Mini Review (Ha, get it?): Action Base Mini

Hey Builders, 

Instead of a new build for you today, I have something else that I thought would be interesting to you, my faithful readers. 

I don't know about you, but I found myself at a point where I was buying a lot of kits, and I ended up having to decide which kits got action bases, and which would look OK in a standing pose. Buying the Action Bases from Bandai were just too costly, for something like that, but also too much of a hassle to put together each and every time. I still have 2 or 3 action bases sitting in my backlog that I haven't built. While they are still pretty nice, I can be lazy at times, and I just wanted a decent stand to prop my gunpla up on my shelf; think back to the Gundam SEED HG kits from the 2000s that came with those black action bases for example, or more recently, the AGE-2 and 3 kits. 

I happened to stumble upon something that I thought was interesting while perusing GundamPlanet for some "revenge gifts"* for my friends. 

*revenge gifts are defined as gifts you buy for your friends because they blindsided you and bought you an unwarranted gift for whatever reason, and in order to get back to equilibrium, you must buy them a gift, so as to not feel guilty. 

Anyways, the new "Action Base Mini" completely went past my radar, have you guys heard of these? I haven't heard any news of them until I saw them. 

They seem to be marketed more towards SD kits, and lighter HG kits. They have a very simple design, and are also fairly cheap. My friend picked me up a pack for just under $5 USD. They come in packs of two as well, so if you can imagine, thats about $2.50 each! Not bad. 

Let's take a look!

Upon opening the plastic bag (just like the other action bases) you are met with two identical runners, with 3 pieces each. You have one V shaped base, with two parts for the actual stand that plug into each other. 

Takes about a minute to cut them all out, and put them all together. No hassle cutting out multiple pieces, screwing them together, etc. Very simple!

When you put them together, you have a few options. Refer to the image above this one, and you can see that the piece that connects to the base has three holes, which corresponds to the two holes on the top piece, which holds your gunpla. You can do a straight up pose, up to three levels high. What is pictured is the highest point. You can also do a forward tilt, similar to the action base #2, but without the second joint to tilt it even further, or compensate. For this tilt, you can only put the pegs into the top hole. You adjust the height by choosing the top or bottom peg on the top piece. 

The reason this kit reminded me of an SD stand, is because of this. Very similar in shape and size, very simple. The action base here comes from the SD Sinanju. 

As you can see, the stand holds the Sinanju without a problem. 

You can also tilt it forward. 

The stand still holds a heavier, larger HG kit like the ReZEL Defenser without too much of an issue. I would be more hesitant to do this though, especially if you lean it too much to one side, I'm sure it could pop out. 

It can definitely lean forward, but at the highest point, even though I could get it to stay, it kept wanting to fall forward. Definitely not recommended. 

I would keep it at the lower peg, to keep a lower center of gravity. This didn't give me any issues. However, I would be wary of the lean to the side where it could fall off again. 

I actually liked this stand for the Barbatos. It is a lighter kit, and you can get some good poses out of it. I think I like seeing the Barbatos come swooping down from the sky with its melee weapons. 

Here's another look. These stands are probably best reserved for lighter HG kits. 

They also can connect, so that you can pose multiple kits together. This will definitely prove useful, as you can probably counter balance kits using this method. Keep in mind, each pack comes with 2, so you can build up your collection fairly quickly!

They aren't, however, compatible with the action base #2, which is disappointing. I was hoping that they would fit inside the new action base mini, similar to the 00 Raiser base. 

I personally think this stand is right up my alley, as it is very simple to build, and fulfills most of my needs. I have a lot of HG kits, and now I can put most of them, if not all of them on action bases. Its cheap enough that you won't break the bank getting a large amount. 

However, I don't trust its structural integrity for larger HG kits, but you may find a way to make it work. It also only has the peg insert for kits, and probably will not work with older kits that do not have the hole in the crotch. (teehee). One good thing about the Action Base 2, was that it had multiple adapters. 

 Definitely something to at least look into for your kits!

Until next time!

Review: HGBF 1/144 Try Burning Gundam

Hello Builders!

It's been awhile...I know in my last entry, I promised a review of the Try Burning Gundam, and here it is! I, like most of you, was drawn into the amazing hype train that was Gundam Build Fighters Try, especially after watching the glory that was Gundam Build Fighters. I couldn't wait for this series to get started. Unfortunately, I found myself asking after every episode, 'that's it?' I kept hoping and hoping for better the next week, but found that in the end, it was average at best. 

