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Another set of Rookies. Same deal as before. If any specific design or element strikes your fancy, let me know. I've gotten a few suggestions so far that I like, but a wider pool of opinions is always nice.

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F9ノ1改 F-Kunoichi Kai

There have been a lot of premium releases lately, so we haven't had time to talk about any Gunpla apart from the occasional RX-78-2, so let's change that.

The F-Kunoichi Kai feels like an odd choice for the Metaverse line. It's one of only two original Gunpla, the other being the Avatar Fumina of all things. I know Ayame was a fairly popular character, but I question whether her popularity was high enough to get the one original non-humanoid Gunpla? Or perhaps she's just the second most popular SD Gundam user next to Fumina? I'm sure there's a logistical reason as to why this decision was made, but, like... Freddy was right there, you couldn't have given him his first Gunpla?

The Good: This Gunpla uses the Cross Silhouette frame, and none of its armor impedes any of its movement, apart from maybe the scarf. It also comes with quite a few accessories, several of which are multi-purpose, like the Kunai being made of the effect parts for the beam shield/shuriken and the handles for the Dai Kunai Kai. You can also rotate the face around to reveal the second mouthplate, and it has effect parts for the Sai-Dai-Ka-Do shoulders.

Also, while I wasn't able to show it off, both being Cross Silhouette and coming with a few adapters, it is designed to be able to swap armor pieces with other SD Gundams like it did in the series.

The Bad: There are several armor pieces that like to pop off.

The Details: Apart from panel lining, I added silver to all the mesh patterns to give them a chain-mail look. I also replaced the gold so I could implement more matching throughout the kit. I believe the only other thing I did was add metallic red to the forehead and behind the translucent red piece also located there. (It's been a few months since I built this, so I don't necessarily recall everything I added.)

Overall, It's a good little SD. I do question the logistical reasons behind its inception, but that doesn't take away from it being a fun kit even without being able to pull off its gimmick.

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Some rough concepts for some Rookie Digimon.

They're loosely designed to be partners for VTubers. At work, I've kind of been working on plotting out scripts for videos I will never make where I design partners for different creators, because my work involves me being on autopilot and I have several hours to just think. And these are a handful of the Rookies for that concept.

I've shown these to a few people, but if there are any elements you like, feel free to let me know. Trying to piece together finals based on the desired elements of each of these, already have a decent idea of how I'm gonna rework Prizemon, but I'm still working out proportions.

Also, feel free to guess which VTubers these guys are supposed to be paired with. They're all Indies. I think.

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Tobaspino/SpinoDai-Oh Full Action Ver.

Man, there have been a lot of premium releases lately. And I'm actually happy to get this one. My old Tobaspino has most of its C-Clips either stretched or broken, so it doesn't really hold together well as SpinoDai-Oh.

It's basically Gabutyra again, but with a new head and front arms. The only minor complaints I have is that you can't make it look straight forward like the old toy without the sail popping off, and that it has no arms, so you have to buy the Western & Kung Fu set OR use Kyoryujin's. I understand why it was a separate set, but I wonder if a bundle might have saved everyone a little money?

I'm still hoping for Brave Kyoryujin. We'll see if that eventually happens. I doubt it, but wouldn't that be cool?

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Just a quick speed drawing of Shoutmon. Since I've done new partners for Greymon and SkullKnightmon, I feel like I should also do some for this guy, so another future project to look forward to. I guess this could be considered practice.

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FansHobby MB-27 The Shield Team

More Minicons! While my neighbor owned most of the cast of the show, I owned a lot of the Minicons, and this team was one of the first I got my hands on. I have heard quite a few people poopoo the idea of Minicons and how they're kind of nonsensical, I really like that they're Core Class Transformers that can interact with the larger toys in the line. Some did it better than others, such as this team, but I still think it was a more satisfying gimmick than something like Cyber Keys.

FansHobby has already announced The Blaster Team, which I'm gonna get. I'm hoping they do Perceptor, too.

The Good: Like The Saber Team, these three are a marked improvement over their original counterparts, with significantly increased posability, and a more solid shield when fully combined. It even comes with a separate plate to make it look closer to its combined form in the show. It even has it's own handle so you don't need to combine the team to use it.

