Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - A few things to note during shoulder assembly. Most parts snap together just fine, but the shoulder

A few things to note during shoulder assembly.
Most parts snap together just fine,
but the shoulder joint is structured in a way that's just asking to fall apart inside the shoulder when you're trying to fit it onto the body.
So I'd recommend gluing the internal shoulder parts in place (except for the moving parts) to make assembly a lot easier.

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - The Avalanche Claymore on the front of the shoulder opens up cleanly in 3 directions.

The front of the shoulder's Avalanche Claymore opens up cleanly in 3 directions.

The interior can be swapped out with open-style parts.

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - Two hand options are included — a fist and a weapon-holding hand. But since there are no weapons to

Two hand options are included — a fist and a weapon-holding hand.
But since there are no weapons to hold, I honestly have no idea why they bothered including that second hand. ;;

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - The Revolving Bunker includes a magazine-swap gimmick, and the bunker itself can also be swapped out

The Revolving Bunker includes a magazine-swap gimmick, and
the bunker itself can also be swapped out for a longer part.

Only 2 leftover parts.

Nothing spectacular, but both the elbows and knees do articulate.

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - Whoa.. it's got a hip slide gimmick — the kind you'd only expect to find in an MG. Pretty impressive

Whoa.. it's got a hip slide gimmick — the kind you'd only expect to find in an MG.
Pretty impressive that they threw something like this into an SD-style kit.

The wings and backpack section also move around freely.

Revolving Bunker, loaded!

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - Revolving Bunker action (1/3)

Revolving Bunker action

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - 5-barrel chaingun action (1/3)

5-barrel chaingun action

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - Avalanche Claymore action! (1/3)

Avalanche Claymore action!

The head antenna and effect parts included as first-run limited bonuses.

Revolving Bunker action using the effect parts

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - Flashy Avalanche Claymore effect parts action (1/3)

Flashy Avalanche Claymore effect parts action

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese - For the Claymore firing scene, you can plug in rods of 3 different thicknesses and arrange them at v

For the Claymore firing scene, you can plug in rods of 3 different thicknesses
and arrange them at various angles.

Together with the 1/144 Alteisen Riese.
Aside from a few spots, the color separation holds its own!

Together with the D-Style Genesic GaoGaiGar.
The SRDS is a bit more bulked out.

Compared to Bandai's BB Senshi,
the size difference is pretty massive. ;;

A new hybrid lineup called SRDS has been born in Kotobukiya's plastic model lineup. Just as the name suggests, it's a combination of Super Robot Wars (Super Robot) and D-Style — basically, Super Robot Wars units done up in D-Style form. The fact that they've launched this as a separate lineup from the regular D-Style tells me they're going for a distinctly different direction from the existing D-Style line.

First thing when you open the box — you'll be surprised by the sheer number of runners and parts, which isn't all that different from a regular 1/144 Super Robot Wars kit. The proportions are D-Style, but in terms of parts count and color separation, it's much closer to a standard Super Robot Wars kit. As a result, it takes a fair amount of time to build, and the color separation straight out of the box is honestly impressive for this type of kit.

The articulation does have its limits given the design, but all the moving parts do move, and you can even see the developer's enthusiasm in details like the hip slide gimmick — something you'd normally only find in Bandai MGs. (Though in practice it doesn't feel all that useful...) On top of that, gimmicks like the Avalanche Claymore and Revolving Bunker are faithfully reproduced and hold their own against the 1/144, which is honestly kind of endearing.

That said, there are a few frustrating spots in the assembly. Most parts snap together fine without glue, but some parts don't hold well enough and seem to need it. The shoulder parts in particular can cause a real headache if you don't glue them down first — when you try to fit the shoulder onto the body, the ball joint inside tends to get pushed back and pop apart internally. If that happens, you have to completely disassemble the whole big shoulder and start over, which is incredibly annoying. ;; If you haven't built it yet, I'd strongly recommend taking a close look at how the shoulder parts fit together and applying glue in the right spots to lock everything down securely — even if you skip it everywhere else.

This kit comes with first-run limited bonuses including effect parts for the Avalanche Claymore and Revolving Bunker, plus a metallic blue-painted head antenna. The Avalanche Claymore effect parts in particular look really cool and are a lot of fun to play around with. ^^ A lot of first-run bonuses tend to be pretty forgettable, but this is one kit where I'd genuinely recommend tracking down the first-run version.

Anyway, while it's billed as a fusion of D-Style and Super Robot Wars, it honestly feels closer to a cute Super Robot Wars kit than a full-on D-Style. It's bigger than other D-Style kits and dwarfs Bandai's SD Senshi, so it's maybe a little less cute because of that — but it's definitely a fresh and fun lineup. If you're after that adorable super-deformed look with a flashy design to match, this is a kit well worth enjoying. :-)

S.R.D-S Alteisen Riese | 2014. 11 | ¥5,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.