Good evening guys!
As promised, here's a new review! Also, I wanna show my hand painting skills :D
The Sangokuden line are characters based on the famous Three Kingdoms saga from china. I love the history of this epic tale. I memorized all the officers of each faction and replayed the game so much.
It's so famous a game was made after it; Dynasty Warriors. As you've guessed it, I too play that game and DW 5 is my favorite.
Anyway, I don't know about the translations of his name but I know him as Guan Yu. He is one of the High rank officers of the Shu Army (they're the good guys.) And made a blood oath to their Leader Liu Bei making him a blood brother which basically means that he's family.
He's called the "God of War" because of his overpowering strength and stamina. here he is in other representations:
You've probably seen him in some antique stores or Chinese venues. He's the guy with the long beard and uses a dragon spear his signature weapon.
Anyway, you didn't come here for a history lesson so on with the review!
Boxart:
A quick tour around the box. It's a pretty small kit, it's your average sized SD kit. Gotta love the art style off this line. I find amazing that they manage to translate the chinese motif into mechas. Who would've thought that it would work. You can also Shin Raiso Chohi in the background.
Most of their final forms has this kind of box art, the cleaner crisp images while their first forms had 2 releases. Not sure why, the first release depicts them in ink style paintings while the re-release uses their actual appearance in the show.
You can also Liu Bei and Zhang Fei kits on the side and Liu Beis form when Guan Yu and Zhang Fei gives their powers.
I suggest you watch the show, it's nicely made :D
Manual:
Here's the front page, shows more about his character and his weapon of choice.
Here's the last page, it shows Guan Yu's finishing move, I think it's called "True Heart attack"
Each character in show is based on a certain MS in the actual gundam universe. He's based on the gundam ZZ. The resemblance I see is the forehead camera, forearms and backpack. We'll explore that later on.
All Sangokiden kits have a mini comics section included in the manual. If you've been collecting them like me, you can follow the story. If you're interested to know the events just watch the show :D Buying every kit isn't really practical though hahaha!
Here's the parts count section. It's not much so I didn't really bother looking at the instructions. The assembly can be done in a few minutes. What takes time is detailing... Lots and lots of detailing.
Contents:
Here's the hassle with this line. Since it's heavily detailed kit, they provide the stickers if you don''t have the knack for painting.
I'm no pro but I do what I can to avoid stickers haha! The stickers last long but overtime they will tend to peel off so might as well paint them. Investing on paint is a big deal in this hobby :D You can start with basic colors then metallics. Take it slow.
It's nice to have options for the eyes, only problem is you can't switch them. Some characters have that rotating head which means two sets of eyes can be placed and it's no big deal because most of them are wearing helmets so it's hidden if you want accuracy.
That's pretty much. Majority of Sangokuden characters have metallic parts on them so don't be surprised to see a lot of this dull gold look and dull silver pieces on some kits. Luckily, Bandai made a golden gundam marker that's perfect for this kit. If that's not your thing, you can always paint if you have the means :D
Head assembly:
It's not Guan Yu without his majestic beard ;D I only take the eye stickers because I don't have the skill to replicate that by painting.
That's the effect of the gold gundam marker. It was made for these kits, they look better this way. Gundam Markers are easy to use, just give it a shake and coat away.
Body assembly:
I dont have a compressor yet for my airbrush so I'm practicing my hand painting skills. It's been a while but I can manage. The only stressful part is the chest area because of the color separations of red and gold. took me 4 hours to finish it and it still looks bad D:
You're gonna see a lot of those ball polycaps in sd kits.
This took me 2 days to achieve... Maybe I just procrastinate too much. It's not the best but it still looks good to me :))
His forehead has a dragon with its mouth open to replicate that ZZ laser cannon on his head. Too bad it didn't have a similar function with this guy.
For painting, I mainly use Tamiya acrylics because they dry fast and unlike with enamels they don't have hazardous odors.
