ephemeral builds

This is it. The last retail release in the HGWFM line. I've built them all. It's kind of a weirdly bittersweet feeling... I've thoroughly enjoyed building all of them. And it's terrific to see the collection complete. But that also means that I don't have any more to build.

Well, that's not strictly true... There's some P-Bandai kits. And the Full Mechanics Aerial. And the MGSD Aerial. But this is it for the regular retail kits.

Unsurprisingly, this is a very sticker-heavy kit. And I'm going to have to use most of these stickers since there's no way I'm going to try to paint all those shimmery rainbow lines. Especially without any raised details to follow.

We do get a couple very nice pre-painted parts. I really wish we'd gotten more of these.

The eyes are completely separate bits of green plastic, which would make them very easy to paint... But I haven't found any paints that catch the light like the stickers do. So, again, I'm going to use the stickers here. And we get a couple different sticker options - green or pink.

And then there's that terrific pre-painted rainbow v-fin. We also get a clear smoke-grey v-fin as well... But I really don't know why you'd want to use that.

Here we can see the second pre-painted part in the chest and it looks fantastic. There's also a sticker under there, with a bit of smoke-grey clear plastic over it, because this pre-painted part only covers part of the chest.

And, again, there's the option of a smoke-grey part instead... But, why?

Here we can see more of the stickers under smoke-grey clear plastic... And it's maybe worth noting that we also get black stickers to use instead. I guess for some kind of deactivated look? But, again, I don't know why you'd want to do that.

So here's the full kit... The Calibarn with its backpack, two beam-sabers, the variable rod rifle, and the escutcheon. I guess I'm not really sure why we get the escutcheon? I don't recall seeing the Calibarn actually use that in the anime...

Here you can see what's left at the end of the build... There's the clear smoke-grey v-fin and a bit from the chest, as well as a whole lot of black stickers. Clearly you can give this thing a fairly different look. But, as I've said repeatedly, I don't know why you'd want to do that. The rainbow looks so much better.

Thankfully this kit comes with a runnerless stand, so we can actually get it up in the air. I'm not going to say it would be impossible for this thing to stand on its own two feet... But that variable rod rifle attaches to the backpack and it's fairly heavy - so it'd certainly be challenging.

We get some flat beam-saber blades, in blue, which is always a nice surprise. I'm so used to seeing the normal blades in pink all the time. These look very nice. Very striking.

And then we get the escutcheon, in white... And, like I said, this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I really don't recall the Calibarn using the escutcheon in the anime. I think there's a scene where Suletta kind of steals the bits from Aerial? But I don't recall the Calibarn having its own bits.

Of course we can do a bit-on mode, too, which looks fantastic. Definitely one of the better bit-on forms we've seen.

This is a really, really neat kit. Very cool design. I love that this thing actually has a broomstick as a weapon. But I can't help feeling like this kit could've been executed a little better.

I would've loved to see more of those pre-painted bits. Or maybe some actual raised details under the clear plastic so that painting didn't seem so impossible. And some of those 3D stickers we got in the Schwarzette might've been nice in the variable rod rifle.

Really, though, it's just a fantastic kit. I don't think there's been a single genuinely bad kit in the entire HGWFM line. I'll again complain that there's no alternate hands... But that's the most I can do. This one doesn't even have the annoying feet that the Demi kits do.

I guess it's neither here nor there... But this Bandai HG Macross line is kind of weird. #01 is the YF-19 from Macross Plus. Then we skip ahead to Alto's YF-29 from Frontier and Max's YF-29 from Delta... And, finally, we're back to Macross Plus with #04 - the YF-21.

I don't know if they were just knocking-out the most popular protagonist mechs first? But there doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to these releases.

Once again we've got some of these weird, super-thin stickers.

You may recall from my YF-19 build that I wasn't very happy with how the color-correcting waterslide decals worked. So, this time around I resolved to try using these stickers. Unfortunately that didn't work great either.

They worked pretty well on the flat surfaces... But they really did not play nicely with anything curved. They didn't want to bend, stretch, or stick on any of the curves. You can see how wrinkly and ugly they look on those back engine sections.

So I wound up pulling those stickers off and hand-painting the bits instead. This actually wasn't too terrible... They're generally some fairly basic, solid-color lines. Usually surrounded by panel-lines so I could easily tell where to stop.

And, of course, I painted the pilot figure too. He looks pretty ugly this close up... But doesn't look too terrible in the cockpit. Especially since the canopy hides him almost completely.

I don't want to sound too nit-picky... But there's some weird scale/accuracy/consistency issues with this kit.

We've got a few "shortcut change" parts that get swapped-out when we transform the kit. And I think this works pretty well in general. I'd rather swap parts than try to do a real transformation at this scale. But some of these swapped parts don't look quite right.

The first picture up there shows some leg skirting bits that are basically supposed to be the transformed state of that whole bottom fuselage. They're very clearly not nearly large enough for that.

The second picture shows the nose/cockpit section that gets swapped in battroid mode. Again, it doesn't look right.

I guess this is maybe excusable with the YF-21 since we see it actually bending and morphing... It's clearly got some weird, high-tech materials going on... But it still kind of bugs me. I wish it looked more consistent. More accurate.

So, once again, I picked up some waterslide decals for this kit. The official Bandai ones. And I'm honestly not thrilled with these decals.

They're generally a bunch of super-small caution markings that feel more like what you'd see on a model airplane. More realistic/military... Less sci-fi... And also super, super tiny.

These things were very hard to work with. They didn't want to release from the backing paper. And then they felt super fragile and tore easily. And then they didn't want to stick to the plastic well. You'll see some wrinkling and silvering in the finished photos.

Also - I used my Stedi panel-liner on this kit and I probably shouldn't have. That stuff is water-based which makes it very safe for plastic... But it also reactivates very easily if it gets even a little wet. So I was constantly reactivating panel-liner when trying to apply these decals, which got kind of messy.

Grabbing a picture of one of these HG Macross kits before completion feels a little weird. It's more like a collection of parts than a robot-to-be.

In addition to all of the parts needed to build the YF-21 in its various modes... We also get some extra hands, a couple rifles, some placeholder rifles for fighter mode, and the pinpoint punch effect part.

