Kotobukiya's second entry into the 1/100 EO-tech line.

Intro

When you think of injection plastic model kits one name is the first to probably come to mind. This company is Bandai, whose long history of injection plastic model kits began with the original Gundam series in 1979. Bandai's years of experience make their products a tough act to beat. If anybody has the potential to top Bandai, it's Kotobukiya

Kotobukiya, a long time producer of resin and vinyl kits has branched into injection plastic kits in the last few years. From their first plastic kit in 2003 Kotobukiya has made steady improvement in the quality of their kits, the quality of their recent 1:100 Alteisen being no exception.

Kotobukiya has produced several Super Robot Wars kits in the 1:144 scale in the past. The Alteisen is their second entry into their "EO-Tech" line of 1:100 scale kits. A third entry (R-1) is planned to be released later this year.

Contents

Construction

This kit is big and has a very high parts count. There is no inner frame, but almost no painting is required, and every detail is molded in its own part. No glue is required and the kit can be built entirely snap fit. Most parts go together well, a few pieces were a tad difficult to assemble, and in a few circumstances I noticed minor stress marks adjacent to a peg and hole joint.

I have built a few Kotobukiya kits in the last couple of years and two things that have always bugged me are their choices in seam and sprue placement. This kit is very good, and a vast improvement over their older kits. Most sprue marks are concealed or located in non visible areas. There still remain a good number that are in exposed areas. If you are good at removing these marks or plan on painting the kit, there should not be a problem. They clean up well, but there were a couple spots where the parts had already been broken off in the packaging. Because of the stress in the joint, the plastic turns white, and usually makes its way down below the finish surface of the piece, making it impossible to fully remove without the use of paint.

The only two areas with what I would call poor seam placement are the lower and upper arms, but the parts line up quite well, and the seam is nowhere near as visible as many I have encountered in the past.

Features + Accessories

As far as other gimmicks go, the heavy claymore launchers on the shoulders can be opened, and the cylinder for the revolver stake can be swung out. The outer cockpit hatch can also be opened, to reveal another non-opening hatch underneath.

There are no hand held weapons for the Alteisen. Aside from the mecha itself, you are left with an additional heat horn, two fixed posed closed fists, and two poseable hands.

Articulation

This kit is very well articulated. While not up to current Bandai standards, it has plenty of joints to get the job done. Elbows and knees are double jointed, ankles and shoulders have five degrees of freedom. Head, waist and hips are ball jointed. Skirt armor moves, as well as the armor in front of the feet.

Preparing to reload, would have been nice if they included a speed loader.

Balance is quite good with plenty of joints to accommodate a large variety of poses. Hips can also swing forward to allow for a wider front to back stance.

Conclusion

Overall this is a very good kit. I highly recommend it to any fan of the design. Easily the best SRW kit released by Kotobukiya so far. Hopefully they continue to improve sprue and seam placement issues. Personally I could have done without the LED gimmick, if it would have brought the price down somewhat.

Kotobukiya kits typically run more than Bandai's, they simply do not have the infrastructure from 30 years of experience put in place, and I highly doubt Kotobukiya's SRW kits sell nearly as much as Bandai's trusty Gundam.

Once again, I highly recommend this kit and look forward to the next two EO-Tech kits, R-1 and Wildwurger

I can’t believe it’s not Gundam

Long before the SRX-00, I already had a small stable of robots from the Super Robot Wars series taking up shelf space along side my Gundam models. Between the sharp winged 1/144 scale Wildfalken and the non-scale R-Gun stands the biggest Personal Trooper in my collection, the 1/100 scale Huckebein Mk-II.

I can’t believe it’s not Gundam

The Huckebein Mk-II is a machine called a Personal Trooper from the videogame and anime OAV serial Super Robot Wars: Original Generation. The series itself is a collective homage to all shapes and forms of robot series in Japan, with some designs ranging from the organic insect like such as the Cybuster (compared to Dunbine) to the more hard edged ‘Gundam-esque’ such as the Huckebein. What the EO-Tech in the SWR series stands for is ‘Extra-Over Technology,’ alien technology which crashed into the Earth as a meteor and later reverse engineered. This was the base for which the Personal Troopers were created. The Huckebein series however is plagued by black-box science due to its revolutionary power supply which uses miniature black holes. The Huckebein Mk-II lacks this and is a far more stable version of its legacy.

