Bandai Hobby MG Sazabi Version Ka Model Kit (1/100 Scale)

So I finally got around to building the big kahuna of Master Grade, the Sazabi Ver Ka. Is is worth the all hype surrounding it?In short, yeah.So there's a lot to cover here, so let's get down to it.First off. People say this is a big kit, they are not exaggerating. This is probably one of, if not the, biggest Master Grades out there. It's only rivals being the Ex-S Gundam and The O in terms of sheer heft and volume. Katoki did an excellent redesign here of the Sazabi, bringing it up to more modern MG standards and even making it a bit Real Grade in some ways. The redesign is a huge improvement over the original MG Sazabi which I never found to be that appealing. When this guy is built, he will tower over your other MGs so be sure to make some shelf space. You'll want to display this one.Now, should you put this guy on an action base?... You can. I weighed the Sazabi with gun and shield at about 1.1 lbs. That's rather heavy for a 1/100 figure. It will go on an action base 1, but you will have to take care as with that kind of mass I noticed my action base was on the verge of coming apart. I'd feel safer just leaving it on it's feet. I've read some other reviews mentioning back heaviness and there is a slight back heavy nature to the kit, but I personally it's exaggerated from what I've heard. If you have issues, play around with the hip adjustment to shift the center of gravity more to the front.The body of the kit is nicely detailed and borrowing from Real Grade, all the broad red of the Sazabi has been broken up into three different shades of red. I think this looks a lot better than just having one bold red color dominate the suit. As was done with the Nu ver Ka, the big gimmick here is the transformation that Katoki incorporated. This "Invoke" mode (yes, that is what it's called, I looked on the Gundam wiki) is an opening up of various panels revealing extra thrusters and showing off some nice silvery inner frame. It's not nearly as complicated as I thought it would be, but as you are building, definitively practice on the transformation before you do the final assembly or even any painting so you understand just how things "slide and fold" around this kit. While the Invoke mode look is neat, I'm partial to just keep it displayed in normal mode.For accessories... We have the beam sabers. Pretty standard. We get the redesigned beam tomahawk, taking heavy cues from Sinaju's own beam axes; it can now split apart into two axes or be adapted to double axe mode. The beam effect parts provided are bright green... Technically they would have to be yellow, but if you happen to have the Sinaju MG then the effect parts are identical and you can use those yellow one if you truly value accuracy.We have two beam rifles... and this is where I find my first issue. It's guns are... High Grade. Yeah, compared to the weapons I find on other MGs, especially in the past few years, the two beam rifles provided here are sorely lacking in any interesting detail or inner mechanisms. They just feel very High Grade to me compared to the rest of the amazing kit. The Beam Shotgun is nice, but rather plain looking. I choose to paint some extra details on mine just to break up all the black plastic of it. I really feel it would had benefited from different shades of color like the main kit. The long rifle provided is a new item and more interesting. It's slightly better with detail and has a sliding stock and an attachment point for including either the Sinaju's rocket launcher or grenade launcher. (Kinda makes one wonder if you should have the Sinaju MG as well with this kit?).Hands and weapons all feature the recent fold out pegs. It's works... however this leads to my second issue with kit. This may just be more due to the Sazabi's bulky nature than a design issue, but it's quite difficult to get the weapons and hands to stay in the arms, or even get them into good poses. I do realize that the Sazabi's gorilla forearms do present quite a challenge with weapon posing, but the hands do pop out quite a lot. This is something I also noticed came up in some other reviews as the polycap for the hands is set too far deep into the arms. Following the directions carefully and having the polycap pushed down into the wrist part as far it'll go, it still doesn't provide a secure enough hold on the hands. Either the polycap needs to be closer to the outside of the wrist or the connector on the hand needs an extension.Then we have the Shield. Boy is it big. Bigger than Sinaju's shield. The beam tomahawk has nice spot in it just be stored. The connector on it is a combination of a clip in clasp to the forearm with a slide swivel. There is also a hook that will attach to the lower shoulder armor. Even though it's hefty, the Sazabi seems to have little issue holding the shield in place.Then there are the funnels. You get six of them and they all sit neatly in their pods on the backpack. The pod slides up and opens allowing you to remove them. They are made to open up by carefully pushing in the bottom portion so it opens up the side flaps and extends the beam gun. To close, you just push the beam gun in and gently fold the flaps back in place. They work quite nice and if you happen to have any of those clear plastic rods that hold funnels or dragoons from other MGs they'll probably fit on those.Finally, as a ver Ka kit of more recent make, this comes with water slide decals as opposed to the traditional sticker decals(and pray that dry transfers never make a come-back). If you've never used water-slides and you want to use them on the is kit, get some knowledge and practice first. It's been a while since I used water-slides but it came back to me quickly. If you don't have any, get some decal softener/solvent and setter. You'll need them some many parts of this kit's decals. Just be careful handing the kit after you apply them as water-slides have a habit of chipping/flaking off over time. If you want be to extra safe, clear coat your kit after the decals are applied.This kit will take a LED unit if you happen you have one. It'll only light up the monoeye in the head.Besides all that, you get a head that opens, rather tough to open I might add. No actual cockpit on the finished kit, but you do get a clear cockpit ball with Char in it.This was easily the most involved Master Grade I had built in a long time. If you have the know how and money, by all means get this kit. You will not be disappointed. Despite a couple of minor flaws, I find this kit to be fantastic and enjoyed building it. It is a challenge in many ways but quite rewarding once it's all done.Also, since everybody loves to size compare this guy with the RX-78-2 Gundam, I thought I'd show a different comparison with a Zaku II and the Turn X. Enjoy!

