Kit Review
Straight build
+ panel lining + decals
1. Basic Photo
Size comparison with a cigarette pack. Quite a hefty build, isn't it.
Upper body close-up
Torso section. Those gold foil stickers are absolutely gorgeous..
Head section.
The mono-eye is barely visible.
The wing-like backpack section.
The elongated propellant tanks.
Shoulder / arm section.
Leg section
Close-up of the legs. With all those layered armor plates, the volume is just insane~
A spot where the elaborate decaling really shines.
The feet and instep, looking gorgeous with their layered armor.
The back with the backpack removed.
This is a kit that brings back the bead-threading challenge after a long time.
The total bead count is 8×4 = 32, so it's not that many.
The areas where the gold foil stickers go are actually molded like this underneath.
However, the stickers are printed as one piece including the black areas, so I cut out each gold pattern individually with a knife before applying them.
I removed the black portions from all the gold foil stickers this way.
Before and after applying them.
What a huge difference~;;
The difference in decals on the shield section.
The top is with the sticker applied as-is, and the bottom is with the black areas cut away.
You can see the difference in depth, right?
Shield sticker before and after.
The gold foil stickers on the shield are probably the most elaborate of the bunch.
The gold band sections don't need the black areas cut away separately, and they fit the length perfectly, so
they're pretty easy to apply.
The gold foil on the collar section was also applied after removing the black areas.
The gold foil stickers on the wrist covers..
Before and after applying them.
The gold foil stickers on the knee area.
Diligently cutting away the black portions;
Knee area stickers before and after.
268 dry decals that are even more of a pain than the gold foil stickers -.-;;
After 3.5 hours, that's all I'd managed to apply OTL.
In total I spent about 15 hours doing nothing but decaling..
After all that massive decaling work, the used transfer tape piled up into a mountain..;
2. Mechanic Frame
Outer armor removal shot.
Packed in tight.. It was quite a job laying them all out nicely. ;
Wait — oddly enough, the inside of Sinanju's outer armor has no molding.
Most MGs have the inner surfaces of the outer armor packed with frame detail molding.. hmm...
I guess they were too busy to bother with that part.
Some of the inner surfaces of the leg armor do have a bit of molding that looks like piping.
Inner frame shots. It's a complete full-body frame that can be stripped bare from head to toe.
Upper body frame, front and rear shots.
Head section.
The mono-eye is molded in green clear parts, so there's no need to paint it or apply a sticker.
It's not even that hard to do... makes you wonder why they didn't do it this way sooner -.-;
Inside the head is the same mono-eye sync gimmick as the MG Zaku 2.0.
It's that system where turning the head makes the mono-eye swing further in the direction of rotation..
The problem is that due to the face's structure, the mono-eye is barely visible at all..
Upper torso frame close-up.
With the frame exposed, the green clear cockpit is clearly visible.
His (?) cockpit.
Shoulder and arm frame.
As you can see, Sinanju's frame has almost no mechanical surface detail.
Instead, it has a compact, Lego-like three-dimensionality that's definitely there —
especially the sharp, crisp edges on the angular sections, which give it a really solid sense of depth.
Backpack frame.
Skirt frame.
Leg frame. Again, the emphasis is on three-dimensionality rather than mechanical surface detail.
Foot frame.
Kits where the armor can be removed all the way down to the toes — not just the sole — are pretty rare..
Leg frame articulation. Full bend is a given!
Knee frame linkage.
The detail isn't particularly fine, but it's a practical and clean linkage structure.
Instead of cylinders, large structural pieces link together and push and move.
The knee frame in fully bent position.
The foot bends at two joints.
(In practice, the range of motion drops quite a bit once the armor is on.)
A movable cylinder attached to the heel.
The elbow is also more of a whole-mechanism-moving design rather than a cylinder.
When you actually handle it, you can tell it moves very smoothly and solidly even without polycaps.