There's a number of very nicely separated clear parts in this kit. There's some clear red bits in the nose, the canopy, and two different colors of clear parts in the head. I decided to partially disassemble the kit and remove those parts prior to topcoating - I figured that'd be easier than trying to mask them off. I think it worked pretty well.

The canopy is that neat polarized clear plastic that Bandai has been using lately... Unfortunately it doesn't do this kit any favors. There's so little canopy in the first place, and the polarized effect reduces the transparency, so you can barely see the pilot inside there.

Fighter mode looks pretty damn good even though I'm not generally a fan of aircraft models.

I think gerwalk mode is probably my favorite in these HG Macross kits. It's the really distinctive, iconic Valkyrie mode.

The transformation is easy enough. It's mostly just some part-swapping. There's precious little actual transformation. But, again, I think that's probably the better approach in a small kit like this.

And then, of course, there's the battroid mode. Unfortunately this thing's face is so deeply-hooded and darkly-shadowed that you can barely see the clear parts in there. I debated painting them or using the stickers... But when the lighting is decent they really do look pretty. So I left them as-is.

Oddly, there's a couple left-over parts on these runners... A couple extra bits of shoulder armor. It seems weird to have left-over parts in this box. It's just #04 in the line. And it's the first YF-21 kit. It's not a color-variant or a derivative. You'd think these runners would be purpose-build for this kit.

I guess I assume they were planning ahead for some of the YF-22S variants we're going to see later.

It feels kind of weird to be struggling, making mistakes, and learning from a simple HG kit again... I mean - I just built my first PG a few weeks ago.

But these HG Macross kits are just a bit different from the HG Gundam kits I'm typically building. A few little quirks, oddities, and differences. There's definitely a bit of a learning-curve with them.

This kit definitely turned out better than my first HG Macross build. Painting those parts worked much better than the decals or the stickers. I think I'll probably just start with paint on the next kit I build - that way I won't need to clean off any sticker residue.

I also want to see if I can find any third-party waterslide decals... Maybe something from DelpiDecal or G-Rework? I bet those would work better than Bandai's...

I also again found myself wishing this kit came with a stand. It feels borderline-necessary for a kit with a fighter mode like this. I mean - you can't really display the fighter mode without a stand. Sure, on its landing gear if you have to? But that's really a little disappointing... It would've been fantastic if it at least came with something like those runnerless stands.

At the end of the day - I really enjoyed this kit. It's a good, solid build that's just different enough to be interesting.

I'm definitely looking forward to building some more of these HG Macross kits. Especially some of the Delta and Frontier kits.

This kit is just kind of weird. It's an HGUC kit, but there's no polycaps... But I can't really say it feels "modern" either, because it has a separate stand adapter. I feels like a weird hodgepodge of engineering elements. And the design aesthetic is really, really weird.

The level of detail on this kit is kind of insane. So many panel lines. So many mechanical elements. It all feels very busy. Very complex.

We get a full sheet of the RG-style stickers that I hate - I won't be using them.

We can see that the insane level of detail continues here with the stickers... There's some detailing stickers for the feet, for example, that looks almost kind of like zimmerit? And then the monoeye sticker has kind of a tiny little three-lobed look to it?

It's just way too much. Especially trying to put stickers like this over so much molded surface detail.

Since I'm not using the stickers I painted the monoeye with my favorite metallic pink Gundam Marker. I didn't get the three-lobed look right, but I think it looks decent.

As for the accessories... We get the Zaku machinegun and heat hawk you'd expect - but they're in that weird, excessively-complicated RFV style just like everything else. We get a little three-tube missile pod we can mount on the leg. Then there's a couple regular holding hands, a trigger-finger for the right hand, and an open/expressive left hand.

The posability is decent, but not outstanding. It's got the same kind of mobility issues as most other Zaku II kits - specifically, those legs are too chonky for their own good. There's not a lot of good flex in the ankles. It's hard to get anything real dynamic going with those feet actually on the ground.

There's definitely some elements to the design that I like... I think it's neat how the shoulder shield has those guns embedded in it. And I like the two antennae/fins on the head. Some of the detailing looks good. And I appreciate that we've got a couple subtly-different shades of black/charcoal going on.

But there's also a lot I'm not liking. Like having a separate stand adapter. Or a separate connector to stow the heat hawk on the back skirt.

And, as I've said, this level of surface detail is almost offputting. It feels too complicated. Too busy.

And if I'm being completely honest... I don't love these colors either. This kind of mustard/tan color isn't doing it for me. I think I'd like it better in a normal Zaku II green... But I really don't want to pay $70+ for a P-Bandai two-pack. I kind of can't believe they didn't sell a normal RFV Zaku II at retail.

Such a weird, weird build. There's definitely elements I like... And a lot of elements that I don't like.

As much as I love to build these Graze kits, it's getting hard to write about them. It's basically the same kit with minor variations... What do I write that I haven't said already?

As expected with a Graze kit we've got a fairly minimal sheet of foil stickers. There's the monoeye, a bit of yellow for the AHAB reactor on the back, a couple bits of yellow for the front... There's a couple extra stickers for the visor on the head. And then there's four stickers for the thrusters on the shoulders.

It's really not bad. If you've got some decent yellow paint you could omit most of these stickers. And, honestly, the thrusters in the shoulders looked fine without the stickers. Or you could probably paint those without too much trouble.

It's the same Graze build that I know and love. There's some minor tweaks here and there... The head is a little different. We've got some thrusters sticking out of the shoulders. There's a weapon attached to the left forearm.

But the core of the kit is the same thing I've built repeatedly. It goes together very easily. It's sturdy. There's none of the weird HGIBO jankiness you get with some of the Gundam frame kits. It's just a solid, satisfying build.

We get mostly the same accessories we've seen in previous Graze kits. There's the axe and the rifle same as always. The only real new addition is the wire claw.

The only extra bit left on the runners is a connector for the backpack/buttpack from the standard Graze kit.

Unfortunately the one bit of new equipment, the wire claw, is kind of disappointing. The supplied wire isn't really strong enough to hold a pose or support the claw... Which is sort of surprising given how small and light the claw is. It just kind of flops around and slowly droops. It's enough to get a quick picture... But if you want this thing posed on the shelf with the claw displayed you're going to have to get some stronger wire.

