suggesting good shinkis for a shinki noob

[Im No Hero]

hey there so i only own one shinki currently (arnval) and want to get another one or two what ones would you suggest i was looking at mermaid type and knight type so anyone care to give a small review on them?

[Hylian Pirate]

Welcome aboard, bro. You've got Arnval already (and Tranche 2 at that, good job!), so you might as well get a Strarf Bis to complement her. I (and several others) firmly believe that any Shinki collector should own some form of both Arnval and Strarf. They were the first Shinkis and are still among the best. If you like having a lot of parts to mess with, Lancamento and Espadia, the beetle girls, are great choices. Their armors can turn into beetles independent of their owners and can also combine into a separate robot. Also in the freaking awesome armor department are Graffias and Vespelio, MMS Types Scorpion and Bat, respectively. Their armors also form familiars for the girls and combine into a dragon. Those two are highly recommended, as the armors and dragon are pretty rockin'. You may also like the more military themed girls, Murmeltier, Asuka, Zelnograd, and some of the EX sets (armor and head, no body).

If you want your Shinkis to be more on the "cute" side, then check out the BLADE group. Those are "younger" in appearance and usually mimic animals (Cat, Dog, Squirrel, and Ferret). Also, Tigris and Vitulus (Tiger and Cow) are great cute/badass hybrids. I also have Nurse Bright Feather as a sort of guilty pleasure and am going to pick up Sister (nun) Harmony Grace.

Now, you want to know about Ianeira (Mermaid). She's pretty cool. She comes with lots of parts, and her armor becomes some kind of shark/dolphin/BFG/thing. She's got more weapons than most people give her credit for and lots of different armor options. For example, you can choose to give her a dorsal fin or fit her with a jet-propelled swimming apparatus thingy. If you're interested in her, then don't overlook her sister, MMS Type Siren: Eukrante. Eukrante is very Gundam-like, and her armor becomes a bird. She's one of the best winged Shinki, im my opinion.

And Xiphos, the Knight. She was my first Shinki. The armor is great, but offers much less customization than the more mech-like girls. Also, her shoulders like to come off... (I've heard this from a lot of people, so it's not just me...) BUT! For the knight fan, Xiphos comes with some great stuff. The sword has a sheath and looks great held one- or two-handed, an axe makes for an off-hand weapon, a crossbow gives her some range, and a GIANT FREAKING LANCE OF DOOM rounds off the set. Sometimes I like to set her up on '07 Movie Arcee with her lance out. Best. Joust. Ever. In addition to all that, she comes with additional heavy armor pieces to make her more bulky (and far less feminine, whether this is good or bad is up to you). As all Shinki, Xiphos has a sister in MMS Type Samurai: Benio. I don't have her, but if you end up liking Xiphos, she's worth a look. (I think Benio has a few pieces that look out of place, but the blue might do it for you.)

Well, I hope that helped you out! I've got a terrible camera, so no pics from me for now, but if you've got any questions feel free to ask!

[Im No Hero]

Welcome aboard, bro. You've got Arnval already (and Tranche 2 at that, good job!), so you might as well get a Strarf Bis to complement her. I (and several others) firmly believe that any Shinki collector should own some form of both Arnval and Strarf. They were the first Shinkis and are still among the best. If you like having a lot of parts to mess with, Lancamento and Espadia, the beetle girls, are great choices. Their armors can turn into beetles independent of their owners and can also combine into a separate robot. Also in the freaking awesome armor department are Graffias and Vespelio, MMS Types Scorpion and Bat, respectively. Their armors also form familiars for the girls and combine into a dragon. Those two are highly recommended, as the armors and dragon are pretty rockin'. You may also like the more military themed girls, Murmeltier, Asuka, Zelnograd, and some of the EX sets (armor and head, no body).

If you want your Shinkis to be more on the "cute" side, then check out the BLADE group. Those are "younger" in appearance and usually mimic animals (Cat, Dog, Squirrel, and Ferret). Also, Tigris and Vitulus (Tiger and Cow) are great cute/badass hybrids. I also have Nurse Bright Feather as a sort of guilty pleasure and am going to pick up Sister (nun) Harmony Grace.

Now, you want to know about Ianeira (Mermaid). She's pretty cool. She comes with lots of parts, and her armor becomes some kind of shark/dolphin/BFG/thing. She's got more weapons than most people give her credit for and lots of different armor options. For example, you can choose to give her a dorsal fin or fit her with a jet-propelled swimming apparatus thingy. If you're interested in her, then don't overlook her sister, MMS Type Siren: Eukrante. Eukrante is very Gundam-like, and her armor becomes a bird. She's one of the best winged Shinki, im my opinion.

And Xiphos, the Knight. She was my first Shinki. The armor is great, but offers much less customization than the more mech-like girls. Also, her shoulders like to come off... (I've heard this from a lot of people, so it's not just me...) BUT! For the knight fan, Xiphos comes with some great stuff. The sword has a sheath and looks great held one- or two-handed, an axe makes for an off-hand weapon, a crossbow gives her some range, and a GIANT FREAKING LANCE OF DOOM rounds off the set. Sometimes I like to set her up on '07 Movie Arcee with her lance out. Best. Joust. Ever. In addition to all that, she comes with additional heavy armor pieces to make her more bulky (and far less feminine, whether this is good or bad is up to you). As all Shinki, Xiphos has a sister in MMS Type Samurai: Benio. I don't have her, but if you end up liking Xiphos, she's worth a look. (I think Benio has a few pieces that look out of place, but the blue might do it for you.)

Well, I hope that helped you out! I've got a terrible camera, so no pics from me for now, but if you've got any questions feel free to ask!

thanks though im not a fan of the beetles or the war machines i have thought about vespellio and graffias if i can find them for less than fifty bucks like ive seen them and ive also been looking and eukrante def getting her if i get Ianeira and Xiphos is becoming increasingly appealing because she can go from girl to totally masculine knight

[Drango]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is Zelnograd, although she is an EX set, she's actually the only EX Plus set, because unlike the others she does actually come with a body... Admitedly, an unpainted, single colour body, but a body none the less.

If you want a single set that you can do a lot with on it's own, then Murmeltier is my personal recomendation, though there are others you can do a lot with as well, I just don't have them... You can do quite a few different set-ups with Arnval Tranche2, sure, but Mur's parts are kinda like lego, there's a lot you can do if you put your mind to it, like make her armour into a separate walking cannon (it is doable with a single set)

Werkestra (a Light Armour set) can complement Arnval really well. Although she doesn't come with as many parts as a larger set (since she's a light armour set) due to the pair of them sharing the same colour scheme, you can mix and match parts between the two of them, and still end up with a good result colour wise.

[Caterwaul]

I like to recommend the light armor shinkis to newbies in general. They're a wide range of styles, still have the feel of regular shinkis, and give a great taste of the entire Shinki experience without having the huge price tag the full armor Shinki's have.

[Canthros]

In general, I think it's harder to go wrong than right. If you're only going to buy one, skip the EX kits, and pick something that looks interesting to you. (Drango has already noted the exception to the "skip the EX kits" rule.) A number of folks are not crazy about the head-sculpts on Xiphos, Benio, or Grapprapp; if you've seen pictures and like them anyway, don't worry about it.

[alebravo6]

Hey, but if you plan to get an EX set, where can you find clear bodies that do noy look as if they were naked?

[Canthros]

Good news: Konami is still selling blank bodies in black and white, in addition to the standard 'naked' fleshtones, plus a couple of swimsuit and gym uniform color schemes.
Bad news: Unfortunately, IIRC, they're only sold through Konamistyle, which means you'll have to resort to a proxy or ebay if you don't live in Japan.
Good news: There's usually a few on ebay at any given time.
Bad news: Konami has switched some things up with the MMS 3rd which can make them slightly incompatible with some of the EX sets, which are all designed around the MMS 1/2 bodies.
Good news: If they're still selling the swimsuit and gym uniform bodies, those are still MMS 2.
Bad news: Good luck finding those.
Good news: You may also be able to get where you want to go by modifying an MMS Skygirls figure, which seem to be inexpensive and plentiful.
Bad news: You will have to modify them, as the chest is glued on and the back is not compatible as-is.

I don't think that Konami has made any MMS figures that are actually transparent.

[Benio]

One thing to think about is how much you want to do custom armor setups. Some figures like Benio, Xiphos, Mao Chao, Howling, Juvisy, and Zyrdarya are more limited than figures like Murmeltier, Asuka, Lancemento, Eukrante or Ianeira. One good thing with Xiphos (and her wave mate Benio) is you can use parts of either her light armor or heavy armor mode to make something you like and get some more playability over some of the light armor Shinkis like Werkstra or Pomock.

[Im No Hero]

ok well i think im gonna get xiphos becausae she looks like she would fit in well with transformers on the shelf as well as in a comic