D-Style Type-J9 Griffon (迪尔模型)

Thanks to Ascentic (a.k.a. Nicholas Chua), I get the pleasure to build and review this newly (?) manufactured bootleg based on Kotobukiya's D-Style models :P

I don't know what this company is called in English, but the stamp at the lower right corner resemble the color scheme of TT Hongli/Gao Gao.

Manufacturer: 迪尔模型
Scale: None
Grade: D-Style
Origin: Patlabor
Price: RM25 - RM35


Part 1: Runners

Similar to the original, it comes with clear parts for the eye shade and some dual-colored parts. The plastic quality could not match the original (around 65% - 75%) but the detailing is pretty nicely imitated (around 80% - 90%) except the underwater thrusters.

One small surprise is that the manufacturer included a simple 2-pieces stand for better posing possibility ;)






The Instruction Manual ;)




Part 2: Legs

Snap-fitted without any issue :) The original kit has no articulation for the knee so same here with the bootleg, however, there is a small degree of movement for the feet.




Part 3: Waist

The waist is a straight-forward build, with ball-joint for the hips and torso. Snap-fitted with no problem.





Part 4: Upper Body

Snap-fitted without any issue, just that there is a very obvious seam line on the chest due to the left-right part separation of the mold which isn't the bootleg's fault if you ask me :)





Combining the Upper and Lower Body ;)





Part 5: Arms

The arms are pretty nicely articulated as you could see from the picture below :) The only flaw here is the strange design of the shoulder joint by Kotobukiya that greatly reduce the pose-ability of the arms... the arms could maximum go horizontal up to about 40 degrees only.




Part 6: Arms with Shoulder Armor

No to the fault of the bootleg, as this is another failure of Kotobukiya making the shoulder armor attached to the body instead of the arm... the shoulder armor greatly hinders the vertical movement of the shoulder/arm, making it impossible to "put up your hand" pose!





Part 7: Head

The best part for any Deformed mecha, the head ;) Parts separation is nicely done, the there are enough room for those who would want to do LED mode. Snap-fitted without any issue.





Part 8: Complete Griffon

Despite the couple of flaws made by Kotobukiya, this is still a nice looking D-Style kit :) The 2 options for backpack are included within the package so you could choose to display with the jet backpack or the underwater backpack, or better still, one of each ;)


Jet Backpack

Does this looks like Master Gundam, or Master Gundam looks like Griffon?







The Small Pleasant Surprise :)




Underwater Backpack







Quick Review

Plastic Quality, Colors & Detailing

The plastics quality is so so, comparable to those of TT Hongli so I would give it a 70% for plastic quality.

Parts separation is as per the original so I'm not going to rate it.

The quality of color is pretty bad... the original resemble a very glossy finish but this kit just look bad but can be easily fixed with industrial gloss topcoat ;) I would rate it 60% in terms of coloring since the quality is very obvious on black.

Detailing, however, are being recreated nicely ;) Except the underwater thrusters, I see that the detailing are as close to 85% - 90% of the original. I would rate it 80% due to the underwater backpack.

I must comment that the snap-fitting is done very well, and I managed to assemble the kit without any issue.

Overall, this is still a bootleg with 70% likeliness to the original with good snap fit. A good option for those who don't mind a bit of suffer to the quality in order to save money ;)


Articulations

There's not much articulations to be mentioned here since this is somewhat an SD :P

• Head/Neck: Normal, of an SD... you can't expect much from a big head :P
  
• Shoulder: Terrible! Kotobukiya screwed up.
  
• Arm/Elbow: Very good for an SD.
  
• Wrist: Good
• Hand: None
• Waist: Good
  
• Hip/Tight: Normal
  
• Knee: None
• Ankle: Normal

Looks and Feels

On the 1st look, I can see that most detailing are there. Actually touching the parts, I can feel that the plastic quality and the color is not as good as the original, and this was expected.