This kit just begs for a display stand - I think the only time we see it in the show is in space. But, unfortunately, there's nothing supplied. I'm using one of the Simple Stands by Good Smile Company. I love these things.

I really like how the head opens on this kit. The way the monoeye is tilted upward gives it a very dramatic, almost comical appearance when the head is open. It's giving me Muppet-y vibes?

Unfortunately there isn't a good way to store the equipment on this kit. You can't stow the rifle or the axe on the kit when they're not in use. I mean, you could probably figure something out... But it'll definitely clash with the rest of the armor/equipment.

It's interesting... Having just recently built the HGIBO Vidar... This kit is giving me vaguely Vidar-ish vibes. The black/blue coloration and the big things on the thighs... You can definitely see some similarities.

Like I said - it's getting kind of hard to write about these kits. They're all really solid, really fun builds. I love the basic design aesthetic. I haven't been genuinely disappointed by one of these Graze kits yet.

Once again - this thing is just big all around. Huge box with a carrying handle. Lots and lots of plastic. Three instruction manuals. There's just a lot to this build.

We've got a beautiful plated runner in the box... It's a very cool, silvery color with just a hint of pink to it. Rose silver maybe? Is that a thing?

And there is a lot of ABS plastic in this kit. Feels like there's more ABS than PS plastic... Which is fine, I guess. ABS is tougher. Wears better. It's better for inner-frame and load-bearing joints and whatnot. But it's kind of annoying to work with. It cuts weird... Sands weird... Doesn't play nice with some solvents... Doesn't work right with normal plastic cement...

And then we've even got some metal parts! The hip joint and a couple pieces inside the thighs are actually metal. I can certainly appreciate the hips being metal - I assume that'll handle the weight and stresses better than plastic would. But I'm not sure what those metal parts in the thighs are accomplishing.

I decided to go all-out (it's called "perfect" grade, after all) and painted some of the cockpit in the Strike Rouge, too. Too bad it'll be virtually invisible once the kit is finished.

Some of this built felt unnecessarily complicated... Like the LED unit in the head. I guess I appreciate that they included an LED unit, but I had to build it myself. There were a couple loose bits of wire, an LED, a screw, and some bits of plastic to hold it all together. And the final result was seriously underwhelming. The LED was very dim and unreliable.

The LED was absolutely terrible in the head. It was barely visible with the light on... And with it off, everything was dark and muddy and indistinguishable. I decided to paint the eyes and cameras with some fluorescent paint - which I think turned out well. It looks better than the LED ever did even without a UV light. And it really pops with the UV light on.

I ran into another issue with these hatches/panels on the shoulders... The bit of grey plastic just didn't want to securely connect to the outer white plastic. And since the grey stuff was ABS I had to use superglue to get them to stick. Annoying.

These hands... Just... Wow...

It's certainly cool that they're fully articulated. But it's also a pain in the ass. So many tiny little nubs to clean up! And the end result really doesn't have a lot of strength to it. I guess they're nice for actually articulated poses... But I would've liked some fixed-pose hands in the box too.

There's some really neat articulation and gimmicks in the arms and legs. Little pistons tucked-away. Sliding armor panels. Unexpected panels and hatches. Really good stuff.

And here's the monster all laid out...

We've got the two armor schneiders - which were molded onto the same runner as the hands and required absolutely no assembly at all. We get the beam rifle and shield. We get that massive grand slam. And of course we've got the Aile Striker with its beam sabers that I built along with the Skygrasper.

So, again, we've got the sticker-style decals that I didn't use. As well as some gold dry-rub decals that I didn't use.

I used the same DelpiDecal waterslide decals that I mentioned with the Skygrasper build. And, again, I wasn't thrilled with them. Little tweaks and changes that I didn't love.

And I didn't use any of the gold stuff around the chest... I've never liked how that looks. Too fancy? Too ornate?

Once again - this thing is just huge. It doesn't fit inside my photo box unless I'm very careful and very conservative with the posing. So you get to look at my messy workspace again. Sorry about that.

The articulation is pretty good... But the sheer mass of this kit is a problem. Everything is so big and heavy it winds up feeling fragile and awkward. It's hard to pose without feeling like something is going to break.

The stand certainly does its job... But, again, I'm kind of wishing it wasn't so bulky. I guess I don't know how you'd support a kit like this without something substantial... Maybe a metal stand could be smaller?

Honestly... I kind of hate to say it... But I was a little underwhelmed by this build? I'm not entirely sure what I expected from my first Perfect Grade, but I guess something more impressive?

I mean, yeah, it's big. It has some serious shelf presence.

But I'm not thrilled with some of the gimmicks and articulation. There's some neat stuff... But also some stuff that feels superfluous or gratuitous. Some unnecessarily fragile bits like some of the opening hatches on the legs (which I broke).

And it doesn't feel nearly as posable as I want it to be. I can't really get the dynamic poses out of it that I want. It's just too big and bulky.

It's very cool. It was a fun build. But I'm hesitant to call it "perfect". I'm left really wanting to track down an RG Strike Rouge and see if that finally scratches the itch.

Like I said - this is a big kit. Basically two separate models in one box. And it's a big box at that. This thing's got a carrying handle!

There's three sets of instructions in here... The build manual for the Skygrasper, build manual for the Strike Rouge, and then another manual with all sorts of information and a marking guide and whatnot.

We get several pilot figures in the box, which I painted of course.

There's a seated Mu and Cagalli in her body armor for the Skygrasper. A seated Cagalli in her flight suit for the Strike Rouge. And then a giant standing Cagalli in her flight suit. That standing figure can't possibly be in scale... It's about twice the size of all the seated figures.

I also painted some of the cockpit details since that's all going to be fairly visible through the canopy.

This is kind of a simple build. It's impressively large for a gunpla kit... And there's plenty of room for details. Plus - those details are large enough that they're actually visible. But there honestly isn't a lot of mechanical complexity going on.

Unsurprisingly, there aren't really any accessories here. I mean - there's the Aile Striker pack that we'll see later... And a stand... But it's basically just the Skygrasper itself here. There isn't a lot of optional equipment to swap out or anything.