Parts and labor costs

The model kits for Super Robot Wars are produced by Kotobukiya, a company that could be described as “Bandai’s little brother” in Japan for terms of production quality and available kits. So far they have produced some few military models and taken a steady jump into the robot world with their line for Armored Core and more recently beginning a new age in Zoids. Super Robot Wars on the other hand has the largest roster of mecha out of Kotobukiya with several kits in the 1/144 scale, highly detailed (and expensive) resin kits. Of their selection, the Huckebein is one of the most produced. In the recent years, Kotobukiya has expanded primarily into ABS snap kits with SRW leading the charge.

As far as production quality goes, Kotobukiya falls short of Bandai standards by using a much thinner plastic, making parts more brittle and fragile. Also some of their older kits rely on glue and in most cases paint. However as of late, Kotobukiya has been shifting their styles to match if not surpass the Bandai standards with more construction and less paint work. Also gluing is become less of a priority.

The drawback to addition of more parts to work with is the increased price. A 1/144 scale kit will then cost roughly twice the price of your standard HGUC from Bandai. In result, the 1/100 scale Huckebein Mk-II has a price tag well over 50$ USD. Although the price is distracting, a High Grade model with a price tag of a Master Grade such as the Huckebein Mk-II is an awesome kit plain and simple.

Out of the Box

The box for the Huckebein is rather large, as it should be for a 1/100 scale kit. Compared to the standard Master Grade model from Bandai, the Huckebein’s is nearly twice the size. The reason is for content, with the Huckebein’s parts being molded in every individual color. The colors include a pale slate (bluish gray), dark blue, yellow, red, clear green, white and gray. Also included are polycap joint parts and two clear pink ‘saber beams’ and a pre-painted figure of the Huckebein’s pilot. Additionally, the model has the Bandai standard alphabet of runners with the standard replicate runners to minimize production costs for such things as left and right limbs.

Painters beware of disappointment, builders rejoice in the almost lack of paint. The Huckebein Mk-II has virtually no need for paint except the only ‘required’ areas such as the collar around the tip of the Huckebein’s main cannon and around the eyes. Everything else is almost a job for Gundam markers or fine ink pens. The shear volume of parts in this kit are astounding and honestly makes up for the Huckebein’s hefty price tag. A word of caution though; with such a light grade plastic, the smaller parts tend to be more brittle and fragile. Also due to the sharpness of the design, the pointed edges on the crests are so sharp they could draw blood.

On a side note, building the Huckebein Mk-II could be compared to pealing an onion, without the sensory aftermath.

Building

The head of the Huckebein Mk-II could almost be compared to the Wing Gundam, with a traditional “Gundam” like head with two extending fins off the side of the head. On the other hand, the model kit Huckebein’s head has a few points the Gundams lack all around. All of the eye points are molded in clear green plastic for both the main eyes and the auxiliary monoeyes in the front and back. The head construction follows the traditions of Bandai standard with the face; eyes behind nose behind mouth and somewhat of the standard for the rest of the head. The offshoot however is that the face attaches after the head is put together. The additional trimming such as the ‘v-crest’ goes on after the head is incased with its white striping parts.

Construction for the torso of the Huckebein is extensive. Starting at the midsection and working up to the neck, the Huckebein’s torso is built in layers. Also with the volume of construction on the interior, the Huckebein is given something of an articulated spine very similar to the 1/100 scale Gundam Astray series based on ball socket polycaps. The structural difference however is the Huckebein is much flimsier. Although tightly constructed, the end result is loose feeling due to the overwhelming weight on the midsection thanks to the layered construction of the chest area combined with the weight of the arms and backpack.

The waist section of the Huckebein shows a lot of construction that most kits would forget about. Skirts are assembled from the inside out, including an underbelly layer to the front and rear skirts usually done in concaved injection. Along with that, each skirt has two additional detail parts assembled onto them. This adds some weight to the skirts, but does not hamper the model’s overall range of articulation. The front block to the Huckebein’s waist has an adjustable port in it that can be opened so the Huckebein’s large buster cannon can be docked.

The arms and legs share a common shortcut of any commercial grade model kit by use of duplicate runners for cutting costs. At the cost of this kit, it helps to decrease the price tag only so much. The arms follow a moderately balanced amount of part-on-polycap construction displayed with your average high grade. The forearms on the other hand changes this pace by adding some of the same layering technique used with the torso. More parts are added for balance as well as covering ports on the back of the forearm closer to the elbow (for where the Huckebein can mount its additional weaponry). The shoulders are detailed in the same way as the skirts with the reoccurring pattern of the yellow ‘cut outs’ against the Huckebein’s dark blue. Also for detail, there is a thruster vent recessed into the shoulder armor.

