The Majestic Silver Knight of the Byston Well!
2020 was quite an ordeal for everyone which is coming to an end and hopefully things will be getting better next year! To wrap up this year with a bang, i present the review for Robot Damashii Sirbine as the last post of Realm of Darkness in 2020. It took me about one month to complete the photo session for Sirbine partly due to procrastination, but i think the overall result still worth it. Featured in Aura Battler Dunbine OVA, Sirbine is one of the obscure yet cool fantasy themed mecha that had contribution toward the Mecha Genre. Fortunately Bandai slightly care about the majestic insect knight that they released a Robot Damashii for Sirbine few years ago which now fetch rather high price in aftermarket.
Sirbine is the lead protagonist mecha from Dunbine OVA, a spin off series that took place hundred years after the events from Tv series. The mecha was piloted by reincarnation of Shou Zama in order to free Byston Well from the Ghost of the past. While the Dunbine OVA itself was subpar, Sirbine was quite popular among mecha enthusiasist that it have received several garage kits over three decades and Bandai decided to release a Robot Damashii for the Silver Knight of Byston Well. Unless you are a devoted Mecha fan, probably Sirbine easily slipped under the radar considering Dunbine is rather obscure in the west and quite hard to get into.
Sirbine is yet another of Yutaka Izubuchi's mecha design and easily his best non Gundam design. Izubuchi mecha design tend to be minimalistic yet elegant which is perfectly represented with Sirbine which had an extra majestic air among Dunbine Mecha designs. Despite Sirbine was not a mainstream success, there is no doubt it is one of the more influential Fantasy Mecha and SRW series in particular Masoukishin is heavily inspired by this Silver Insect Knight.
In terms of armament, Sirbine is only equipped with a sword as it mainly relies on its Pilot strength to unleash powerful Aura attacks mainly unleashed through sword strike. If the needs of grappling ever arises, the claw on its arms would easily crush grunt tier enemies.
When it comes to the accesories, RoDa Sirbine is rather lacking as it only come with Swords and hand parts. But it makes up for it with one of the best looking Fantasy mecha given a physical form. Due to its cult popularity, RoDa Sirbine is hard to come by and fetch for a high price if you ever find one. Last year there was a P-Bandai re-release with added color effects but that one cost over 10000 Yen already.
Some shots with light blue background, due to lighting setup the background doesn't seem differ much with the default white background. But definitely sky themed background suit Sirbine the best after all. In terms of articulation Sirbine is still somewhat decent compared to Tetsukyojin but it has rather weak waist joint due to the inherent design.
Retook some shots for Group Shot for Sirbine and Tetsukyojin since the one from Tetsukyojin's review didn't do enough justice. These two great mechas have plenty a common being a fantasy Mecha design from Sunrise studio perfected by Izubuchi only to appear briefly in obscure OVA. Hopefully Tetsukyojin will appear in future SRW title as well preferrably along with Sirbine
I forgot when was exactly the first time i saw Sirbine, but from the first Glance i knew that Sirbine is the original base from Cybuster and this is the most apparent influence of Dunbine for SRW. It is a big deal because one of the more Iconic mecha from SRW I think the relation between Cybuster and Sirbine is the primary reason for me to snatch a preowned copy of the Robot Damashii when it was available for reasonable price and i didn't regret the decision for a single bit.
Initially i have plans for more group shots for RoDa Sirbine and Composite ver Ka Cybuster, but due to dificult posability of the latter i have to settle with Sirbine tweaking with Cybuster's weapon instead. While it is hard to obtain both of them, Sirbine do make good use of Cybuster's Dis Cutter and Vanity Ripper.
Sirbine is a great legacy of Fantasy Mecha and it is one of the few that can stand toe to toe with Five Star Stories Mortarr heads when it comes to mecha designs. Personally i would have love to see Izubuchi made more fantasy themed mecha back then since he is quite good at the genre considering he was involved with Record of Lodoss War OVA. In any case if you miss the Robot Damashii Sirbine, there will be Plamax version of the Silver Insect Knight looming around and that one comes with a shield.
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