There was a sheet of sticker-style decals that I decided not to use.

I grabbed some DelpiDecal decals... But, honestly, I was a little disappointed with them. I should've shopped around more.

Unlike most of the decals I've gotten from DelpiDecal, these don't match the marking guide in the book. There's a separate guide on the DelpiDecal website. And I didn't like some of the changes.

The Skygrasper itself looks awfully plain. It was missing some of the caution markings like those triangles around the the intakes. And then the Aile Striker had a bunch of weird lines/stripes all over it that I didn't like - so that wound up looking very plain too.

Photographing this thing was genuinely difficult. It's just too big for my homemade photo box.

The stand is certainly functional... I guess it'd be weird to complain too much about a stand... But it is kind of big and awkward and bulky. I suppose it has to be to hold up something as large as the Strike Rouge is going to be - but I do wish it were a little less obtrusive here.

And then I added the Aile Striker and the thing just simply did not fit in my photo box at all. So now you have to look at my messy workspace. This thing is just huge.

So, unfortunately, I don't think my final thoughts on this Perfect Grade Skygrasper are too complimentary.

I mean, it's fine. It's not a bad kit at all. The build was fine. Nothing too annoying. The parts were all generally fairly large and easy to work with. And it's certainly nice having details large-enough to actually paint without using a toothpick.

But I can't help comparing this thing to the RG Skygrasper I built a little while back... That thing had some extra gimmicks like sweeping wings and articulating thrusters that this one doesn't. And I guess I expected something called "perfect" to be the best possible version. To have all the gimmicks of an RG and then some.

While it's not labelled as such, this is basically an Entry Grade kit. It's got the same simple runners. The same touch-gates. The same surprising color accuracy without any stickers. As such, it's a very quick build.

One of the things that makes this kit so much fun is all the little nostalgic/historic asides in the instructions. Little reminders of what it was like to build gunpla way back in the day.

While I didn't actually get into gunpla until fairly recently - I did build plastic models way back in the '80s and I can certainly remember some of those anecdotes.

The build is super, super simple. It's all very hollow with no hint of an inner-frame at all. Very simple joints with very limited articulation. Hardly any surface detail. Very little panel-lining.

But it's got that same, surprising Entry Grade color accuracy. There's no stickers at all. Everything you're seeing on the head up there is color-accurate plastic. Even that little, yellow 'v' on the crotch is separate plastic.

Every time I build one of these EG-ish kits I find myself wondering why they can't manage this level of color-accuracy in HG kits.

Unsurprisingly there's not a lot of accessories in this kit.

We get a shield, a beam rifle, a beamsaber, and an extra beamsaber hilt. That extra hilt is for use with a beamsaber effect part - but one is not included with this kit. That's probably fine... I've certainly got plenty of spare saber effects from all my other kits... But it still feels a little weird to get that empty hilt without anything to put in there.

Also - the beamsaber is completely unpainted. Just solid white. The pink you see up there is from a fluorescent pink paint marker.

Clearly the proportions and shapes are a little wonky on this kit. The shield is shaped weird. The beam rifle is tiny. The whole robot is recognizably "Gundam" - but not actually even remotely accurate. It's got the same kind of janky charm as the classic first Gundam series. It's very reminiscent of some of the old off-spec animation.

The articulation and posability is pretty terrible. There's some halfway decent ankle and knee bends... But the hips are so limited that you can't really do anything with it. The arms and shoulders are a little better, but not much. There's absolutely no flex at the waist. You're simply not going to get anything real dynamic out of this thing.

Here you can see the difference between the included baton beamsaber and an effect part... And, honestly, the effect part doesn't look right. This kit is so janky and misproportioned that the effect just looks out of place.

It's also worth noting that the two saber hilts in the backpack are fixed in place. They can't be removed without some kind of modification.

You can really get a sense of how weirdly proportioned this kit is in the 360-spin. It's so adorably janky.

It's also worth noting that the camera on the back of the head is hand-painted. It's not at all color-accurate out of the box.

This is such a weird kit... It's a whole lot of fun, but not for any of the reasons that I typically enjoy a kit. The build itself is almost an afterthought. The articulation is barely existent. The model is completely off-spec. But there's some real charm despite (or maybe because of?) those shortcomings.

It seems weird to call a 2013 kit "older" - but it really feels kind of dated. There's lots of polycaps. A lot of the plastic feels very hard/brittle and marks-up very easily. It comes with the weird, stubby beamsaber effect parts. But that doesn't make it a bad kit.

We get some foil stickers... Largely color-correcting, but there's some nice lens stickers too.

There's also a sheet of sticker-style marking decals that I'm not going to use. You've heard me say it many times before - I don't like these things. They don't stick well and they don't look good on darker plastic.

We get a whole runner of hand parts... We won't be using the armor bits at the top of the runner - we've got color-accurate alternatives elsewhere. But we will be using all of those hands... And I've got to say that the hands in this kit feel unnecessarily complicated.

The closed fist hands are made of three pieces - palm, knuckles, and thumb - plus the armor on the back. That really feels excessive to me. I can't help thinking that could've probably just been a couple pieces.

This kit is molded almost entirely in dark plastic, which I don't love. It's hard to pick out the panel lines... But I guess this kit isn't real heavy on surface detail in the first place.

The head is kind of awesome. I love that orange visor. And the asymmetrical arms are terrific. Plus, we've just got tons of chonky armor all over the place.

We get a lot of options with this kit.

There's a whole pile of hands in this kit. We get two open hands, two closed fists, two holding hands, and a single right-handed trigger-finger for the rifles.

We get two different rifles... But, unfortunately, they're not set up to be ambidextrous. They've got little pegs on the handles that only work with the right-handed trigger-finger. So there'll be no dual-wielding without modifying something.

The backpack can be assembled in a couple different ways... It can be a plain backpack, or we can mount the shield on it, or we can attach the cannons.

Then there's the beamsaber and an alternate bit of side-skirting that holds the beamsaber when it's not in use.

And we wind up with a few extra parts once the kit is built... Several grey bits of hand armor, some standard Jesta shoulder armor, a bit of leg, some front skirting, and a few random bits I can't immediately identify. There's definitely some potential for kitbashing here.

