HGBF Sengoku Astay Gundam Action Figure

The Sengoku Astray Gundam model kit only took about five hours to build. The end result is most certainly NOT a waste of time! Putting it together was pretty fun. The decals were kind of a pain to put on (but then again, I hate decals for any toy or product), but they stick on just fine, no sign of peeling as of typing this other than the stickers on the bottom of the swords (but I didn't exactly put those on accurately at first...). The figure has at least 30 points of articulation, offering a variety of poses to be made, though the shoulder armor seems to hinder some articulation, it's not enough to consider his upper half a 'brick' of a figure. The black parts of his shoulder armor transform into a pair of extra arms, which are very cool and adds some play value.The figure comes with eight accessories: Two Japanese style swords, which can be stored on the shoulders when not in use, and three pairs of hands (two open hands to hold the swords, two alternate hands to hold the sword at an angle as if you wanted it to point its sword at someone, and two hands with the fingers spread out and at rest). Doesn't offer a lot of play accessory wise,but I would recommend picking up the Matsuri Weapon set, which, thematically, fits this Gundam perfectly.The stickers bring the colored plastic to life, requiring no paint. But if you want the figure to look its very best after building it, painting is an option, the instruction manual even giving you some paint tips (in Japanese though, but the pictures help spell it out). The instruction manual brings up some good news and bad news. The bad news: It's entirely in Japanese, so you of course won't be able to read up on this unique robot. The good news: English in't required to follow the instructions and build the kit! The pictures are very clear, and the runners the parts come off of are lettered, with each part being individually numbered (Meaning, for example, if the instructions refer to Part A1-12, you pick up the runner that has 'A1' on it, then find said part on that runner with a number '12' next to it. It's easier to understand when you see it in person) for easy finding!To make a long story short, a fun kit to build, but if you buy this for a younger giant robot fan, perhaps it might be best to have adult supervision, especially since you would need snippers to cut the parts out (or, that is, don't NEED to, but makes things so much easier). The end result is a fun little robot that just looks cool. May not be as durable as other toys, so not entirely intended for heavy play just to let you know. If you're buying this as a collector, then hopefully you know not to bash your metal dump truck against this (kidding, kidding :P ) before putting on your shelf to leave your friends and family awestruck.

This is, hands down, the best kit I've ever assembled. Interesting and refreshing design, great idea with 4 hands, a lot of moving parts done smoothly and sturdy.My only gripe is with stickers. Stickers on the body are pretty good and shiny, but stickers for swords are really not that great. If you can paint - just paint those swords from scratch. Stickers for blades are great, shiny and easy to apply, but stickers for handles are just... not good. So paint them.This figure is really easy to pose, really easy to swap hands and change the swordbearing hands. I'm especially impressed with balance - no matter how wide the stance is, this figure doesn't fall over. It's especially noticeable when you use two giant fists, mounted on shoulders. No matter how far do you protrude the giant fist, figure still easily stands in it's own.Great kit, great figure. Get some paint for swords.

I truly loved making this Gundam. It is very sturdy compared to others I have built and I kinda tested the waters with a gundam marker set I bought and it came out amazing to me. I would love to one day buy this exact one again to truly use my markers and no stickers to see the metallic colors of a gundam shine. I would recommend anyone to buy this gundam and take your time. Trim your corners and stubs so that everything falls right into place.

I wanted to love this model but there's a few things that are just so limited about it. I also own the Astray Red Frame [Flight Unit] kit that this kit uses as a base mold.What this kit does differently than the Red Frame are bulkier shoulders, bulkier knees, a bigger v-fin/crest, some different weapons, and a couple other little details like the shins, feet, and faceplate. It looks good when standing on the shelf but all the added bulk seriously limits the poseability.The shoulders trap themselves in the added plating. The arms can't be angled outward with the shoulder pad because the clips for the katana to fit into will bump into the bigger head crest. The arms can't be angled outward without the shoulder pad because the black armatures that attach on the sides get in the way. The double-jointed elbows are rendered useless by the armor plate on the front as there's not enough space there to allow the use of more than one elbow joint at a time, either one will work, but only one.The arm movement is hindered even more when you attach the swords to the shoulder pads as they, too, can interfere with the head crest. It's hindered even -more- when you attach the oni-face shield to the back for storage as the oni's spikes can also interfere with the swords.The bulkier knees make it hard to bring the legs together so it will almost always have a wide stance, and bending the knees reveals a gap under the added knee armor as they're attached to the upper part of the leg and go over the top of the lower leg.Included in the kit are two extra hands atop the four the Astray Red Frame came with. These extra hands are naturally angled downward more to allow the Gundam to point the katana out more. However, they don't have the same gripping capability of the normal hands, and putting a katana in one of them will leave the sword floppy and unstable within it. On the other hand (pun partially intended, I'm sorry) the armatures on the shoulders are capable of holding the swords VERY nicely, possibly even more stable than the normal gripping hands.Another thing to note is the number of stickers included in the kit. For the most part you can get away with not painting anything if you use the stickers properly, but the oni shield is cast in red plastic and no stickers are included for color. I found it easy to paint the eyes of it with a gold Gundam marker, just takes patience. The swords have stickers to account for all details except the hilt guard, which would be left in white plastic if unpainted.My final verdict: It's flawed, in many ways, but the appearance of it just sitting there on the shelf is impressive. The added bulk makes it look meaner and more fierce standing beside the more classic Astray Red Frame, and the armatures allow for some unique posing opportunities. It's just a shame that so much of the base mold's wonderful poseability was sacrificed for the looks.