The Epyon comes with only two weapons, so this part should be easy.
The sword is made up of three main components - a large hilt (which itself resembles a short sword), a large beam blade, and a red pack that attaches to the mobile suit. A length of thick wire connects the pack to the hilt.
I’m not sure how I feel about this weapon. I don’t understand the need to make the blade so large beyond wanting it to look cool. Does it offer any practical benefit? Whatever the reason, I’ve never seen anything like it.
The whip is a little more complicated. It’s actually a whip/shield combo. The shield is made up of just three easy pieces, while each link in the whip is made of three not-so-easy pieces. Each one has to be sanded down smooth, since none of their sprue marks are hidden from sight. And due to their small size, that is no easy task. My fingers were quite sore after working through eight of them in a row.
That’s the other problem with this weapon - there are ten links, and aside from being painful, the work is rather boring. I didn’t get around to actually doing it until I brought some tools upstairs and sanded the parts while I watched TV. Eventually I assembled and painted them all, at which point it was time to attach the links together. That’s when I broke a piece.
After the tenth link, you attach a thin, sharp spear to the end of the whip. I placed just a little pressure on it, and it snapped in half. For now, it seems that super glue is keeping it together, but I’ll have to be careful with it.
Other Observations
- The manual calls the whip a heat rod. That … makes a heck of a lot of sense.
- The whip - ahem - heat rod is not as flexible as I thought it would be. That’s going to make standing poses tough.
- These dark colored pieces need multiple coats of paint in order not to look faded and ugly. I don’t mind using a second can if I need to, but I do hope that I can get a nice even coat everywhere.