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

HGBF Mega Shiki

Hey Builders!

Another review for you today. As you might know, Gundam Build Fighters Try has concluded with its 25th episode this past week. I'm currently in the process of acquiring all the kits that I loved from this series. Bandai is really making a killing with all these redesigns, and HG releases. Yes the series itself has become almost just an excuse to release and sell kits, but I'm not complaining. Some of the designs are just amazing and I don't mind purchasing them. 

My last review was of one of my favorite designs, the Amazing Red Warrior, but today, I have for you, a mobile suit that I wasn't actually too fond of, until taking a look at the kit later. If you didn't know, I already have an HG Delta Plus, and in my mind, the Mega Shiki was just a Delta Plus with a huge cannon on its back. As I continued to research this kit, I realized its popularity suffered with its limited screen time. You only saw glimpses of it in two episodes, and as a Gunpla and Gundam fan, you most likely couldn't stand that that the pilot was cocky, ruthless, and also didn't build his own gunpla. (sorry Sekai). 

But in all honesty, this suit is pretty bad ass, for one reason: beam katanas. Without further ado, lets take a look at this kit!

Parts

Interestingly enough, this kit does not come with a multicolored A plate, or any A plate at all for that matter. It starts out straight with the purple B plate, purple C1 and C2 plate, no D plate, no E plate, grey F plate with internal armor parts, purple G1 and G2 plate, white H plate, white I plate, grey J plate with most parts for the mega launcher, purple K plate, a manipulator plate, beam saber effect plate, and a poly cap plate. 

All in all, it looks like it comes with a ton of parts, which it does, however there are a lot of pieces that are unused, and actually borrowed from the Delta Gundam's runners. 

Size Comparison

Well there you have it, they are definitely not the same. Though you can see some similarities in their designs, the Shiki stands almost a head taller than the Delta Plus. Not to mention, with the launcher on its pack, its even taller. 

Weapons and Manipulators

This kit comes with 3 sets of hands:

Fists, open hands, and holding hands. I was pretty surprised, the closed fist consists of 4 parts, the main hand section, the 4 fingers, the thumb actually pops on separately, and the top of the hand. 

This kit comes with few weapons: 1 beam rifle, and 2 beam sabers. It actually comes with 2 more beam saber handles, but they're leftover from the Delta Gundam.

Articulation

The elbow in the arm doesn't allow for much folding. This is the most you'll get from that joint. 

The leg doesn't offer much articulation either. The foot sits on a ball joint, so you'll get some decent ankle movement. However, the side skirt extends over the front of the thigh, so even if you fold the front skirt up, the leg can't really move forward all that much. When you bend the leg back, the foot will get caught on the launcher. 

Color and Quality

This kit is mostly that pastel-ish purple, with white on the chest, and then grey internals popping out in various places. There are also white parts that are on the arms, the back of the legs, waist, and feet. The color separation is decent, with enough white pieces cutting through the purple all over this kit. This really reminds me of how bland the Delta Plus was. 

After building the Amazing Red Warrior, even though that kit was all red, there were still two tones that they used. I'm wondering if they used some deeper purple in some areas, would this kit look even better?

In general, it's hard to complain. This kit is very sturdy, and the plastic comes together very nicely. You can definitely feel the HGUC engineering as it does not feel as flimsy as some of the other HGBF kits have felt from other universes. However, there were some areas where the gating was very thick, and I again had a hard time removing it without large nub marks that took some managing. But since this kit borrows a lot of pieces from the Delta Gundam, it actually is undergated for most of its pieces!

Pros and Cons

This kit is a great redesign on the Hyaku Shiki. I was actually very excited building it, and seeing how many parts it came with. As I continued to build, its look really caught me. It was menacing and ruthless. It comes with a lot of parts, and some good engineering, which will leave you satisfied after the build. There is enough color separation in which it won't just be a purple blob sitting there. It is very sturdy, and actually can stand with the huge launcher on its back if you position it correctly.

Unfortunately, it is mostly purple, and I wish it came with some more color separation. It also does not come with a lot of weapons. The articulation is fairly poor, however you can do some cool twisting and turning poses with its waist joint. It does suffer from back weight issues, so if you don't position it correctly, it will fall back. It also comes with a ton of extra parts that you'll probably end up storing, or tossing out anyways. 

Verdict

This kit doesn't have a lot of weapons, but it really makes up for it with the variety of play options included with the Mega Ride Launcher. The Launcher itself is like building another kit included. At under $20, this was a great purchase, with the amount of parts that you could build. For an HG, it was a fun build, and again, building the mega launcher was a great bonus. It suffers from articulation issues, and also could call for more color separation. In the end, at its price tag, I think its definitely worth it. However, with its weight issues, you'll want to get an action base for it as well. 

BONUS: MEGA LAUNCHER

You heard me mention that the Mega Launcher offers even more play opportunities, so here you go. I included some images and thoughts based around the different poses you can do with the mega launcher. The launcher itself can transform into various modes, such as flight mode, backpack mode, and launcher mode. 

Here you can see that the Mega Shiki can hold on to the bottom of the launcher, in a mid-air flight pose. However, this is difficult to do without an Action Base 1. The Action Base 2 is too short, and you'll have the Shiki dragging its toes on the ground. 

 Flying into battle

The Mega Launcher connects to the Mega Shiki by three points on the back. This ensures a secure fit. That grey part on the back of the Mega Shiki can be removed, and connect to typical two point connections on the back. I connected it to the Red Warrior with no problems. 

And of course, you can have it in the Launcher mode.

I absolutely love the beam katanas....

Until Next Time!