I really like how the shield is attached to the backpack on a little arm. I wish there was more articulation here? But I guess that's too much to ask in an HG. Instead we just get a couple alternate, fixed-pose arms that don't allow for a whole ton of options. It's actually kind of hard to get the shield around in a natural-looking position.

We get two different rifles and they both look pretty damn good. The bulkier one even has a little bit of articulation on the back... But there's nowhere to store them when they aren't in use.

Of course we've got the big cannons on the backpack. They look pretty good. Pretty dramatic. But the longer one has some unfortunate seam-lines.

Like I said - this thing has the old, stubby beamsaber blade effect parts. You get two of them, but just one hilt. And then there's an alternate piece of side-skirting that holds the hilt when it's not in use.

This is really a pretty great kit... I just wish it wasn't so dated.

All the polycaps leave it feeling very floppy and loose. Kind of spongy? The limbs don't hold their position real well. It all feels kind of soft when posing.

And the plastic is all very stiff, hard, brittle, and prone to marking. Worse still - cleaning the nub-marks up is very difficult to do without scuffing the surrounding plastic. It's just very unforgiving.

And, again, the hands are just unnecessarily complex. Yes, I absolutely appreciate having so many options... But we don't really need three bits going into a fist.

But, at the end of the day, it's a very nice kit. It looks absolutely fantastic up on the shelf. Very militaristic and business-like. None of the drama of the typical Gundam protagonist suits.

As I indicated - I had no idea this kit even existed. I'm completely unfamiliar with Warrior at the Borderline. And, furthermore, this is going to be my first Full Mechanics kit.

I guess I'm not really sure what I was expecting out of this kit... But pilot figures were certainly a surprise.

I'd heard that Full Mechanics kits were basically just big High Grades. Better external detail and maybe some more gimmicks... But not a whole lot of internal complexity. So I really didn't expect to see pilot figures here. And, furthermore, this is a 1/48 scale kit - so those pilot figures are big!

And this is basically where I decided I was going to have to put more effort into this kit than I'd originally intended.

I figured I'd treat it like a big HG. Basically a straight-build right out of the box. Not a lot of extra effort. No decals or painting or topcoat or anything.

But then I saw these big pilot figures and figured I really ought to paint them... And then I thought I ought to do decals and a topcoat too...

Speaking of decals - this kit comes with a big sheet of sticker-style marking decals that I'm not going to use. They've got the same feel as the sticker-style decals I hate in RG kits.

We also get a sheet of these fantastic "plastic stickers". It's basically a very shiny foil sticker with a fairly thick layer of plastic over it. I love these things and sincerely wish we'd get them more often. They're very shiny and give a real lens-like look.

This thing is shaped weird. It's very angular and pointy. Lots of triangular shapes. It's got less of a humanoid appearance and more something like a dinosaur or bird?

This kit feels a little light on accessories... There's the giant sword and the arm-mounted gun, but that's about it.

We get some alternate hands, but only a couple pairs are actually useful. There's another pair of hands with a trigger-finger thing going on and I'm not sure why they're there. I guess I assume this is a variation on another kit? One that'd have a gun to hold in its hands?

So, since I didn't want to use the included sticker-style decals, I bought some waterslides instead. I couldn't find any official Bandai waterslides... Nor anything from DelpiDecal or G-Rework... So I wound up buying these off eBay. I don't know what brand these are - I can't read most of the writing - but they're really pretty good. Lots of vibrant colors. Clean, crisp printing. They released from the backing very easily and stuck to the kit very well.

This thing's got a neat gimmick where part of the back skirting acts as an elevator to lift the pilot up to the cockpit. And there's even a fold-down screen kind of thing inside the cockpit. Terrific little detail.

This is definitely a big kit. It barely fits into my home-made lightbox. It's easily the same height as a Master Grade.

Unfortunately the posing options feel somewhat limited. That sword is just so big... It kind of gets in the way.

I'm really very impressed with this kit though. The build was fantastic. Relatively simple... But with a great payoff. Everything snaps together quick and cleanly with no issues. There's not a lot of surface-detail, but all the planes and flat surfaces really look good.

I'm building another HGIBO kit this week - and it's finally the Gundam Vidar. I actually managed to pick this kit up before the recent reprints but it's just been sitting in my backlog.

I dunno, maybe I'm weird? I have this strange reluctance to build kits that I'm really excited about. I'm kind of always trying to save the best for last, if that makes any sense? Which is just kind of dumb, honestly.

So I finally built the HGIBO Gundam Vidar... And it's not great.

This is another HGIBO kit, so I wasn't at all surprised to see a sheet of foil stickers in the box... But I was a little dismayed at all the dark grey color-correcting stickers. And as you'll see in a little bit - they're pretty prominent and pretty ugly.

And since it's an HGIBO gundam frame - there's some work to be done. I'm normally very reluctant to cement pretty much anything in a gunpla build, but these HGIBO gundam frame kits need some help. There's some bits that can easily loosen-up during posing and can really ruin a kit.

The ab-crunch is accomplished with a big pivot-point in the chest. That's held in-place with a fairly weak connection that I like to cement.

There's then a couple parts in the arms and legs where two pieces sandwich together to form a socket. In the arms it makes the wrist-socket. In the legs it makes the ankle-socket. In both cases those bits can loosen-up and I like to cement them as well.

Like I said, the stickers are pretty egregious. There's a couple off-white stickers that go on flat surfaces that are just fine... And then there's a lot of dark grey stickers that don't look great.

There's a tiny one on the head that's ok... There's a couple big ones up on the shoulders that aren't terrible... And then there's some on the chest and some on the arms that are just bad. They're trying to wrap around complex shapes and just don't work well. And they've got a glossy, sticker-y sheen that's very noticeable.

Well, it's noticeable to me... I'm sure it'll look fine from a couple feet away once it's up on the shelf.

And while I really liked this color-scheme in the anime... The plastic leaves something to be desired. There's a lot of dark grey/brown plastic that swallows a lot of detail. The face, especially, is just kind of a featureless black mass.