The Bad: There are actually some things omitted in the instructions that are required to get everything to lock solidly, like moving some of the heads out of the way. It might take you a moment to tweak everything to get it solid.

Also, both the standard handle, head handle, and plate handle are all different shapes and sizes and not everyone can hold each, though can most likely hold at least one? I used Megs because he was the only one I had on hand that could hold just the plate.

And the first time I transformed everyone, they were very stiff. I had to use a spudger to move certain parts for the first time, and grey car 7 I still require one to get its arms out.

Overall, I feel like all the modes are a bit more solid than The Saber Team, but the transformation and combination are more finicky and difficult. Still, I enjoy them.

And since I've got 27 other back logged reviews, I might as well take this opportunity to talk about Armada Optimus Prime. It's a two-fer I guess.

The Good: An excellent update to the original. While it doesn't have any electronics or an auto-transforming trailer, it more than it makes up for it with a ton of posability in both modes. The new transformation is pretty intuitive as well.

The Bad: The tires on the sides of the legs/arms don't lock very well and will come loose pretty easily. Also, the hands have very shallow holes. This is fine of for its own accessory, but for instances like the Star Saber and Skyboom Shield, it can't hold them as well.

Overall, it's a great figure. It you're like me and enjoy yourself a robot with a Super Mode, than it's an easy recommendation. And it's also not the only Super Mode Optimus Prime we may be talking about in the near future O_O

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And here we are. A new SkullKnightmon form.

Wings fold up to become legs, talons become claws, torso becomes a shoulder pad. I did try and redistribute some of the existing materials; swapped the shoulder the helmet is on, used the spears as kneecaps.

Don't know what I'm gonna work on next. Might start work on BlazeKuwagamon and VictoryGreymon, might do some simpler stuff. December is very busy for me because of work, so I might just focus on some simpler things for a few weeks.

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Soul of Chogokin GX-113 Gundam Tryon 3

Considering Gundam Build Fighters Try isn't to most popular season of its subline, it's very easy to argue that Tryon 3 is the most popular aspect of that season... except maybe Fumina. Anyway, the Mobile Suits of GBFT were very Super Robot in performance and combat, but Tryon 3 took that to the next step by also referencing them with its aesthetics. Tryon 3 was also easily recognizable as being based off the ZZ Gundam, while most other Gunpla had more original designs which was a common complaint among fans at the time. But despite its popularity, it has only had ever gotten that original kit and a few hard-to-get color and plastic variants, so to have its second iteration be the full-on high-end Super Robot treatment is a welcome surprise.

The Good: While I've heard a ton of good things about the line, this is my first foray into SoC. As the name suggests, there are a lot of metal parts throughout, primarily in the legs but quite a bit is used to reinforce joints. As such, it is very heavy and very solid. It also has a good range of posability, though gentle pressure should be applied when moving the tougher metal joints.

As with the original, Tryon 3 is capable of splitting into Riku Tryon, Sora Tryon, and Umi Tryon. They all carry over the posability they grant to Tryon 3, with Riku Tryon having decently posable legs in addition. The transformation is also very fun, with no parts forming like with the original. Riku Tryon's head is on a dual armature that swings over the chest, Umi Tryon's head fits snugly into the chest cavity, and Sora Tryon's legs completely invert on a set of sliding rails to become the standard Gundam legs. It's all very impressive, and not at all complicated, which speaks wonders to its engineering. It even has added places to store the Sora head and Umi tail which become its sword, and the wings which are usually discarded.

I'll also say, when combined, it feels like the size they portray it as in the show, closer to 1/100 scale than 1/144. Despite a lot of HG kits declaring they're 1/144 scale, that doesn't always match up in practice, with kits like those from Wing or units like Mobile Doll Sarah or May being bigger than they should be, or in this case HG Tryon 3 feeling small, though its size did sometimes feel like it was on a slider.

Apart from a bevy of alternate hands, Tryon 3 does comes with a number of bonus parts, most of which are beam effects. It comes with an enlarged head crest to wield for its iconic Boomerang Stagger, beam effects for both its Hyper Beam Sabers and an over-foot-long one for Hyper Minovsky Chohoken, and propulsion effects with stand capability for Armed Booster. It also comes with a set of two parts so you can depict it pulling Chohoken from the Liger's mouth, with the beam piece alone doubling as a Choho Pressure effect piece.

