rico soul: I'm pretty excited about this one. maybe I'm getting burnt out on the gundam clones but this mecha design just feels badass and fresh.

This was of course just announced a day ago so information is still relatively liminted. Looks like Gundamit posted all the photos available for now.

This comes with a preassembled alloy frame that has supposedly been under development and refinement for two years to address common issues with model kits.

the plastic used here is some kind of new environmentally friendly material. They haven't specified what that actually means specifically, but did boast that it is able to achieve almost matte top coated painted finish without being pre-painted.

One of the images is to show some small armor and hatch opening gimmicks, which I'll reattach here. It's pretty subtle but they did circle the parts that open up to make it easier to find lol.

They mention that two additional accessories will be announced at a later date.

rico soul: So people have gotten the daban perfectibility now and this is a pretty ridiculous package lol.

As mentioned previously, this should include the divine expansion pack, even if it's not obvious from the listing photos. It comes with both a normal set of clear blue psycho frame runners and an extra blue electroplated version of the psycho frame and with all the expansion parts, it has a whopping total 123x runners!!!

All of the outer armor is matte top coated for better or worse. It makes nub cleanup somewhat trickier but it does make the finished product look fairly nice. The plated runners also help with that. However, because the arm parts are just recolored banshee parts rather than the modified parts from the P-Bandai version, the nubs are not undergated and is visible, made more so by the runners being top coated.

Typical loose joint issues are present but it's not awful. While the PG unicorn has decent articulation, it's really meant as more of a display piece anyways. The joints may not be as precise as the Bandai version but it's still enough to put into some nice poses.

So overall, this is a pretty solid package for less that half the price of the Bandai print.

rico soul: KKind of funny to see Animester jump into the mecha market as well. It's kind of unclear whether this is an alloy frame model kit or a figure. The size suggests metal build style figure.

The biggest marketing point about this figure is that the mechanical designer is Junichi Akutsu, which is famous for designing the Astray Gundam and many of it's variations.

Anyways, I'll attach a higher res photo of the promo and you can also see their promo video here: youtu.be/dNVKZ2_w5n8

There seems to be other suits planned for the future as well.

rico soul: This was just announced yesterday and news of it has certainly spread quickly.

For people looking for the announcement video, a upload of it on youtube can be found here: youtu.be/yMsC0bxj_k0

Gundamit made a minor mistake in the listing. This is from IN ERA+ (the Infinite Dimensions + Supernova collab, and makers of the Ruling and Vanguard/Trailblazer) not Infinite Dimensions (the makers of Genesis)
We all pretty much consider them the same company and consider Genesis to be part of their full product line anyways but I think in this specific case there is one detail that might matter.

IN ERA+ is marketing this Thunderbolt as the first of a new product line called RMD (Real Minutia Designs) and the focus would be on having mechanically detailed full inner frame. The outer armor is then refined around this inner frame design to pursue a more realistic model.

In practice, what that means in regular speak is probably just that this will be a regular MG-like plastic inner frame design similar to the Genesis that started it all. But we'll see.

Aesthetically, there's obviously Lightning/Raijin Strike Gundam influences here and overall, the bright colors makes it feel almost like a Build Fighters type of design.

I'll provide updates if I see any new information get released.

rico soul: Hmm, it's kind of interesting that Gundamit has this up for preorder already.

So a bit more information. The pictures are of a custom build by Infinite Dimensions of the InEra+ Thunderbolt. It is not of an actual model kit since it doesn't exist yet. ID built this for a show/competition and it is a fully painted custom. That's also why you don't see this in any action poses like you would normally see with promo photos of a product.

Now, obviously, Infinite Dimensions and InEra+ do have plans to make this into a product eventually, but they are doing it through an exclusive collaboration with the Xiaomang shopping app. InEra+ will begin work on designing a model kit based on this custom if it reaches a specific voting/crowdfunding goal on the app. Only afterwards will the design for a mass production model kit actually begin and the final product may look very different than this initial custom build. MoShow did something similar with their limited edition White Takeda Shinden recently, which was based off of a fan made custom.

On the model kit side, I think the best example might be Naoki Gunpla kits like the Qubeley Embillier, which was originally conceived through a custom build by Naoki. That then later got converted into a model kit by Bandai. I'll attach a photo comparison of the Qubeley to show just how different a painted custom and the converted model kit may look from each other. The final model kit may not look as vibrant as the original painted custom, and it may not have as much details.

Anyways, it will be a long time before this becomes an actual product. The crowdfunding goal will most likely be met, but we will still need to wait to see what the model kit design and pricing will look like. InEra+ has no information on anything so far, with only a best guess release date being sometime in 2025...maybe lol.

rico soul: The final update for the Lizard was just made by IN Era+.

Retail price has been announced at 288RMB ~40USD. This is quite a bit higher than the other RMD series kit, the Thunderbolt, but still priced cheaper than the metal frame kits like Ruling and Aurora. However, they also announced that due to the large amount of content in this kit, the box will also be a bit bigger, being 65cm x 32cm. This would translate to higher potential shipping and logistics costs so I'd expect $85USD shipped to be a fair price for it. Given the hype around the kit though, I wouldn't be surprised to see Gundamit price it closer to $100.