Articulation gimmicks of the shoulder / arm / rear leg frame sections.
The complete inner body frame with the backpack and skirt removed.
The back frame with the backpack frame removed.
Skirt area frame.
The MG Sinanju Ver. Ka features yet another new hip joint gimmick.
(Just how many types of hip joints are there at this point..)
It does move forward and back as a single block like that..
What's different is that the two hip joints are split front-to-back and move independently.
In reality, hip joints moving separately like this makes more sense than moving together..
The hip joints and various attachment points on the body use no polycaps — instead they're joined with a mysterious soft ABS-like material.
They're joined with this mysterious soft ABS-like material.
Most of them have grooves cut in, like you can see in the photo above, so they don't pop out easily once snapped in.
Waist articulation.
Look closely and you'll notice it bends forward quite a bit, but barely tilts back at all.
Probably because the backpack shifts the center of gravity rearward.
But honestly, doing it this way actually helps keep the proportions in check.
Thanks to that, it'll never end up looking pot-bellied. ^^
Shoulder gimmick. It's the style you see used a lot these days.
In frame state it folds forward about 90 degrees..
And raises up about 90 degrees as well.
Frame folded pose.
The shoulders and arms go way up.
Frame articulation that folds up nice and clean.
Coin-picking pose in frame state.
The articulation is more than enough, but.. the legs are too long and the arms too short, so it can't quite reach the coin.
In order to preserve the dignity of this magnificent gold-trimmed mobile suit.. the MG Sinanju Ver. Ka does not include a squat pose. (Really??)
3. Weapon & Gimmick
Weapons shot.
The Sinanju's biggest highlight is its multi-function shield!
The gold-trimmed exterior alone is enough to overwhelm the enemy.
Looking at the inside of the shield, there's all sorts of stuff packed in there..
At the top, two beam axes are stored, and at the bottom, a grenade launcher.
The beam axes are tucked away behind the shield like this, looking quite convincing.
There are separate locking pins to keep the beam axes from getting loose, so they sit nice and snug.
The beam axe mounting section can rotate and slide in multiple directions..
Lower it down like this and clip it onto the locking pin, and it transforms into a whole new configuration.
After that, you can use the shield as a weapon with the beam axes attached like this.
Pretty cool~ ^^
The detached beam axe can be extended by sliding the top section out.
With the beam parts attached.
All the beam weapons come in two sets each.
You can also connect the tips of the two beam axes together and use them that way.
The Sinanju beam rifle is nice and long.
The mold edges are crisp and sharp.
The scope section can rotate, and with the green clear parts it looks great color-wise too.
The rotating scope at the rear tends to come loose and fall off pretty easily..
There's a real chance of accidentally dropping and losing it, so everyone be careful!
The grenade launcher that was stored under the shield.
It's simple, but it's got a hinge mechanism and looks pretty convincing as a weapon.
This grenade launcher can be used as a standalone weapon,
or attached to the underside of the beam rifle.
Mid-attachment shot. It's actually designed to be usable in that halfway state too.
Fully attached.
It's a bit hard to describe in words, but once you actually snap it together yourself, it clicks into place so satisfyingly
— great tactile feel. ^^
Beam rifle with grenade launcher attached.
Inside the cover on the shoulder there's a curious gimmick,
which connects to the shield mounting section.
Normally the shield attaches to the forearm in the standard way, but..
Using the locking pin that extends from the shoulder cover, you can also hang the shield from the shoulder.
The advantage of doing it this way is that you can move the left arm freely regardless of the shield.
Open up the forearm armor and there's a beam saber storage compartment inside.
The forearm armor can be removed entirely, and you can display it with the beam saber inserted like this.
On the rear end there's some kind of storage gimmick..
You can store the beam rifle there.
It's not exactly in that position though.. ^^; Figure out the right spot yourselves..
The cockpit hatch has a complex structure where a total of three armor panels have to open.
The backpack has a clever linked gimmick built in..
