Kit Review: Frame Arms Girl – Jinrai & Weapon Set

July 8, 2022Kit Reviews,  Reviews,  ,  
How many knives and swords do you want?
Yes!

The famous mecha musume genre has been thriving, and Kotobukiya is no doubt the leading company in this field. With Megami Devices and Frame Arms Girls, it seems that Kotobukiya will never run out of femme fatales to make model kit out of. The ingenious way that they are doing it is packaging the same girls but with different equipment (mostly from the Modeling Support Good series) and some bonus stuff. The Frame Arms Girl & Weapon Set Jinrai ver is no exception.

– Info:
Frame Arms Girl & Weapon set Jinrai ver
Series: Frames Arm Girl
Price: 7,700 yen
Release date: June 2019

– Design: The Frame Arms Girl line consist of young girls in skimpy body armor but very well covered arm and leg armor. Jinrai’s main color scheme is red (this version anyway, there is an indigo version too) and the body suit is black (as usual). Jinrai – along with Stylet and Gourai – is one of the flat design for FAG (unfortunate acronym yes) which might raise some eyebrows when you look at her scantily cladded bottoms. Her leg armors are fully mechanical however, with very tank-like armor plates similar to the Gourai. Her arms are also mechanical but not as much as the legs.

The most prevalent aspect of Koto’s musume kits are their facial expressions and skin tone – which is an art they have perfected through out the years. Of course the sculpt isn’t as good as other pricy PVC figures but still very good for a model kit. They look like they have a soul and is the face of an actual anime girl. This version of Jinrai has red eyes which is pretty badass rather than cute however.

– Build quality: Even though Kotobukiya invest in their musume kits much more than their mecha kits, most of the kit still need some extra love to be good. The overall snap fit quality is probably 70% compared to Bandai’s modern kit, as the skin part is much better compared to the armor. And due to the parts being quite small (the finished kit is about a figma size), you will need to be extra careful when handling them.

In this package is a variety of melee-oriented M.S.G products like the Samurai Master Sword, Magia Blade and various other bladed weapons, and you know how Kotobukiya MSG are: very hard plastic and pretty annoying nubs. So take your time sanding them down. Remember to double cut with your nippers to avoid cracking the clear parts or leave stress marks.

– Articulation: This Frame Arms Girl use the new FAG body design with some slight increase in the movement range. For the most part, the armor are inobtrusive and you can enjoy the full range of the human body (except the body itself). The chest/torso movement is on a ball-joint and it’s pretty decent at least. Although being a girl kits, if you pick some extreme poses, you will break the seamless mold and the joints can look a bit jarring (especially the hip parts). For photos, you have to pick the right angle for each poses and you will be able to have a good shot that doesn’t include jarring gaps in the joints. And of course, you can do a large variety of feminine poses as well.

– Gimmick: For Kotobukiya’s original kits, the most iconic gimmick is the customization of parts. For this kit, most of the gimmick lies in the packaged M.S.G weapons that comes along with it. Here are some example:
– The Samurai Master Sword has a small katana sheathed inside a big broadsword. That can also convert into a gun.
– The Magia Blade comes with various stand piece for some funnel dagger displays.
– Various options for the main armament: can be a long spear, a scythe, or a pickax etc…

– Accessories: Oh boy, here we go….*breathes in:
+ X4 face plates
+ X5 pairs of interchangeable hand
+ X1 Samurai Master Sword
+ X1 Magia Blade set (18 daggers with stands)
+ X8 blade/sword/knive of different kind (including a kitchen knife)
+ X1 gun turret
+ X1 main weapon with three options: sword, lance, pickax
+ X1 eye water decal sheet with tons of option.
+ X1 emblem decal sheet

The absurd amount of weapons included (mostly melee ones) allow for a lot of playability. You can even recreate some “homely” scene since kitchen knives are included as well. So it’s really up to your imagination on what you want to do.

Overall: The Frame Arms Girl & Weapon Set Jinrai ver is a great entry kit for mecha musume enthusiast, since it has a lot of extras compared to the first version of Jinrai. You will get a nice base girl along with a crapton of option parts to play with. The quality of Kotobukiya FAG has improved throughout the years, but still require some skills to bring the kit to a “playable” level. This packaged kit is both a good starter as well as valuable custom material.

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