaper than revive kits, whilst featuring many of the same basic accessories, the only thing they lack are the marking stickers. But in the end this comes down to the philosophy behind the line, revives are meant to capture the look of the TV show, being simple and clean, whilst having realistic proportions. And to be honest, I would rather have these kits than to not have them. Now when are Bandai going to do Exia and 00
For this first article on Gundam, i have to be frank. I haven't watched a Gundam series for 2 weeks now, so I didn't really want to tackle the TV show. I would rather talk about things that are fresh on my mind, and this week that just happens to be model kits, whether or not I will start doing a weekly feature that is solely focused on model kits depends. Anyway, inner frames on HG kits.
I bought into the hype around the time that the IBO kits were first being announced, and I ordered the Barbatos, The Graze standard/ commander, and both the schwalbe Grazes, yes even the P-Bandai one. After receiving these kits I was just as shocked as everyone else to discover that all of them feature basically a full inner frame. Obviously as I had bought into the hype I thought these were amazing especially considering the price. But after missing both the Hyakuri and Hyakuren I found myself reflecting on those initial feelings in the same way that a child reflects on getting a new game. Even if its not really the greatest, we still lapped it up as the next best thing. I got to comparing it to what happens with master grades, with similar kits sharing the same inner frame, and then it hit me. By using the same frame for as many kits as possible, it would actually be cheaper than the old method by which each kit has different skeletal parts even if the underlying design is similar, ala the build fighter strike Gundams. This would in turn lower the price of the kits, thus showing to the buying public two innovations; inner frames on high grades, and cheaper high grades. But behind the scene the two innovations were the ability to lower the overall cost of producing toys for a new show, and the ability to make the buying public accept this change through a feature that many of the buying public like on the other model kit lines. Sure call me a cynic, but despite the conspiracy theory, I really do like the new IBO kits, I think they look great and yes, I do like the inner frames on the kits. Almost enough to like the design of the Hyakuri.
-Dallywoop
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