The Huckebein Mk-II kit came with three hand sets, two open palms for the right and left and two closed fists for both hands as well. The open palms are two piece assemblies of the back guard and the hands and the closed fists are a four piece assembly of the thumb, palm, fingers, and back guard. The final set of hands are your above average weapon hands. Following the principle set with Bandai’s early Master Grade assortment, the weapon hands for the Huckebein are articulated. Contrary to Bandai’s ball joint thumb with hinged fingers (on one part) with the separate trigger finger, the Huckebein’s fingers are individually cut. While the palm is split down the middle and the fingers share a split peg (two fingers on each), the construction is tight and there is no risk of breaking. Taking another page out of Bandai’s handbook (there’s a cheap joke in there somewhere) the weapon hands have an extension tab that fits into ports on the side of each weapon in the Huckebein’s arsenal.

The legs follow the Huckebein’s ‘skin’ layer construction from the most basic of detail areas to the structurally important. With the level of layering to each section, the Huckebein Mk II could literally stand without any armor. The lower leg having well over four layers of armor add weight and help balance the overall weight of the Huckebein’s body when fully loaded. When I say four, I mean it: the inner structure, the outer covering, the upper armor layer, and the additional detail layer. The ankles also showcase the degree of layering with their armor. Much like all of the SRW designs, the ankle armor has an additional ‘toe’ cover that is built into the inner most layer of the leg’s structural assembly, which is then covered by the outermost layer of the detail armor. While this is confusing, and creates a false fear of limiting movement, the toe armor does move freely and allows the ankle to be adjusted on its own.

The feet of the Huckebein follow the layering method where the inner assembly is made of larger parts, with the outer armor being subdivided into plates that fit over that. Like the armor skirts from the waist, the soles of the feet are detailed plates that fit in from below during the early layer assembly. The amount of construction in the feet translates well into its weight to balance the Huckebein’s overall construction.

While the Huckebein’s body might feel like a standardized Gundam, the backpack changes the idea. As far as I can gather, the majority of the Personal Troopers in Super Robot Wars lack the ability for full scale to long term flight. The backpack of the Huckebein is designed as a flight pack, you can see by the sharp wings off to the sides and the lower stabilizers separate from the body, and in two parts for aerodynamics. Construction uses the largest parts of the whole body of the Huckebein, with the fewest number of parts. While light, the combined weight of the pack does weigh down on the torso, resulting in the aforementioned balance issues.

Rounding out the Huckebein Mk-II is its arsenal of weapons. Starting off just about every robot’s package is the beam saber and Huckebein packs two. Where it stores them, you’ve got me I’m still trying to figure that one out. The sabers come in three parts, the grip and the hilt followed by the standard beam blade made out of a clear tube plastic. Contrary to standard, the beams are thick, and made out of a heavy, crystalline plastic.

What might seem odd to have is the Huckebein Mk-II’s rotor blade. This weapon sits in a dock mounted to the back of the left or right forearm (after the removal of a certain plug). While the docking portion opens, the disk sadly sits without any use. The weapon adds for authenticity of the weapon, the lack of any form of ‘active’ mode or use leaves it as a piece of added weight to the arm.

The firearms in the Huckebein’s arsenal include its primary rifle and super buster cannon. The primary rifle is constructed in sections, the barrel, sight components and the main body. With the part count around thirteen parts, the rifle is surprisingly light and puts no weight on the arms or torso. Unlike the primary rifle, the Super Buster Cannon does put some weight onto the overall kit.

The Super Buster Cannon is constructed in components, from the barrel, body, balancing section, trigger blocks, and covering. Like the Hyper Bazooka seen with the Zeta Gundam, the buster cannon for the Huckebein folds up when not in use, and opens up to a double triggered cannon. As mentioned with the waist assembly, it has to be docked into a port on the front of the waist. Opening the cannon requires some simple yet fragile clock work gears that open the main section’s doors out to the sides and at the same time it rotates the triggers in the opposite direction. While docked, the Huckebein really has to balance its weight between the weight of its backpack and the weight of the cannon even when there is so little weight to speak of.

As one last piece to the kit, Kotobukiya included a 1/20 scale figure of the Huckebein’s pilot Brooklyn “Bullet” Luckfield. Unlike Bandai and their soft injection figurines needing paint, Brooklyn comes molded in a heavy material and pre-painted in full color.

