rico soul's Review
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Qianqu Shang Heavy Electromagnetic Railgun Upgrade Kit Purple Version
Qianqu Shang Heavy Electromagnetic Railgun Upgrade Kit Purple Version [Comment]
Mar 20, 2024
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rico soul: This rerelease color modification of the qianqushang railgun is aimed at matching the Hi-Nu purple on things like the ver ka kit and the metal build. Just a bit of a review, this is a design based on the metal build 1/100 scale hi-nu mega bazooka, but heavily modified with LEDs added and scaled down to 1/144 scale technically.

Due to the massive size of the bazooka in lore however, this size wise can still fit fine on 1/100 scale and even 1/60 scale gundams and qianqushang provided different handle parts to fit different scale hands.

This updated release will have additional undergating on the parts to help hit nubs for those that want to paint on the runners
Steel Model 1/100 MG VN002O Team 08 Orange Iron Ball Model Kit
Steel Model 1/100 MG VN002O Team 08 Orange Iron Ball Model Kit [Comment]
Apr 26, 2024
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rico soul: This is from the same guys that did the MG Ball Ver Ka bootleg previously and the price is mostly comparable. I kind of have the same issue with this as with the other bootleg in that the price is just a tad high compared to the bandai original for getting bootleg quality, but the 8th MS Team version of the Ball is a bit more rare so a better case could be made for buying this.
IN ERA+ 1/100 RMD Series Thunderbolt Manta Ray Equipment Version Model Kit
IN ERA+ 1/100 RMD Series Thunderbolt Manta Ray Equipment Version Model Kit [Comment]
Apr 27, 2024
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rico soul: So we have the first update on the development on this manta ray thunderbolt.
These are the 3D model designs based on the original competition custom build that was seen in the initial pictures, for all the components that will need to be newly designed for this kit.

We can see the specific parts that will differ from the base thunderbolt will be the head, the shoulder armor, the rifle and shield, and of course the manta backpack.

Additional information will of course be released in the future.

One thing I'm personally interested in finding out is whether they will try to recreate the custom paint job of the competition build, especially the two tone body that is purely done with painting and masking of the original mold.
rico soul: oh, I forgot to mention, the pictures shows the original custom build on the top row, the direct 3D model copy of the show build in the middle row, and the further refined 3D mold that is planned to be used for the actual product on the bottom row. In Era+ is tweaking and enhancing the molding details for the final product.
4th Party 1/100 Rx-93-v2 Hi-v Gundam Model Kit Deluxe Version
4th Party 1/100 Rx-93-v2 Hi-v Gundam Model Kit Deluxe Version [Comment]
May 03, 2024
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rico soul: It's kind of neat that this thing that was announced years ago finally has updates and sale listings in China, confirming it as an actual product.

Chinese price started at 388RMB but is creeping up.

This product is pretty similar to the Eagle Model Force Impulse that came out a bit earlier.
Hell, it's probably the same people, considering this time the brand name is V-Tiger.

Anyways, the kit is a plastic and metal frame version of the YJL Hi-Nu resin kit design.
It says 1/100 but Hi-Nu is a relatively large Gundam and the resin kit makes it even taller so it's probably not much smaller than the Sky Defender.

From the product photos, you can easily see that similar to the Eagle Model plastic-fied YJL Force Impulse, while the molding details of the original resin kit are mostly there, you will still need to mask and paint it to truly get all the intended color separation. The actual part and color separation on the kit is fairly mediocre.

Still, this is a decently anticipated product due to the popularity of the YJL design, and the still relatively easier effort and lower cost to build and paint a plastic kit than the original resin kit.
Xingfeng 1/144 HG Hi-V Fighter Influx Model Kit
Xingfeng 1/144 HG Hi-V Fighter Influx Model Kit [Comment]
May 10, 2024
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rico soul: So the quality of this bootleg is actually pretty good by bootleg standards but that still doesn't mean it stacks up to the original bandai standard. There's a bit of a conundrum when looking at HG KOs. The price is simply too high. There's really no reason to get it over the bandai original kit if you could find the bandai kit.