The included stand is also nice. While it doesn't have undercarriage storage, like with a lot of The Gattai toys, it does try to remain very pristine in appearance. You can separate it into three parts to display the three individual units separately, remove the name plate, and all the armatures you can attach hook onto the existing Riku and Umi plugs, or a cleverly hidden hole in the center of the stand.

The Bad: There's some general tightness and fragility to worry about, though it points out most instances in the instructions. The sword is also quite heavy to the point that it recommends you use one of the armatures to prop it up, though you have to do so with the unreliable clamp arms. I do wish there was some way to plug the stand into the sword if they knew this was going to be a thing. The first time I attached the V-Fin I was worried something was going to snap, though nothing thankfully did.

The biggest issue I had was the hands. They're slightly rubberized, and very tight, so they took quite a bit of force to put on the wrists for the first time. I ended up taking the arms off by the elbow to get the leverage I needed to put them on. They get slightly easier the more you do it, but they always require a bit more force than I'd like.

Look, this is a very high-end, high-spec piece. While I have heard of a few fumbles in SoC's past, this seems like a release where they did their homework. It probably helps that it's not trying to do anything too crazy, apart from the leg inversion? Treat it like what it's worth and you will see no trouble; time, patience, and a gentle hand.

Overall, it's great, but expensive. You're definitely getting your money's worth, but the question is if you want to spend that money in the first place. But now I'm kinda sad that this is a solo piece; unlike a lot of Super Robots, Tryon 3 is standalone and doesn't have combo buddies. Except... SD Tryon 3 does have Luna Tryon.

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And just like we have Big Axe Mode, we have Siege Bow Mode.

I was considering calling it Ballista Mode, but this is the same season as Ballistamon, and that's just a bit confusing.

And while I don't plan on doing a X3, you could easily combine SkullKnightmon, DeadlyAxemon, and PiercingBowmon into either D/ArkKnightmon Siege Bow Mode or the next evolution's Big Axe Mode, kinda like how we got OmegaShoutmon Dorulu Cannon in Boy Hunters.

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RX-78-2 Gundam (Revival Ver.)

Oh my goodness, this was a treat! It's a very simple kit, but there're just so many tiny things that made it fun. It was an enjoyable couple of hours of work.

The Good: While this looks like the very first Gunpla, it is a completely new mold. It uses a ton of recent build ideas, like a seamless helmet and shoulders, great parts layering, etc. There are also a lot of tidbits in the instructions, like how the original had seams visible on the front of all the limbs, and how they specifically did things to reduce their impact. But it also does some fun callbacks, like the backpack assembly, and the weapons all being single pieces. It also comes with a bonus Beam Saber handle if you have spare blades.

The Bad: Posability. It has a little bit; decent arms, neck swivel, and a bit in the legs, but you're not going to be reproducing any anime scenes with this guy.

The Details: Apart from panel lining, I did add a tiny bit of paint; mostly for the accessories. On the RX proper, I used red for the rear peripheral camera, and I painted the visible joints silver in reference to my first RX. For the accessories, I painted the Beam Saber blade red, the Beam Rifle's scope yellow and barrel tip black, and black in the holes in the shield.

Overall, I highly recommend this kit. Cheap, fun, funny, doesn't need paint but looks good with it. A great, short experience.

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Birb.

I feel like there isn't a ton to say about this design at the moment? It's an armored knight bird to match SkullKnightmon and DeadlyAxemon. Like, the wings are weird because of transformation stuff. That's about it. Onto the weird Lv4.5 form.

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BoonBoom Killer Robo

I wanna say this may be the last release from BoonBoomger? But they also designed a Killer version of BoonBoom Classic that definitely feels like it's supposed to be a toy. Even though we've hit the final arc of the show, it'd be cool if we got one or two new Killer Versions and they released Killer Classic along with those as a set. I think it's possible since they revealed the Japanese government was developing more BBKRs. I'm not expecting a Killer Leo or anything (though that would be cool), but maybe Dozer and Safari for more weapon options. Maybe a new head. Who know.