We do get a decent selection of accessories... We've got two holding hands and two alternate holding hands - they're just kind of angled at the wrist. There's the rifle, the burst saber, and two pistols. Basically everything you'd expect from the anime.

The rifle is fine. It's got a decent amount of surface detail and the grey color is great for panel-lining. There's a big foil sticker for the lens/camera that looks good. No complaints.

The burst saber is pretty neat. I like all the physical melee weapons we get in Iron-Blooded Orphans... There's something more visceral about them. Less sci-fi?

The blade itself is nicely detailed. And we get the scabbards/magazines on the hips with more blades in there... But they aren't removable or anything. Well, at least not without some modification.

The pistols look good. Nice and simple, but well-detailed. My only real complaint here is that they're permanently molded into the front skirts, which maybe looks a little weird if I think about it too much.

There's the hunter's edge thing in the feet... Big blades that pop out of the heel and toe for extra oomph in kicks. Which, honestly, looks a little weird.

Pretty much all of the weapons can be stowed on the kit... Sort of.

The burst saber hilt can be plugged into the side skirting, but that leaves you with a blade to stash away. The pistols can't really be stored anywhere, but they're molded into the front skirting so it looks like they are. The rifle can attach to the side skirting.

I dunno... The final product looks pretty decent. I like this shade of teal/blue. The bits of off-white make for nice pops against all the dark plastic. And while much of the kit is very dark, it's not actually black, so the panel-lining still shows up a little bit.

But I can't help seeing all the flaws here. The little color-inaccuracies inside the thruster bells... Or the slight sheen of stickers on the arms.

It's such a cool design and I just don't think this little HG does it justice. Building this kit just really made me want to build the new Master Grade.

This is my first normal (?) P-Bandai kit. The other couple P-Bandai kits I built were actually Gundam Base exclusives that just happened to be sold through P-Bandai for a limited time, which meant that they got full-color boxes. This one's just got a monochromatic box in a very striking pink.

Since this is just basically a recolor of the Stardust Memory DRA-C, that's the instructions we get. And it's kind of neat to see the rest of the Stardust Memory kits advertised in here.

This P-Bandai recolor gets its own single-sheet addition to the instructions. It's not purely a recolor - there's a couple different/new parts.

We get a bunch of foil stickers... Some of them, like the eye/camera/lens, are absolutely expected in an HG kit. And there's some Sleeves markings that aren't too bad. They actually look pretty decent once they're all debossed onto the parts. And then there's some pretty terrible color-correcting grey stickers. I guess I appreciate that they didn't leave it completely wrong... But these stickers don't work great.

There's also a sheet of marking stickers that I'm not going to use. I don't know enough about this suit to care what unit number it displays and I kind of hate these sticker-style decals.

Still... It is a decent selection of stickers. They could certainly be handy.

As I mentioned - the Sleeves markings don't look terrible. I used a wooden cuticle-pusher to deboss them and they look pretty decent.

I love the head. It's weird. You've basically got the typical Zeon monoeye... But the overall design is anything but typical.

There's also a couple sticker options for the eye. There's a fixed eye or an alternative/combination of a blank black piece and a separate eye sticker. There's nothing you'll be able to easily move around - but you do get an option.

There's no legs - just these big thruster (?) bits. They're very simple... There's a nice bit of surface detail. Some panel-lines. But they're really pretty plain and uninteresting. It makes me realize how much typically goes into the legs in one of these kits.

And then there's the arms with those big thruster pods on the shoulders. I love this design. It's very alien. Very eye-catching. But, unfortunately, this is where those color-correcting stickers are...

Again - I appreciate the attempt, but it doesn't work well. You need to kind of fold/bend the stickers into those recesses and it just doesn't work great. You can clearly see where some of the stickers aren't lying flat. It probably won't look terrible from a few feet away... But I'm not thrilled.

There's not a lot to this kit - no alternate hands or equipment or anything. There's an optional shield with a built-in beam-saber, but that's about it. And the effects parts for the beam-saber are the weird, old, short ones.

Clearly there's no way this thing is going to be standing on its own, so there's a stand included in the box. It's a weird, old stand though... Complete with screws. I don't think I've seen one of these before? At least not this specific design? And I'm not sure how compatible this kit would be with a modern ACB5 or ACB7 - it's got a slot in its crotch instead of the more-typical peg-hole.

The posability of this kit is somewhat limited... Not because there's anything wrong with it, but just due to the simplicity of its design. There's no legs to pose and those thrusters on the bottom are awfully large. There's not a ton you can do with them.

Despite the simplicity of the design, it's very striking. Both the color and the general shapes really make this stand out. I don't have anything else on my shelf like this. It's truly unique.

Google tells me the IO Frame Shiden appears in the first episode of the second season of Iron-Blooded Orphans... But I do not remember it. Clearly I need to re-watch IBO soon.

Much like the Graze kits - this one is very, very light on stickers. We've got just got a couple for the eye/lens/sensors. That's it. Nothing color-correcting.

The chest on this kit looks like a head. It clearly isn't... And it looks fine once the whole kit is built... But as I was assembling the bits I just couldn't not see the chest as a head. Kind of weirds me out.

The actual head is pretty awesome. We've got a similarly-hidden monoeye sort of thing kind of like the Graze... But this one's got a visor instead of a beak. It looks very utilitarian and militaristic.

I really like how bare-bones and mechanical the limbs look. Both the arms and legs have a lot of exposed inner-frame.

There's a good selection of equipment with this kit... There's two shields - a small buckler kind of thing and a giant riot shield. There's a rifle and a collapsible partizan. There's no extra hands, which is kind of annoying, but that's typical for these HGIBO kits.

The partisan is usable both collapsed and extended. And it's very easy to get into a two-handed pose. It looks good. I really like all the brutal physical weapons in Iron-Blooded Orphans.

The shields can be equipped on either arm, which means it's possible to store all of the equipment on the kit.

A caveat that I'll mention, though, is that the storage option on the butt-flap doesn't seem to work well. There's a clamp kind of thing that's supposed to be able to hold either the partisan or the rifle... But I couldn't get it to hold onto the rifle securely.

The riot shield is great. Unlike a lot of the shields we see in Gundam, this one looks like it could actually be used defensively. It looks like it could really stop some attacks.

