Whee, done!
3 days and some hours later, I finally finished my (very early) Christmas present. Behold, my new model kit is ready for display! :D
Okay, the lighting here was uber bad. -___- I also blame my integrated webcam, which, erm, isn't the most fantastic piece of technology that ever lived. I'll see if I can't break out the digital camera next time if anyone wants better pics.
Let's throw a mini review of it in here, shall we, just for the heck of it? ^^
Articulation wise, this guy's got a ton of movable parts. The arms and the head can both rotated 360 degrees (the former only if the wings are removed or bent backward), The legs are bendable at the knees, and can be rotated a bit to the sides, The arms also have an elbow joint allowing it to bend until the hands nearly touch the shoulder (the claws, of course, get in the way). The shoulder armor can move up and down too, allowing for more freedom of movement. The wings can also be moved up a great deal, though, without an action base, it is very hard to keep it balanced if one or both wings is lifted, as Epyon tends to lean backward when the backpack is moved). The various fins on its legs and feet also have some limited up and down movement. There's also an extra joint in the legs, but it's normally locked and can be unlocked to allow the dragon heads/Epyon's feet to have a bit extra up and down movement for dynamic poses in "flight."
Each wing has a mechanism that, when pulled upon, it will automatically spring open (see below for pic). It's a neat feature, but I'm not going to be doing it a lot, mostly because I'm afraid of breaking it. Excessive force is needed to push the wing back to its closed state, much more force than is needed to pull it apart. AIEE, IT CUT ME!!! The skirt armor is also movable to allow more movement in the legs, though, with a poke of a finger, they can fall apart. No glue needed, my butt. At least the armor is a tighter fit here, and only a strong nudge will cause it to separate. I'm worried that pieces will be flying everywhere during the transformation (EDIT: AND THEY DID.). -_O
Weapons: Epyon, being a mobile suit better equipped for close range combat, is a little lacking in the weapons department. But it makes up for it with one big beam sword. It is attached to its power generator unit on its hip by a PVC coated copper wire, which is a lot longer than I think it needs to be. But meh. Also, it may or may not be obvious (crappy webcam is crappy) but the green beam effect part has edges that not only look sharp, they are sharp. In other words, you do not want to run a finger over the edges of this piece, THIS PART WILL HURT YOU!!!! The heat rod here is also very pointy and sharp, just posing it could slice a finger or two. The heat rod, being flexible, can bend almost any direction you can think of, when it's extended like this. Push in the individual parts to lock them in place and become immovable, like so:
See the difference between the extended and retracted parts?
Dragon (Mobile Armor) mode:
The transformation is just a tad complicated, but it's not that difficult, really. From the top, as you can see, the mode looks fabulous. It's a tad weird looking twin headed dragon, to be sure, but hey, it doesn't look too bad from this angle. Look at it from the bottom though...and...well... :S
Let's pretend you never saw that. XD I mean, whoa. It should be one of those unspoken rules in the world of Gundam...NEVER look at or show a transformable Gundam from the bottom. :P The wings are extended on my model for maximum coolness. :D Unfortunately transformation also involves a lot of pieces falling off during the process. >.> I think I'll be transforming it back to mobile suit mode and rarely, if ever, transforming it again for a while. >_<
Final thoughts: Overall, I do highly recommend this model kit, especially if you're a fan of Gundam Wing. While this is not the TV- version and really the redesigned version of Epyon as imagined by Hajime Katoki (who redesigned every Gundam he could get his hands on-- a full list of series he worked on can be found on Wikipedia), it is close enough to the TV version to warrant a purchase. And why not? It turns into a freaking dragon, which are cool by themselves. As much as I like the Wing Gundam, this one is still one badass looking mobile suit, and I love it. Sure, I have minor gripes with it (the skirt, and the fact that the decals are horrendously hard to position, especially on the curved parts of the legs, and the pieces flying off as I'm transforming it), but it's not going into storage because of any of the ab ove any time soon. It's a Master Grade, after all, and I am going to appreciate how much hard work I put into this thing by giving it a great spot on my glass display case once Dad finds one. The wing mechanism is a great feature, especially when used in dragon mode (it just looks awesome, if you have the patience to transform it). Now, all I have to do is find a figure of Rainbow Dash to display with Epyon, and everything will look 20% cooler. XD
Okay, the lighting here was uber bad. -___- I also blame my integrated webcam, which, erm, isn't the most fantastic piece of technology that ever lived. I'll see if I can't break out the digital camera next time if anyone wants better pics.
