Good Morning Everyone!
Here's the last of my NG Wing kits because sadly, I don't have Sandrock yet. I do plan to get him someday if I ever come across him in stores, these kits are hard to come by nowadays but they appear on occasions.
I already made a review for Wing Gundam:
Heavarms Gundam:
And my previous review, Gundam Deathscythe:
So do check them out to see their differences!
Anyway, the next one is piloted by Wufei, he's like Heero in terms of determination and hunger for power but he expresses himself more rather than being silent and mysterious like Heero.
The Gundam with the Chinese motif and dragon arm that reaches you no matter how far you are and burns you to a crisp, the Shenlong Gundam.
*For those wondering, Wufei affectionately calls all his suits "Nataku" as a reference to his wife, so all his suits are technically called "Nataku".
Box art:
Shenlong is often referred to as the "2nd" lead Gundam because his color scheme is also the traditional red, blue, yellow and white. As with Heero, he tends to steal the spotlight at times and they even had a fight in the movie Endless Waltz. They're personalities often crash but they cooperate in dire situations.
Manual:
The standard manual of a NG wing kit, a picture with the kit made by a pro, runner count, 3 page assembly and the color pages with some info about the pilot and MS.
Assembly:
Just like previous NG Wing kits, this is an old kit of mine I assembled this a long time ago. So no assembly segment XD
Another very fast assembly but requires some painting as usual to get the look of his onscreen counterpart. The only unique part here is his dragon arm of course.
The runners comes in white, red, blue and a bit of yellow. The rest need to be painted but they do provide you stickers for the eyes, chin, shoulder green bits, green bit on the chest, front skirts, some yellow for the chest lining, dragon eyes and crotch piece.
Quite a lot eh? trust me a kit with loads of stickers doesn't look good over time. So, paint them :D It takes time but as I always said, the output is worth it and with just a bit of lining, this will give the kit a nice straight build look.
I did use the green stickers because I find the metallic color fitting LOL I just noticed that he has a Double V-fin, something Lead Gundams usally have.
Details:
Unlike my Deathscythe that uses poster colors *cough*, I started using Gundam markers and acrylic model kit paints in this kit already.
It's not that great if you look closely because I was still learning back then on mixing and thinning paint, it was very technical and confusing for a beginner but I somehow managed to make it work.
So, here's the painting details I did:
- forehead camera and red on the V-fin
- The chin
- The neck collars white and yellow
- The yellow lining in the chest
- The lining in the shoulders
- The whtite and gray in the dragon head, it was molded in yellow
- The white on the side skirts
- The white on the front skirts and crotch
- The white and gray on the feet
- The blue on the shield.
The green bits and dragon eyes are stickers because at the time I was building this I didn't have green paint, LOL.
Anyway, some lining in the feet just to bring out a bit of detail. If you noticed, this kit needs a lot of white, and the white runner can barely fit anymore pieces haha! But it's the best color separation Bandai can do for a NG 1/144 kit. Maybe in the future if they make an HG, the color separation would be significantly better.
Accessories:
"Wait, you had green paint?" Yes, I actually painted this before I made the review haha! I got lazy in the other parts because this beam effect part doesn't come with stickers also.
Anyway, here's Shenlongs armaments. What I like about Wing kits is how minimalistic they're but still able to fight and survive a long battle.
The beam effect can be removed so the spear can be stored.
Articulation/Posing:
The spear can be clipped onto the back like so.
Just like Deathscythe and Heavyarms, Shenlong also had limited range in motion but it's enough to do basic and simple poses. The spear is long enough to be dual wielded and the arms has enough movements to do natural poses.
Ball joints and pegs are better than nothing, 90's kits are something to amazed about because they really stand in a thin line between HG and NG capabilities.
I really wish Bandai continued making NG kits like this for beginners. That articulation adds fun to posing to the kit unlike First grade and Entry grade that literally just stand there with arms only moving up and down.
Dragon Head:
This is why the Shenlong stood out. It reminds me of the Virsago from Gundam X and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. It collapses well and is easily blends in the shoulder piece when not in use.
It has a few articulation points but still limited because it only rotates at the end so angling it can be off sometimes.
It has nice reach, it's like 2 forearms length and to use it, you need to remove the hand. Seriously, having this in a NG 1/144 kit is amazing as it is.
With proper camera angles, it can look long haha!
This doesn't come with the kit, it would be expensive it did. This is a SHF Figuarts flame effect and I just decided to use it if it looks ok.
Well, it's not real fire and looks very plastic like but it does the job in most cases. I haven't seen another MS that uses fire like Shenlong for a while now.
Comparison:
See? He looks like a lead Gundam next to them, right? haha!
Anyway, I only have the Grand Daddy Gundams kit review which you can check here:
Verdict:
Details 10/10:
This kit is on par with the Wing Gundam in terms of design because unlike the Deathsctyhe and Heavyarms monotonous color scheme, Shenlong actually has nice bright colors that stand out. Molded details are also there to help with painting.
Beam effects also has a nice textured surface. This kit really just need painting and it'll be nice to display.
Articulation 9/10:
It's good but like DS and HA, I wished the legs can spread more for more dynamic poses since he's mostly grounded also. But for a 90's kit, you have enough to do basic and simple poses. Ball joints and pegs can do only so much haha!
Accessories 10/10:
Dragon arm is cool. Hahaha! Just like every Wing suit, they don't need much and most of their gimmicks are built in their kits anyways. The Dragon arm is really nice but I wish it has a bit more articulation to pull of nice angles and rotations.
It's good that the spear effect can be removed for display purposes. It's a NG kit but it delivers with the limitations it has.
Parts 8/10:
Long story short, same with the other NG Wing kits, lots of seamlines and minor color separation issues like the Dragon head. They could've molded it in white instead of yellow but I understand that the White runner is full already haha!
Most parts fit well and still holds tight up to this day especially the dragon arm, the connections are tight so it can hold stretched posed nicely.
I forgot to mention this in the other reviews but the plastic feels very different for some reason but I can tell.. They have a more crisp feel to them, it's hard to explain but it makes the kits feel sturdy.
The colors are a slight darker than the actual show but it's close enough unlike the DS that's molded in a really off glossy navy blue.
Conclusion 9/10:
This kit really steps toe to toe with the Wing Gundam in terms of overall presence. The color scheme is nice and works well for a chinese motif. The Dragon head has nice engineering and offers fun poseability.
Lower body needed more movement and points of articulation but it's enough for it's age. Maybe a custom modder can do something about it.
Aside from that, it's a really nice kit if you like collecting old school kits or Gundam in general. It doesn't a transformation like Wing Gundam but the Dragon arm really gets your attention from the get go.
I apologize if this review seems to fast and short but trust me, these NG Wing kits are all relatively close and made me feel like I'm just saying the same thing over and over again haha!
But they do have their subtle differences and those subtleties makes them stand out from another. I grew up to Gundam Wing, so these kits are pretty much gold in my eyes, some builder might not appreciate the oldness of the kits because of how amazing modern HG 1/144 kits nowadays but for me, old is gold and without them, we won't have new kits today.
I hope you enjoy the review! I'm still gonna look for Sandrock so stay tuned! My next review might be a big one.
Hye~! It's a good blog! Hope to see more :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Glad you like it!
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