Kotobukiya Phantasy Star Online

RAcaseal Elenor Ver.APSY

Kit Review

Straight build

Sega's online game, Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst
Episode IV (official site: http://psobb.jp/ ) characters have been added to the Kotobukiya lineup. The first up is RAcaseal Elenor Ver.APSY, and as you can see, it's a very feminine mechanical design. Just a note — the correct pronunciation here is "Phantasy," not "Fantasy" ^^;

When you first open the box.. you might be a little taken aback by how sparse the contents look for the price. This kit has an even smaller volume relative to its part count compared to other kits. Either way, that MG-level price tag with what feels like HG-level contents is still not a great feeling ^^;

But as expected from a Kotobukiya kit — once you finish building it, there's a different kind of sculpt quality compared to Bandai kits, and above all else, it's "pretty."
Some people might feel like being pretty is enough to forgive everything..

That said, there are several areas where the colors differ from the official settings, and it's a shame that Kotobukiya's usually impressive pre-painting work is barely applied here. The one spot that does get pre-painted is the eyes, but as you can see in the photos above, only the eye area is exposed anyway — so there's really no good reason to provide a separately painted part just for the eyes. Simply doing a color separation with pink parts for the eyes would've been more than enough. It almost feels like an attempt to cover up a runner layout mistake;; Either way, if pre-painting had been applied in more places, the overall finish would've been much better — this is a kit where the inconsistent paint policy leaves you scratching your head.

As a humanoid mech, I'd give it a passing grade for articulation. The upper body joint that bends backward a full 90 degrees — something we've never seen before — along with the knees and elbows that fold up nicely across the board, all let you naturally pull off unique poses that really show off those feminine lines when you actually start posing it. The joints do feel a bit stiff though, so posing doesn't flow as smoothly as you'd like.. Joint strength itself isn't bad, but you do need to be careful about how much force you apply when bending them. Still, since it can pull off subtle, seductive poses that you just can't get from other kits, I think the articulation structure is well worth it.

No fewer than 5 hand parts are included, and with proportions that really bring out those feminine lines, it's a standout feature compared to other kits. The one downside is that gripping the crossbow-type weapon is a bit awkward and hard to keep secure — but the two naturally open hand poses are genuinely something you'd expect from Kotobukiya at their best.

There are feminine mechs in the Super Robot Wars and Virtual-On lineups too, but Elenor has a different feel from all of them. How to put it — the lines really come alive in the poses? You can tell a lot of thought went into the design to achieve natural, flowing lines and posing, and in that sense it's a genuinely fresh addition to the lineup. This isn't femininity expressed through color and design alone — it's the real feel of a true feminine mech conveyed through design, movement, and line work, and this kit might just be the best at that.

Either way, Kotobukiya's new attempt here feels like it has real meaning.. And while there are issues like stiff joints and a small volume for the price, the kit has equally unique merits to offer. Whether this series will continue from here is still a bit of an unknown at this point, but as something distinctly different from the existing Hoihoi-san or Rockman kits — a much more human-like mech with lines that truly come alive — I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next :-)

Phantasy Star Online RAcaseal Elenor Ver.APSY | 2011. 5 | ¥3,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.