This is essentially the same as standard BoonBoom Robo. There are a few sculpted differences, like the tires and head on Trailer, Off-Road's drill, Wagon's fingers. The Police remold (which did not come with this set; it was a movie ticket preorder bonus) has quite a few remolded parts, like Itacha on the lightbar, an entire new front cab, and a new spike trap that accommodates the sticker.

The front of Trailer is also a new piece, clipping on so you can also attach it to BoonBoom Robo. That paint is also well utilized, really being used to bring out the differences between the two. However...

While the paint is well utilized, this is another instance of a premium piece having less paint. Moreover, it's basically all orange, so there're also less colors. There're also strange color instances because of the plastic, like the split colors on the face or the arms that do distract.

There's also the BoonBoom Danger. It's a nice remold, but it only has, like, two car sounds. It's mostly just plays sound clips from the villains if you keep pressing the button. They come in the same order every time, and there are a lot of them, but if there was a version that was $10 cheaper and didn't come with this, I would have taken it.

Overall, a fun remold, but definitely not essential.

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I did do both colors. Felt like someone would be disappointed if I didn't. But I did really want to explore the idea of the purified SkullKnightmon becoming DarkKnightmon again, and what that would look like. Weirdly, because of how predominant SkullKnightmon is to the combination, the colors work surprisingly well.

Next we move onto some new designs. I've got some ideas for how the next partner is going to look, but it definitely needs some ironing out.

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Xros Figures SkullKnightmon + DeadlyAxemon

This is it. The whale. The impossible get. Frequently valued around $700 on the aftermarket, I managed to find a boxless Singapore version for... half of that.

What can I say? It was the only one I was missing.

Now, it's definitely not worth either of those prices; this did retail for $30ish when it came out. And for $30, this is a fantastic toy. Back in the day I might have even paid $50 and have been satisfied. But let's talk about why it's so good, its few faults, and why mine looks different than yours.

The Good: SkullKnightmon is fairly posable, with almost all of its joints being ratcheted. The head, wrists, knees, and ankles can all swivel, and the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees can all click. The upper arm can click outward, but there isn't any form of bicep rotation.

DeadlyAxemon is a component Digimon, and as such shares some of the issues others like Sparrowmon and Deckerdramon have. Though, you are able to move its arms slightly to adjust its pose.

And this pair is capable of forming two different combinations. SkullKnightmon Big Axe Mode utilizes its parts in a completely different way than DarkKnightmon. And while Big Axe Mode becomes slightly encumbered by the size and weight of its weapon, it does maintain all of SkullKnightmon's posability. Similarly, DarkKnightmon doesn't lose any posability through combining (replacing its swivel neck for a ratcheted one), and its shoulder pauldron can swivel out of the way for posing.

The Bad: It came up in the previous section, but SkullKnightmon doesn't have any real outward arm motion, which hinders the use of its large lance. Similarly, DeadlyAxemon is still very brickish. Also, while Cavalier Mode is depicted as an official form, doing it with the figures is just you teetering SkullKnightmon on top of DeadlyAxemon; there's no connection.

In terms of construction, while most of it holds together well, DarkKnightmon's chest ornament likes to fall off. The lances have these weird nubs on them not present on the actual design that end up getting in the way of certain things (I considered cutting them off and painting over them, but I'm pretty sure they're hollow). Lastly, as I have researched this figure a bit in trying to find a decently priced one, the interior shoulder clips used to hold DeadlyAxemon as a shoulder pauldron can break, and DeadlyAxemon's neck has a tendency to pop out while combined as DarkKnightmon.

The Details: And of course I sullied this expensive figure by customizing it!

These guys were ever so slightly damaged when I got them, so it wasn't unwarranted. SkullKnightmon has some paint scuffs on its head and the center of the chest, so I sought to fix those. I repainted the horns and patched the silver on the forehead and chest.

As for added details, there were only three. I painted the codpiece silver and dotted it with red to match the official art, and I painted the underside of the cape blue to match its appearances in the anime. I also panel lined around the eyes to make them pop more.

