Eye Spy peers at... Tomato Samurai errr... Master Grade Marasai
Details in the form of praise and criticisms can be found after the break.
Love this box art it's got a decidedly defender of Earth, conqueror of space vibe! The deep shadows cloaking these Marasai's colors make for a beautiful scheme, there is no overuse of highlights or lens flare, everything just works. Perhaps my favorite part of the entire image however are the blue flames coming from the foot verniers, simply put they are beautiful and look white hot. Beyond that the picture flows nicely from the green mono-eye to the gun barrel, down and around the verniers that lead up to the beam saber and over to that beautiful Earth hanging in the center like a Christmas star.
Not a whole lot in terms of accessories here. The Marasai comes with, one (1) Beam Rifle, two (2) Beam Sabers and a custom action base attachment that allows the Marasai to be posed in a lying position. This attachment can also be used in tandem with the Ballute System, which for some inexplicable reason was not included with the kit. If you hate money you can pick up vastly overpriced Ballute Systems from retailers I won't be linking to here. Lastly the Tomato Samurai comes with a sticker sheet and - woot woot - dry transfer decals.
The Marasai is an attention whore, this kit has poseability that most kits can only dream of. Strangely the one pose that gives this kit the most trouble is the straight-legged pose - you know that one no one ever uses. This kit needs to have it's legs spread fairly wide or it topples backwards, relatively easily. This result is mostly owed to the massive ankle armor and a strange hip looseness that is non-existent when placing the kit in more dynamic poses.
Setting aside the poseablity there are a few issues with part separation on this kit. In a strange design decision Bandai chose to omit a female plug for the pegs on the inner calf armor, this is a minor gripe but one that shouldn't have to be made. The wrist armor also separates when the wrists are moved, this separation is a little more forgivable on a moving part so I'll leave it at that.
One word: paint.
Now many more words.
Although the Marasai looks like a space samurai, this unique look hardly affords the kit any stage presence. I can only think the lack of definition is the culprit, those reds don't offer nearly enough contrast to attract the eye. Needless to say this kit is probably destined for a paint job - hence the missing decals - and might be my first foray into pre-shading which seems mandatory for this here kit.
Tomato Samurai was a fun build - energy cables not withstanding - and a build I'd been looking forward to. This was meant to be a straight build, but looking at the finished product there will painted plastic. While I'd recommend this kit to any builder, this is probably a collector or UC fan kit. It's simply not flashy enough for more selective modelers, however if painting isn't your bag you may want to track down the Unicorn color of this kit as it stands out better as a straight build.
eL Out...
Cheers for:
- Awesome Samurai reminiscent design.
- Sweet poseability
- Vibrant colors
Jeers for:
- Over-sized Bell Bottoms
- Boring weapons
- Missing accessories
Details in the form of praise and criticisms can be found after the break.
The Box and Innards
Love this box art it's got a decidedly defender of Earth, conqueror of space vibe! The deep shadows cloaking these Marasai's colors make for a beautiful scheme, there is no overuse of highlights or lens flare, everything just works. Perhaps my favorite part of the entire image however are the blue flames coming from the foot verniers, simply put they are beautiful and look white hot. Beyond that the picture flows nicely from the green mono-eye to the gun barrel, down and around the verniers that lead up to the beam saber and over to that beautiful Earth hanging in the center like a Christmas star.
Part Quality:
Much like the subject of my previous review, the the Marasai is cloaked in a unique and vivid color scheme. Unlike the aforementioned Rick Dias, the Marasai's colors don't quite work as well out of the box. There is little to no contrast between the colors, which have the effect making Tomato Samurai a bit of a blob. I can't say with certainty but, this kits default color scheme requires pre-shading. It also bears mentioning, there are some troublesome nub marks on this kit specifically on the energy cables. The green bits that make up the cables are individual parts and each one has two tiny nub marks that are an absolute pain to polish away. Another trouble spot are the hands, the thumbs and pointer fingers each have three nub marks, to make matters worse the nub marks attach at a detail line that you are almost guaranteed to file away.Accessories:
Not a whole lot in terms of accessories here. The Marasai comes with, one (1) Beam Rifle, two (2) Beam Sabers and a custom action base attachment that allows the Marasai to be posed in a lying position. This attachment can also be used in tandem with the Ballute System, which for some inexplicable reason was not included with the kit. If you hate money you can pick up vastly overpriced Ballute Systems from retailers I won't be linking to here. Lastly the Tomato Samurai comes with a sticker sheet and - woot woot - dry transfer decals.
Integrities:
 |
| I'm Char! |
 |
| Don't get it twisted, those pegs peaking through there attach to nothin'. |
Setting aside the poseablity there are a few issues with part separation on this kit. In a strange design decision Bandai chose to omit a female plug for the pegs on the inner calf armor, this is a minor gripe but one that shouldn't have to be made. The wrist armor also separates when the wrists are moved, this separation is a little more forgivable on a moving part so I'll leave it at that.
Presence:
One word: paint.
Now many more words.
Although the Marasai looks like a space samurai, this unique look hardly affords the kit any stage presence. I can only think the lack of definition is the culprit, those reds don't offer nearly enough contrast to attract the eye. Needless to say this kit is probably destined for a paint job - hence the missing decals - and might be my first foray into pre-shading which seems mandatory for this here kit.
Final Word:
Worth it? Not worth it? Immaterial?Tomato Samurai was a fun build - energy cables not withstanding - and a build I'd been looking forward to. This was meant to be a straight build, but looking at the finished product there will painted plastic. While I'd recommend this kit to any builder, this is probably a collector or UC fan kit. It's simply not flashy enough for more selective modelers, however if painting isn't your bag you may want to track down the Unicorn color of this kit as it stands out better as a straight build.
eL Out...
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