Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Size comparison with a cigarette pack. It's about 30cm tall, which is way bi

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
It's about 30cm tall, which is way bigger than you'd expect...

Here's roughly how it feels in your hand size-wise.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Views from various angles. It's a symmetrical design, so it looks pretty muc

Various angles.
It's a symmetrical design, so it looks pretty much the same from any angle.

Views from above and below.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Five boosters and five landing gears are each mounted in a circular arrangem

Five boosters and five landing gears are each mounted in a circular arrangement.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - The large clear canopy. You can see a crack near the front — in my case, it

The large clear canopy.
You can see a crack near the front — in my case, it was already cracked while still on the runner. T_T

The canopy can be opened.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Cockpit close-up (1/3)

Cockpit close-up

When you detach the cockpit section, this is what the interior looks like.

As a bonus, Cell's shed shell is also included.

Cell's shed shell

Looking at it from underneath, you can see it's pretty hollow inside.

Together with the separately sold Figure-rise Standard Trunks.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - With Trunks seated inside (1/3)

With Trunks seated inside

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Tried seating just the figure without the sword sheath on his back — I took

Tried seating just the figure without the sword sheath on his back.
I took it off thinking it might get in the way, but there's actually too much room without it and it's even harder to get him to sit properly.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Full shot with Trunks seated inside (1/3)

Full shot with Trunks seated inside

Goku, who's a bit bigger than Trunks, actually fits the scale better.

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Tried seating the fixed-pose Vegeta that came with the Figure-rise Mechanics

Tried seating the fixed-pose Vegeta that came with the Figure-rise Mechanics Saiyan Space Pod.
Due to his leg design, he can't sit properly and ends up face-planting like that. -_-

The 1/12 Stormtrooper surprisingly fits in really well... ^^;;

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine - Standard 1/144 Gunpla figures have such big shoulder armor that it's hard to

Standard 1/144 Gunpla figures have such big shoulder armor that it's hard to get them to sit properly.

Together with the previous Figure-rise Mechanics releases.

The third Figure-rise Mechanics kit is Trunks' Time Machine, and I'm sure plenty of people were surprised by the box — it's even bigger than the MG Sazabi Ver.Ka box. Compared to the box size, the ¥6800 price tag almost seems like a bargain, though once you see the actual contents, it starts to make sense. Open it up and the parts are large, but there aren't that many of them.

The finished model is also around 30cm tall and feels much larger than you'd expect, but the parts breakdown is efficient enough that you can easily put it together in about an hour. And despite its size, there's a lot of empty space inside, so it's not as heavy as it looks.

The color separation is well done for a kit this size, so even a straight build has a pretty impressive presence. Other than the gimmick of opening the large round canopy, there are no moving parts whatsoever. That said, as you can see in the review photos above, in my case the canopy already had a crack in it while still on the runner, before I even opened the bag. (T_T) Given that it's a large, rigid clear part, it seems like cracks can easily occur during packaging or shipping.

The crack appears at the gate connection point on the runner, which makes me think there might be some kind of structural weakness there. It sounds like quite a few people besides me received their kits with this crack already present — honestly, it feels like the kind of defect that warrants an official recall.

And of course you can bring in the separately sold Figure-rise Standard Trunks to seat inside, but it doesn't quite feel like it was designed to fit perfectly. The cockpit seems too large and the body too small — if you remove the sword sheath from his back and sit him in, there's too much space left over and he ends up sitting awkwardly. I guess the intention is to seat him with the sheath still attached, but it doesn't look all that comfortable either.
My guess is that the Time Machine and the Figure-rise Standard Trunks were developed simultaneously, so they didn't get a chance to properly check the fit during the design phase — which might also be why Bandai's official sample photos don't include any shots of Trunks actually seated inside. -_-

If anything, seating the slightly larger Goku actually looks more natural, but either way, it feels like they went out of their way to make it big and ended up with a Time Machine that's oversized in just about every respect. As a bonus, Cell's shed shell is also included — it looks like it might be a soft part, but it's actually just regular hard plastic.

All in all, this is a kit that'll genuinely surprise you with its massive box and the sheer size of the finished build. If you're a fan of big kits or a Dragon Ball and Trunks fan, it's definitely a unique model worth trying out. :-)

Figurerise Mechanics Trunks' Time Machine | 2017. 7 | ¥6,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.