Along with paints, I also use Tamiya's acrylic thinner and Tamiya's paint brush. No, Tamiya isn't sponsoring me... Maybe someday haha!
Arms/Legs assembly:
More gold painting. Get used to it. Lots and lots of ball poly caps. Careful not to lose one unless you have spares. I used Tamiya's panel line accent (black) for the legs detailing. Its the only part that pretty much needs it.
Needed to paint a bit of red on the forearms. The forearms really resembles the ZZ gundam. I painted the feet section some white just break the monotonous read and besides, most gundams have that white section in the feet anyways.
As I said, I'm not a pro builder. This is a straight OOTB build with hand painted details to replace sticker usage.
What I'm trying to imply is, you can make a kit look good even if you don't have a complete set of tools. I resorted to hand painting because I don't have a compressor for my airbrush (It was a gift in case you're wondering.) and even if I do, I don't have the place to use it but I'm still holding on to my airbrush because maybe someday I can get a chance to use it.
Weapon and Armor pieces:
His strusty spear, I love the dragon motif it has and the fire breath design.
Every character has an "Armor up" thing. Just think of them as soldiers wearing their armor for battle. That backpack really resembles the ZZ Gundams'.
You used to the bling bling yet? For the spear, I tried my best to hand paint that fire section, it's really strained my hand because it's such a small area for my brush and I'm already using a fine tip brush. I use toothpicks and needles before to paint hahaha! But for the sake of enhancing my hand painting skills.
I also painted the end part with gun metal. That's one of my fave shades of paint. Love the texture when it dries.
If' you're wondering why there's always a dragon, that's because The Shu Army uses a dragon to represent their army. Tiger for Wu and a Phoenix for Wei. Each animal depicts the Army's characteristic.
Completion:
Honestly, this has got to be my best build yet in the SD line at least. I really love his overall appearance.
Bandai really did well in translating the chinese mythos into these mechas. His color scheme has a nice combination also, it really shows Guan Yu's character as he's wearing mostly green in the pictures. This is his upgraded form and it's a big step up from his first appearance in the show.
I didn't paint the hollow parts because I didn't think it's needed. He looks really sturdy with all thos armor platings.
Articulation:
It's an SD, what do you expect. Also, those armor parts and his beard can be a hindrance at times but you can still pose him and rotate some parts to angle them with a dynamic feel.
Most SD kits use ball joints although some kits have elbow joints.
Arms can rotate easily and the arms and fists can move a ways since its a ball joint. Same with the legs, they can only move so much with their short length.
The head can rotate side to side but not complete 360 because oh how big his helmet and his beard hits the shoulders.
Torso can rotate easily since nothing hinders it.
Poses and gimmicks:
You can only do so much but proper moving of parts and camera angles can do wonders.
Here's old man Guan Yu with out his armor. Yup, They're all bald. In this form, articulation can improve a lot, especially the upper body.
Here's Guan Yu's gimmick, the dragon section of his helmet is actually a visor that can be lowered to making him look like a masked soldier.
He usually does this when he performs his finishing move.
All Sangokuden characters have their own gimmicks like weapon combinings, extra forms, combining with other SDs to name a few.
Comparisons:
Here he is next to their leader Liu Bei. Is it me or is Liu bei more chunky... must be all those drapes floating about. Liu Bei is based on Rx-78-2, if you think about it is perfect because he's the main character.
I don't have a review of him yet but I'll make one after Zhan Fei (my next build ;D)
I own Guan Yu's first form and its a part of the Oath set which is a kit consisting of Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu in clear forms.
As you can see, his first form is very simple unlike his upgrade which got more heavy and thicker and a color change for the skirts.
I really love clear kits and if interests you, check the review here:
Here he is next Guo Jia, an officer from the Wei army. He's based on the Virsago from Gundam X. He looks more menacing which gives away that he's a bad guy haha.
