A thought occurs, I
should probably do a Gundam for a gunpla article at some point....
OK, Gundam Astaroth. then.
I probably should give
Iron-Blooded Orphans a go at some point. It's on Netflix, so it's not
like there's any real barrier. Except its got a reputation for being
excessively bleak, and that's not what I'm doing this for. My gunpla
habit is meant to be one of relaxation and self-care, so an anime
about child soldiers, with themes of fustian pacts, is not of much
interest. Then again, it turns out this is from a spin-off manga, so watching the show wouldn't be nessecary, but my relecutance stands. I mention this for context. I have no prior connection to
this particular Gundam, and its named for a baron of hell. I do hope
that it doesn't turn out that this one squishes kittens for money, or
something similarly edgelord. With that in mind, I picked up this kit
for the following reasons.
1) 'twas cheap.
2) It was asymmetrical.
3) It came with a stupidly large anime sword, CALLED A DEMOLITIONS KNIFE, and a big oven-mitt to help hold it.
4) It's blue, and blue is lucky. WAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!
1) 'twas cheap.
2) It was asymmetrical.
3) It came with a stupidly large anime sword, CALLED A DEMOLITIONS KNIFE, and a big oven-mitt to help hold it.
4) It's blue, and blue is lucky. WAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!
Anyways, let's
talk robot skeletons, or more properly, Mobile/Gundam Frames. These
are something that gunpla modellers can have a bit of a fetish about,
such things being considered a mark of quality. Seriously, people
love the Master Grades and so on for letting you build a Gundam with
no armour, but lots of pistons. The Iron-Blooded Orphans line is
notable for doing that sort of thing at 1/144 scale, its a gimmick of
the setting, and Atas here is a beneficiary of that. You build it up
bones first, and then plate the armour on top. This makes for a fun
build, especially as the Astaroth has unique parts for each limb.
While I have applied stickers and Gundam Marker, and it looks great,
I almost want to go skin it and inkwash the whole thing, just to make
the mechanics pop. As it stands, this approach does make the Astaroth
look malnourished from some angles, but this does mean that
articulation is largely unhindered and number of the joints is high.
Sure, it could have a toe joint or summat, but the Gundam Astaroth
moves exactly as well as you'd expect something like it to move. Correction: there is a toe joint, my mistake. It
does not cheat by having swing out shoulders or trick hips either,
it's just got a good range of motion. And while I've not had
opportunity to try, customisation and parts swapping with other
Gundams should be easy.
So, we're looking at a kit that goes
together well, my cackhandedness aside, looks great with basic
techniques, and poses like a boss. What does it do wrong? Well, a
sword longer than the robot is tall is a little impractical. I know,
who would have thought it? You have to disassemble the left hand,
then fiddle with the over-hand, and finally use the side handle in
the right to get the suit to hold it properly. You may wish to apply
the joint tightening hack of your choice, but it's not unexpected,
and not actually an unreasonable failing. I would however comment
that the vast sea of white plastic does make things look extremely
plain, and some of the stickers aren't great. I didn't actually start
to like the look of things until I went back, weeks later, the panel
line all THAT. There are also two alternate weapons, a much tinier
knife, which I have misplaced, and an assault rifle. These are
perfectly OK, but lack the storage option the sword has.
Gundam
Astaroth probably benefited from me writing this up shortly after I'd
done 2 much older kits, but it is good. Makes me want to pick up a
few more from the line, TBH.
No comments:
Post a Comment