This kit is what the original would be with a lessen quality on plastic and color, so it inherited the flaws of Kotobukiya which I have mentioned earlier on, on the design of its shoulder.

To really make the kit looks nice, I would recommend industrial topcoat (very much cheaper than the modelling topcoat) but it is still nice to display this kit straight-built ;)

I do recommend this kit since it gives more than 50% savings but if you have the money, support the original ;)


Fin ;)

Saber San, Non-Scale (Kotobukiya)

Hi guys :) Hope you are well ;)

This is not a Gunpla... this is Kotobukiya's Non-Scale Full-Action Plastic Model, Saber San! This is a very cute little thing so I would want to do a quick review on her instead ;)

Manufacturer: Kotobukiya

Scale: None

Origin: Fate/Stay Night

Price: 3000 Yen

Part 1: Runner/Parts

As you can see, there is not much runner and parts, therefore it should be very fast for a straight build :) One could take less than 4 hours to complete this kit ;)

To my delight, some of the parts come pre-painted like the sword and armour, which are pretty nicely done. As for those who would like to re-color the kit, this kit actually comes with a set of water decals identical to the pre-painted parts.

This kit comes with 2 facial expression (close mouth and open mouth), and 3 eyes expression (staring left, center and right). It also comes with a transparent sword resemble the activation of her signature move ;)

Runners

Pre-Painted Parts

Part 2: Legs

The leg articulations are pretty well-done. You would say that the knee could not bend over 90 degrees, but there is no need for such as the skirt is actually to long for such movement :p

The boots are very nice, as the front part of the feet is articulated too ;)

Part 3: The Head

The head is easily the most complicated section of the entire kit ;) There are consists of more than 10 separate parts including the hair, eyes, face, neck, etc. The modelling is very nicely done for the head.

Part 4: The Skirt & Body

The skirt comes in 3 pre-painted parts. 2 of the side pieces are connected to the back of the hip, and the front skirt is connected to the body by a very tiny peg.

Cautions!

The peg connecting the front skirt to the body is very tiny. Be careful not to break it!

Part 5: The Arms

Sorry dude... I've lost the pictures for this section :( You would need to visualise here until I can snap some pictures :p

The arms are very nicely done too. The hand armour fits onto the forearm in a rod-like manner that permits the armour to turn freely (not loosely), which in turn allow a high variety of posing ;)

The shoulder articulations are excellent due to its multiple joint. The elbow also could be bend at a 90 degree.

Cautions!

The peg for the shoulder joint is very tiny and easily broken! Take extra caution when you are fitting in the joint mechanism into the peg... you need to use a bit of force but be careful not to break the tiny peg!

Part 6: Saber San, Posing with Closed Mouth Expression :p

The face looks shinny on my photo due to lighting... it is actually very nice ;) You can do more action pose with action stand tho ;)

Part 7: Saber San, Posing with Open Mouth Expression

Nuff say... enjoy the pictures ;)

Part 8: Size Comparison

Saber San, side-by-side with Bandai SD Wing 0 Custom :)

Quick Review

Plastic quality

The plastic is pretty nice ;)

Colour

The colour separations are very well done! There is no need to do additional colouring unless you are very particular and wanted to make the armour really shinny ;)

Articulations

Head/Neck: Normal.

Shoulder: Fantastic! Very highly pose-able.

Arm: Good.

Elbow: Normal.

Wrist/Hand: Good.

Special note: Individually, the arm doesn't seems to have very good articulation but combining the mechanism employed by Koto for this kit, the arms are very highly pose-able.

Waist: Normal, can turn left and right.

Skirt: The skirt is move-able to certain extend so its a good thing :p

Hip/Tight: Pretty good... just a bit limited by the skirt.

Knee: Normal.

Ankle: Normal+.

Feet: Good.

Pose-ability

Highly pose-able for a non-scale kit ;) I love it!

Looks and Feels

Cute, cute, and CUTE! Highly recommended!

Fin :)