Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body and head

Back section

The distinctive arm and back wing sections

Those unique pointy legs, also quite something

The blade-like hands and the fingered hands can be swapped out for each other.

Articulation is a bit hard to judge..
It's a kit with a genuinely unusual joint structure.

What looks like the shoulders is actually connected not to the arms, but to the backpack wings.

You can also remove the pointy tip parts at the feet and configure it like the right side.

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Action pose (1/4)

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Action pose (2/4)

Action pose

Action pose 2

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Pose with both hands swapped out for blades (1/3)

Pose with both hands swapped out for blades

Transformation

Pull the large crotch section forward, then close it back up with the head lowered.

Pull the hip joints outward and rotate them forward.

Push the legs upward to cover all the knee joints.

Fold the backpack mount — where the shoulder armor connects — all the way back..

Rotate the backpack itself 180 degrees and flip it upward.

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Pull out the wing connectors to extend them, then bend them into an X shape — transformation comple

Pull out the wing connectors to extend them, then bend them into an X shape — transformation complete.

After transforming into flight mode

As you can see from the front and back,
the wings form an X shape.

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Various angles (1/5)

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Various angles (2/5)

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper - Various angles (3/5)

Various angles

Together with its predecessor, Jehuty.

As a mech from the Zone of the Enders game, Vic Viper has been released following Jehuty. Compared to Jehuty which is relatively normal(?), Vic Viper is a pretty unique machine — it's got those reverse-jointed-looking pointy legs, and the arm and body structure doesn't look anything like a typical mech either.

It does a solid job of recreating the bizarre articulation gimmicks from the source material, and as you can tell just from the photos above, the joint structure is completely different from your average mech kit. Most of the torso is taken up by a massive crotch section (ㅡ_ㅡ;), the chest armor moves independently on each side, and the shoulder armor is connected to the backpack wings — it's a genuinely novel design in a lot of ways. That does make it a bit tricky to evaluate in terms of articulation, but on the flip side, it comes with a pretty unique transformation gimmick to make up for it.

As you can probably tell from the transformation sequence photos, the transformation gimmick is just as unusual as the body structure itself. The legs extend straight forward and the body lays flat during the transformation, and the big highlight is that the four wings end up arranged in an X shape. That said, it's not really the type where everything clicks neatly into place — it's more of a "position things roughly where they should go" kind of transformation, so it doesn't feel all that solid once transformed. It's a relief that none of the joints are loose, but the high degree of freedom in each joint's positioning (whether you want it or not) makes it a bit tricky to nail down the exact proportions after transforming.

Also, since the focus is so heavily on recreating the transformation gimmick, there isn't much in the way of separate weapons or other gimmicks. The only option is swapping out the bizarre finger parts for pointy blade-shaped parts, but the fit is loose so the hands tend to pop off pretty easily.

Anyway, the unique design and transformation gimmick are the main selling points here — and because of that, the build process feels noticeably different from other kits, so you'll often find yourself staring hard at the manual. If you're a fan of the ZOE games, you'll probably just be happy this kit exists at all, and it's definitely worth recommending to anyone looking for a fresh and unusual building experience. :-)

Anubis Z.O.E. Vic Viper | 2012. 6 | ¥5,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.