Sure I had my doubts. When they first unveiled the lead suits, I was more drawn to the transforming suit, Lightning Gundam, and then realized that the main would actually be the Build Burning Gundam. Well, if the main suit has no weapons, and is primarily a hand to hand combat suit, wouldn't that formula get a little repetitive? Oh well, I'll give it a chance. 

In the end, this isn't a rant about how disappointing the series was. After I got over myself, I found some joy and happiness in the fight scenes that ensued, and also with the badassery that was any iteration of the Burning. I was compelled to get this kit because of the ability to recreate those intense scenes of flames spouting from the armor of the Try Burning.

Parts

For a suit with no weapons, this was about what I expected in terms of parts. 10 runners of various sizes, and colors. Interestingly enough, the largest runner happened to be the flame effect pieces. I'm not complaining. 

Size Comparison

Here is the Try Burning next to its ancestor, Build Strike Gundam. Both are relatively similar in height, with the Try Burning having a much shorter torso, but longer legs. 

Weapons and Manipulators

Seeing as this kit has no real weapons besides its fists, here are all the hands it comes with. It has two open hands, two closed fists, two flat karate chop style hands, and two open hands. It also has two orange effect fists which fit into the flame effects. All of the fists, with exception of the orange ones, have the movable wrist gimmick, not normally found in High grade kits, but provides for extra motion and range of posing for the hands. (which you can apparently now purchase as an option kit, gg Bandai).

Instead of "weapons" I decided to add the flame effect parts here. You can see all the different pieces which replace the blue plavsky particle emitting sections of the Try. You can also see that it includes two flaming punch effects, and one flaming kick effect, with flame trails. 

Articulation

Anybody who knows about the Burning iterations, knows that it has a wide variety of articulation and motion. With the variety of hands, and their ability to bend, you can get some crazy poses out with this kit, like break-dancing for example. 

Here are some more shots of the hands in action, in case you wanted to take a jump shot, or sass somebody. Unfortunately, the wrist to forearm connection can be a little loose, and it ends up not holding weapons very well. The shoulder joints are also fairly loose, as the connection doesn't securely fit. I find that when I try to move the arms around for posing, the arms pop off from the shoulder very often. Pretty annoying. Not to mention, the flame effect pieces will get in the way of poses when you choose to go that angle. 

Color and Quality

Shown above, from left to right, is the Try Burning without any effect pieces, with blue effect pieces, and then with the flame effect pieces. In my opinion, this kit looks amazing in both forms, which is both a blessing and a curse. Whichever mode you put it in, it will look great. However, if you are like me, and fickle, you will fumble to change its effect parts every week. I keep all the effect parts separate from my other parts bin for this very reason. 

This kit has a ton of color separation, which is awesome. In its base form, you have a vibrant red torso, with spats of dark blue coming around the waist, and yellow popping out all over the place. The pieces that are white are layered in such a way that the blue is meant to shine through them, which just looks fantastic. Finally, the flame pieces just add to how majestic it looks

In general, the kit is pretty sturdy, and stands firm. The only parts that tend to pop off are the shoulders, and sometimes the blue effect pieces (as they are meant to be removed easily)

Pros and Cons

I would have to say this kit offers a lot in the box for a kit that doesn't come with weapons. I think back to the Shining Gundam that only came with beam sabers, but had some cool effect parts for the SHINING FINGAHHH, and the shining finger sword. This kit offers a wide range of pose-ability, and some cool, close combat action scenes. With the variety of hands and effect pieces, you'll be able to pull off some awesome poses. I found that even simple poses looked great, just because of the added motion in the hands. 

When you get past all the glitz, glam, and falcon kicks, you'll find a few glaring issues with this kit. Aside from the range of motion, again there are issues with the shoulders staying in, and also with some of the blue particle pieces staying where they are. The wrists tend to be loose in its connection to the forearm, and also the flame effect pieces will get in the way when you try to pose. 

