Saw someone else in the #gunpla tag posted the HG not too long ago, so! I'll be tackling things from the 1/100 side of the spectrum.
to start off with...
THIS THING FUCKING ROCKS!!!!
If you've heard the sentiment elsewhere that this kit is borderline MG quality, that is absolutely utterly spot on- at least compared to recent MG releases.
HOWEVER: There are a few complaints I will leverage against it just to help steel my enthusiasm...
- The hands are... Fine! For the most part. They adopt a sorta "ball-jointed thumb, pre-posed rest of the fingers" sorta style that works decently well... Except for with the rifle. nothing tabs in with the trigger fingers, so the only thing holding it in is gravity and wedging the thumb in there to hold it properly. not a dealbreaker at all and it worked fine for me, but its a disappointing stick-out point on what is largely otherwise a great kit.
- A Much bigger problem, however: The stand adapter blows ass!!! Easily the worst stand adapter i have experienced, and all recent Full Mechanics releases use it. it doesn't support front-to-back movement whatsoever, which makes going for any sort of tilted dynamic pose much more annoying than it needs to be. Probably something you can find a workaround for, and its not totally unworkable, but its easily the biggest problem i had with it.
Now then. With that out of the way...
This is an utterly Mesmerizing figure. Its posability is top-notch, with all manner of little bits that help it reach juuuuuust far enough to where it needs to in order to do what you want with it. Most notable are the arms, which not only have the shoulder on an elaborate joint linkage to be able to pull clear out of the torso and bend whichever way you want if you desire, but also with an Entirely separate section of joints for the forearm, allowing it to flex inward completely independent from the elbow as well as being able to rotate entirely freely- Very useful for posing the shield or GUND-Bits around it whichever way you desire.
Speaking of, while Gundam Aerial's bits are probably my least favorite of the G-witch protagonist suits, they are Very pretty here. Still needs an adapter to attach them all together into the shield like the HG, but its a little more sophisticated at least- Not that it ever bothered me much.
In general, the detail is layered up Incredibly impressively all along this kit- And not a single color-correcting sticker in sight! Not even for the eyes, which are cast in a beautiful metallic green, which is also used for the head cameras. Unfortunately they could probably stand to be a little more vibrant, but it never stuck out as a huge problem to me, and is thankfully easily fixable due to how the parts go together.
Now, what is arguably the most striking feature of the kit are those meticulously detailed, metallic-shiny Shell Units, which use pre-painted, intricately molded pieces hidden behind smokey-clear casings- Even on the shoulders! Many have critiques about this, saying that the smokey-ness makes them a little too dim, which I kind of agree with... Even still, they look great- if not as vibrant as they could be. Could potentially fix this yourself with some wacky paints? I wonder if they make florescent red...
That's all for now, in any case! Not sure what I'll do next yet, maybe leave some suggestions and I'll prioritize what I see if I have it!🤏
