I challenge anyone on the fence to just try one. Even if you end up hating the building aspect, you get a great, in scale display piece. My suggestion, C-3P0. I don't think anyone can hate that kit.
I second that. 3PO is amazeballs. Blows anything Hasbro does out of the water. And out of all the kits I've looked at in detail, I think he is probably the one that can look perfectly fine without adding any paint, just use the decals included (though paint never hurts).
Is CDJapan pretty much the go to place to pick up these kits?
It seems like a solid place, price-wise. I haven't bought from them myself, so not sure what their shipping rates are like (MULTIPLEX?) You can probably find 'em on ebay for comparable prices. This is the guy I bought from: http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw...+wars&_sacat=0
He does combined shipping, so I grabbed 3 kits at once.
Is CDJapan pretty much the go to place to pick up these kits?
Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge1021
It seems like a solid place, price-wise. I haven't bought from them myself, so not sure what their shipping rates are like (MULTIPLEX?) You can probably find 'em on ebay for comparable prices. This is the guy I bought from: http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw...+wars&_sacat=0
He does combined shipping, so I grabbed 3 kits at once.
eBay is still a good place to get these but the prices are often inflated, however, as wedge mentioned, some sellers have a good price.
CDJapan seems to be the only place I can find that allows preorders direct from Japan and for preorder pricing. I've used them once and was a good experience. Arrived prompt and well packaged. I have two Phasma kits on preorder with them next, and also the Kylo kit to follow. They are pretty much my go to site now since HLJ and AmiAmi doesn't carry them anymore.
As far as shipping, I find their shipping rates are good ranging from 700 to 1500 yen (SAL unregistered to EMS) for one kit (single figure). Sets with more parts like BB-8/R2 or R2/R5 are slightly more due to weight.
Another place to consider is Toy Trove (site sponsor). I saw they had many kits at the last toy show and for excellent prices. I saw C3P0 for $40 which is a steal.
I challenge anyone on the fence to just try one. Even if you end up hating the building aspect, you get a great, in scale display piece. My suggestion, C-3P0. I don't think anyone can hate that kit.
I will probably pull the trigger on the 3PO without much hesitation once I can afford it again, lol. I was buying a ton of the Kid Robot Mega Man blind boxes for awhile trying to complete the evil robot masters set...needless to say it took awhile, but mostly because the stores I was able to find them at werent putting out the full display boxes, just random boxes on the shelf...too many doubles.
Building the Bandai kits would be the best part for me, I love building/putting together toys.
I was really looking forward to this kit and it did not disappoint. This set can be summed up in one word, SEXY!
Unboxing
Here are the box contents....
This was also the first time I have actually preferred using a sticker over the decal. Bandai actually included a silver foil sticker for one of her pouches. I thought that was a great touch.
The Build
This set is very similar to the FO Stormtrooper kit. The parts of the racks were logically placed and the cut points were not problematic. I didn’t find any of the parts fragile. It’s a good, solid build. Just seeing all that chrome reminded me of the C-3P0 kit and how beautifully shiny it was.
For the first time, Bandai included two options for a cape, a plastic one and a cloth one. I still have nightmares about the plastic Vader cape. But this cape is much better. Sure it limits articulation but it actually looks damn good.
The cloth cape is a felt type material. Yes, it's a bit stiff but at least they included an alternative. I actually like it better than the plastic cape. However, I did really like how they designed the front part of the plastic cape with the ribbon to simply rotate out of the way to make room for her arm to raise. I'll be making a custom cape of my own for sure now that I have a pattern to work with. I have to say the ribbon stickers are really high quality and have a fabric feel to them.
Paint
Hardly any paint is required for this set. Even less then the 3P0 kit. However, the blaster was incorrectly (in my mind) cast in silver chrome and that just won’t fly in my Star Wars universe. Phasma’s blaster has a slight gold tint to it so I had to try and replicate it. I used my TFA Visual Dictionary as a reference for the paint job.
Colour Palette (Tamiya Acrylic Paints)
All I did was add a few drops of X-20A Acrylic Thinner to some X-31 Titanium Gold. Applied the mixture to the entire blaster twice with thin coats and then added the black and red detailing. Pretty happy with it cause I was able to maintain the shininess factor.
If I had to say one thing it's Bandai did something that I think Hasbro BS Phasma could not do well and that is make me actually believe Phasma is female. It may not be to everyone's taste but I think it is more believable and still looks great. To me, BS Phasma looks like a football player. Her helmet is not supposed the same proportions as a FO Stormtrooper. It's narrower. This kit gets that right. BS Phasma is a nice figure but I have some issues with the proportions. I'm really interested to see how Mafex designs her but this Bandai kit is extremely well done. All I have to do is make a custom cape and it will be perfect. I’d rank this one 9.75
