Brave Commander Test Type HG kit
Hi people... Newbie here. First time posting in this forum or in any GUNPLA forum for that matters. Nice to meet you.
I was intrigued by the look of Gundam 00 AEU and ALAW MS leg design while I was browsing through www.1999.co.jp. So when it was time for the BAKUC Gunpla Challenge Kuala Lumpur 2010 last week, Plenty of good stuffs on display there in the competition section. The competitors definitely put in a lot of effort into their masterpieces; no doubt about that.
Then I made my way to the promotion section to look for the AEU and ALAW kits and got myself this HG kit. At first it looked quite similar to the older kit (This kit was released November 2010). So I asked around if anyone had assemble it before. Apparently no one I spoke to assembled it before. So I stood there flipping the box back and forth, and round and round before I decided to part with my RM57 for a box of colored styrene.
To my surprise, there were no poly caps in this kit. Just the normal polystyrene and ABS. All of the GUNDAM MS I've assembled previously (not that many though) had poly caps. And even the GNZ-005 Hiling Care`s Garazzo HG kit had polycaps (Oh, I bought this too... hehe). But that's not really an issue however. And after finish assembling the kit, I was pleasantly surprised with the degree of freedom offered by this Brave Commander Test Type HG kit (much better than the GNZ-005 Hiling Care`s Garazzo HG kit). Here are some photos I took. I'll add comments as I post more.
Front profile
Angled side profile
Angled back profile
Ready for action
Bring it on
Standing on one leg
Running pose
Taking a corner - all the while this pose is static. It's standing on its right leg un supported by anything else. No blue tack, no doublesided adhesive under it's foot... And no Photoshop "special effects"
Heyeeaaaah!
Remember how Neo dodged those bullets in the Matrix?
Dodging...
... dodging...
Bullets dodged! And all the while this blue baby was atanding on it's own two feet. No adhesives under the feet, no Photoshop effects. Those thrusters are very useful for balancing the body in its poses.
There are 3 main articulation points on each thrusters alone...
The high kick... well it's nothing close to the Red Frame, but this is just to show the max right out of the box. Nothing a little mod couldn't overcome...
Here's the classic "Don't come near my or I'll beat the crap out of you" pose. Pay attention to the angle of the right leg
Here's the same classic "Don't come near my or I'll beat the crap out of you" pose. The right leg at a more dramatic angle
The same "Don't come near my or I'll beat the crap out of you" pose. But this time, OUCH!!! That leg's gotta hurt...
Well you can rotate that leg 360 degrees in this kit. If you are a leg person, you'd definitely love this kit
The kneeling position... Ermmm... Not too impressive here, but it can kneel...
Same pose, shot from a slightly different angle
This kit is really more about a great deal of articulation freedom from waist level down. The articulation for the head is not bad considering there are no colar hindrance and that the head sits only on one ball-point pivot.
Same pose as the previous shot but from a different angle
OK... as a final shot, here's the "Tough guy supermodel - I'm the MAN!" pose.
Well, I must add though that the arms have limited outward movement but the fact that you are able to extend the shoulder outward to push back upper arms, as you can see in this shot.
The fist is 360 degrees rotatable around the fore arm axis and can be pivoted 90 degrees inward.
I didn't bother to put on the sword of the blaster as those items can only add to what is already a satisfying HG model kit
Oh, the Brave Commander Test Type can transform into fighter (aircraft) mode, but I didn't really like it because, eventhough it looks good, it's just too flimsy for my taste - the thrusters, the legs and arms, etc does not really click-stop to position if you know what I mean.
But overall, I am quite satisfied with this kit for its poseability straight out of the box... Is there such a word? "Poseability"? Hehehe... Go buy the kit...
OK... Maybe one more...
Yeah yeah... I know that you shouldn't handle a beam saber that way... But what the heck. The Brave Commando's sitting on my remote controls
('o',)
HOOOOYEAAAAAH~ *puts on sunglasses*
Hmmm..no polycaps huh. I don't know how to react to that. D:
Wait..actually, I do. That bullet, dodge pose was awesome. Better than the Masurao in term of articulation I say. Was it because the joints were tighter than having polycaps? :3 Gonna be a problem painting that tho. Paint might get into the joints. :\
In any case, good job on the first post. ^^b
Hahaha... my first comment received on Figure.fm. ^u^
Thanks Marx. Yup, you are absolutely spot on about painting on some of the joints. So perhaps This model could only be partially painted. Have to be a bit "hardworking" in masking... Hehe...
Some of the joints were pretty tight. Some were quite... ermmm... how should I put it... - standard - ?
Anyway, because of some of the tighter joints, some of the looser parts got dislocated easily while I was adjusting the poses. But it was not too bad...
Nah, not exactly masking. Just have to be careful not to prime and paint on the turning points on the joints. ;3
Bandai's trying out some new stuff tho..although I can't say for sure if this is a good thing. Feels like they're going for the action figure feel now eh?
Well, I can testify that the older MG kits are already much more fun than the War Machine from Hot Toys. Hehe...
wow, nice build!! :D
NO polycaps yet it can make those amazing pose!? a simply yet complex design!!XD
Hi XIOON. The joints were ABS. Some were pretty tight. Hopefully they don't deteriorate too much over repeated adjustments.
The design looked so simple but I can tell you it allowed for some very flexible movements
wanna ask who piloted this MS in the movie?
collasaur?
nope! its graham aker
A surprising number of kits can do the one-leg stand, but the Matrix pose is surest proof of the Brave Commander's flexibility. Truth be told I've never seen a model kit do the Matrix pose independently.
And that design is just badass. Why no 1/100 of this? ;_;
Maybe coz they want you to buy this and buy the 1/100 again when it comes out?
Well, some of the joints were actually quite exposed. For eg you can see the ball joints near the hips and the ball joints connected to the feet.
The Flag units and its variants are probably the only MS worth looking at in 00 Series
every other gundam and MS in 00 is garbage compared to it!
so lovely model you have their , I seriously hope it puts Gundams into Comas and beats em up pretty good
So you're anti-Celestial Beings eh? Hahahahaha... Just kidding
Thanks for your compliments ;)
@Mikus_Husband
It's pretty annoying when you state it like a fact. :/
I personally like the series's designs.
my Apologies :)
should of added a IMHO , however after 15 years of knowing Gundam you just wish for something different sometimes
I thought that the 00 series's design were unique enough, or at least in my opinion. I mean, they still have to resemble "Gundam".
Looking at a Flag and Enact was very refreshing to me.. everything else was 'meh' lol
yeah I know they gotta make Gundams but if you watched 08th MS team I wish they kind of had that real world setting where Gundams were not invincible
when I saw Graham Aker take on the trio I was literally happy that theres some sort of awesome power in the Flag unit and Grahams piloting skills , but the whole "Gundam > all" gets kinda boring
Hmm...I do see your point there. ^ ^;
Nice build and great photos too. Was very enjoyable reading this post. ^ ^
Still waiting for the movie to come out!
Gee, Thanks for the compliments Flawless! I saw your posts. You're pretty good at setting up your shots yourself. ;)
And I see you collect a lot of kawaii figurines...
Thank you. ^ ^
I still have a long way to go before I am impressed with my photos though.
Yes, I have a lot of adorable figures. I just love them. ^ ^
Yo, first of all welcome to Figure.FM. Sorry for dropping by late... haha, i like the kit, especially "how fast" you have assembled it and the photos taken, very nice!
What's this site?
http://www.otakuden.com/figure-main/news/3483-brave-commander-test-type-hg-kit.html