Crest Fascinator Version

Intro

Armored Core has had a cult following since the first game’s release in 1997. The franchise has been mostly devoid of any merchandise until Kotobukiya launched its model line in late 2005. Since then the release count has almost reached 25 with a wide variety of different mecha from the various games.

Contents

The runners are housed in a 12x8x4.5 inch box, about the same size as an average Bandai Master Grade kit. (Glyos included for scale)

The various runners of parts still bagged. A total of 29 runners are molded in various colors of polystyrene.

Construction

This kit is not overly large, but is complex and has a high parts count. There is no inner frame, and almost no painting is required, every detail is molded in its own part. This kit could be built without glue, but for good assembly there are a few areas that can benefit from it. The manual does denote where to apply glue in certain spots, but others it does not. When assembling the kit it is easy to tell where a little glue is needed due to poor parts fit and pieces not fitting together quite right. Specific places that have this problem are the upper legs and feet.

I was also pleased to see that unlike a few Kotobukiya kits I have built in the past, no stress marks were created after assembling the kit. Overall seam placement is pretty good, but fails in the one place that always bothers me, right down the middle of the upper leg. Spure placement seems pretty well thought out and marks are mostly not noticeable and clean up well.

Features + Accessories

This kit does not really have any standout gimmicks, but does include a wide variety of hand held and mounted weaponry. The shoulder and back mounted weapons can be posed and two hand held weapons are included and can be placed in either hand. A variety of fixed posed closed hands are included for holding different types of weapons or empty fist poses. Open hands are not included. The pilots marking is pre-printed on the unit’s left shoulder.

Articulation

This kit is articulated pretty well. It wont pose like a newer master grade, but as long as you aren’t aiming for too extreme of a pose you should be able to achieve it. There are no double joints in the elbows or knees. Head, waist and hips are ball jointed. Skirt armor moves, as well as the armor in front of the feet. The hips are on ball joints and do swivel. The ankles and toes do move individually. The shoulders are a combination of ball and traditional joint while the elbows pivot and bend. There is also a ball jointed waist.

The kit balances pretty well and there are no worries of it taking an unwanted shelf dive. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite coax a kneeling pose from the kit without something to put under the knee.

Conclusion

Overall this is a very good kit. I highly recommend it to any fan of the design or Armored Core.