Armored Core Variable Infinity
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 2:58 pm
I know I've already posted a couple of pictures of these in my Shinki thread in Show and Tell, but I'd figured I'd give a more detailed review here:
To kick the thread off, I'm actually going to go with my recently obtained Weapon Unit 015 pack that I bought, as reviewing the AC itself would require me to get the thing down and dust it off... (it's a pain to stand up as well due to the ankles but I'll go into more detail about that when I actually review it)
So, back to the weapon unit 015:
The pack contains 2 sprues, both the same colour, which is a sort of slightly brown, dark metallic grey, and assemble into Arm Unit GAN01-SS-WH.E which is a hand gun and Back Unit 061ANSC which is a back mounted, folding cannon. Since these come from AC4 (or later) I cant really go into too much detail regarding them in game. I'll go into better detail of each of these weapons now though:
The GAN01-SS-WH.E is a 6 round revolver, and is intended as a side arm/back up weapon for an AC. It is very nicely detailed: The revolver section itself can rotate around and the 6 bullets are moulded in. There are small holes in places that are supposed to be were the rivets/screws are, and even has what appears to be a laser sight as well as the regular sight you'd find on a real gun on the top. A little useless for a giant robot, but I nice feature I'm glad they added. In regards to Shinki, yes they are big, but they can still hold them very nicely, and personally, I don't think they look oversized, but more just really bulky instead. Assembly is pretty simple, as long as you do certain parts in the correct order, you wont have any problems putting them together (literally just 3 steps to assembly), and they hold nicely as well, so no glue required at all. Over all, a very nice piece, and considering it's the main reason why I got the pack, I'm really satisfied with them.
For the 061ANSC, however, I do have a couple of complaints, but I'll get to them as I come to them. As stated, it's a back mounted folding cannon that's some what typical of an AC set up, where the AC will kneel down, as the barrel unfolds and locks in place in order to fire it. The only ones able to move and shoot it at the same time being those with caterpillar track legs. There's what looks like a clip sticking out of the side of it suggesting it uses solid ammo. Detailing is very nice again, the previously mentioned clip has an open end where you can see what looks like the ammo waiting to be fed into the firing chamber (hence my assumptions of it being a clip), only part of it's appearance that irks me are the folding mechanism (which I admit, cant really be helped for what it is) and the mounting arms which are hollow and only one piece, so there are huge gaps in the inside of it... Admittedly you're not likely to notice it while it's on the AC, but they could have done it so there were no gaps. The folding mechanism irks me for a number of reasons to be honest, first is how visible it is in the folded mode, but again this cant be helped, second is how one part locks at a 90 degree angle, but the other half doesn't which can result on an untidy fold, but this is due to the gap needed for it to lock in place when straightened and as long as you make sure you do the full 90 bend on the half that does lock there it will lay parallel and tidy. However, even when 'locked' the front half of the barrel is still a little loose and can still be knocked up 90 degrees (though there is enough friction to stop the full 90 degree bend from happening accidentally, that slight movement is still there). Assembly is fairly secure, save 2 parts, the fold part that doesn't lock when straight feels a little flimsy and loose, and the clip isn't as secure as I'd like and might require glue. There are a few bits that are a little fiddly when assembling but for the most part it's simple enough that you wont be spending much more than 10 mins tops putting these together. A good part about the pack is that the clip can go into either side with a part to cover the other hole, and it does come with 2 mounting arms allowing it to be mounted on either side of the back, which is very nice especially considering how the AC I have doesn't allow for either of the back mounted parts to be switched around without modifying them first. Although I'm not entirely happy with it, and there are areas where I think they could have put a little more effort in to cover these flaws, the clip can easily be remedied with glue, the mounting arms can be filled in if they really bug anyone enough (though they will need to be painted then), and I can live with the issues with the folding arm, as due to the design of it, there really isn't much they could have done to prevent these. The pegs on the mounting arm that go into the back look a little small for the size of it, but they hold it secure enough (I checked when I first assembled it). In regards to Shinki... Out of the packet, they're not compatible at all, there's nothing for the Shinki to hold and the peg on the mounting arm is far too loose to fit in a Shinki sized hole, however, a slight modification using some green stuff you should be able to alter the mounting arm enough to get it to fit a Shinki peg, which is something I plan to do soon when I get some.
