Taking my mind off the dry transfer decal fiasco of Master Grade Zeta Plus with this new and very special plamo kit project. ^^
Keroro Gunsou Plamo Collection God Keron. ^^
This is just my second Keropla, after Pururu Chief Medic built last October. Then again, the more popular alien frog merchandise that was reviewed on my blog seemed to be Gunsou Gattai Kerobot V gashapon set, which is pretty close to this plamo set in terms of concept. ^^
Released back in 2008 during Keroro Gunsou's heyday I suppose, God Keron is a bundled set featuring the five Robo Mk-IIs released before it. I was already quite impressed by the individual Robo Mk-IIs when they first came out. Apart from the dual-mode transformation possible with each mecha, the sequence to form the huge God Keron was shown (or teased if you will ^^) in each individual kit's manual. So, starting with the first kit in the series, Keroro Robo Mk-II, the idea of something big (literally ^^) was coming was very obvious. ^^
Seeing how abundant the merchandises of Keroro Gunsou was at that time, I knew a bundled set was going to be released, so I waited for this box set, which was eventually released. Then again, honestly speaking, I wasn't too hyped about the kit in the first place, ^^; so I was more than willing to wait for a bundled set. Come to think about it, if a box set wasn't released as I hoped it would be, I might had abandoned the idea of getting all five individual kits of Robo Mk-IIs. ^^;
But I got it anyway, and almost instantly when it came out too. ^^ As compared to completing the set through the five individual kits, this bundled set is actually 500 Yen more expensive. It turned out to be just another story of BB Senshi Sangokuden Kibutei Sousou Gundam, Joko Serpent and Sohi Gundam Box Set, as a pair of large beam sabers, a red fabric cape and the runners for Action Base 2 were also included in the set. ^^ The price of the display base itself is 480 Yen (exclusive of tax), and it's generic base that can be used by other kits as well. The whole set really seemed like a great bargain to me. ^^
On the other hand, instead of mere accessories to make this bundled kit seemed more appealing, the extra items included are actually quite important to the kit. ^^ The display base is meant to support the standing pose of God Keron, which is unfortunately but foreseeably quite feeble when transformed. The cape and beam sabers are special features of God Keron as seen is the anime.
The debut of God Keron in Episode 203 of the anime series.
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.
Seeing how you won't be able to get those three items in the individual releases, are they to make the bundled set more attractive to folks who would otherwise not be interested in it at all? or were they extra stuff the designer realized they didn't (or couldn't) throw in with the individual kits? Either way, they don't seem that great to people who already bought the individual kits. ^^; Bandai does this very often with its model kits, which is kind-of a known fact. XD For Keroro Gunsou alone, the same formula was repeated for Musha Keroro platoon set, Keroro Dai Shogun and King Kero Ship set. Speculating that there might be special goodies in a bundled set that might be released later, did folks waited for that and neglected the individual kits? What was the effect of that mentality to the overall sales? Those are questions I prefer not to discuss here. ^^;
All five Robo Mk-IIs and their pilots as shown on the box art.
The "pilots" being exposed on their own mecha isn't the setting as seen in the video clip above, but it does make the completed kit a lot more interesting and colorful in my opinion. ^^
Introduction of the kit on the box sides.
Content
A huge stack of runners for this kit. ^^
Each of the five mecha's runners are contained in its own package, so a deal of confusion can be avoided when comparing the runners to the manual. ^^
Keroro Robo Mk-II's pack.
Tamama Robo Mk-II's pack.
Giroro Robo Mk-II's pack.
Kururu Robo Mk-II's pack.
Dororo Robo Mk-II's pack.
Action Base 2 and beam sabers of Master Grade Double Zeta Gundam's size. ^^
The red cape.
Front and rear covers of the manual.
The assembly instruction is essentially the same as the ones in the individual kits, albeit less colorful that is.
