Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Megalomaria Mephisto - Various angles (1/6)

Megalomaria Mephisto - Various angles (2/6)

Megalomaria Mephisto - Various angles (3/6)

Megalomaria Mephisto - Various angles (4/6)

Various angles

Megalomaria Mephisto - Detail shots (1/4)

Megalomaria Mephisto - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

Megalomaria Mephisto - Base body with additional armor removed (1/3)

Base body with additional armor removed

Just like the Principal base body, you can choose between standard wrists and rotating wrists.

Megalomaria Mephisto - The hip armor lets you choose between a split type for better articulation or a single-piece type for

The hip armor lets you choose between a split type for better articulation or a single-piece type for better proportions,
and you can swap out the spine parts to expose the stand hole.

The side thigh covers are also optional.

A total of 7 hand types are included.

Blade rotation gimmick on the wrist

Leftover parts

Excellent articulation, as expected.

The shoulders can bend forward about 90 degrees.

Flexible waist

Ankle tilt range

Base body in a comfortable kneeling sit pose

Cross-legged sitting pose pulled off perfectly.

Megalomaria Mephisto - Kneeling, squatting, you name it — any pose is possible. (1/4)

Megalomaria Mephisto - Kneeling, squatting, you name it — any pose is possible. (2/4)

Kneeling, squatting, you name it — any pose is possible.

Full leg splits too!

Kick pose

Megalomaria Mephisto - Blade attack pose (1/3)

Blade attack pose

Running pose using a stand

Megalomaria Mephisto - Together with the Megalomaria Principal. True to its male character design, the build is noticeably bi

Together with the Megalomaria Principal.
True to its male character design, the build is noticeably bigger.

Mephisto has been released as the 7th kit in Kotobukiya's Megalomaria series. Unlike the previous entries which were based on the female character Principal, this one comes as a male character. It's an entirely new sculpt, but the basic structure and articulation characteristics are pretty much the same.

First off, true to its male character design, the build is noticeably bigger and comes with a more muscular, stockier look. Since it shares the same joint structure as the female base body, it still delivers insane articulation. Full limb bend is a given, and high-difficulty poses like doing the splits in any direction or sitting cross-legged are pulled off naturally. Thanks to some minor joint structure improvements combined with the larger frame, it actually feels even more dynamic and satisfying to pose than the female base body.

With 54 points of articulation across the whole body, you might worry about joint strength — but there are no seriously loose joints overall, so posing and holding positions isn't really an issue. That said, there's a subtle joint balance thing going on; for example, the hip joints feel tight while the waist is slightly loose, which makes it a bit tricky to gauge how much force to apply when posing. Still, considering the record-breaking number of moving parts, I'd say it passes with flying colors.

There aren't any separate weapons, but all the options from the existing female base body carry over here. You can choose between the action-type and proportion-type hip armor, swap out the side thigh covers, or replace the wrists with straight standard wrists. The rotating wrists also have blades attached, so you can spin them out for an armed look. And with 7 hand types included, they all have great proportions.

All in all, Mephisto is a solid Megalomaria kit that does a great job as a male character distinct from the female ones. With its improved poseability, it's easily the top action figure model kit among all plastic models currently out there. It's got way better articulation than a regular human like me (...), and pulls off high-difficulty poses at almost gymnast or yoga instructor level completely naturally. Either way, this is a highly recommended kit for modelers who care about articulation and posing — and it seems like Kotobukiya is genuinely better than Bandai when it comes to this kind of niche obsession. :-)

Megalomaria Mephisto | 2024.11 | ¥6,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.