That said, good lukc finding a HG Hi-Nu Influx lol. I believe it was a premium bandai kit so it's pretty hard to find for a reasonable price.

So if you like the design of this, and are willing to pay >$20 for a HG bootleg, this is a solid purchase.
Snail Shell 1/12 RPG-02 Muse Asdo
Snail Shell 1/12 RPG-02 Muse Asdo [Comment]
May 30, 2024
Likes:
rico soul: Snail Shell and their lewd figures lol. There's just something about anime style nuns.....
Honglian Workshop 1/100 MG Gundam Jetpack Model Kit
Honglian Workshop 1/100 MG Gundam Jetpack Model Kit [Comment]
Sep 02, 2024
Likes:
rico soul: Compared to the other mighty strike freedom backpack that is coming out, this one by red lotus workshop feels a bit underwhelming. The gold parts are plated but even on their promo, you can see the plating quality is kind of poor with the molding details not coming across very sharp or focused and having noticeable shrinkage.

I guess it's still nice to have the option of something a bit more anime accurate vs the Mehe Zaowu backpack which is more resin kit like.
Red Soul 1/144 Night Hawk Spec II Model Kit
Red Soul 1/144 Night Hawk Spec II Model Kit [Comment]
Aug 27, 2024
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rico soul: I'll be curious to see how this kit ends up doing. Solomon came out to clarify that they had nothing to do with the red um...excrement lol. This is not a particularly faithful recreation of nightingale and so I'd imagine more purist gundam fans may be turned off by the proportions.

It does have a lot of surface greeble for the average third party fan though. Wonder who will win out in the end. My backlog is too big as it is so I'll have to pass on this for now.
Reply

justmad: iam not sure what you are talking about ? its a really good nightingale kit. you will never see something like that from bandai.. i will definitly buy. even if it is not from the solomon guys. still an insane epic kit what else to choose from ? bandai hg nightingale kit ? ... or any nightingale resin kit ? there is nothing like this on the market. why< should any real gundam fan be turned off ? iam hyped. i could buy the mechanicore version for 400 bucks... i have the rodams .. and it wasnt fun at all to build. so yeah red soul night hawk it is !

By Aug 26,2024 15:22:00

rico soul: It's just a highly modified aesthetics, and yeah, it is almost more like a 1/144 version of the mechanicore firehawk than what a first party RG nightingale could look like. Not everyone is a fan of heavily modified designs. Solomon's GP02 was so well received by all corners of the gunpla market because it is designs to be faithful to the GP02 anime design, just with added detailed and gimmicks to make it more inline with a modern MG or even MGEX. This however is less of giving Nightingale a RG or RGEX treatment and more like what you would see in a resin kit or mechanicore. There's just generally less people interested in these type of overly reimagined designs, and nightingale is already kind of a small niche. But like I mentioned, the average third party mecha fan will like it just for the surface greeble, and couldn't care less about how accurate it is to the nightingale design.
PZEU RX-78-2 Collapse of The Origin Monkey Gundam
PZEU RX-78-2 Collapse of The Origin Monkey Gundam [Comment]
Aug 18, 2024
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rico soul: lmao now this, this is art. I can live without all the random HG bootlegs that are now seeing international distribution but if it means we get more of these beauties than I'm all for it lol
Motor Nuclear MNPQ-XH04 Gan Jiang Chibi Version Model Kit
Motor Nuclear MNPQ-XH04 Gan Jiang Chibi Version Model Kit [Review]
Sep 08, 2024
Likes:
rico soul: Not quite the same as a MGSD but it's still an interesting take on the idea. The kit builds up nice with the metal frame and has so many swords to play with. Box size is pretty much the same as a WeiYuan and overall quality is as can be expected from MotorNuclear. Fun little desk ornament to play and mess with after you are done assembling it.

MotorNuclear recently announced the regular large GanJiang is planned for the MNP series as well so I'm looking forward to that.