I know what you’re thinking - “Did they really fit this entire model onto just three (well, three and a tiny extra) runners?”
Yes, yes they did.
And maybe you’re thinking “I’m not sure if that’s impressive, or if that’s actually a bad sign for this build“
To which I would say - kinda both. Normally I’d say that the number of runners isn’t really indicative of a build’s quality, as there are all sorts of reasons why a given kit may or may not have a lot of them. But in this case I think it is a bad omen. I’m just going to cut to the chase - I don’t think this is a good model. And as we walk through the build, hopefully you’ll understand my reasoning.
So, first off, on a certain level I do think it’s pretty impressive that they got the entire kit onto so few runners. They’re all extremely dense with parts, on a level we don’t always see. From a sheer engineering standpoint, this seems impressive.
Having said that, there’s another reason why there are so few runners, and that’s the fact that, most of the mobile suit is made out of just three colors (which just so happens to correspond with the three main runners).
Now, again, the amount of colors isn’t necessarily indicative of a mecha’s quality, but in this case I think it is. But we’ll talk about that more once the model is finished.
Weapons
I screwed this part up.
Here’s the Schwarzette’s main sword. It’s the one that is stored inside of the Guardian Sheath (and also creates the main grip for the sheath):
I tried to get all fancy and add some matte coat and gloss coat and all that, and in the process I ended up breaking the grey section. That forced me to then super glue it all together.
Which turns out to be a problem! That’s because you’re supposed to remove the clear pink part when putting the sword into the Guardian Sheath, which I only learned about after making my mistake.
Now, I kinda sorta managed to make it work anyway, by adjusting the positions of some of the parts.
By shifting some things around, I got it mostly close up, but it’s not quite perfect, and the parts are highly unstable. If I were to try and do some action poses with this thing, it would likely end in disaster:
If this were another build, I’d be pretty upset with myself right now, but in this case I just can’t be arsed. Because there’s something about this weapon that’s largely true about the entire model, which is that it doesn’t look as cool in person as it does on TV.
Anyway, here’s what I’m going to do - I’m going to take a few photos with the Guardian Sheath mounted to the mobile suit, and then I’m going to move on.
Big Stickers
I want to highlight the big stickers that apply to the parts that make up the Guardian Sheath:
These are not normal stickers. Aside from just being really big, they're made out of some other kind of material. They're somewhat stiff and rigid, almost like they're made out of a really thin sheet of metal or plastic.
I'm not sure why exactly this is - does it make it easier to apply? Does it improve the quality of the details or the finish? I have no clue, but I thought it was worth pointing out, as it's something I haven't seen before.
Of course, it may not be new, just new to me. But if it is new, then I wonder if we'll see it again in future kits.
Head
I’ll give it credit - this doesn’t require any color correction:
Even the vulcan cannons are color accurate out of the box. It’s quite impressive.
In terms of construction, it’s similar to Calibarn, where the eyes are actually made out of plastic instead of a sticker, and there’s a whole bunch of parts layered on top of each other on the inside, in order to create all the details we see on the outside.
Chest
This chest design is extremely similar to all other Jeturk mobile suits, not only in its shape but also its color. And hey, that makes a ton of sense. But here’s the thing about those other Jeturk suits; their dark grey chests are usually surrounded by some very vividly colored limbs.
But that’s not the case here. This chest is surrounded by white (and more grey). And that just doesn’t provide a lot of contrast. The end result is that the chest just blurs together with the rest of the body and doesn’t really stand out.
“But wait, what about the cool purple shell units? Surely those must help?”
Sadly, no. They’re certainly purple, but for some reason these are the least impressive shell units I’ve seen on any GWitch kit. They just don’t provide the same level of pop as the rest; they’re just kind of … there …
Backpack
You’ve got to do a bit of color correction around back, which actually isn’t too bad (especially compared to the amount of similar work I had to do on Calibarn).
But this here pisses me off; check out this atrocious seamline running down the sides:
This is not the first GWitch kit with unfortunate seamlines, but they did something different with this one. The other kits just had regular seamlines - if you wanted to try and sand them away, that was your choice.
But this time, they did that thing that Bandai does sometimes where it looks like a seamline, but is actually a small groove that you can panel line.
Now to be clear, I usually don’t mind when they do this, because either A) it ends up looking good, or B) it’s actually a panel line that’s supposed to be on the mobile suit.
Neither thing is true with any of these panel-seam-lines on Schwarzette. None of them are supposed to exist, and they all look terrible.
They're Officially Official
What's even crazier is that these seamlines actually show up in the official artwork on the box and in the manual. Here's one that runs along the shoulder:
And you can see there's one on the leg as well:
And they're present once again in all the photos of the finished model:
I'm of two minds with this. On one hand, you can make the argument that they're at least being honest. They're saying "Look, this is how it looks in all our official shots, so it's okay for yours to look like this too". It's the opposite approach of what they usually do with HGUC kits, where the photo on the manual is the idealized form of the model, the look you're supposed to strive for (but which is not at all indicative of a straight build, which some could argue is a bit of false advertising)
But on the other hand, Bandai spent literal decades working on making their engineering better and better until they could get to the point where they could make models that are really, truly TV show accurate (or at least capable of becoming TV accurate with a relatively low amount of elbow grease).
And yet here, at the current pinnacle of their engineering capabilities, they're not even going to try?!?!?. It's just "This doesn't look the same as it did on TV, and you're just going to have to live with that".
It's all so bizarre, especially considering how many of these bad seamlines are on white plastic. If they were just normal, non-grooved seams, they wouldn't look too visible, and those builders who chose to could still remove them. Everyone would win, but instead we get this design that's the worst of all worlds.
And again, I ask - why?
Lower Torso
Nothing to complain about here. No seamlines to speak of, there there is a bit of optional color correction, both on the inside and outside of the rear skirt:
Feet
These look a lot like hooves, which is kind of interesting if the idea was to make the MS look a bit demonic.
Legs
So, there’s another one of those seamlines that is made to look like a panel line groove. It’s not great. Maybe I would have been better off leaving it un-lined.
We also get another shell unit here, and it doesn’t really add anything to the look. It looks so much better on screen than it does here.
One more thing - do you see those side skirts? Is that about as lazy as it gets? I think so.
Arms
There’s another one of those seamlines again, right up the shoulder. And again, we get some shell units, and I just don’t think they look all that impressive in real life.
The only interesting thing here are the arm guns, which I added some weathering compound to in order to make them look more gunlike.
Finished
I’m sorry I’ve been so negative throughout this post. I’m just not enthused with any part of this build. The only saving grace is that it was quick; I got it all done in a couple of hours across two nights.
I’m going to warn you ahead of time; the photo shoot is going to be short and sweet. I’m just not interested in going off the deep end with this one. See you then.