Gundam Review: HGUC 1/144 MSN-04 Sazabi

Hey guys!

Here's another gunpla review.. Should have made this yesterday but I got lazy XD

Nonetheless, here it is! Awesome kit, so let's start.

Sazabi is the last suit Char piloted before he "died". It's up to you if you believe that he died in CCA or not... But the canon ending is he died along with Amuro while stopping the comet :(

Sazbi is one huge mobile suit, even taller than Amuro's RX-93 Nu Gundam. Very bulky but has a lot of firepower... pretty much resembles The - O in a way.

Let's get on with the review. The review might be 3x longer.

Box art:

Very big box for an HG kit. He is one of the bigger suits in the UC era after all :D 

Manual:

 

 

"Big" seems to be the theme here.. Even the manual is big and long. "That's what she said" LOL!

Awesome promotion for the CCA kits on one page. 

Unboxing/Runners:

Expect a lot of runners.. Mostly red, but it has 2 shades, it's hard to tell in the pictures but it really has 2 shades. Must be where the RG line originated haha! You get nice beam effect parts in the "A" plate and a few yellow vents.. I wish they made all the vents.. I had to paint most of the yellow parts D:

Most of the big parts are for the lower body and a one black runner mostly for the thrusters, gas tanks and other misc. parts.

A small sticker sheet is given to you, the signature symbols to complete the look and one for the mono eye. If you ruin these or loose them, a water slide version is available, just look for it :3

BUILDING TIME!!!

Head:

 

The head has a lot of small parts.. The horns are very fragile so be careful not to break and loose them. As with all mono eyed suits, it has the rotating eye gimmick so go nuts.

Torso:
        

A big torso with a few tiny parts. Don't loose them. Did a bit of panel lining in the piping, chest cannon and around the mid chest area. Very solid, can make the arms go in and out.

Looking good eh?

Arms:
    

One of the best engineered kits for me.. If they can only make the hydraulics move in this scale haha!! Again, a lot of tiny parts. It's kinda amazing how it looks really different once you assemble it.

Very big hulky arms. This is just half the body.. it's so big @_@ The arms has a nice range of motion, elbows can bend quite nice. Also, the shoulder thrusters can move too :D

Legs:

    

Here's where most of the bulk is. The legs are humongous. The parts are very big and you can see the 2 shades of red here.. Can you? anyway... A lot of things to do here, so make sure you don't loose any part especially polycaps XD 

The legs are as tall as an average 1/144. 

Waist:

       

A lot of junk in the trunk, if you know what I mean. Need to do a lot of painting in this section.. Mostly yellow, so make sure you have a bottle of yellow paint ready XD I didn't use the yellow gundam marker because the shade is kinda far from what I need.

ACCESSORIES TIME!!!

Shield:

       

    

A very simple assembly. Don't screw up the logo.. Haha!! Also, you need to paint that yellow line near the shields tip... It's just minor but hey, it completes the look :D

Also, the shield can shoot missiles like the RX-93 Nu Gundam. You can also store the Beam Tomahawk inside the shield. 

Beam rifle:

Another simple assembly, just sandwich the two parts and lock with the rifle's tip. You need to paint the red piping.. I used a gold marker for the base then applied the red so it would be more visible.

Other weapons:

Very descent of bandai to give a lot of effect parts :3 Although it fell short for the funnels.. I wish they made something to make them look like they're in mid air or something.. But yeah, it's more than enough. You also get the closed up versions of the funnels and you can see them in the next part. I love the colour of the effect parts, a very vibrant yellow.

Backpack:

      

Very simple assembly again. You can separate the funnels if you wanna mix and match with the open ones. I'm guessing those are gas tanks, which look really small for Sazabi. Yeah, the parts look messed up, I bad at trimming. 

Complete mobile suit:

 

Once it's all put together, you will have of the meanest and baddest looking suits in the UC. Can you see the 2 shades or red now?? No? oh well XD

Very bulky.. Especially that shield, can be a hindrance sometimes... For the detailing, not much to panel line but a lot of painting to do.. It's necessary for the thrusters but I did it because it looked so good in the manual :)) The vents are a must unless you want everything to be solid red. 

COMPARISON TIME!!!

First comparison is with my MG Gundam F91. One of the smaller kits in the UC era so I won't be surprised if the HGUC Sazabi is taller than he is. Sazabi stands at 25m, very tall.

