Reviewing another old kit of mine.
I built this kit more than 6 months already and that's the time when my skill is still lacking so you can still see some nubs here and there, Hail Buster gundam is one of the kit from Gundam Seed VS Astray lineup which seems to be pretty unpopular among Gunpla fans.
Hail Buster Gundam is one of the Gundams that belong to Librarian and based on Buster Gundam. Librarian itself is a mysterious organization that appears in Gundam VS Astray that plans to conquer the Earth(yet again) by destroying OMNI and ZAFT faction.
As for VS Astray kits lineups they are pretty much unpopular since most people perceive them as another pathetic attempt by Bandai to make more money by making simply palette swaps and part swapping of Gundam Seed models which are true i suppose. The things that i don't like about this lineup is that the part swaps are not that convincing enough like the Shoulder armor are placed in the knee or Backpack become the shoulder Armor. As for Hail Buster some silly parts swapping are the knee armor, side skirt and the backpack otherwise it looks cool enough. Probably the plus point of this lineup are better articulation and cool color scheme for some designs.
Hail Buster Armament are pretty much the same with Buster Gundam which include: Laser Rifle, Shotgun and Missiles mounted on shoulder. The only change is that it got additional pair of gatling pods mounted on the shoulder, but i wouldn't say the add-on makes this gundam any stronger compared to Verde Buster which got even more guns.
Probably why this gundam is given name of Hail Buster because it is able to spam projectiles as furious as a hail storm! and i assume that Hail buster got even more ammunitions compared to original Buster Gundam. Hail Buster probably serve as ranged support which keep the enemy stalled for the other unit to wipe them out.
The other thing that i don't like about this gundam is the way it hold the guns upside down(The manual shows that) which i think will reduce the accuracy for nothing in exchange.
I wonder if the Hail Buster able to combine the guns to shoot charged laser beams or super shotgun just like the normal Buster gundam could do since Hail buster would really lack of firepower if it is not able to do so.
One of the new features of VS Astray lineup is Backpack swapping which supposedly increase the versatility of the Gundams, however i think the idea is not working pretty well since some backpack does not match the characteristic of the Gundam. For Hail Buster i give the Gale Strike Backpack for demonstration, perhaps Hail Buster will use the backpack when it is pinned to melee by the enemy and its guns are running out of ammo so it will fight in close combat instead by borrowing the Gale Strike Backpack which have pair of beam saber and automated shield.
I am still considering to complete this lineup despite how unpopular these kits are considering i only have 3 more gundams to go to complete this collection. Hope this review can provide you guys with the insight about this lineups and perhaps i will review another VS Astray kit in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment