Kit Review

Straight build

Upper body close-up

Head

Arms

Skirt section

The color separation on the beam launcher is excellent.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - The backpack section. Sure enough, there's a Sega Saturn attached to it. The official name is t

The backpack section. Sure enough, there's a Sega Saturn attached to it. The official name is the V Converter Unit.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - Legs and feet (1/3)

Legs and feet

The Sega Saturn on the back opens on both sides and the cover...

You can also display it like this with a CD draped over it.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - There's a gimmick where the outer yellow part of the shoulder swings up 90 degrees. According t

There's a gimmick where the outer yellow part of the shoulder swings up 90 degrees...
According to the manual, it's supposed to assist articulation when spreading the shoulder out to the side,
but in practice it doesn't really seem to help much. -.-

Articulation. Quite impressive articulation for a Kotobukiya kit.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - There's a slide gimmick on the inside of the knee that seems to mimic a movable cylinder... but

There's a slide gimmick on the inside of the knee that seems to mimic a movable cylinder...
But it's really just loosely sitting there.

If you pull the shoulder out slightly, it can also pivot forward and backward a little.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - Action pose (1/3)

Action pose

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - Beam launcher firing pose (1/4)

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - Beam launcher firing pose (2/4)

Beam launcher firing pose

Not perfect, but a kneeling pose is more or less achievable.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - With only the one weapon, you can't get a huge variety of action poses, but this is a Kotobukiy

With only the one weapon, you can't get a huge variety of action poses,
but this is a Kotobukiya kit where the poses come out looking surprisingly natural.

It also includes a connection gimmick for use with Kotobukiya's dedicated stand.

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] - Stand on. (1/3)

Stand on.

Together with the previous release, Raiden. The size difference is pretty striking..;;

Following Raiden, Kotobukiya's Cyber Troopers Virtual-On series has now released Temjin [Ver. 1P]. In a way, Temjin feels like the original main character, so it seems like he should have come out first — the order does feel a bit backwards.. And the fact that it's released as the 1P version probably means a 2P color variant is definitely on the way, right?

With Raiden, the focus was more on the sheer size and impressive color separation rather than various gimmicks, so it felt less like an action figure and more like a static display figure. Temjin, on the other hand, benefits from a comparatively smaller and sleeker frame, making this a kit where the articulation really stands out.

The range of motion itself is much better than previous Kotobukiya Super Robot Wars-type kits, delivering excellent articulation on par with a mid-to-high grade MG. The joint strength — always a weak point for Kotobukiya kits — is also reasonably solid, with no parts that feel particularly loose, which makes this (at least until Temjin's release) arguably the best action figure kit Kotobukiya has put out.

The Virtual-On series is known for Katoki Hajime's wonderfully eccentric color combination designs, and Temjin is no exception — the design spec itself calls for quite a flashy mix of colors. For Kotobukiya's development team, who live and die by color separation, this must have felt like a serious challenge, and the result is a Temjin that's on a completely different level compared to Hasegawa's version, which relies almost entirely on decals.

As you can see, a straight build alone reproduces most of the design colors, and true to Kotobukiya form, the kit is made up of an enormous number of parts relative to its size. Thanks to that, you get a straight build with a thoroughly satisfying color scheme — personally, I thought the color separation on the beam launcher section in particular was really excellent.

That said, just like with Raiden, the small green clear parts don't hold on very well and tend to pop off easily. I ended up gluing mine, but since they're clear parts, glue marks show up pretty easily, which made assembly a bit of a headache. And no matter how much Kotobukiya has improved, the snap-fit connections are still a bit iffy, so it's worth keeping in mind that using glue wherever possible will give you a much more stable build.

Either way, seeing the improved articulation, joint strength, and ever-better color separation techniques, I can't help but feel pretty happy about where things are headed. It means we get to keep seeing unique mechs that you'd never find from Bandai — even if they're not exactly mass-market. Sure, the lower market appeal and inefficient development costs mean the price always feels about twice what Bandai charges, but I'm just grateful that they keep putting out these awesome mechs like this. :-)

Virtual On Temjin [Ver. 1P] | 2009. 3 | ¥4,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.