Let's throw a mini review of it in here, shall we, just for the heck of it? ^^
Articulation wise, this guy's got a ton of movable parts. The arms and the head can both rotated 360 degrees (the former only if the wings are removed or bent backward), The legs are bendable at the knees, and can be rotated a bit to the sides, The arms also have an elbow joint allowing it to bend until the hands nearly touch the shoulder (the claws, of course, get in the way). The shoulder armor can move up and down too, allowing for more freedom of movement. The wings can also be moved up a great deal, though, without an action base, it is very hard to keep it balanced if one or both wings is lifted, as Epyon tends to lean backward when the backpack is moved). The various fins on its legs and feet also have some limited up and down movement. There's also an extra joint in the legs, but it's normally locked and can be unlocked to allow the dragon heads/Epyon's feet to have a bit extra up and down movement for dynamic poses in "flight."
Each wing has a mechanism that, when pulled upon, it will automatically spring open (see below for pic). It's a neat feature, but I'm not going to be doing it a lot, mostly because I'm afraid of breaking it. Excessive force is needed to push the wing back to its closed state, much more force than is needed to pull it apart. AIEE, IT CUT ME!!! The skirt armor is also movable to allow more movement in the legs, though, with a poke of a finger, they can fall apart. No glue needed, my butt. At least the armor is a tighter fit here, and only a strong nudge will cause it to separate. I'm worried that pieces will be flying everywhere during the transformation (EDIT: AND THEY DID.). -_O
Weapons: Epyon, being a mobile suit better equipped for close range combat, is a little lacking in the weapons department. But it makes up for it with one big beam sword. It is attached to its power generator unit on its hip by a PVC coated copper wire, which is a lot longer than I think it needs to be. But meh. Also, it may or may not be obvious (crappy webcam is crappy) but the green beam effect part has edges that not only look sharp, they are sharp. In other words, you do not want to run a finger over the edges of this piece, THIS PART WILL HURT YOU!!!! The heat rod here is also very pointy and sharp, just posing it could slice a finger or two. The heat rod, being flexible, can bend almost any direction you can think of, when it's extended like this. Push in the individual parts to lock them in place and become immovable, like so:
See the difference between the extended and retracted parts?
Dragon (Mobile Armor) mode:
The transformation is just a tad complicated, but it's not that difficult, really. From the top, as you can see, the mode looks fabulous. It's a tad weird looking twin headed dragon, to be sure, but hey, it doesn't look too bad from this angle. Look at it from the bottom though...and...well... :S
Let's pretend you never saw that. XD I mean, whoa. It should be one of those unspoken rules in the world of Gundam...NEVER look at or show a transformable Gundam from the bottom. :P The wings are extended on my model for maximum coolness. :D Unfortunately transformation also involves a lot of pieces falling off during the process. >.> I think I'll be transforming it back to mobile suit mode and rarely, if ever, transforming it again for a while. >_<
Final thoughts: Overall, I do highly recommend this model kit, especially if you're a fan of Gundam Wing. While this is not the TV- version and really the redesigned version of Epyon as imagined by Hajime Katoki (who redesigned every Gundam he could get his hands on-- a full list of series he worked on can be found on Wikipedia), it is close enough to the TV version to warrant a purchase. And why not? It turns into a freaking dragon, which are cool by themselves. As much as I like the Wing Gundam, this one is still one badass looking mobile suit, and I love it. Sure, I have minor gripes with it (the skirt, and the fact that the decals are horrendously hard to position, especially on the curved parts of the legs, and the pieces flying off as I'm transforming it), but it's not going into storage because of any of the ab ove any time soon. It's a Master Grade, after all, and I am going to appreciate how much hard work I put into this thing by giving it a great spot on my glass display case once Dad finds one. The wing mechanism is a great feature, especially when used in dragon mode (it just looks awesome, if you have the patience to transform it). Now, all I have to do is find a figure of Rainbow Dash to display with Epyon, and everything will look 20% cooler. XD