Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Leg articulation range

The head, waist, and tail can bend sideways too, but the range of motion isn't that great.

Head antenna articulation

You can rotate the upper front leg armor 180 degrees to expose the smoke discharger.

Quite a few leftover parts.

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - Action poses. There aren't as many good poses as you'd expect. (1/3)

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - Action poses. There aren't as many good poses as you'd expect. (2/3)

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - Action poses. There aren't as many good poses as you'd expect. (3/3)

Action pose.
There aren't as many good poses as you'd expect.

You can mount the separately sold Governor Pawn Expander and Sentinel figures.

With the Expander and Sentinel mounted

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - Poses with riders mounted (1/3)

Poses with riders mounted

To transform into CEVs mode, start by disassembling the body.

Lower the rear leg mounting section on the torso 90 degrees downward.

On the head section, fold the wheel unit down then rotate it forward.

For the front legs, rotate the armor 180 degrees and point the feet forward.

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - For the rear legs, just rotate the joint 90 degrees and angle the feet slightly forward — transf

For the rear legs, just rotate the joint 90 degrees and angle the feet slightly forward — transformation prep complete.

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - CEVs mode with all transformed blocks reassembled (1/4)

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - CEVs mode with all transformed blocks reassembled (2/4)

CEVs mode with all transformed blocks reassembled

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute - If you fully disassemble and creatively reconfigure the parts, you can even build a robot form l

If you fully disassemble and creatively reconfigure the parts, you can even build a robot form like the one shown above.
Assembly guide link: https://www.kotobukiya.co.jp/hexa-gear-gg/hexa-gear-gg-146384/

Together with the previous release, Bulk Arm Alpha.

This kit is the Demolition Brute, released as part of Kotobukiya's Hexa Gear series. It's an animal-type mecha with the look of a buffalo sporting massive horns — it's got a bit of a Zoids vibe to it.

The basic assembly process feels pretty smooth for a Kotobukiya kit — the snap-fit works well, and the color separation is solid enough that the straight build looks pretty good on its own. There are joints in the three legs, head, waist, and tail, so you can pose it in various ways. That said, each joint's range of motion is on the narrow side, so there aren't as many posing options as you might hope. On the plus side, the joint strength is solid, so whatever pose you do set holds up well.

Like previous releases, you can mount separately sold humanoid soldier figures — and interestingly, this one is designed to seat two riders at once. The manual recommends the Governor Pawn Expander and Sentinel, and they fit right in without looking out of place.

This kit also comes with its own transformation gimmick — through a relatively simple process, it can transform into a bike-like form called CEVs mode (Combat Engineer Vehicle mode). That said, since there aren't many parts that actually transform, the difference between the before and after doesn't look all that dramatic.

Kotobukiya also provides a customization guide on the official Hexa Gear website, showing how you can reconfigure it into a robot form called D-Powered. In practice it's basically a full disassembly and rebuild, but it's a pretty interesting customization idea. I thought about giving it a try myself, but the process looked way too complicated and reverting it back didn't seem easy, so I held off for the sake of the next review. ^^;

Anyway, true to the creative spirit of the Hexa Gear series, this is a mecha model kit with a genuinely unique personality — if the style appeals to you, it's a well-made kit that I'd definitely recommend. :-)

Hexa Gear Demolition Brute | 2018.5 | ¥6,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.