First of all, I hope no one's getting bored by my personal fascination with powered suits again. There's something about these grungy, retro-styled miniatures that calls out to the mecha fanatic within, I mean, all it took was ONE look at the box art on display at a local toy shop and all thoughts of getting a shiny SOC Venus A disappeared into thin air. Who needs more missile boobies? These guys are serious, man!

I stood at the glass case, my attention equally split between the gorgeous box (eat your heart out 1/48 Valkyrie!), and the nifty set of five armored suits. Without any hestation I pulled out my wallet and paid the man... only to find out later I had overpaid by 20%, compared to if I had ordered from HLJ. But hey, this just shows how cool these guys were to sucker me like that!

If I could read Kanji, I'm sure the inner box flap would reveal the fascinating history of the great battle these guys fought in. What I could make out is that they are part of the 113th Special Recon Battalion, "C" Platoon, Squad 1. And I really like the way the makers have given the members believeable names.

No matter how much one likes the design, five of the same would be pretty boring, right? It's a good thing each suit also bears personalized markings, such as the Ace, Deuce and Trey of Clubs. The standouts are of course, the commander and sergeant. This Lt. has a whimsical snowman's face painted on his suit, and even has a carrot nose too! The sarge, on the other hand, has a slew of 5 tank-victory markings... and best of all, you get to see his head under the opened hatch. Oh yeah, all of them come with one optional weapon arm, and Mr Ace of Clubs gets to hold what looks suspiciously like a big thermos flask... or is it an updated version of the humble Bangalor Torpedo?

All in all, for just ¥2500, it's some righteous sMa.K. for the serious mecha head.

--Drifand