Overall

Overall, if Kotobukiya ever wanted to continue making Super Robot Wars kits in a 1/100 scale form, they could have no trouble finding a builder. Proportionally this is one of the best examples of the scale in form and construction. The layered construction method is a welcome idea as opposed to just scaling up parts from a 1/144 scale to a 1/100 scale. If you have the opportunity to find this kit, let alone at a fair price, it is worth its weight in plastic!

The best thing I can think of to summarize Super Robot Wars is love at first sight. The robots look great, and they breathe fresh air into a heavily Gundam populated market of models. Although they share a few traits to their Mobile Suit brethren, Super Robot Wars’ local machines have something more to offer.

The best thing I can think of to summarize Super Robot Wars is love at first sight. The robots look great, and they breathe fresh air into a heavily Gundam populated market of models. Although they share a few traits to their Mobile Suit brethren, Super Robot Wars’ local machines have something more to offer.

From Hit Point Battles to Hobby Shop Shelves

As far as I know, the origin of Super Robot Wars began with a Super Deformed Side scrolling RPG Battle game series. There are roughly two versions the first is similar to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros only starring robots from just about every anime ever made. The second title has no official cameos, instead focusing on a story line of its own going by the tag “Original Generation.” In the far future, a series of meteors fell to Earth with proof of an advanced alien intelligence sparking the heavy machine industry of giant robots. Unlike Gundam whose machinery are the Mobile Suits, SRW’s machines are called Personal Troopers, which works both to distinguish the series’ mecha from other series, and as a set up for each machine’s personal appearance. Some are mass produced where as the majority of all Personal Troopers are one of a kind machines. Some Personal Troopers fight solo whereas some are elite combat teams such as the ATX and SRX teams.

With the increasing popularity of the SRW: OG series, a three volume OAV series was released. Breaking the barrier of the game series’ Robot Proportions, the Super Deformed heroes of the game series are full figured fighting machines. The OAV acts like a sequel to the games and the characters are predominantly established such as the legendary status of the ATX pilot team and the unmatched coordination of the SRX team. After the short success of the OAV, a new full length series has been produced called Super Robot Wars Original Generation -Divine Wars-. This time, the series begins from a beginning of sorts and focuses on the early days of the SRX pilot team.

In the midst of the pixilated success, Super Robot Wars settled with Kotobukiya, Bandai’s little brother of the model kit industry. Produced through Banpresto, a subsidiary of Bandai’s primary hobby works, the models from Super Robot Wars are done in full body proportions. While Kotobukiya prides itself in its resin cast models, Super Robot Wars has steadily increased the number of plastic injection kits like the megalithic Bandai. Contrary to the Bandai standard however, Super Robot Wars has only used 1/144 scale forms to attract builders. Another change is the sharpness of some parts and the quality of the plastic. The downside to the Kotobukiya brand of model is the price tag, making kits cost twice the price of a Bandai production of the same scale. In any case, the Super Robot Wars kits have made their presence known.

Endo Field, On! Tronium Engine, Full Drive! Let’s go! VARIABLE FORMATION!

While the most of SRW’s machines range from the Gundam-esque to the completely unique to the series, none can bridge the gap like the Super Robot X-type. The SRX-00 is the combination of the ‘R’ series Personal Troopers: R-1, R-2, and the R-3. The R-3 is a sleek feminine design docked with an aerial assault unit similar to the GP-03 Dendrobium in a smaller scale which makes the SRX-00’s waist and legs. The R-2 is a stout machine with heavy mounted cannons on its back. Its mass creates the bulk of the body and arms. Finally the R-1 is the most ‘Gundam’ like out of the three with its humanized face and the added ability to transform into an aerial assault mode almost identical to the Wave Rider mode of the Gundam Zeta Plus series. This becomes the core of the SRX-00 and also forms the head. While the end result of the combination is no Voltron it does stack up into a powerful display.

Variable Formation: Some Assembly Required

Coming out of the box, the SRX-00 is done in ‘Non-Scale’ but its size translates into something a little over the standard 1/144 scale. Although it is a combining robot, none of the components separate to become their individual Personal Troopers. This same treatment was done before for another SRW model, the (RW-1) R-Gun which is also a component of the SRX arsenal. Fortunately Kotobukiya plans to make amends for fans of the individual R series with 1/144 offerings of the R-1 and the R-2 Powered, at this time there is no information on the R-3.

