Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
It's a bit bigger than your typical Bandai SD.

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - The color separation on the clear parts is really great! Well, technically it's not separation — the

The color separation on the clear parts is really great!
Technically it's not color separation — they're actually painted parts.

Gold trim on the chest and decals on the shoulders.

All the rubber joint areas are painted.

The Metropolitan Police Department markings on the back and shield are also printed on.

The elbows bend too!

The knees don't bend, but the proportions are surprisingly good for an SD.

Weapons include a revolver and a baton — two total.
No hand variations whatsoever... ;

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Action pose (1/3)

Action pose

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Revolver ready stance (1/3)

Revolver ready stance

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Shooting pose. Somehow looks surprisingly dynamic even with the limited joint movement. (1/3)

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Shooting pose. Somehow looks surprisingly dynamic even with the limited joint movement. (2/3)

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Shooting pose. Somehow looks surprisingly dynamic even with the limited joint movement. (3/3)

Firing pose.
Somehow looks surprisingly dynamic even with the limited joint movement.

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Baton action (1/4)

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - Baton action (2/4)

Baton action

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - You need to balance it carefully, but kick poses are possible too. (1/4)

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 - You need to balance it carefully, but kick poses are possible too. (2/4)

You need to balance it carefully, but kick poses are possible too.

Size comparison with a standard BB Senshi-class Bandai SD model.
It's noticeably bigger overall.

Together with the MG Ingram.

Kotobukiya has thrown their hat into the SD ring with a brand called D-Style, and their first entry is the Patlabor AV-98 Ingram 1. It's a classic SD with a big head and a roughly 3-head-tall body — and just as expected, it came out absolutely adorable.

True to Kotobukiya form, various parts on the runners come pre-painted, and the clear parts in particular have clean clear-coat painting in three different colors. On top of that, the various markings unique to the Ingram are printed directly onto the parts themselves, so a straight build alone gets you almost perfectly on-spec colors. Just add some panel lining and this thing would look incredibly polished.

That said, since no separate decals are included for the markings, it might be a bit of a headache for anyone planning to paint the kit. Some recent Kotobukiya kits have included separate decals, but it looks like D-Style doesn't get that treatment.

Being an SD-class kit, the parts count is extremely simple and assembly is a breeze — which feels quite different from the usual Kotobukiya experience. You'd expect that signature Kotobukiya fussiness with parts breakdown even on an SD, but this kit goes completely the opposite direction with an ultra-simplified parts layout. Assembly takes roughly 10 to 20 minutes or so.

Articulation isn't something you'd expect much from an SD, but since the elbows bend, you can pull off a decent variety of poses. Overall the proportions are quite good for an SD, so even small adjustments give you some pretty nice-looking stances. The joints aren't loose, but they do tend to pop off if you push them to extreme angles. Just be a little careful and it shouldn't be much of an issue.

Overall, the quality is extremely satisfying. It's easy to build, and the color combination and proportions after a straight build are at a level that surpasses Bandai's SD offerings. The molded colors are still a slight step behind Bandai's, but just a coat of flat finish should get you pretty close to a painted look.

It's priced at ¥1,500, which is on the pricey side for an SD — very Kotobukiya of them — but it's a genuinely fun and easy build that's well worth the money. One big plus over Bandai SDs is that there's almost none of that hollow, skeleton-like construction! Really looking forward to where the D-Style series goes from here. :-)

D Style AV-98 Ingram 1 | 2010. 6 | ¥1,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.