If anyone wants any pictures beyond the ones here, feel free to ask and I'll sort some out:
To kick the thread off, I'm actually going to go with my recently obtained Weapon Unit 015 pack that I bought, as reviewing the AC itself would require me to get the thing down and dust it off... (it's a pain to stand up as well due to the ankles but I'll go into more detail about that when I actually review it)
So, back to the weapon unit 015:
The pack contains 2 sprues, both the same colour, which is a sort of slightly brown, dark metallic grey, and assemble into Arm Unit GAN01-SS-WH.E which is a hand gun and Back Unit 061ANSC which is a back mounted, folding cannon. Since these come from AC4 (or later) I cant really go into too much detail regarding them in game. I'll go into better detail of each of these weapons now though:
The GAN01-SS-WH.E is a 6 round revolver, and is intended as a side arm/back up weapon for an AC. It is very nicely detailed: The revolver section itself can rotate around and the 6 bullets are moulded in. There are small holes in places that are supposed to be were the rivets/screws are, and even has what appears to be a laser sight as well as the regular sight you'd find on a real gun on the top. A little useless for a giant robot, but I nice feature I'm glad they added. In regards to Shinki, yes they are big, but they can still hold them very nicely, and personally, I don't think they look oversized, but more just really bulky instead. Assembly is pretty simple, as long as you do certain parts in the correct order, you wont have any problems putting them together (literally just 3 steps to assembly), and they hold nicely as well, so no glue required at all. Over all, a very nice piece, and considering it's the main reason why I got the pack, I'm really satisfied with them.
For the 061ANSC, however, I do have a couple of complaints, but I'll get to them as I come to them. As stated, it's a back mounted folding cannon that's some what typical of an AC set up, where the AC will kneel down, as the barrel unfolds and locks in place in order to fire it. The only ones able to move and shoot it at the same time being those with caterpillar track legs. There's what looks like a clip sticking out of the side of it suggesting it uses solid ammo. Detailing is very nice again, the previously mentioned clip has an open end where you can see what looks like the ammo waiting to be fed into the firing chamber (hence my assumptions of it being a clip), only part of it's appearance that irks me are the folding mechanism (which I admit, cant really be helped for what it is) and the mounting arms which are hollow and only one piece, so there are huge gaps in the inside of it... Admittedly you're not likely to notice it while it's on the AC, but they could have done it so there were no gaps. The folding mechanism irks me for a number of reasons to be honest, first is how visible it is in the folded mode, but again this cant be helped, second is how one part locks at a 90 degree angle, but the other half doesn't which can result on an untidy fold, but this is due to the gap needed for it to lock in place when straightened and as long as you make sure you do the full 90 bend on the half that does lock there it will lay parallel and tidy. However, even when 'locked' the front half of the barrel is still a little loose and can still be knocked up 90 degrees (though there is enough friction to stop the full 90 degree bend from happening accidentally, that slight movement is still there). Assembly is fairly secure, save 2 parts, the fold part that doesn't lock when straight feels a little flimsy and loose, and the clip isn't as secure as I'd like and might require glue. There are a few bits that are a little fiddly when assembling but for the most part it's simple enough that you wont be spending much more than 10 mins tops putting these together. A good part about the pack is that the clip can go into either side with a part to cover the other hole, and it does come with 2 mounting arms allowing it to be mounted on either side of the back, which is very nice especially considering how the AC I have doesn't allow for either of the back mounted parts to be switched around without modifying them first. Although I'm not entirely happy with it, and there are areas where I think they could have put a little more effort in to cover these flaws, the clip can easily be remedied with glue, the mounting arms can be filled in if they really bug anyone enough (though they will need to be painted then), and I can live with the issues with the folding arm, as due to the design of it, there really isn't much they could have done to prevent these. The pegs on the mounting arm that go into the back look a little small for the size of it, but they hold it secure enough (I checked when I first assembled it). In regards to Shinki... Out of the packet, they're not compatible at all, there's nothing for the Shinki to hold and the peg on the mounting arm is far too loose to fit in a Shinki sized hole, however, a slight modification using some green stuff you should be able to alter the mounting arm enough to get it to fit a Shinki peg, which is something I plan to do soon when I get some.
If anyone wants any pictures beyond the ones here, feel free to ask and I'll sort some out: