Vardant, The Azure Samurai
Vardant is my favorite mecha from Kurogane no Linebarrel, I finished the kit 2 weeks ago and the full review is in My Blog. In Kurogane no Linebarrel Vardant is one of the machina piloted by Ace pilot Reiji Moritsugu who work for Judah. I know this series from reading the manga which is pretty good(too bad Gonzo messed up the anime really bad) and i would recommend anyone to read the manga. Here is the Fanart Collection of Kurogane no Linebarrel if anyone is interested.
The Reason why Vardant is one of my favorite is because both pilot and mecha is really awesome, Reiji is badass because he is able to fight the main protagonist's Machina in equal ground despite the tough odds(Linebarrel has Raiser Sword lol) and He manage to disable it in one occassion.
I am pretty dissapointed with the kit because the quality simply does not match with the price given by Kotobukiya. I would say Linebarrel kits lineup is the worst lineup that Kotobukiya ever released. Some of the reason are the poor articulation(i can accept this since my other kotobukiya kits suffer same problem), loose parts, the kit is unable to stand without the display base,plenty of unpainted parts and poor gimmicks.
The kit probably as big as the 1/144 gundam if it is not slightly bigger, in terms of size this kit is considered to be expensive sinced it cost 4200 Yen for a kit as big as 1/144 Gundam where you can get some Good Master Grade with that amount of money.
Vardant has one eye only since Reiji broke one of the eye during his first encounter with it.
Accidentally i bust up my left shoulder when i tried to remove the inner shoulder parts since i applied cement too much.
Probably one reason why i think Vardant looks cool is because of the shield binder which somehow resemble with the Thanatos coffins from Persona 3. The shield binder serve many purposes from providing cover for Vardant, weapon storage and trapping the opponent.
I wonder how good is the quality of Vardant's action figure from Megahouse, do anyone have the action figure?
Despite the kit quality is not that good, perhaps i will get Linebarrel Overdrive to match with the Vardant.
Since SRW L will have Linebarrel in the roster, i will be looking forward for this Azure Samurai in action XD.
I have linebarrel and didn't buy vardant coz linebarrel is not like the preview they showed. Kinda got cheated.
Kotobukiya has the best kit lineups and choices before Bandai can even consider the profits to be made, but their quality is always so... so... well, I'll just stop there.
At least they get points for color accuracy. As for not being able to stand without support, I think even big market players like Bandai with their decades of experience in model-kit design would have trouble with the Machina's frame.
If you want something to be cool, another thing has to go out of the window. In the Machina's case, that would be the logic of physics. XD
I have to admit the feet of the machina is pretty slender but at least make the leg solid enough to be able to stand still at least, even my 1/144 apparition had the same issue. But Vardant's shield binders are pretty heavy indeed
I'd just buy this to have him wield 3 swords per hand, put an eye-patch over his right eye, and have a GIANT crescent moon on his forehead. Then I'll be pleased.
Those sword binders really do make it resemble Thanatos from P3, and they look heavy; I can't imagine what would happen if it doesn't come with a display stand...
Get revoltech Masamune Date and just switch the hand for holding 3 swords at a time, though no idea for the helmet lol