Kit Review

Straight build

* Note: The lower body was assembled with the front and back reversed.
T_T Well.. just bear with it (ahem;)

Size comparison with the universal standard — a cigarette box

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Checking it out from various angles.. (1/3)

Checking it out from various angles..

Upper body close-up and torso area. The color separation is absolutely wild.

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Head area.. The face cover uses Kotobukiya's signature pre-painted parts.. but compared to the Su

Head area.. The face cover uses Kotobukiya's signature pre-painted parts..
Compared to the Super Robot Wars kit, it feels like the paint job was left half-finished -.-.
Just a straight build and the face doesn't really come alive.

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - The head is quite unique. It's made of soft clear parts, and it clips in securely so it doesn't p

The head is quite unique. It's made of soft clear parts, and it clips in securely so it doesn't pop off easily.
The center of gravity looks like it should be completely thrown off, but it doesn't actually affect things much..

Head length viewed from above

Back detail shots

Shoulder front and back detail

Arm detail. The back of the arms is pretty complex~.

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Leg detail. Fold down those massive knee covers and you get a look at the wild color separation o

Leg detail. Fold down those massive knee covers and you get a look at the wild color separation on the legs.

Feet

Hands gripping the twin pistols

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Even though the color separation looks pretty solid overall.. there are quite a few spots where i

Even though the color separation looks pretty solid overall.. there are quite a few spots where it falls short.
It's not like it'd be technically impossible — feels more like they just got tired of splitting parts and skipped some. ^^;

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Demonbane is.. unfortunately a kit where you should have absolutely zero expectations when it com

Demonbane is.. unfortunately a kit where you should have absolutely zero expectations when it comes to articulation.
The arms can't even reach 45 degrees..
And the real kicker is that the top-right photo is actually the legs bent to their maximum..;;
I've never seen legs with this little range of motion before.
It's probably due to durability and parts breakdown, but I guess the upside is that since the legs barely bend, it doesn't topple backwards;;

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - To support that massive frame — especially with that long head in the back — the body absolutely

To support that massive frame — especially with that long head in the back — the body absolutely cannot fall backwards.
The back of the neck has a stopper-like piece behind the ball joint to prevent the neck from tilting back at all,
and the waist joint also has a kind of guard that stops it from going backwards entirely.
Neither of these were on the prototype, but thanks to them, the body absolutely will not fall backwards;;

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - There are 5 hand types in total. The detail and proportions on the hand parts are exactly what yo

There are 5 hand types in total. The detail and proportions on the hand parts are exactly what you'd expect from Kotobukiya, who've always been great at hands.

Demonbane's two pistols..
With a frame that size, I can't believe it only uses tiny little guns..

The articulation is rough, but we still gotta try some action poses..;

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Regardless of the articulation, just standing there it already looks so cool that the action shot

Regardless of the articulation, just standing there it already looks so cool that the action shots aren't actually that bad... maybe.. sort of..

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Action poses using Kotobukiya's signature well-proportioned hand parts. When I first tried posing

Action poses using Kotobukiya's signature well-proportioned hand parts.
When I first tried posing it, I was worried the open-palm support hand wouldn't even be able to hold the gun properly..
But thankfully it works out okay;

This one does its talking with its back too..

There's a reason Demonbane has such a long head.
If it falls backwards, the head props it up.. ;;;;;;;;;;;

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Thanks to Kotobukiya's signature trick of repeating the same runners, you end up with a fair numb

Thanks to Kotobukiya's signature trick of repeating the same runners, you end up with a fair number of leftover parts.

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Size comparison with Kotobukiya's Super Robot Wars and Armored Core series. It's overwhelmingly b

Size comparison with Kotobukiya's Super Robot Wars and Armored Core series.
It's overwhelmingly bigger.

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Size comparison with the latest HGUC and MG kits. It's big, really big. You'd need to put somethi

Size comparison with the latest HGUC and MG kits. It's big, really big.
You'd need to put something like the MG Sazabi next to it to get a comparable size..

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - Size comparison with various chunky Bandai kits. Looking at it now, the RRR L-Gaim really was qui

Size comparison with various chunky Bandai kits.
Looking at it now, the RRR L-Gaim really was quite a big kit;;

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - It may not mean much, but here it is alongside the Demonbane prototype (right) that I built two m

It may not mean much, but here it is alongside the Demonbane prototype (right) that I built two months before the official release.
The molded colors are subtly different.
With the official release, the joint strength was improved and the neck and waist supports were also improved,
so the quality is much better than the prototype stage.

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane - To think I'd end up building that kit with its insane part count twice.. but it was actually pret

To think I'd end up building that kit with its insane part count twice.. but it was actually pretty fun in its own way.

Reference: View prototype review

Demonbane, known from the game and anime, had already made a name for itself with its incredibly wild design.. I honestly thought there was no way anyone would ever kit this thing, but leave it to Kotobukiya to pull it off ^^; And to achieve the ultimate parts breakdown, they went ahead and made it a large non-scale kit standing about 25cm tall.

In my opinion, regardless of the mech's popularity, this feels like a kit that was developed purely because the mechanical design itself fired up the Kotobukiya dev team's desire for a challenge... It genuinely has the most runners and parts of any Kotobukiya kit, and building it, you get completely overwhelmed(?) by the sheer number of parts. As you can tell just from the photos, the color separation is absolutely insane — broken down into tiny little pieces like crazy. This is truly the pinnacle of the Kotobukiya-style kit.

However, as you can tell from that wild design, this kit is structurally a bit precarious — not so much due to design flaws in the kit itself, but because of the inherent weaknesses in the design. I can understand sacrificing articulation to focus on parts breakdown, but the somewhat worrying double-jointed waist and that massive head in the back are enough to make you dizzy just looking at them..but!

Whether it's thanks to the dev team's painstaking efforts or whatever, it does stand up straight on its own just fine.. It's somehow a kit you feel grateful to just for standing there T_T. Looking at the design alone, even getting it to stand upright seems like it'd be a nightmare, but thankfully there's no real issue with keeping it standing. In particular, you'd think that giant head in the back would make it topple over, but there are supports across the neck and waist, and crucially the knees themselves barely bend backwards (which is a downside;;) and the ankle joints aren't loose, so it holds up. The hip joints feel a little iffy, but anyway — standing upright: success! Especially glad the neck doesn't tilt backwards.

About two months before release, Kotobukiya sent over a prototype for me to review, and at that stage the neck and waist were unstable and the balance was a bit off.. but those issues were fixed in the official release. The polycaps are also on the tighter side for a Kotobukiya kit, which is a relief.. So despite what is honestly the worst articulation imaginable — barely any movement at all — just having it stand there is genuinely impressive.

The appeal of this kit is its unique build experience.. and the joy of tackling that extreme parts breakdown. It gives a very different feel from Bandai kits, and the building process itself delivers a fair amount of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. As for the articulation?? Just think of it as a big standing figure.. ^^;

Still, even just as a straight build, the sheer size and impressive color separation give it an incredibly striking presence. Either way, as befits Kotobukiya's most ambitious project ever, it's definitely a kit that stirs the competitive spirit in mecha model enthusiasts — a landmark release in its own right. ^_^;; That's Kotobukiya for you...!!

Deus Ex Machina Demonbane | 2007. 7 | ¥6,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.