1/100 Kyrios Part 1

Hey, I heard you like sharp design ...
Done with Gundam Dynames earlier this month, it's time to move on to the next 1/100 scale Gunpla from "Gundam Double O" Season 1: Gundam Kyrios. ^^


Gundam Kyrios is the only transformable type among the four, but personally, I don't really like the transformation gimmick given to this Gundam. ^^; It's all good when you look at the MA mode from the top, but flip it over, the lack of any feature to hide the exposing Gundam parts, especially the head is quite a bother to me. ^^; With everything so obviously exposed, it almost seems like a Gundam is stretching itself to fit beneath the nose and tail of the MA mode. The pose is very awkward but funny at the same time.

I think I mentioned this to a friend before, "If Gundam Kyrios's transformation looks good, Zeta Gundam's design must be godly then."

However, I do realize the simplicity given to the Gundam's transformation does allow better articulation design. Without major alteration to the various joints of the Gundam to fit the transformation, action poses of equivalent flexibility as the other non-transformable Gundams are possible. Of course that goes with the Gunpla design as well. While the transformation is really just so-so, the action poses of the kit are very good, and the overall proportion can be designed well.

Another similar example I can think of is HGUC Double Zeta Gundam. Its transformation is done via part-swapping, a feature I know many people dislike. These people seems to forget that part-swapping for a smaller scale kit like that helps to make the components stay firmer in either mode, and articulation design is definitely benefiting from that. From its review, I see many great poses that are not just impossible to configure with its complete transformation-type Master Grade version, the poses are so much firmer and good-looking, and the overall proportion of the kit is a lot more balanced as well.

Same case for Gundam Kyrios I believe. Its own transformation feature is definitely simpler than Double Zeta Gundam, but that simplicity allows the gimmick incorporated for its model kits in different scales to resemble the design from the anime very closely. There's no dilemmas of (1) having a kit that can transform, but it looks nothing like the MS from the show, or (2) the kits looks good in MS form, but doesn't transform, or (3) it can transform, the MS mode is good, but doesn't move very well. ^^;

Nothing can be perfect in every aspect. If lesser transformation gimmicks means better articulation and better proportion, I have no problem about it.

For Gundam Kyrios, I really like the sharp design given to its various components, including the knees that double as the main wings in MA mode, the shoulder armor and the shield. These parts make the Gundam look much bigger than Gundam Exia and Gundam Dynames. The backpack is really not a backpack in my opinion, but a quick solution to somewhat "concealing" the MA's nose and tail, XD but it's fine ^^;



Introduction of the kit on the box sides.


Extra size for the Gundam and parts for the MA mode give Gundam Kyrios a slightly bigger box size as compared to Gundam Exia (and Gundam Dynames as well).


Content



Front cover of the instruction manual showing Gundam Kyrios in its MA mode.




Huge difference between the designs as seen in the anime and for this 1/100 scale Gunpla version done by Kanetake Ebikawa.
A look at the different runners:


Runner A - Beside the dedicated sections for the clear, red and yellow parts, the main white portion contains parts for the head and upper arm.


The clear parts are already painted in green using normal highlighter.


Runner B - Contains parts for the shoulder armors, forearms and waist.


Just like the same component on Gundam Dynames, quite a lot of areas to be painted for Gundam Kyrios's shoulder armors. ^^;


Runner C - Contains parts for the legs.


Huge knee blades/wings.


Runner D - Contains gray parts mainly for the body, knees and beam rifle.


Delicate details for the beam rifle parts.


Runner E - Contains gray parts mainly for the weapons.


Runner F - ABS runner containing parts from various joints of the kit.


(Left) One left spread palm included.
(Right) A large connector part for the hip in MA mode.


Runner G - Contains all the black parts for the kit.


Very large parts for the nose and legs.


Runner H - Contains all the orange parts for the kit.



Even more areas to paint on these orange parts ^^;


Runner I that contains soft rubbery parts for the GN Stripers, polycap set PC-116 and beam saber parts.


Foil sticker.
That's perhaps the largest single piece of eye green sticker I've ever seen. ^^


All removed parts are organized and stored in individual paper containers.


As usual, the entire segment holding the clear parts are separated from the rest of the content.
Will start working on this kit soon. ^^