A look at the different runners in this kit:
[Keroro Robo Mk-II]
Runners A1 and A2.
(Left) A huge V-fin for God Keron. ^^
(Right) Cockpit area with tons of molded details, almost to an excessive level for a model kit meant for younger customers. ^^
(Left) Details on the little control vehicle, a component that is included for all five mecha.
(Right) Molded details behind the knee joint parts.
Runners C1 and C2.
(Left) Molded details on the sole.
(Right) Details everywhere: molded details can be seen inside the hip vents as well.
Display base for the control vehicle and Keroro's figure.
Polycap set PC-KR3.
Molded details can be seen on some of the polycap parts as well. ^^
Paper sticker sheet for Keroro Robo Mk-II.
Like the design on BB Senshi Sangokuden kits, all parts have minimal gates for simpler removal.
Not shown in the images above is Runner B - a small composite runner featuring just one part for the figure of Keroro. Simple movable joints the shoulder, elbow and hip are molded directly onto the part. ^^ The same runner can also be found in the other four Robo Mk-IIs for their respective "pilots", molded in different colors of course.
As a matter of fact, the said Runner B is universal for all Keroro Gunsou kits featuring small figures of the characters it seems. The first Robo series and the later Musha line have them as well. ^^
[Tamama Robo Mk-II]
Runners A1 and A2.
(Left) Tons of details inside the cockpit area.
(Right) The same control vehicle used by Keroro.
(Left) Vents inside the shoulder parts with extreme accuracy. O_O
(Right) Beam cannon (?) part on the main body.
(Left) Sweets-like design for the thrusters (?). ^^
(Right) Ice-cream drill to be equipped to the right arm, ...
... and lollipop saw for the left. ^^ How cute. ^^
Runners C1 and C2.
(Left) Molded details on the back of the body.
(Right) Another sets of sweets-thrusters XD
Display base for the control vehicle and Tamama's figure.
Polycap set PC-KR3.
For Tamama Robo Mk-II's specific transformation sequence I suppose, the polycap set is extended to contain more and different parts as compared to the same runner in Keroro Robo Mk-II.
Paper sticker sheet and Runner B1 for Tamama Robo Mk-II.
[Giroro Robo Mk-II]
Runners A1 and A2.
(Left) Tons of details inside the cockpit area.
(Right) Mecha details can be found on the rear face of the leg armor parts. ^^
Large fixed caterpillar parts with very nice molded details. ^^
(Left) The same control vehicle used by Keroro and Tamama.
(Right) Details on the backpack thrusters.
(Left) One-piece parts for gun turret-hands that look very much like those on Guntank. ^^
(Right) Glossy golden parts for the hip and shoulder blocks.
Runners C1 and C2.
(Left) Following Giroro's scar on his left cheek, the body/face module of his robot has a similar line detail incorporated as well. ^^
(Right) Display base for the control vehicle and Giroro's figure.
Polycap set PC-KR3.
As Giroro Robo Mk-II and Tamama Robo Mk-II are both arm units of God Keron, they pretty much share the same parts for this polycap set.
Paper sticker sheet and Runner B1 for Giroro Robo Mk-II.
[Kururu Robo Mk-II]
Runners A1 and A2.
(Left) Tons of details inside the cockpit area.
(Right) A large radar disc part that is sort-of relevant to Kururu's role in the Keroro team. XD
(Left) A clear green part for Kururu Robo Mk-II's left eye.
(Right) Tons of molded details for the calf, which in turn form the right feet of God Keron.
Display base for the control vehicle and Kururu's figure.
Runners C1 and C2.
(Left) The same control vehicle used by the other members of Keroro Platoon.
(Right) Large parts that form the arms to hold the radar disc that are also the hip of God Keron.
Polycap set PC-KR3.
The design is different than that in Keroro Robo Mk-II, Tamama Robo Mk-II and Giroro Robo Mk-II.
