Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop)

Release 2021.5

Price ₩12,000

Back of the box

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Box Side (1/4)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Box Side (2/4)

Box Side

It opens from the top like a snack box.

The box is smaller than the manual, so the manual goes in with its edges curled up.

Runners (Basic/Hiphop)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Basic Pengsoo and Hiphop Pengsoo share the same body/limb runners — only the head r

Basic Pengsoo and Hiphop Pengsoo share the same body/limb runners — only the head runner is different.

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - The small gate design means you can pop the parts off without nippers, but if you d

The small gate design means you can pop the parts off without nippers, but if you do use nippers, the gate area is so tight it's hard to get a clean cut.

The runners are labeled in Korean.

Common seals included in both versions

Parts diagram (Basic/Hiphop)

Basic Pengsoo manual

Hiphop Pengsoo manual

Straight build + Stickers

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Size comparison with a cigarette pack. Standing about 13cm tall, it's roughly the s

Size comparison with a cigarette pack. Standing about 13cm tall, it's roughly the same size as an HG Gunpla.

Basic Pengsoo and Hiphop Pengsoo, released at the same time

Basic Pengsoo

Hiphop Pengsoo

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - The arms are on double-direction ball joints, so they can move up, down, left, righ

The arms are on double-direction ball joints, so they can move up, down, left, right, and rotate. The joints are on the stiff side, so they hold poses well.

The legs have a limited range of motion, and the joint strength feels a bit iffy.

The neck is also on a ball joint, so you can tilt the head slightly side to side.

The Hiphop Pengsoo's sunglasses are actually removable.

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Basic Pengsoo poses (1/5)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Basic Pengsoo poses (2/5)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Basic Pengsoo poses (3/5)

Basic Pengsoo poses

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Hiphop Pengsoo poses (1/5)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Hiphop Pengsoo poses (2/5)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Hiphop Pengsoo poses (3/5)

Hiphop Pengsoo poses

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Poses together (1/5)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Poses together (2/5)

Pengsoo Pengsoo Plamodel (Basic/Hiphop) - Poses together (3/5)

Poses together

Together with Bandai's Ryan and Apeach.

Pengsoo, the popular EBS trainee character, has now gotten a plamodel release! Kakao Friends have had kits from Bandai before, but Pengsoo is a product developed by a Korean company under contract with EBS. Both the Basic and Hiphop versions were released at ₩12,000 each. I've always been a Pengsoo fan, so I just had to do a review. ^^ (Bought with my own money during a Naver Live Shopping special sale.)

The kit goes for a simple, easy-build approach — clean color separation, small gates, and a straightforward parts layout. But once you actually start building, the assembly is surprisingly stiff. I wasn't expecting Bandai-level smooth snap-fit, but it's got that tight, resistant feel of early Kotobukiya kits. And while the small gates mean you can technically just snap the parts off by hand, they leave behind noticeable gate marks, so you'll want to clean those up. The problem is the clearance around the gates is too tight for nippers to work comfortably — honestly, regular-sized gates would've been better here.

Once you push through the stiff but simple build process, you end up with a surprisingly solid-looking Pengsoo with great three-dimensional presence. The molded colors are better than expected, and it actually looks pretty cute. ^^ The colors feel slightly budget-ish, but the matte-like surface finish means the straight build looks better than you'd think.

Articulation covers the arms, legs, and head. The arms, connected with double-direction ball joints, can move pretty freely, and even with the legs' limited range of motion, you can still pull off a good variety of expressions just with the arms and face. The joint strength balance is a bit uneven though — the arms are nice and tight while the legs are on the loose side. Standing upright is fine, but tilt the body even slightly and the legs give way.

So yeah, the stiff assembly and uneven joint balance are a bit of a letdown, but hey — a plamodel is a plamodel! It's got a sculptural, three-dimensional quality that dolls and figures just can't match. And since Pengsoo as a character expresses almost all his emotions through his arms rather than facial expressions, if you're a Pengsoo fan you can really get into posing him in all sorts of expressive ways. There are some shortcomings, sure, but just the fact that Pengsoo got a plamodel release at all makes it a welcome item in my book. :-)

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.