By Alex Cunliffe
I don’t know about you but the two things that most inform my kit purchases are:
- Does it look cool?
- Does it do cool things in its show?
The Cybaster certainly has 1. I really like the sort of “medieval space marine” aesthetic with the armour blades everywhere. It’s a “Magical Mech” so the style leans hard towards “Knight” rather than “Robot” and your mileage on that may vary but I think its nice to add a little variety to the shelves of Gundams.
However as for point 2 I had no idea which anime it was from.
Turns out that’s because it’s from a game. Super Robot Wars is a turn based tactical RPG that mashes up a whole bunch of different Mecha franchises. It has been running for over 30 years in Japan But is a licensing nightmare over here so we only recently got a release. I got Super Robot Wars 30 on Steam and (if you will allow a little diversion) its brilliant. A wide selection of Gundam’s, Code Geass, Knights and Magic, Majestic Princes as well as classics such as Combattler V and Mazinger all wrapped together in toybox rumble as delightful as it is ridiculous.
It also features the Cybaster. Turns out Cybaster was an original character created for the second game and has been in every sequel since. With the characters “do cool things” firmly established by me having control of it in the game purchasing the kit became something of an inevitability.
One of the first things you’ll notice is the price. Its costly for a HG but that price goes towards a pretty fat box of stuff. Not only does it come with a stand for the kit itself but you also get the two “High Familiar’s” (the pilot has a pair of talking cats as companions that can transform into attack drones….) and stands for them as well meaning right out of the box you can make some really nice poses and displays.
You also get three sets of hands: open, closed (solid) fist and closed (with gap) fist meaning you don’t have to settle for that “insert rifle / sword” hole in the fist if you want a closed hand but have nothing to put in it. It’s a small touch but a nice one.
The build itself was frankly a delight. It’s a pretty recent kit so the runners have plenty of the newer features. The gates are often small and attached on the back side of parts meaning they are very forgiving of little mistakes during clean up. I’m not sure if its an artifact of the plastic or the colours but it seemed the sanding / polishing process was particularly smooth and easy an it was a genuine joy to put together. The experience of the build alone was worth a good chunk of the entry price and i definitely had that happy / sad moment I crave from this hobby.
You know the one? When the kit is complete and you have something beautiful to display but you now you cant do it more because you finished.
It is still a HG however and as nice as the build is it wont keep you occupied for long. Many of the pieces are large and the arms and legs in particular have the usual HG simple structure so this is a handful of hours to put together not a weekend project. The HG structure also come up in the articulation, you can get a lot of good poses from this kit but I spend a lot of time popping joints back in after expecting it to move like the higher grades might.
That said there is minimal sticker work and while a few are annoying (what is it about the ends of fins that seems to be so resistant to just being different pieces in the right colour?!) most were absolutely fine. It was refreshing to not have that moment during a build where you sigh and know you will HAVE to get out the paints later.
It does have an alt-mode, the “Cybird”, but I personally think it falls into that category of “Transforming but not really” that afflict so many bird modes. It’s there if you’re into that sort of thing but I don’t see it ever being anything other than humanoid on my shelf.
Overall this was a fantastic kit to actually build and if you enjoy the game or vibe with the look I would give it a very big recommend.
However if you don’t know the character or are less into the “Magic Mecha” style then the higher price may make it one to skip.
With thanks,
Alex Cunliffe
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Leave a comment