The other big news is a 5000x limited edition of the kit that will have prepainted runners. Total 14 runners painted, with three different red shades. This doesn't seem like something that we would be able to get here through gundamit since it's only going to go on sale for a short period on September 2nd and September 3rd. It is priced at 80RMB or ~$11USD higher than the normal version at 368RMB

The regular version is set to start shipping in October.

Nothing surprising on the contents at this point. It'll come with all the expected items from In Era+ kits including a stand and waterslide decals.

Here is a video should a 360 degrees view of the painted version of the model: weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5073593768280183

rico soul: Now after the Lone Shadow is released, Hemoxian and NoneZeroStudios have announced the next kit in their over zero series, the boxer Baki. This may be my favorite design from them so far.

Not too much detail have been revealed about the kit yet, but the previous trend with the Lone Shadow and the Tastier was that the kit will have a main body, an accessory pack, and a base that can each be purchased separately or together for 188RMB. Assuming the same holds true for Baki, it will be interesting to see what all the parts ends up being and what the first batch bonus cape/scarf/coat/whatever will be.

I just like the bulkiness of this design and of course the soft plastic predator like hair tubes.


Anyways, for those interested, here's the official lore (google translated):

[BAKI once entered the military camp with passion, led his team to fight for the army, and vowed to create their own legend. However, reality ruthlessly crushed his faith. The team was betrayed by the army and became abandoned by power. The team members all died tragically. Unwilling to surrender, he awakened in despair and resolutely fled the army and became a "deserter".  

In order to avoid endless pursuit, he sneaked into the underground black market and erased all traces of his armor-his former glory and number, and was reborn in the underground arena as "BAKI". Even though he made a living by competing in the dark underground, he still had distracting thoughts about the army that he could not give up. He believed that the final answer was in his fists, and once again hoped to use his fists to create his own legend in the underground arena. Every punch, every victory, is a pursuit of self-belief.

Fighting is not for victory, but for surpassing oneself and pursuing the ultimate strength. He has only one goal - to become the strongest prosthesis on the surface. He is affectionately called "The Boy" underground. His story is the collision of faith and soul, a legend rising in the darkness, a man who lives only for himself!]

rico soul: Oof wow the updated photos of the Lancelot looks pretty badass. It feels like they tweaked it a bit from the grey model but the proportions don't look quite as messed up any more and the waist pistons looks less obtrusive.

The head is giving me real overwatch Reinhart vibes and I love the weapon design. I just love it when a suit has a sword that slots into a shield like the classic Gouf Custom, the Estailev, or this Lancelot.

I'm definitely liking this a lot more now that we have shots of the final finished product. Can't wait to hear what some of the more prominent Chinese reviewers think of it as they get early eval copies in the near future.

rico soul: Ok this MotorNuclear model kit is really really interesting. Really feels like they're putting pressure on the model kit market again similar to what they did last year with the amazing AoBing kit.

So this is a grunt / student training suit, and similar to the main suits like the AoBing, CaoRen, and BaiQi, this is still getting some metal joints for the frame. It's also compatible with the equipment and backpacks from the other kits.

However, this is priced at half the retail price of the other kits at a crazy low 99RMB. That means we can probably expect it to be $15-$20 cheaper than those kits so maybe it'll be in the $30 range for US customers. That is insane for a MG sized kit with this much detail. Height is listed at 19cm for reference, and remember, it still comes with metal joints. They're saying 11 metal parts total.

Aesthetically, I love how this is more unique than just spiky MotorNuclear or another Gundam clone. This has so much Chinese culture and character in the design. It's distinctly Chinese with the shield, the sword and that sash. It also comes with three different face masks including a joke wide eyed one from the comics. There are also blank masks included that you can customize yourself.

Definitely an interesting kit and one to keep an eye on. Should be releasing later Q4 2023.

rico soul: So like before, we got a massive image dump from IN ERA+ for the Thunderbolt along with some details and pricing information. I'll post some of the pictures here but there's a lot more that was released.

From the pictures, we can really see what they mean by inner frame detail for the RMD series. There are a ton of molded details on the inner frame itself, reminiscent of the legendary Bandai 2.0 MG kits like the MG MK-II 2.0. For detailed inner frame fans like myself, this is really awesome to see and it should be a lot of fun to build, paint, and detail.

They talk about the design philosophy behind the Thunderbolt and as being a focus on creating a mechanically realistic and detailed frame for the entire mech, including the backpack. The linkages and armor pieces are then refined around the frame to create a more realistic mechanical model.

Contents:
- white action base with image insert (same design as Ruling and Genesis)
- waterslide decals
- foil stickers
- bonus: colorless clear parts

Retail is listed at 198RMB with a targeted release for October 2023.

For reference, this price is cheaper than the Genesis standard version and the same retail price as the MotorNuclear CaoRen and BaiQi.