Second comparison is with my RX-0 Unicorn and RX-93 Nu Gundam. Both are tall gundams but they still fell too short for the Sazabi.. I'm sure the ZZ gundam will also look small beside Sazabi. You can get the feeling on how massive of a beast Sazabi is. I wanna get the Sinanju now, so Unicorn won't be lonely haha!

Third comparison is with my latest build the SD Guo Jiao.. Minus the wings Guo Jiao would look really small.. If compared to a really old SD, Sazabi would really look like a giant.

POSING TIME!!!

I'm using a stand for a 1/100 scale because I fear that the ones for 1/144 might not handle Sazabi's weight @_@ He's kinda heavy. 

For the funnels, I picked that technique from Prime92, a famous youtube gunpla reviewer, search her in youtube :D It's from the runners of the beam effect parts, just trim a few and pose away... They're not perfect, but they do stay if positioned properly. I heard there will be a Ver. Ka. Sazabi in the making.

What I like about this kit and the Nu gundam, is that they have pegs in their hands like the MG scales to hold the weapons more securely. It's kinda loose for the beam tomahawk though because the open hands still have a huge gap to grip it tightly. The beam sabres are held nicely as well as the beam rifle. 

You get one trigger finger, 2 open fists and one dynamic hand.. You can do a variety of poses with those already.

Now for a special guest.

So.... What do you expect? Of course they'll fight XD It's always like that, they can sense each other from afar. 

I gotta be honest.. I haven't had this fun with figures in a long time XD I mean, these two are one of the robots I first my laid my eyes on. When I was a kid, I have a copy of the PS1 game Char's Counterattack.. At the time, I had no idea what the heck I was playing other than giant robots in space. I always wondered why this "Char" guy has a lot of robots XD

But yeah, thanks to that fond memory of mine, I looked for these giant robots and the rest is history.

All that's left now is the verdict... Do you have an idea how I'll rate this?

Verdict:

Detail: 10/10 - One of the best looking HG kits up to date maybe because it's a main character suit that's why they sell it really well. A lot of nice lining especially on the underside of some parts. 

The thrusters really make this a "char" suit. the piping's are nice and the 2 shades of red are a nice touch so is the shiny hands, somewhat similar to the Nu Gundam's hands. It's up to you if you paint to complete the needed details.

Articulation: 8/10 - It looks awesome standing all in all but when you move it, a few minor problems can occur. First problem is the huge shield that's hard to position unless you hide or omit the thrusters in the shoulder. It kinda get annoying at times especially if you want to do a dynamic pose. 

Next are the legs, since they are pretty bulk, it tends to be heavy and when you move the leg too much it tends to fall off, happened to me a couple of times whenever I try to spread the legs for a dynamic pose. If you can live with these problems, then you're good to go.

If you have the suit as is, all the limbs can bend a ways, even the feet can move in variety of directions and angles, it's possible but don't push it. The side skirts can be a nuisance sometimes but its better than nothing.

Accessories: 9/10 - You get all that you need for Sazabi, I just wish there's something for the funnels to pose them.. Even the MG doesn't have anything for it.. maybe this new Ver. Ka. that's circulating might get a stand similar to the Nu gundam.. At least you get them closed and open version. You just need to improvise XD Maybe the Robot Damshii or Robot Spirits has something..

Posing them would be awesome. The beam rifle is decent, despite being two halves... You just need to paint the piping and you're set. The beam effect parts are awesome. The combined tomahawk has a nice shape and the detail is just awesome, so is the beam sabres, they're not the regular shape; they have a lightning-ish touch them.

Parts: 10/10 - The parts are solid for the most part, very sturdy.. just be careful not to loose the small parts and be very careful with the horns, they are very fragile. 

Conlclusion: 9/10 - Overall, an amazing kit for an HG, it has MG qualities. Like the Nu Gundam, these two are one of must haves if you can't afford their MG counterpart. I got this because I'm a huge Char fan, other than that it's because I love gunpla in general. If you want a big mean machine, get this guy. He might be space eater but yeah, it's worth buying, get a display base and yellow paint while you're at it. If you like Char, then this is a definite must have.

There you have it guy, Sazabi is done. I guess I have no choice but to build my overdue MG Freedom gundam XD Stay tuned for that one guys.

Here's Sazabi and Nu again...

Boys will be boys.