Did some diving on non-TF Blokees kits this week. I still have my big Eva model in the wings, but that's waiting for some clear space on my hobby worktable; instead I splurged at the FLCS and picked up some of the other small kits that caught my eye and can be built at my desk. First up: Astral Rally!
Never really jived with the Defender kits for TFs, the chibi style just didn't do it for me, and at most I wanted like two characters out of a set so the blindbox nature of things worked heavily against it. Leave the Transformers line behind, and weirdly enough I don't mind the chibi; plus with no characters I'm already familiar with, anything goes.
They had three-quarters of a box of AR left, and I had a discount card, so I jumped on what was left of the whole thing. Pulled all three MAV support vehicles, the entire ZORN team, KYRR Sagitta and Lyra, and TARG Lupus. Decent little robot dudes!
Having never messed with the Defender series kits before, it's interesting how they vary the same basic skeleton with extra bits and accessories. Build one you've built them all, but there's lots of mileage in changes to color and subtly different sculpt and paint details. Articulation is plenty satisfactory for the size, though some of the balljoints at wrists and necks are almost concerningly tight; conversely, these things are so small and light I don't think I need to worry about them getting floppy.
The ZORN guys are a pretty cohesive bunch with their greyscale and metallics, and I really like the glitter purple capes/wings they all have. I imagine in the fiction they're like energy shields and junk. Which is good, because out of their packets the ZORN guys are all melee - couple neat sword designs, and I wish Perseus' spear had a sword handle option. For guys this little, they have the articulation to make melee weapons look good; they just can't two-hand anything without an extended handle. Only quibble is that only Hercules's sword has a post that can stow it on a backpack; an extra male/male post part or a C-clip post would have been nice.
My KYRR/TARG team, on the other hand, definitely has the Varied Anime Protagonists thing going on. The KYRR guys do a great job of looking similar despite not sharing many actual part sculpts, and it's a decent contrast to Lupus. These guys' accessories are all about the firepower, three different handgun sculpts (two SMGs, a chunky pistol, and Sagitta's giant shotgun), plus a grenade pack and Lupus's giant shoulder cannons (that can pull off as huge rifles). And yeah, can pull off some decent gunslinger poses. Only real weakness is I find the clips connecting Lupus's cannons to the backpack can be a bit wibbly.
The MAV support vehicles are an interesting addition. Built per the instructions, only Hebe and Iris can be piloted - but the intent is of course to mix and match combine these suckers. Although I'm a little leery about repeatedly working some of the connections, especially the clips holding various wings on, it's probably fine. At the very least, Astraea+Hebe is a solid little jet to drop a pilot into, and Iris being a rideable snowmobile/hoverbike/walker thing with an actual (if simple) conversion is a nice little touch. Trying to work out a good three-way combination that doesn't involve separating too many parts!
These guys really remind me of a toyline from my youth that I cannot recall the name of - predating, like, the Megablox HALO/Destiny/etc stuff - but were also little thumb-sized robot guys and vehicles. Aesthetically I also get Tekkaman and Virtual-On vibes at superdeformed scale, which is hardly a bad thing. If I had to pick a *singular* favorite of my pulls from this set, it's Lupus I think - distinctly non-humanoid head, chunkier look, and I always like the big shoulder cannon aesthetic.
For now, these little guys definitely get to live on my desk a while. I don't think I'm going to try to catch up the three I'm missing (because blindbox), but if/when I see series 2, I have no qualms about picking up half a dozen more.
Never really jived with the Defender kits for TFs, the chibi style just didn't do it for me, and at most I wanted like two characters out of a set so the blindbox nature of things worked heavily against it. Leave the Transformers line behind, and weirdly enough I don't mind the chibi; plus with no characters I'm already familiar with, anything goes.
They had three-quarters of a box of AR left, and I had a discount card, so I jumped on what was left of the whole thing. Pulled all three MAV support vehicles, the entire ZORN team, KYRR Sagitta and Lyra, and TARG Lupus. Decent little robot dudes!
Having never messed with the Defender series kits before, it's interesting how they vary the same basic skeleton with extra bits and accessories. Build one you've built them all, but there's lots of mileage in changes to color and subtly different sculpt and paint details. Articulation is plenty satisfactory for the size, though some of the balljoints at wrists and necks are almost concerningly tight; conversely, these things are so small and light I don't think I need to worry about them getting floppy.
The ZORN guys are a pretty cohesive bunch with their greyscale and metallics, and I really like the glitter purple capes/wings they all have. I imagine in the fiction they're like energy shields and junk. Which is good, because out of their packets the ZORN guys are all melee - couple neat sword designs, and I wish Perseus' spear had a sword handle option. For guys this little, they have the articulation to make melee weapons look good; they just can't two-hand anything without an extended handle. Only quibble is that only Hercules's sword has a post that can stow it on a backpack; an extra male/male post part or a C-clip post would have been nice.
My KYRR/TARG team, on the other hand, definitely has the Varied Anime Protagonists thing going on. The KYRR guys do a great job of looking similar despite not sharing many actual part sculpts, and it's a decent contrast to Lupus. These guys' accessories are all about the firepower, three different handgun sculpts (two SMGs, a chunky pistol, and Sagitta's giant shotgun), plus a grenade pack and Lupus's giant shoulder cannons (that can pull off as huge rifles). And yeah, can pull off some decent gunslinger poses. Only real weakness is I find the clips connecting Lupus's cannons to the backpack can be a bit wibbly.
The MAV support vehicles are an interesting addition. Built per the instructions, only Hebe and Iris can be piloted - but the intent is of course to mix and match combine these suckers. Although I'm a little leery about repeatedly working some of the connections, especially the clips holding various wings on, it's probably fine. At the very least, Astraea+Hebe is a solid little jet to drop a pilot into, and Iris being a rideable snowmobile/hoverbike/walker thing with an actual (if simple) conversion is a nice little touch. Trying to work out a good three-way combination that doesn't involve separating too many parts!
These guys really remind me of a toyline from my youth that I cannot recall the name of - predating, like, the Megablox HALO/Destiny/etc stuff - but were also little thumb-sized robot guys and vehicles. Aesthetically I also get Tekkaman and Virtual-On vibes at superdeformed scale, which is hardly a bad thing. If I had to pick a *singular* favorite of my pulls from this set, it's Lupus I think - distinctly non-humanoid head, chunkier look, and I always like the big shoulder cannon aesthetic.
For now, these little guys definitely get to live on my desk a while. I don't think I'm going to try to catch up the three I'm missing (because blindbox), but if/when I see series 2, I have no qualms about picking up half a dozen more.