This is a grunt suit so I'm not expecting anything crazy-dynamic out of it... But it definitely poses well. Everything moves where I want it to. There's not a lot of bulk to clash or get in the way. The joints are all strong-enough to hold onto the equipment and stay in a pose.

This is yet another very solid HGIBO grunt suit. It's kind of weird... I'm really liking the grunt kits more than the gundam-frame kits. They seem a lot more solid. More stable.

It's always kind of weird to go from an older HGIBO kit to something new like HGWFM. The differences in the engineering are so stark and obvious. No polycaps. No stickers. Super-crisp molding. Great fit.

I love the head on this kit, but it was begging for some added detail behind the visor. I hit the camera (?) section with some chrome, panel-liner, and metallic red. I guess it's not very visible once everything is built... But I know it's there.

The build for the Zowort Heavy is almost identical to that of the Zowort. The head is different and there's some added armor on the shoulders, but that's about it. It's basically just a recolor with some different accessories.

There's a pretty good selection of accessories with this kit. There's the same gun we got in the standard Zowort, but this one comes with a barrel-extension. There's several extra magazines for the rifle, the beam-sabers, and then the back equipment - the cannon and the missile-launcher.

So the rifle can be used in either the stubby or extended version... There's a bunch of extra magazines to mount on the legs - but you can also mount one of them to the shoulders as well.

The rocket launcher can open up, but it's not great. There's no color accuracy in there, and no stickers to correct that. I think I might wind up putting some paint in there.

The posability isn't great? I mean - it's fine. It's good. It does basically what I want it to... And it's a grunt suit, so it's not like I'm expecting anything super-dynamic. But the joints are all very stiff and really kind of fight posing.

I really like the Zowort's design - and the Zowort Heavy is just more of a good thing. I love how mean and militaristic this thing looks. Almost predatory. Like some kind of cross between a fighter jet and a shark.

This is a fairly typical HGIBO kit. It's got the same gundam-frame internals that I've seen several times before. Some polycaps. Some color-correcting stickers. Nothing really stands out in any way just looking at the runners.

As I mentioned - there are some color-correcting stickers. And these are actually kind of terrible... There's the eyes and a bit of red for the head, which is basically fine. But then there's a couple big color-correcting stickers on each foot, and another on the side of one of the legs. And, honestly, I feel like these wouldn't be stickers in a modern kit. I feel like I've seen color-accurate plastic parts like this more-recently.

The head is actually pretty awesome. We get little red bits of plastic for the cheeks that really look pretty nice.

The chest, on the other hand, is kind of terrible. I mean - there's the usual gundam-frame issues that can be largely fixed with a bit of cement... But the front armor section really doesn't want to attached to that inner-frame very well. I kept popping it off when posing the kit.

I really like the asymmetry of this design. We've got two completely mis-matched arms, and several differences between the legs. That's really kind of unusual in gunpla.

So we get this absolutely huge sword, a little knife, a rifle, the shield... And a "backpack" that's almost just kind of a backplate.

I really like how this mobile suit is clearly cobbled-together from spare parts. That shoulder is from a Man Rodi. The shield is from a Hyakuren. And then there's this big hand tucked-away inside the shield. It's a really neat look.

The sword is just ridiculously huge... And that's one of the things I love about Iron-Blooded Orphans. I love the preponderance of physical weapons. I love all the swords and maces and whatnot.

This sword has a couple handles so it can be supported pretty well... But it's just too big and awkward, and the joints aren't strong-enough... So it's hard to pose it well. It just kind of flops around a bit.

I like how the sword folds-up and stores on the back... But, unfortunately, that's really the only piece of equipment that can be stored on the kit. There's nowhere to store the rifle or knife.

The knife is fine... And I'm sure it's manga-accurate... But it feels like a weird kind of afterthought.

The posability is generally pretty good. Those giant side-skirts kind of get in the way, but not too bad. Most of the joints are strong-enough to hold a pose. There's even a nice bit of articulation in the giant shield-hand.

But the feet and ankles are awfully loose, which can be a little problematic. And like I mentioned earlier - the chest armor kept popping off.

I keep saying it - but I love this design's asymmetry. It's striking, and it looks great. And I really like how identifiable those parts are.

Some of the stickers are kind of unfortunate... They generally fit pretty well. They aren't going over a whole lot of weird curves. They look pretty decent when you've got them all debossed into the nooks and crannies. But they've still got that glossy sheen that looks kind of terrible when the light catches them.

I've had this kit in the backlog for almost a year now... It's a big, intimidating box full of plastic. I kept almost avoiding it. I'd heard terrific things about this kit... But it's a Ver.Ka, and it transforms.

It's really weird how we can build-up something that's supposed to be fun and turn it into something scary and imposing. I'm glad I finally got around to building this kit though.

I guess I'm kind of making my peace with the foil stickers in these kits. It still seems wrong... It still seems like I should be painting these details or something... But, honestly, I cannot do anything that's going to be as shiny and reflective as these stickers.

And since this is a modern Ver.Ka kit it comes with a sheet of waterslide decals.

I really don't like Bandai's waterslides much. I mean, it's fantastic to get some in the box. I love that I don't have to go order them separately. But they really don't compare well to something like DelpiDecals.

Bandai's decals seem to take forever to release from the backing-paper. They seem much more delicate and prone to tearing. And they don't seem to stick as well. I've also noticed that some of the tiny text is actually just little lines with absolutely no attempt at actually being text.

I dunno, I guess I'm being picky... But if I'm going to put in the effort of doing waterslide decals I want them to look good.

The build on this kit is a little weird due to the transformation gimmick. The head is built as an integral part of the torso.

Just like with the ZZ Ver.Ka I built a little while back - there's a runner of matte silver plated parts that are just fantastic. There's a couple metallic bits in the head for the vulkans, and some metallic antenna (?) poking out of the chest. I love the finish on this plastic.

Surprisingly - there's no ABS or polycaps in this kit at all. The entire inner-frame is PS plastic. All of the joints are plastic-on-plastic.

This was terrific from a panel-lining standpoint. There was nothing I really needed to avoid or be especially-careful about. And that's great because this kit has some fantastic detail on the inner-frame. (Unfortunately, most of that detail is hidden once the kit is built.)

