Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body, front / rear

A unique head.
The head antenna makes up 30% of the total body height.

Weapons

Legs

The sculpting and three-dimensionality of the arms/legs is really impressive.

Detail on the inside of the rear skirt.
Two rubber pipes are connected here.

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - A look at the inside of the shield. You attach each of those 6 armor pieces one by one, but surpris

A look at the inside of the shield.
You attach each of those 6 armor pieces one by one, but surprisingly they hold on pretty well without falling off.

In addition to one set of weapon-holding hands, one set each of fists and open hands are included.

You can pull out the center block of the backpack, rotate it 180 degrees, and plug it back in.

The roller unit attached to the back of the feet can also be lowered down.

Leftover parts

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - Articulation. The design is so unusual it's hard to tell how far things are actually bending.. The

Articulation.
The design is so unusual it's hard to tell how far things are actually bending..
The arm and leg articulation isn't all that great.

The rifle can be plugged into the mounting part on the backpack.

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - Action pose (1/4)

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - Action pose (2/4)

Action pose

You can deploy the gimmick below the elbow and connect it to the underside of the rifle.

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - Rifle firing pose (1/4)

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - Rifle firing pose (2/4)

Rifle firing pose

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou - There aren't many poses you can pull off to begin with.. but more than that, the joint strength is

There aren't many poses you can pull off to begin with..
But more than that, the joint strength is so worryingly weak that posing is a real struggle. T_T

Together with the Type 38 Model 1 Ryurai Kai, another ground-combat-style unit

Kotobukiya's original mecha lineup, Frame Arms, has a new release: the Type 48 Model 1 Kagutsji Kou has arrived. Reading the kanji straight in Korean sounds a bit off, so it's better to go with the Japanese reading, Kagutsji Kou. ^^; Breaking down the meaning, the characters mean "radiant" and "hammer," so it essentially translates to "Shining Hammer." As for the "Kou" at the end, it seems like the designer, Inaba Kou, added his own name to it himself.. (or maybe not.)

First off, as you'd expect from an original design, the mechanical feel born out of free-flowing imagination is pretty cool. The grotesque combination of that abnormally spiky head and the incredibly chunky body, plus the leg design that's so complex and three-dimensional you can barely tell where the joints are — it's more than enough to give you a vibe that's totally different from any mecha you've seen before.

The edges and molding are noticeably sharper than on other kits, and the desert-tone molded color is also very well done — impressive even by Kotobukiya standards (?) — so this design feels quite satisfying even as a straight build. The only weapons included are a rifle and a shield, but both feel like they suit the main body well enough, and the shield in particular has an interesting build where you assemble each armor piece separately.

Since this kit is focused on design and proportions, the articulation isn't great — but like any chunky kit, even a simple pose carries a lot of impact. The real Achilles' heel of this kit, though, is its seriously weak joint strength. T_T

Truth be told, the polycap strength of the Architect frame that serves as the base for Frame Arms isn't all that great. The idea of sharing a common skeleton and swapping out different armor sets is clever, but I've pointed out multiple times that this frame clearly struggles to handle kits with large, heavy armor. And this kit — the pinnacle of chunkiness — lays that limitation completely bare.

The review photos above do show some poses, but I had to work incredibly hard to get them. T_T If you balance the center of gravity carefully, a standing pose is just barely manageable, but there's not a single joint — arms, legs, hip, waist — that isn't loose. On top of that, unless you disassemble the Architect's key joints — the waist and hip sections — and re-bond them, the internal joint parts inside the frame will come apart piece by piece while you're posing it. So when you actually build this, absolutely do not treat it like a snap-fit kit and just slap it together — you'll seriously regret it. ;;; Keep in mind that if you don't diligently apply glue to all the joint-related parts and key armor pieces throughout the build, the armor and frame will constantly self-disassemble.

To sum it up — this is undeniably a great-looking kit with sharp edges and a style that looks fantastic even as a straight build.. but without major work to tighten the joints with thin cement and plenty of gluing throughout, it can barely stand on its own. As you build it, the pros and cons swing to such opposite extremes that you'll find yourself alternating between amazement and frustration. If you go in knowing that and put in the work to compensate, though, I think it's a genuinely great kit. :-)

Frame Arms Kagutsji Kou | 2012.7 | ¥3,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.