A large "special" part that would be eventually form God Keron's knee joint. ^^
Paper sticker sheet and Runner B1 for Kururu Robo Mk-II.
Wacky design featuring broken specs for the figure of Kururu. ^^
[Dororo Robo Mk-II]
Runners A1 and A2.
(Left) Tons of details inside the cockpit area.
(Right) A nice little molded red cross for Dororo Robo Mk-II. The red cross pattern is repeated many times on the mecha.
Very nice molded grid details for the arm and leg parts.
(Left) Very awesome molded details to be expected for the hip armors, which in turn form the left feet of God Keron.
(Right) Display base for the control vehicle and Dororo's figure.
Runners A3 and Runner B.
Runner A3 has two one-piece parts that form Dororo Robo Mk-II's feet.
And this is how Runner A3 is connected to A1. ^^
Runners C1 and C2.
(Left) The same control vehicle used by the other members of Keroro Platoon.
(Right) "Inner frame" parts with tons of details for the hip armors.
(Left) Separated parts with tons of mecha details for Dororo Robo Mk-II's soles.
(Right) One-piece part for the katana.
Two one-piece parts that may seem like short daggers or darts, but are actually just spikes on the mecha's heels. ^^;
Polycap set PC-KR3.
As Kururu Robo Mk-II and Dororo Robo Mk-II are both leg units of God Keron, they pretty much share the same parts for this polycap set.
Paper sticker sheet for Dororo Robo Mk-II.
[Action Base 2 and beam sabers]
The exact same runner and parts to be found in the base's individual release.
Beam saber Runner V and God Keron A
(Left) Glittering effect for the beam saber parts.
(Right) A special adapter to fit between the transformed mecha and Action Base 2.
The red cape made of real fabric.
To keep myself from mixing up all the parts, tons of labels and paper boxes will be used to store all the parts removed from their runners.
Keroro Robo Mk-II's boxes.
Tamama Robo Mk-II's boxes.
Leftover polycap parts.
Giroro Robo Mk-II's boxes.
Leftover polycap parts.
Kururu Robo Mk-II's boxes.
Leftover polycap parts.
Dororo Robo Mk-II's boxes.
Leftover polycap parts.
A huge array of colorful parts and labels placed inside the kit's box.
A huge project this is going to be. ^^ While technically it's just one kit, it's actually made up of five individual mecha which would normally be treated as five sets of reviews on my blog, if I got them that way. To not mix up the parts, the pre-assembly work will focus on one mecha at a time, which is also how the assemblies and reviews are going to be done in the future. Imagine BB Senshi Sangokuden Kibutei Sousou Gundam, Joko Serpent and Sohi Gundam Box Set but with five characters not three. ^^
Oh boy, this is going to take forever. ^^
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1 comment:
Wewt, love the Keroro Robo kits! I've just about managed to get all of them, though I wasn't able to get the DX5 and DX6 (Daishogun and Pirate Ship). I ended up having to get them individually, and on a couple I payed more than I should have. Oh well. Just waiting on the individual Musha Keroro Robo now. I ended up getting both the individual Musha and Pirate kits, as well as the King versions (with both Musha and Pirate together, with different color scheme). This will allow me to display Daishogun, Pirate Ship, and the Kings all at once. I did manage to get the DX versions of the MK I and MK II robos, and am loving the base the first set came with, though the cardboard has gotten a bit beat up over the years. I'm going to try and recreate it with some plaplates. AFAIK, though, the DX-6, the Pirate Ship, didn't have any extras beyond what the individual releases had. The MK Is had the base and parts to combine together, MKII has the cape and action base and beam sabers, Daishogun has the awesome cape and little gold buttons to hold it on, but the Pirate ship didn't have anything else. I always enjoy your work :) Any plans on getting any of the other stuff? I know it takes a lot of work to get them, since apparently Bandai isn't making any more, and it took me the last year to get the individual releases. I wish I would have got the DX sets when they first came out.
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