Re: HG Aile Strike Gundam (1/144) Open Box Review

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003, Heavyarms wrote:

> >    Clear beam sabers actually look really crappy, and that soft plastic is
> a
> 
> Not when the kits are backlit.
> 
   Eh, if you say so.  Just looks like cheap plastic to me.

> A desire for open hands is understandable, but if you
> > say anything else positive about those box-hands I'm afraid I'm going to
> have
> > to write you off as some sort of deranged mental patient.
> >
> 
> From a vantage point of three of four feet (which is the distance most
> people viewing my kits observe them from) they can't tell the difference
> between the box hand or the "specialized hand."  I like the box hands

   See, that's a difference right there.  I take kits to model shows and enter
them in contests.  I look for high-detail areas on the kit and expect them to
look good up close, and I expect others (fellow builders, contest judges,
etc.) to do the same.  Normally for the hands this requires outright
replacement - so I find it quite nice that Bandai's supplied something a bit
better.  Box hands look like ass.  End of story.

> because you can usually alter the angle the beam saber is held in the hand,
> with the hilt either angled back of the wrist (like in a downward slash
> motion), straight out (like when hold the saber in the at-ready position),
> or angled away from the wrist (as in a swing follow through).  These allow
> for a wider variety of more realistic poses than, for instance, the beam
> saber in the Strike kit.  I can't pose the Strike Gundam in, for example, an
> overhead slash pose because the beam saber looks silly with the hand holding
> it "pistol" style.  It's hard for me to describe, it just looks funny, but I
> can fix it with the "box hands."
> 
   Granted.  The static hand limits your options.  However, if it can take one
or two poses and look good, that's a lot better that being able to take six or
seven and look like crap.  Generally the kit can't really support the pose
you're talking about anyway.  To really sell it, the waist would have to be
able to bend, the shoulders would need a lot more flexibility, and something
would have to be done about the shoulder armors that look really dumb when
upside-down.  In the anime they get around all this by cheating: the MS body
can squash and stretch, the shoulder armors conveniently step out of the way
when the arm goes into a pose which, by any reasonable interpretation, should
cause the shoulder armors to invert.  Anyway, how "realistic" is a
sword-holding pose where the sword is in a squared-off fist, embedded in a
keyhole-shaped slot in the side of a palm that's as thick as it is wide?  And
I don't mean "from very high altitudes".

---GEC
Projects page: http://1-4-4.home.comcast.net/
"I am but the humble student, who seeks one day to snatch the scratchbuilt
 pebble from the master's fully articulated hand."