I was so excited to see what this kit could do, I picked up two of them. I am very glad I did, as this review will display the great mechanics and designs that went into this kit! I hope after reading this review, you are as impressed with it as I am.
Head
Since the head is actually fixed onto the torso, there is no articulation to it. However, the top half of the head comes off easily and theres a movable monoeye you can turn. The eye has a very wide range of movement, but is limited to horizontal movement. The top half of the head is molded in two parts, which made me wonder if the seam line would be a problem. However, these parts fit together very nicely and even leaving the seam line there would probably be unnoticeable.
Torso
The Torso is very impressive on this kit. The shoulders can move backward and forward on a horizontal path easily. The waist can also move on a horizontal and vertical arc path. The construction and build of the torso is sharp and detailed. Stickers or paint will be needed for the orange covers on it, butt hats the only real part of the kit that needs painting. There’s a clip hilt on the rear skirt armor for the Carbon Blade too.
Arms
The arms on this guy are so-lid! Such a great construction! Gray covers for all the “exposed” joints, good smooth movement. No double joint, but thats not a huge issue. Hand sockets are old-school HGUC polycaps, but they work nice. The shields on the shoulders also have a nice range of movement so they don’t get in the way of the Tieren’s poses. The hardpoints for the gun on the arms don’t require a polycap and they look fine without the gun mounted on them too.
Legs
The legs on this impressed me a lot. Despite not using the new ABS plastic that the Celestial Being HG kits utilize for knee joints, this kit falls back to the old HGUC polycap system. Don’t let that get you down. The Tieren’s joints in the legs are equal to, [url=http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee268/Gundam00Forums/0h04_15.jpg[if not better[/url], in terms of range of motion and articulation. Double joints at the knee and a nice wide single joint at the ankle. Solid construction leaves me to believe these legs won’t let me down in the future either. Same great applications for the mechanics as the arms. You can switch which leg has the leg shield by swapping a hardpoint piece on the front of the leg. If you have more than one Tieren, you could give one of them two leg shields with ease.
Weapons/Hands
The 200mm X 25 Cal Smooth bore Gun looks very nice. A little white paint on it will make it perfect. The ammo drum can be removed and the weapon itself sits on a hardpoint that attaches to the arm of the Tieren. Since the gun isn’t symmetrical, it looks a little funny on the left arm, but it can be put on either arm without a problem. The Carbon Blade, though plain looking, is functional in every aspect. It has a small peg that fits into a hole on the inside of the hand so it doesn’t slip around (like most HGUC Heat Hawks did…) and it clips firmly into the hilt on the rear skirt armor when not in use. Whats nice is since the gun doesn’t require the hand to grip it, you can have the same arm holding the gun and carbon blade in the hand at the same time. Theoretically, if you have more than one kit, you could double this guy up with two carbon blades on each hand and 2 guns on each arm! The hands for this kit are great! The connection to the carbon blade on the inside is great designing and the right open palmed hand looks really great in sculpt. This open palmed hand could almost do the “Squeeze the Exia’s head to pieces” pose with no modification!
Overall
The Tieren MS itself is a solid grunt and this kit is very characteristic of that. Great construction. Many options for a little custom parts swapping with brother Tierens. Great posing abilities. Its just a great kit hands down. So far, I think its the only HG 1/144th kit that hasn’t been jipped on any features either! Any fan of the HRL will want to pick up a few of these for their army. Even without paint or stickers, this kit looks very good! Your Gundams are hungry! Feed them with this awesome kit!
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
I was so excited to see what this kit could do, I picked up two of them. I am very glad I did, as this review will display the great mechanics and designs that went into this kit! I hope after reading this review, you are as impressed with it as I am.
Head
Since the head is actually fixed onto the torso, there is no articulation to it. However, the top half of the head comes off easily and theres a movable monoeye you can turn. The eye has a very wide range of movement, but is limited to horizontal movement. The top half of the head is molded in two parts, which made me wonder if the seam line would be a problem. However, these parts fit together very nicely and even leaving the seam line there would probably be unnoticeable.
Torso
The Torso is very impressive on this kit. The shoulders can move backward and forward on a horizontal path easily. The waist can also move on a horizontal and vertical arc path. The construction and build of the torso is sharp and detailed. Stickers or paint will be needed for the orange covers on it, butt hats the only real part of the kit that needs painting. There’s a clip hilt on the rear skirt armor for the Carbon Blade too.
Arms
The arms on this guy are so-lid! Such a great construction! Gray covers for all the “exposed” joints, good smooth movement. No double joint, but thats not a huge issue. Hand sockets are old-school HGUC polycaps, but they work nice. The shields on the shoulders also have a nice range of movement so they don’t get in the way of the Tieren’s poses. The hardpoints for the gun on the arms don’t require a polycap and they look fine without the gun mounted on them too.
Legs
The legs on this impressed me a lot. Despite not using the new ABS plastic that the Celestial Being HG kits utilize for knee joints, this kit falls back to the old HGUC polycap system. Don’t let that get you down. The Tieren’s joints in the legs are equal to, [url=http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee268/Gundam00Forums/0h04_15.jpg[if not better[/url], in terms of range of motion and articulation. Double joints at the knee and a nice wide single joint at the ankle. Solid construction leaves me to believe these legs won’t let me down in the future either. Same great applications for the mechanics as the arms. You can switch which leg has the leg shield by swapping a hardpoint piece on the front of the leg. If you have more than one Tieren, you could give one of them two leg shields with ease.
Weapons/Hands
The 200mm X 25 Cal Smooth bore Gun looks very nice. A little white paint on it will make it perfect. The ammo drum can be removed and the weapon itself sits on a hardpoint that attaches to the arm of the Tieren. Since the gun isn’t symmetrical, it looks a little funny on the left arm, but it can be put on either arm without a problem. The Carbon Blade, though plain looking, is functional in every aspect. It has a small peg that fits into a hole on the inside of the hand so it doesn’t slip around (like most HGUC Heat Hawks did…) and it clips firmly into the hilt on the rear skirt armor when not in use. Whats nice is since the gun doesn’t require the hand to grip it, you can have the same arm holding the gun and carbon blade in the hand at the same time. Theoretically, if you have more than one kit, you could double this guy up with two carbon blades on each hand and 2 guns on each arm! The hands for this kit are great! The connection to the carbon blade on the inside is great designing and the right open palmed hand looks really great in sculpt. This open palmed hand could almost do the “Squeeze the Exia’s head to pieces” pose with no modification!
Overall
The Tieren MS itself is a solid grunt and this kit is very characteristic of that. Great construction. Many options for a little custom parts swapping with brother Tierens. Great posing abilities. Its just a great kit hands down. So far, I think its the only HG 1/144th kit that hasn’t been jipped on any features either! Any fan of the HRL will want to pick up a few of these for their army. Even without paint or stickers, this kit looks very good! Your Gundams are hungry! Feed them with this awesome kit!