BB Senshi Sangokuden Gotaitei Sonken Gundam Korinpaku Part 1

Another emperor is coming
While the assembly and review of BB Senshi Sangokuden Kibutei Sousou Gundam, Joko Serpent, Sohi Gundam Set is still ongoing, I'm thinking of working on another set to have another kit to assemble and review after the former is done.

Here's a kit that is very much just as intriguing as the above mentioned box set that features Sousou Gundam in emperor form. ^^


This is Gotaitei Sonken Gundam Korinpaku (轟大帝.孫権ガンダム.虎燐魄) from the Gunpla kit's comic universe. In the story, this emperor form of Sonken Gundam appears in the events building up to the final conflict against Tenshihou Shiba-i Sazabi. While fighting against his brother, Sonsaku Physalis who was possessed by Shuu Neue Ziel, Sonken Gundam had a vision of his deceased father, Sonken Zephyranthes who passed to him the great sword Shin Koteitou (真・虎錠刀). With that sword, Sonken awakened the Spirit of the Tiger "Kogyou" (虎暁) within himself, which not only gave him his father's body armor, Armor of Byako (白虎の鎧), but the physical manifestation of "Kogyou" as a set of new armors called Korinpaku (虎燐魄) as well. With Korinpaku, Sonken Gundam transformed into the Beast God mode (獣神形態), a white tiger and saved his brother. In the final conflict, Sonken Gundam in Emperor Form joined Shouretsutei Ryuubi Gundam (翔烈帝 劉備ガンダム), Kibutei Sousou Gundam (機武帝 曹操ガンダム) and Genbusou Ryofu Tallgeese (玄武装 呂布トールギス) as the four legendary lords of Mirisha and defeated the evil God of War, Senjingasshin Shuu Gundam (戦神合身 蚩尤ガンダム).


The story has a very strong Super Robot-like feel to it, which is really exciting to read. ^^ As the Gunpla manga series progressed towards its ultimate ending, all the characters' designs became more and more bombastic, and Gotaitei Sonken Gundam Korinpaku is most certainly one of my favorite out of the many. ^^ The tiger head headgear is already a reason good enough to get this kit. XD Seriously, how many model kits out there actually feature such awesome designs? ^^

Because of the extra armor set, Gotaitei Sonken Gundam Korinpaku is of the 1,200-Yen (exclusive of tax) price tier releases in the series. The price isn't too expensive for a Gunpla kit, but it's a really fun set. Apart from the "standard" BB Senshi Sangokuden character (Sonken Gundam) with its very own armors, weapons and gimmicks, you also get the Korinpaku armors which has its own unique gimmicks. ^^

Even better, you can transform Sonken Gundam into a tiger (the Beast God mode), or do so by using the armor set only (Korinpaku). The variety in configuration is part of the fun, ^^ even though the so-called transformation is more like massive part swapping and rearrangement of various components into the different modes i.e. Mugen Gattai. ^^ For a 1,200-Yen (exclusive of tax) Gunpla kit, I'm not expecting any real sort of transformation anyway. ^^



Introduction of the kit on the box sides.


Content.



16 pages of assembly sequences and comic folded into a rather thick booklet. ^^


All the runners.
A look at the different runners in this kit:


Runner A - Multicolor runner containing parts mainly for arms and body.


Nicely molded large clear blue parts for Sonken Gundam's shoulder armors.


Sonken Gundam's name molded on the bottom face of the feet parts.


Runner B - Contains all (supposedly) golden parts for various components of the Gundam.


Very nice molded details for the shoulder armors' tiger emblems as well as Shin Koteitou.


A large V-Fin featuring a closed visor similar to that on Sonsaku Physalis and the earliest form of Sonken Gundam.


Runner C - Contains all white parts mainly for the head and Korinpaku.


(Left) A one-piece tiger head helmet part. ^^
(Right) Two face parts given to swap between the "Sonkens" (father and son). ^^; Since the two are using the same body armor, you can only tell the difference through their face sculpt. Unfortunately, there is no separate feet part molded with Sonken Zephyranthes's name to be really character-accurate.


(Left) One-piece part for Sonken Zephyranthes's sword Gaouken 01 (牙王剣・零壱).
(Right) The forehead part molded with the character's last name. This part is usually designed with the frontal helmet part on most BB Senshi Sangokuden kits, but to incorporate the different face parts, it's a separated piece for Sonken Gundam.


Three polycap sets for this kit: one PC-300 for the model itseld and two PC-7s for Korinpaku.


A large foil sticker sheet.


As usual, all removed parts are organized and stored in individual paper containers.
Since there aren't too many parts to take care of after separating them from their respective runners, I might as well jump into the paint work for some of them straight away. ^^


Selected parts from Runner B to be painted.


One small part on the to-paint list which I forgot to include in the picture just now. ^^;


The chest armor has a small diamond-shaped jewel that can be realized using a small piece of foil sticker included, but I think I would paint it instead. ^^


The polygonal patterns on the front skirt armor plate are a bit too complicated for hand painting I think, especially when the whole part will need to be painted in gold as well. ^^;
Will be using the foil sticker then, but those two golden pieces will have to be cropped.


Painted all the parts using Mr. Metal Color 219 Brass.




Closeups on some of the painted parts.




All the parts are placed inside a container for them to dry off "peacefully" (not disturbed accidentally or having dust attached to any of them). XD
Not all the parts from Runner B are selected to be hand painted in this round of work. On a similar note, there are parts from other runners that need to be painted gold as well. For these parts, I have other plans which I deemed to be easier to manage. ^^

Will be working on all these parts again once the paint has dried. ^^