Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Size comparison with HGUC/MG

Upper body

Great color separation on the head.

G Axel Driver mounted between the back and shoulders.

Arm section.
The structure is oddly complex, making it tricky to get the angles right..

Legs

Hands come in 3 sets total.

A stand is included, as you'd expect from a transforming kit.

Mounted on the stand. The stand has the name engraved on it, as usual.

Articulation is relatively good, probably thanks to it being a transforming kit.

Super Robot War Altalion - G Axel Driver action. (1/4)

Super Robot War Altalion - G Axel Driver action. (2/4)

G Axel Driver action.

Super Robot War Altalion - Action pose. The limbs bend well enough, but the range of motion is a bit awkward, so dynamic pose

Action pose.
The limbs bend well enough, but the range of motion is a bit awkward, so dynamic poses are pretty difficult..

Super Robot War Altalion - Stabbing action using the pointed hands. (1/3)

Stabbing action using the pointed hands.

Transformation requires these additional separate parts shown above.

First, remove the hands..

After bending and folding the arm section this way and that.

Swap out the face part on the head.

Super Robot War Altalion - Remove the face and reattach the head, and you get the look shown above where the head is recessed

Remove the face and reattach the head, and you get the look shown above where the head is recessed inward.
It's not a particularly complex gimmick, so it seems like it could've been done as a movable mechanism.
I guess they were worried about durability, so they went with a swap-out approach instead..

Slide the chest all the way up~

Connecting to the stand requires yet another set of somewhat complex additional parts..

Attach the above parts to the lower chest area.

Raise the crotch section.. (ahem)

After bending the legs,

Insert the separate pre-bent knee piece between the knee joints.

Super Robot War Altalion - Fold the legs and press them flush against the underside of the body to complete the transformatio

Fold the legs and press them flush against the underside of the body to complete the transformation.

After transformation, the face and hand parts are left over.

The kit transformed into flight mode.
This form is called the Loose Figure..

A collection of Super Robot Wars transforming kits.
R-1, Altalion, and Wild Falken.

Flight mode comparison.

This is the Altalion, the 3rd transforming kit in the Super Robot Wars series. It has a somewhat different color feel compared to the previous SRW kits.. it's a kit with a cold, white and icy blue color scheme. It's quite a departure from the colorful look of the earlier kits, and honestly feels a bit out of place.

Despite the colors being something that could easily look cheap and candy-toy-like, the molding is relatively clean and it doesn't really come across as low-budget. The molded colors themselves are a bit on the suggestive side for some reason, but I'd say the molded color quality is actually pretty good. Instead of a separate weapon like a rifle, it comes with a unique weapon called the G Axel Driver mounted between the shoulders, and the various other articulation gimmicks are faithfully reproduced according to the design specs.

Kotobukiya still seemed a little lacking in transforming kit engineering up to this point, but with the Altalion — their 3rd transforming kit — they show a bit more improvement over the previous R-1 and Wild Falken. For starters, the overall joint strength is the most solid of any SRW kit so far, with not a single loose joint anywhere, which I really appreciate. Whether in robot mode or flight mode, everything locks in perfectly.

The transformation process is all handled through built-in gimmicks, except for the head swap, and the end result looks better than you might expect. In the lore, the robot mode is called the Doll Figure and the flight mode is called the Loose Figure — and personally, I think the flight mode looks cooler than the somewhat awkward-looking robot mode.

In the end, this is a kit that'll probably be pretty divisive due to its unique design, but the kit quality itself — especially the joint strength — is quite solid. Even if you've had doubts about Kotobukiya's joints before, or especially if you're extra worried because it's a transforming kit, this is good enough quality that you'll be able to build it with plenty of satisfaction. :-)

Super Robot War Altalion | 2008. 6 | ¥4,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.