Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (1/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (2/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (3/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (4/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (5/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (6/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (7/8)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. (8/8)

Body front and back.

Head and top-down view of the body.

Backpack weapons.

A nice "9" decal is printed on the shoulder.

Weapons

Legs.

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - You can swap out the parts on both sides of the forearm, allowing you to plug in wea

You can swap out the parts on both sides of the forearm, allowing you to plug in weapons from other AC series kits into the holes.

Hands come in 3 sets total.

Articulation is decent enough.

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - There are movable cylinders on the rear legs, but they tend to pop right out, as you

There are movable cylinders on the rear legs, but they tend to pop right out, as you can see in the photo on the right. T_T

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - The shoulders look like they're fixed in place, but they do move upward to some degr

The shoulders look like they're fixed in place, but they do move upward to some degree.

The machine gun below the chest can rotate.

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - Pulse rifle firing pose. (1/4)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - Pulse rifle firing pose. (2/4)

Pulse rifle firing pose.

You can open the underside of the forearm and plug in a beam saber.

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - Beam saber action pose (1/3)

Beam saber action pose

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - Action poses with the 2 backpack weapons — grenade cannon and missiles. (1/3)

Action poses with the 2 backpack weapons — grenade cannon and missiles.

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. - Together with the Crest Nineball version. Similar color scheme, but the design is co

Together with the Crest Nineball version.
Similar color scheme, but the design is completely different.

Together with Nineball Seraph.
Seraph really is a big unit...

Nineball gathering!

With Kotobukiya's Armored Core series having only trickled out the NEXT line for a while, Nineball Armored Core ver. has now been released as part of the regular Armored Core lineup. It shares the same color scheme as the previously released Crest Nineball version and Nineball Seraph, but it's an entirely new kit with a completely different design.

The overall design and construction are pretty much in line with existing Armored Core kits — color separation is still well done, articulation is solid, and joint strength is appropriately firm for a recent kit. Compared to the early releases, most parts can be assembled snap-tight without glue without much trouble, though a few parts still absolutely need glue. ^^ The front of the knees comes with separate paint applied, and a "9" decal is printed on the left shoulder — all the little Kotobukiya touches you'd expect.

If there's anything new to point out... beam sabers have always been a bit out of place in the Armored Core series, but this kit actually recreates one using a special gimmick on the underside of the forearm. Finding a soft beam saber part inside an Armored Core kit was quite a surprise! ^^

There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about it, but the significance is simply that a new Armored Core kit has arrived — and since the quality is more refined than the early kits in a number of ways, if you like the design, it's a perfectly solid, typical Kotobukiya kit worth building. :-)

Armored Core Nineball Armored Core ver. | 2011. 12 | ¥5,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.