ARX-8 Laevatein

Review by JoshB

The ARX-8 Laevatein comes from the Manga / Anime Full Metal Panic! (フルメタル・パニック!) and is brought to you by HobbyLink Japan

I don't know the first thing about it. I've never seen the show, but I know a cool mecha design when I see one. This particular mecha is an "Arm Slave", a mechanized combat unit that is piloted by a human named Sousuke Sagara. The ARX-8 Laevatein is a Fourth-Generation Arm Slave, and while it has not yet appeared in Anime, it has appeared in the recent novel. Not quite a Super Robot, the Laevatein comes in at 9 meters tall (about 29.5 feet).

Laevatein, incidentally, is the name of a mythical Norse weapon.

The 59th release in the Revoltech line is the biggest, with the biggest box and the most accessories. Kaiyodo and Katsuhisa Yamaguchi are on the top of their game, making smart use of Revoltech joints and a ton of accessories.

First, lets start with the Laevatein itself. This is a sleek fighting machine, with lots of joints and fantastic detail.

Articulation on this thing is fantastic - it was just made to move. The core figure contains 17 Revoltech joints, with over 50 points of articulation.

There are so many accessories included with this figure - let's start from the top. There are 5 optional hands, in various poses. Two of the hands are sized to hold the large blades called "monomolecular cutters".

Included are two parts that represent when the monomolecular cutters are engaged, but not extended:

Two smaller knives are also included, called "anti-tank daggers"

A shotgun called the "76mm shot canon" can be held by the gun-holding hands.

On the chest there are two panels that can be removed and replaced with robotic arms (including even more Revoltech joints). These arms can hold the included "AS-grenades".

This would already be a generous amount of accessories for a Revoltech figure, but we are not done yet....

The ARX-8 Laevatein comes with an enormous gun called the "Demolition Gun". The gun itself is 6.5 inches long and is actually made out of several components. The main 165mm demolition gun has a removable base and barrel, which can be replaced with the Gun-Howitzer Mode attachment. The rear of the demolition gun has two removable gun magazines, and a dual Revoltech joint that anchors the gun to the shoulder.

To support the Demolition Gun there are extra shoulder parts called "Lamda Driver Cancelers". These attachments attempt to cancel out the extra force generated by the use of the gun.

To cool the unit, the Laevatein has cooling wires that extend from the back of the head. This effect is achieved by including a different head with a hair-like attachment:

When the Demolition gun is not in use, it can be stored behind the shoulder by another robotic arm attachment (which has more Revoltech joints)

With all the accessories on, this is one badass mech. It's just phenomenal in so many ways.

Definitely go order one now from HobbyLink Japan, while there are some still left. It's really fantastic.