Thursday, November 1, 2012

Kotobukiya's MSG MW-28 Impact Edge Part 4

A one-sided display

A major change of theme after the review on Nendoroid Hatsune Miku Absolute HMO Edition, the assembly of a model kit is up next. ^^


This is Kotobukiya's M.S.G. Weapon Unit MW-28 Impact Edge. ^^ If there's one, I would like to tag this model as "lost and found". XD I lost memory of it after finishing with its detailing work in mid July, and found the boxes containing all its parts very recently. ^^; I normally keep the boxes of the kits I'm working on at the moment close-by so that I can pick up the work whenever I have the time, so I'm always reminded at the sight of their boxes that I need to finish them. However, since this kit doesn't come in a box, I kept the boxes containing all its parts somewhere else, and I completely forgot about it. ^^; Looking up on my older postings would remind me of it as well, but I normally don't do that. ^^;

Anyway, I'm glad that I managed to find it, which is a joyous surprise discovery I would say. ^^ A kit with all panel lining and detailing done ready to be assembled, I certainly like this find. ^^


All of the weapon unit's parts.


Four parts for the nail.


Done with the nail component.


With the nail extended.
The firing mechanism to eject the nail will be contained by the body module.


The "Predator warrior wrist blade" rack. ^^


The golden screw details painted in Part 1 look pretty good when connected to the blades. ^^



The second pair of blades is added to the bottom of the rack.
While it's shown on the assembly guide, this step is actually optional for those who don't want a set of immobile blades beneath the main pair. ^^


Assembling the spring-loaded rod and trigger into the body.


Done for the body unit.


Separable components of the weapon before the final assembly.


The support arms are tilted and positioned behind the handle when the weapon is not mounted onto any model or figure.
Looking at the room between the support arms and the handle, I imagine there might be some problem assigning the weapon to model kits with large arm. ^^;



A look at the "punching" rod's action. ^^
Left images: trigger retracted; right images: trigger released.


The body module with the blades and nail.


The connection between the blades and nail to the body module is the same.
Apart from connecting the weapon unit the body module, the weapon's base, which resembles a small protruding cap must be slide into a designated slot at the end of the "punching" rod.

Only one between the blades and nail can be fitted onto the body module at one time. Focusing on the wrist blades in this posting, here are more images of the completed weapon unit:







Closeups on the details:








Bottom view:




A look at the spring-loaded action to launch the blades:


Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.

More images of the extended wrist blades:













Trying out the wrist blades with a few model kits and action figure:




With 1/100 Gundam Astraea.


With Master Grade Impulse Gundam.


MG Impulse Gundam can hold on to the handle quite well, but the support arms are flipped all the way till the back of the weapon because they annoyingly got in the way when I was adjusting the hand unit and the handle. ^^;



The lack of room beneath the weapon's body makes it hard to accommodate the MG Impulse Gundam's forearm. As a result of that, the entire weapon seems to be tilting downward in front. ^^;


With Figma Kamen Rider Axe.







With High Grade 1/144 Gundam Exia



Since the weapon is wielded by the right hand of all the model kits and action figure shown above, there aren't many poses to be adjusted. ^^; Also, it's quite heavy as a one-handed weapon unit. ^^; Not as heavy as MW-20 Gatling Gun that incorporates a wind-up motor for its gimmick, but since there's no extra part on the weapon itself to let the other hand from the user to support it, I was rather worried about the condition of the model kits' wrist joints after the action poses above. ^^; They should be fine, but that just pointed out one particular feature I'm not very satisfied of regarding this weapon unit, but I'll reserve that till the conclusion coming up next, which is going to be the last posting for this review series. ^^

Nendoroid Hatsune Miku Absolute HMO Edition Part 5 [Final]

=3

The concert continues with Nendoroid Hatsune Miku Absolute HMO Edition after the previous posting. ^^
































Comparison between Miku HMO and a "regular" Nendoroid figure:


Long time no see Saber Lily. ^^



As you can see, there's no difference in terms of the figures' height. Despite packing all the joints that allows her to move way better than Saber Lily, Miku HMO fits in with the rest of the Nendoroid releases just fine in terms of appearance. ^^

It sort of feels like the similarities and differences between Real Grade and High Grade series in the world of Gunplas. In 1/144 scale, there's no clear distinction between the models just by looking at their sizes, but RG kits are miles above their High Grade counterparts instead of details and articulation. ^^

Even her option face part is totally compatible with Saber Lily:



A somewhat happy but very confused Saber Lily. XD

Overall, this is a tremendously fun Nendoroid figure. ^^ Articulation and posability are not priority features of this product series, cuteness and even more cuteness are. XD Most Nendoroid figures are designed to perform the poses suggested on the box art via designated option parts, and perhaps a little bit more depending on your imagination and creativity in mixing and matching the different option parts. ^^ Miku HMO takes all those conventional limitation away and shows how awesome articulation can work (very well) on a Nendoroid figure without the need to sacrifice the scale and overall cute look. ^^ She's a very cheerful-looking figure too, that laughing expression has got to be my favorite among all Nendoroid figures reviewed on this blog thus far. ^^

Looking at how well the figure turns out to be, I'm really looking forward to Saber Super Movable Edition. ^^ But that review won't come in so soon though, now that I've filled up my periodic quota for moe with Miku HMO. XD

All reviews on Nendoroid Hatsune Miku Absolute HMO Edition:
Part 1: Miku the beginning
Part 2: Hatsune Miku Absolute Movable Edition
Part 3: Accessories overload
Part 4: Let the concert begins!
Part 5 [Final]: =3

View full gallery:
Nendoroid Hatsune Miku Absolute HMO Edition