Check out his review here to see his awesomeness:
Side by side with oen of the best SD versions of RX-78-2. You can see how much plain looking RX is compared to the chinese stylized armor of Guan Yu.
View this awesome kits review here:
Here he is next to the grand daddy gundam, HG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam. This is the first UC version, not the revive or GF30th. I only have the latter and I'll review that soon as well.
It's a gundam I'm sure most of you have so you can see the height differences.
Check out the grand daddy gundam review here:
Lastly, here he is with a child he adopted. Guan Ping, he's my favorite in the DW series. Too bad they didnt give him a buster sword like in the game. But like his dad, he also loves using spears and of course dragons.
Pardon my Guan Ping, I assembled him when I was just starting out in this hobby hence the stickers. I want to rebuild him but I'd rather keep him as is to remind me of my beginnings.
Like Liu Bei, I have yet to make a review of him so stay tuned!
Verdict:
Details 10/10:
Sangokuden kits really stand out for their armors and gimmicks. I applaud bandai for being able to think of this line. Who would've thought that Gundams and Chinese mythos can actually look really cool.
He looks badass even in normal standin poses right?
It's an SD kit, most of the details would probably need some work and I mean a lot of work, so don't buy SD kits if you're not into labor intensive builds. It's a small kit but there's a price to pay.
You can use the stickers and that's ok, at least bandai provided them but maybe someday it will make you paint. That happened to me haha It's a necessary skill anyways.
Articulation 6/10:
It's because of those chunky armor pieces and beard that hinder him from being so dynamic. You can still do some standard poses and play around with camera angles if you're into photography. I think you can make a kit look awesome by presentation alone.
It's kinda like the signature of sangokuden kits, to be compact and menacing at the same time.
Accessories 7/10:
He only has a spear. But that's his character so don't expect to much. I guess you can count his armor as accessories. Other than that, just enjoy with the posing and take some photos :D Besides, he's a simple guy so his actions speaks for itself.
Parts 7/10:
Parts are solid and connect well, the proportions are nice (even though its an SD) but the color separation is lacking as usual. Some parts can be molded separately but that's thing with SD kits, they will really force you to paint.
Although some sections could've been molded but that's the lazy me talking. I love how they molded the detail of the dragons fire in the spear and didn't resort to using a big sticker to show it. The armor has a lot of nice detailing and grooves that really makes it look like a real piece or armor from the The warring periods of China.
The part that's placed on his backpack is kinda unnecessary.I don't even what it is, but you can connect it to the spears end to look like a dragon tail of some sort but It looks weird since it's like a forced part design.
I love his beard though, it's not often you see a beard piece. It's just sad that most of armor pieces and his beard gets in the way or articulation.
Conclusion 8/10:
I try to be fair with SD kits because they're really limited in every aspect. Whenever I buy a kit, I always research so I wont be caught off guard while building it and find something that doesn't appeal to my liking.
Lucky for me, I watch the show and I'm familiar with the Three kingdoms lore, with that said, I didn't think twice of getting this kit because it has a special connection to me.
Would I recommend this kit? Why not, I always suggest Sangokuden kits to builders because it's not your usual mecha deisgn.
Only problem is, it's hard to find these kits being sold on hand becuase this was released when the show was airing. I'm not sure if they're restocking it since the show ended already and you will most likely resort to online hobby stores.
I guess they're common in japan haha! But here, it's usually what's trending thats being restocked. Honestly, I don't see too much Sangokuden kits anymore unless they have old stocks crammed somewhere in shelves that they probably forgot about.
There you have it guys, I forgot how tiring it is to type a review. My back is aching D: But I enjoyed making the review because it drives me to make more and to share insights and opinions as well to help people decide what to buy :D
I hope you guys enjoyed the review! Do explore my page to see my other reviews. Please share my page if it helped you!
As I said with my Previous entry, I have loads of stuff review so stay tuned!
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