The upper/lower covers and the verniers all move together as one.
Lift the upper cover and the lower cover opens along with it while the verniers push out to the rear,
and it works in reverse too. Pull the verniers and the covers open as well.
In other words, no matter which part you move, the other two follow along — a really fun gimmick.
The covers on both sides of the legs can also open and rotate independently.
Rear leg cover/vernier articulation.
4. Action
Whoa..
Despite that massive size, the arms and legs fold up completely!
And the joints are solid enough that it holds its balance no matter how you pose it.
Arms and legs that fold up cleanly and completely.
The up/down and front/back range of motion on the shoulders is pretty good too.
The backpack's range of motion is wide too.
With individual finger articulation, you can move each knuckle separately —
though you'll have to accept that the grip gets a bit weaker in that case.
While posing.. the pipe section connecting the front and rear skirts with a spring and ball joint tends to pop off every now and then.
Might just be easier to glue it in place and be done with it.
One more minor issue..
The spring tension is strong enough that it sometimes pushes the front skirt up on its own.
You'll need to position the pipe at the right angle to keep things in order.
Kneeling down is a piece of cake!
Somehow.. it's a pose that just oozes presence.
Action poses, let's go!
The joints are solid so it holds any pose well, but it does look even better up on a stand.
This kit includes a separate adapter part for connecting to the Action Base 1 (sold separately)..
The connection between Sinanju and this part is rock solid.
Sinanju is a big and pretty hefty kit, so a flimsy stand connection would be a real problem —
Thankfully this locking pin grips so well that it absolutely won't come loose.
There are plenty of kits out there that struggle on stands because of weak locking pins, so it's great to see that even this small detail got proper attention. ^^
Stand on!
Time to get into some serious posing.
The arms-crossed pose that really shows off Sinanju's charisma.
It's almost like it's saying "Still not going to buy me?!" ...that kind of pose..;
It kind of reminds me of Gunbuster for some reason.. but either way, it looks awesome.
So...
Dynamic!
Beam rifle pose
Detaching the grenade launcher from the shield.
Grenade launcher action
Beam rifle action with grenade launcher attached.
Enjoying it from various angles..
S-... scary;
Drawing stance — pulling the beam saber from the forearm.
Beam saber action
The beam axe's beam parts fitted onto the shield.
Quite a unique action pose.
The elongated beam parts fitted onto the shield.
Oozing cool from every angle..
A special pose not from any official setting!
An attack pose shaped like the Zeon emblem using the beam axe's beam parts that mount on the shield (^_^;).
And fittingly for a Neo Zeon mobile suit, the shield shape also forms the Zeon mark..;;;;
Beam axe action
An incredibly dynamic beam axe action pose.
Feels like you might actually get hit..;;
Anyway.. this kit is a model example of sturdy, dynamic joint articulation.
The fact that something this big and heavy can be posed so freely is just incredible T_T
5. ETC
Together with the original MG Sazabi.
Sinanju can really be seen as a modern reinterpretation of the Sazabi.
It's cheaper than the MG Sazabi, but the quality has improved dramatically..
Together with the MG First Gundam 2.0, the standard size reference.
You can get a good sense of just how big Sinanju really is.
Together with its companion kit(?) the MG Unicorn.
It's way bigger than the Unicorn.
Both are decal-hell kits, but
the Unicorn is nothing compared to Sinanju..;
Unicorn Destroy Mode Together with Destroy Mode.
With the extra height it's now roughly comparable in size.
Both have an incredible presence.. (probably because of the decals..)
Compared with the Crossbone, one of the smallest MGs out there.
Sinanju is just absolutely massive..
The officially released Ver.Ka family all together.
Ver.Ka means high quality, but honestly the first thing that comes to mind is the brutal decals and stickers..;
Straight build.
One more comparison for good measure.
The straight build already looks great, but the difference between with and without decals is really something, right?? ;;