Mg sazabi ver. ka is a masterpiece. It was truly an interesting and fun build. The box is massive and contains 31 runners worth of parts so its not a model you assemble in a few hours. 5 (sweet) days were required to finish it, including putting on around 150 water-slide decals. The one that goes on sazabi's mono-eye didn't really work very well and should have been either a sticker or clear, green plastic even better. Assembling the six funnels in the backpack can become tedious because of all the small parts but the result it completely worth it. Also, the hands are kind of fragile and don't hold the large weapons very well.Sazabi is a huge kit and it towers over most other master grades. It stands very well and is quite sturdy in construction. The colours look great and the attention to detail is truly impressive. It also has a transformation that reveals silver inner frame and many thrusters. The mobile suit doesn't grow taller but quite a bit wider, especially in the shoulders and lower legs. It has numerous accessories including some nice, green effect parts. The shield and long rifle are huge weapons and the axe can look menacing with the effect parts attached. The sazabi ver ka is an excellent master grade kit and definitely lives up to all the praise it receives.

In a word, this model is FANTASTIC! It's as though you are building a Perfect Grade model in a Master Grade size. Dealing with its complexities has given me an outlet for my meticulousness...which may turn up in my staff review at work since I haven't imposed that personal quirk on my co-workers for a while as a result. The articulation is not to be understated; each primary anatomic joint has 2 model joints, there are an impressive amount of armor plates, it builds in 3 layers rather than 2 (internal mobile frame and an inner AND outer armor layers) and the most impressive feature of all: individually jointed fingers!The hands alone were something of a momentum-killer for me, since I ended up stopping what I was doing for an hour and just played with them!This model is not one for casual or builders or new to building Master Grades.It does come with it's quirks. It's size and joint strength, combined with armor flexibility make it quite a task to pose. It's markings are set by water slide decals rather than stickers and rub-on decals like many of the other Master Grade models. They can be difficult to deal with and even more difficult to keep on the model as a simple wet finger or sweaty palm can remove them, even days or weeks after completion. I found it helpful to use a setting solution when applying them. I used Testors Decal set and a paint brush but there are many different products that could be found at a local hobby shop.There is one design flaw to be made aware of. I haven't been able to pose this model operating it's long beam rifle. Either I lack the skill to place it in the model's hand or the design engineers made or missed a molding mistake. I'm inclined to believe the former, but whatever the reason I haven't succeeded in posing this model with it. But this doesn't bother me much since the Sazabi didn't have this weapon in Char's Counterattack.All in all, this model has been a fantastic build and has challenged me sufficiently. I recommend it heavily for the avid Gundam model build enthusiast. It requires a great deal of patience, more so than most others of it's grade, but worth the time and effort in build and operation.