The plastic injection comes in the primary colors of the machine: Red, Blue, Yellow, White, and Gray. Unlike some kits where paint requirements are some color not in the plastic, the paint work is comprised of the SRX-00’s primary colors on different areas. As always, additional detail requires some ink work. Parts are done in duplicate runners for sake of simplifying construction of the limbs and also cutting production costs. Another one of Kotobukia’s simplifying techniques is the pre-painted parts for eyes. While the SRX-00’s face is a wide visor helmet, its main visor is pre painted black on blue parts. Of course, also another Bandai standard of polycaps and rubber joints are included for stability and articulation.

Super Robot, Invisible beneath the heavens! Come Forth!

The head of the SRX-00 is what might seem as one of the oddest bits for a combined super robot. Normally this is associated with a human face like Voltron or some battle mask wearing god like Godannar. Instead we get something that looks, well, like it does. Not that this is bad, it just sets SRX-00 apart from its predecessors. Construction of the head is made of a 12 part assembly. Where Bandai would have simplified construction, Kotobukiya put forth every chance for detail they could with added construction. There is a mild amount of paint work needed here, such as the foils on the back of the head and the smaller visor points off to the sides of the main visor. The only downside is comparing the head to the rest of the body the head is so small and flat compared to the larger bulk of the rest of the body. For those wondering how this fits into the separation of the R-series, the head is made up of the body of R-1’s flight mode nosecone which is transformed into its shield for its robot mode.

The torso is the largest assembly of small parts I’ve seen in a while. The final construction is a robust, broad body with a ball joint in its midsection for articulation. Due to the fact that it is made up of so many small parts, the torso remains very static. Had it any more articulation, the chances are far more likely it’ll fall over or collapse under its own weight. The torso is where the most of the paint work is, with the detail points such at the waist needing to be painted yellow and other micro points scattered all around the assembly. With all of the small parts it takes to make one portion, you can see how the SRX-00 is the combination of three other, completely unique robots into one. Proof of this would be the waist which is actually the torso for the R-3, the shoulders and hip armor which are the feet and arms of the R-2, and the midsection and back which are clearly the R-1 as a whole. Although static, the torso easily holds its weight and can be easily posed even with its half frozen assembly.

Continuing with the arms, the SRX-00 has two sets of hands and one weapon hand. The hands are constructed in about four parts each made up of the palm, fingers, the back hand and the thumb. The assembly is a nice change of pace from recent kits where the extra hands are solid pieces. The paired hands are closed fists and the fingers spread out in a dramatic form. The single weapon hand is constructed in the same manner except that the fingers do not sit as flush to the palm so it can hold its weapon.

The legs are made of the R-3 and its added flight unit (I call it the R-3 Powered). The key points that show this are the thighs which are clearly the R-3’s legs folded up and arms locked into the sides. From the knee down is the Powered unit, divided in half and forming the bulk of the legs. The assembly for the legs is the mirror opposite on either side. This marks the third and final time the SRX-00 shows any individual assembly. Construction is hefty, and layered to make up the multicolored areas fit without needing paint. There is some paint work, such as the vents and assorted panel markings. There is the reoccurring detail point of the red cut outs (as seen on the shoulder) done in knee guard and the ankles. Articulation is limited, due mostly to the fact that the legs are holding the weight of the rest of the model. The hips are articulated via ball joints, and the knees are hinged with a nearly 90 degree range. The ankles are articulated via ball sockets and polycaps and have some range of motion. However it is limited greatly due to the aforementioned reasons. Overall, even with the woes of limited articulation, the legs are great. The detail is solid and the construction works well to represent what it is made from.

The final piece to the SRX-00 is its energy sword which is made from the nose of the R-1’s shield and flight mode nosecone. The sword comes in three parts, the grip, hilt, and blade. The grip is white, but needs to be painted red along its base and yellow in the shallow cut outs above that. The blade is well over 4 and a half inches long and molded in solid green plastic. The edges of the blade are sharp, nearly enough to draw blood if used as an actual blade. Although the hilt needs to remain removable from the grip, it does not hurt to glue the blade to the hilt for stability. While fitting for SRX-00’s primary weapon to be given as the model’s accessory, it hurts it for being the ONLY accessory. On the other hand there really isn’t anything to give the mighty super robot. The only thing I could hope for as an accessory would be a non scale R-Gun transformed into its Metal Genocider mode and another weapon hand to hold it. Sadly this would be one of those times where production costs outweigh the wanted arsenal.

Overall I have come to love the Super Robot Wars model kits, and the SRX-00 is a shining example of how great they have become. While the SRX-00 lacks the ability to become its individual units, it makes up for that with a great construction value which showcases all three of them equally. If you want to build a robot that isn’t a Gundam, I highly recommend this kit or this entire line.