Similar to SkullKnightmon, DeadlyAxemon required a few fixes. The gold on the knees and the small spikes on its back were both chipped, so I repainted those. There was also some damage to the back, so I filed and sanded it as smooth as I could. There's still a small nick, but it is significantly smaller than it was.

In terms of colors, DeadlyAxemon actually changes color depending on which piece of art you're looking at. I decided to keep the spikes next to the head gold since that's what color they are as DarkKnightmon. No color needed to be added to DeadlyAxemon outside of deciding to do that or not, so all I needed to do was panel line its back toes and leg bandages...

Except its panel lining over paint, which can set weird, and cleaning it up ended up scratching some of the paint, so I decided to weather the bandages a bit to hide it.

Ultimately, the DarkKnightmon set (if undamaged), doesn't require very much to make it screen accurate. That might lend to why it's so popular, as it's a very good representation of the design.

Overall, this is a good figure. It's not worth the after market prices, but know you're getting a good toy if you find one at a decent price. I'm semi-tempted to track down more copies of some of the Xros Figures to do some heavier repaints, like Shoutmon Blue, Greymon Orange, or purified SkullKnightmon, but only if I can find them cheap. Also, I might be thinking about drawing a new SkullKnightmon partner...

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It's the buddies.

Now let's see what a light DarkKnightmon looks like...

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Gridman the Hyper Agent THE GATTAI King Gridman + Gridman Sigma

I don't know why it took me so long to realize, but Gridknight is totally based on Gridman Sigma, isn't he? The similar colors, the head fins, and the fact that they have a strong connection to a draconic Dyna. Gridknight feels like a really cool way to reinvent this character that we know a lot about, but never managed to get off the ground.

The Good: The Gridman and Sigma figures are so weirdly accurate. It looks like a Sofubi, but then it's hard plastic with joints, and almost everything is ratcheted to boot, meaning it both holds poses well and can easily carry the weight of its armor.

Dyna Fighter and King Jet are both solid pieces. Dyna Fighter can easily be held by the Gridmen as Dragonic Cannon, and while King Jet doesn't do a lot by itself, it transforms super smoothly. Dyna Fighter even does this thing where flipping up its top horn exposes its eyes and lifts all its horns in unison. After attaching Dyna Fighter to it, you can fully transform it into Dyna Dragon just by sliding parts around and without any disassembly. There are a few tight movements, and you might need to wiggle a few things, but it's very impressive. There's also an adapter that lets you put a stand on King Jet's back so you can pose Thunder Gridman (who I do not own, and therefore could not photograph) or any other compatible figure on it, as well as a shoulder adapter for Thunder Gridman and Dragonic Cannon as well.

And King Gridman is great. Posable, stays together well. The Dragonic Cannon requires an adapter to hold solidly, but that adapter also lets it hold it in any position. It also comes with big, show accurate hands, but they can't hold anything.

The Bad: Gridman comes with a small strip that you can plug all his hands into when you're not using them, but Sigma does not and I wish he did. Gridman's holding-things hands are also really tight, and both his sword and shield have big hilt guards, so it requires a bit of force to get him to hold either of them.

King Jet does have a specific thing with the let attachment. They can only be removed and attached at a specific angle. They even gave a specific clarifying insert to beat it home, so there's a chance you might break it if you aren't careful.

As for King Gridman, my only real complaint is you have to pull Sigma's head fins off to get it to fit inside the helmet. There's dedicated storage for them underneath the stand, but it would have been nice if there was some form of added feature that maybe changed up the shape of the helmet to allow it to fit without dismantling. Full Powered Girdman added the functionality with Goldburn, so it doesn't feel too out of place to do so.

Overall, this one might be a bit tough to get a hold of, but it's a fantastic piece. And I'm now only missing the original. I've got pings up on both Good Smile and Mandarake, waiting for one to come in stock, but I've had no luck for about 6 months if that's any inclination.

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Specifically went for the purified version from the end of the manga. Though the pure version of SkullKnightmon is only seen in black and white, so we don't actually know what his colors are. Thought the gold would look nice when mixed with DeadlyAxemon, even if DeadyAxemon is still black.

Still working out a new partner for him. Was thinking maybe a giant bird that turns into a crossbow.