So we get the Zeta Gundam itself... There's a couple grenade/missile pods that can attach to the arms. There's a couple closed fists as well as several alternate hands - open, holding, and trigger-finger. There's the beam-sabers, beam-rifle, and shield. There's not really a backback - just the wing bits.

I think I'm preferring these finger-swap hands to the articulated ones I've seen in some kits. They give plenty of options while being a lot more sturdy. And I really appreciate that this kit is set up for ambidexterity - so you can equip the weapons in either hand without issue.

It usually takes me almost as long to decal-up these kits as it does to build them. This was roughly a week of build and another week of decals. Then the topcoat...

And I'm still kind of struggling to get the topcoat right with this airbrush. I"m having trouble figuring out the right thinning... The spray distance... How heavy to put it on... The rattlecans are just so much easier to work with. But they're also ridiculously expensive - especially these days.

This topcoat didn't turn out great. Not as bad as that poor Strike Rouge I did... But it's a little splotchy and it's got more of a satin look to it. It doesn't look bad, but I'm not happy with it.

The Zeta just looks good. It's really a fantastic design. I love how angular the face is. How sharp everything is. The whole mobile suit is just all angles and planes. Nothing is soft or round. It looks mean.

Unfortunately, much like the ZZ, posing is kind of a challenge. The whole kit feels a little fragile. The shoulders really worried me the whole time I was posing this thing. And the feet/ankles are just kind of weird.

Obviously these are side-effects of the transformation gimmick... And it kind of makes me wish this was a partsformer. I know that sounds like blasphemy... And I can absolutely appreciate the engineering that went into this... But I guess I'd rather have something I wasn't so afraid to handle.

As for the transformation? Yeah, it's pretty good. It definitely feels a lot more solid than the ZZ did. And it's a lot more recognizable in its transformation, too. Like I said up top - the Zeta's waverider mode actually looks decent.

This was an absolutely fantastic build. I really cannot stress how much fun the actual construction was. No polycaps, no ABS. Tons of inner-frame detail and complexity. Everything snaps together beautifully. Lots of thoughtful engineering.

And the end result looks amazing. It's a great design and a great kit.

Even the transformation gimmick works well...

This is the classic HGUC kit... But I don't think this is really the original version. I mean - it's #191 in the line. I guess I assume the original version was probably #1 back in the day. This is the revive version which means it's got better articulation, beam-saber effect parts, and plenty of polycaps.

Unsurprisingly, we get some stickers. But I am a little surprised at how few there are... I mean, I guess the Gundam isn't that complex a design... But I've gotten used to a lot more stickers than this.

We've got a couple shiny red stickers for the head cameras. There's a yellow/red 'v' for the crotch... And this is a square sticker that covers the whole area instead of an awkward little 'v' sticker - this works much better. Then we've got a couple different options for the eyes... There's the black/yellow sticker we'd normally see, and a couple silver bits that can go behind the eyes. Unfortunately these don't actually catch the light great.

Like I said - the RX-78-2 is a pretty simple design. And this builds really nicely. Feels very solid for an old HG kit. None of the hollowness some of these kits have.

Good color accuracy - the only real color-correcting sticker is that 'v' in the crotch. There's a noticeable inaccuracy on those vents near the knees... But that's really the only problem. And I suspect that would be pretty easy to paint.

We get a few extra hands... Two open hands, two holding hands, and one trigger-finger hand.

There's the beam-saber effect parts, which are always nice. I used to really take those for granted before I built that old GM kit.

And we get a nice loadout for the Gundam itself. There's the two beam-saber hilts, a beam rifle, the bazooka, and the shield. Pretty much everything I'd want.

I always appreciate when a kit can store all of its accessories. We've got the beam-sabers up on the backpack, the bazooka hooks onto the backside, and then the shield and the beam rifle are held. Very nice.

The posability is good. It moves pretty much everywhere it needs to. I could probably use some more flexibility in the foot... Maybe a toe or heel bend? But, really, that's just me picking nits.

I also appreciate that this thing can actually hold the bazooka in a reasonable manner. Sometimes these kits just don't move the right way and can't really wield the thing without looking goofy.

I also really like the color accuracy in the beam rifle. That yellow camera/sight/lens is great. Usually it's either all grey or you get a foil sticker for it - neither of which looks great.

So - there it is - the HGUC RX-78-2 Gundam.

I'm rapidly running out of mainline, retail-release HGWFM kits to build. I've only got a couple more left. It'll be neat to see the whole collection up on the shelf... But I'm going to be a little sad when I don't have any more of these terrific HGWFM kits to build.

At least there's some P-Bandai kits to look forward to...

This kit is pretty light on stickers. We get a couple camera/lens stickers for the head and rifle, a couple shiny bits in the shoulders, and a bit visor thing for the head. Since this is a more grunt-y suit there's no shell units or anything like that. And nothing that's genuinely color-correcting, which is always nice.

So, clearly, this is just kind of an upgraded version of the Heindree. The build is almost identical. The chest is a little different, but that's about it. It's basically just a recolor.

And I'll again mention that I love how each company in Witch from Mercury has a distinct visual style. Unique design characteristics that are instantly recognizable. You can clearly see that this is another Grassley suit. You can clearly see the similarities not just with the rest of the Heindree line, but the Beguir suits.

This kit comes with more familiar equipment... You get a beamsaber, a rifle, and a shield. Plus the backpack and maneuvering pack.

I absolutely love the colors on this kit. The subdued purples are fantastic.

The shoulder cannon is a neat addition - this suit definitely feels very business-like and militaristic. It's clearly not some suit designed for dueling at a school.

Unfortunately the legs on this kit are just not conducive to dynamic poses on the ground. They're awfully stiff. They don't bend where they need to. I'm sure it'd look fine up on a stand... But, once again, there isn't one included with this kit.

So, there it is, the HGWFM Heindree Sturm. It's another fantastic high grade Witch from Mercury kit. I really don't have any serious complaints... Although I do notice that the only thing I'm routinely complaining about with these HGWFM kits are the feet. Both these Heindree kits and the Demi kits have some annoying feet/ankles.