Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - Detail shots (1/4)

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

The various weapons can be detached.

The bare figure alone

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - The sub-arm under the chest isn't articulated — instead, you detach it and add a co

The sub-arm under the chest isn't articulated — instead, you detach it and add a connector part in the middle to extend it.

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - The Lambda Driver Canceler on the shoulder requires you to remove the existing shou

The Lambda Driver Canceler on the shoulder requires you to remove the existing shoulder parts before attaching it.
You can also mount a smoke discharger on top of the shoulder parts.

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - The monomolecular cutter stored in the knee needs to be detached first, then you at

The monomolecular cutter stored in the knee needs to be detached first, then you attach the blade separately.

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - The Demolition Gun can also be used in a compact form by folding it in half and rem

The Demolition Gun can also be used in a compact form by folding it in half and removing the barrel.

The wire gun that came with the Gebo's Mao unit can also be mounted on the forearm.

Three different hands are included in total.

The limb articulation is excellent.

The entire shoulder swings forward quite a bit.

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - Just like the previous kits, there's a gimmick where you pull the hip pin downward

Just like the previous kits, there's a gimmick where you pull the hip pin downward to extend the range of motion.

Natural kneeling pose

Demolition Gun pose

Aerial firing pose

Monomolecular cutter action

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV - Wire gun + sub-arm action. The shotgun mounted on the sub-arm is borrowed from the

Wire gun + sub-arm action.
The shotgun mounted on the sub-arm is borrowed from the HG Arbalest.

Together with the previous HG Arbalest & Gernsback.

Together with Kotobukiya's Laevatein (right).

The Laevatein is the fourth release in Bandai's Full Metal Panic HG lineup. It follows a similar structure to the Arbalest and Gernsback, but the color combination is far more complex, so a high level of color separation has been applied. The standout feature is how they individually separated even the yellow bands running down the middle of the arms and legs into their own parts — the color separation here is honestly top-tier even among Bandai kits.

The articulation characteristics are similar to the previous kits, with the limbs folding to their absolute limits. The gimmick of dropping the hip joint slightly downward is still here too — though since there's no skirt armor, you can pull off plenty of dynamic poses even without it. That said, with so many moving parts, it still takes a bit of time to get everything dialed into the right angle.

The joint strength itself is reasonably stable, but it leaves a bit to be desired in terms of balance. There aren't any particularly loose joints, but there's a mix of stiff joints and ones with more moderate tension, which makes posing a little awkward. For example, the shoulders are extremely stiff while the waist is quite flexible — so if you don't hold the body in the right places while moving things around, the force ends up going somewhere unintended and small parts tend to pop off.

The weapons and gimmicks are fairly well-rounded too. You get the Demolition Gun, which can fold in half and has a removable barrel, along with the monomolecular cutter that stores in the knee. The cutter requires you to detach it and plug in the blade part separately, and the Lambda Driver Canceler on the side of the shoulder is reproduced as a swap-out piece. The signature sub-arm under the shoulder armor isn't fully articulated — it uses a detach-and-add-connector-part approach instead. That's a bit of a shame when you consider that Kotobukiya's Laevatein reproduced it as a fully articulated arm. As a bonus, you can also mount the wire gun that came with the Gernsback Mao unit onto the forearm.

Compared to Kotobukiya's Laevatein released in 2014, the proportions feel pretty similar. But aside from the precision of certain gimmicks, the Bandai version comes out ahead in pretty much every other area — articulation, joint strength, color separation, build feel, you name it. Especially when it comes to that smooth, satisfying build and posing experience, Bandai is clearly the winner there.

Either way, this kit is significant as the next core Full Metal Panic mech to get the Bandai plastic model treatment, following the Arbalest and Gernsback. It can feel ever so slightly rough around the edges compared to Gunpla, but it's still a fun mech model kit that's genuinely enjoyable to build and play around with. :-)

1/60 ARX-8 Laevatein Ver.IV | 2018.10 | ¥3,600

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.