Verdict

I would probably not recommend this kit, just because of the downfalls it has. I personally really like the kit, don't get me wrong, but I find that I lose patience for the pieces that fall off, and that get in the way. It really does look cool, (especially when paired with the Honoo) but I don't think I can justify recommending it. It does come with some option parts so that you can pop on some different backpacks, which is cool too!

Until next time...

Kamehameha!

Review: HGBF 1/144 Wing Gundam Zero Honoo

Hello Builders,

I'm very excited to bring this next review to you all, because I am gushing at just how cool it looks, and how crazy it is! Today I have the Wing Gundam Zero Honoo from the Gundam Build Fighters Honoo Photo Novel. I know absolutely nothing about this Mobile Suit, nor the photo novel. All I know is that this kit is based off of the Wing Zero (duh) and looks like its freaking ON FIRE!

I literally only picked this kit up because of how cool it looked, and damn did Bandai get it right.

To make this obscure suit into a kit was the right choice, as I'm sure plenty of fans picked it up without even reading the photo novel, just because of how cool it is. And if you are a fan of the photo novel, and had to have this kit because you knew of it before, then even more so, Bandai got us. 

Without further ado, lets just get to the review!

Parts

This kit comes with 10 total runners. Oddly enough, it does not have an A plate, but starts with the B plate, does not have a C plate, the E plate is that tiny green clear piece, F1 and F2 are the white pieces, G1 and G2 are the red pieces, H is the orange effect pieces, an I plate, and then the poly caps and the beam sabers. 

Size Comparison

I put the Honoo up against the Fenice, as they are both variations of Wing kits. Both are fairly short, and roughly the same height. As we know, After Colony mobile suits are fairly short compared to other universes. 

Weapons and Manipulators?

This kit only has its two hands, so I did not include them. The hands hold all the weapons. 

Weapons include the shield, a beam saber with two effect pieces (but the manual only tells you to keep one) two buster rifles, and the two wing swords. 

Articulation

This kit actually suffers a bit in articulation. As you can see, the elbow and knee joints don't give you much range of motion. Also, as you move things around, the shoulder armor bumps into the wings, and the shield also gets in the way of the shoulder armor. 

The feet also get caught at the ankles where the armor hangs over, and can be a pain to fiddle around with. 

It also has really good range of motion for the head, as you will see later on in the poses!

The shoulder armor does, however, come forward a good amount.

The wings deserve a little bit of talking about because of its range of motion. You can bring the wings to the sides so they're more of wing binders.

Or you can fold them up behind

Or spread them out

Color and Quality

As you can see, this kit is mostly red, orange, and white with some areas sticking out with green seals. I have to say, the areas that are accented with effect pieces looks just great. The knees, shield, head, shoulders, wings, rifles, and chest all have clear orange pieces that add a lot to its color separation, and they pop out over the red. 

The white on this kit can be very bland without panel lining. The area that suffers the most from this is the legs. The solid white can be a turn off, though the orange on the knees really helps. 

It is a little bit of a pain to have all those tiny green slivers that you need to insert in various areas to give it some accents, but otherwise, the color separation is very good for the upper body.

Pros and Cons

 This kit is amazing to pose. The variety of wing movements you can do really give it a great aerial effect. You'll definitely want to put him on an action base to bring out the aerial poses to full effect. This kit also has a good amount of weapons. You'll have a wide range of play options with the weapons included, and those flaming wing swords are unique to this kit. 

This kit does have some weight issues, and takes awhile to stand it up correctly to balance. Again, I believe an action base is essential, as the wings are very heavy, and since this kit transforms, the legs can be finicky. The feet are also kinda weird, as they look kind of like high heels. 

But besides that, this kit just looks crazy cool, and the poses you can get it in look great. The range of colors on this kit is great, and offers plenty of panel lining opportunities. 

Verdict

This kit really is a must have if you like the Wing Gundam. It is a unique add to your collection, and really stands out among the other kits you have. With the addition of those clear effect parts, it really pops out, and can take center stage on your display. Make sure you put some effort in its poses, because it can, and will look amazing when you get it just right. 

BONUS: FLAME SWORDS

You didn't think I'd leave without showing you those badass flame swords did you??

BONUS BONUS!?!?!?!: TRANSFORMATION

Guess what? I love this kit even more because it TRANSFORMS INTO BIRD MODE! FLAMING TRANSFORMATION BIRD MODE!!!!

Well, that's all for now!

Until next time