For the longest time, Japanese kits dominate the mecha scale modeling hobby with juggernauts like Bandai Spirits and Kotobukiya. But recently, Chinese manufacturers have penetrated this market with original properties that comes really close to the kits we’re used to. There are offerings from both Eastern Model and MS General that try to bite from the market dominated by Kotobukiya’s various ‘mecha musume’ lines. And that’s when I discovered this recent Chinese CG anime (technically they’re called “Donghua”) called Spirit Cage: Incarnation, and along with it, the 1/12 scale kits from Xinshi Hobby.
Spirit Cage: Incarnation is a 3D animated series about a post-apocalyptic Earth where a cataclysm unleashed horrific monsters and forced the remnants of humanity to live in a floating city called Lighthouse with a very dystopian society. Featured in this series are a certain group of characters called Hunters who use powered suits to get their job done. And that’s where we get the model kits.
Four kits have been released as of this post, one of which is this guy, the MU-2 Type Heavy “Dawn” or “Hagyou” if we go by how it’s listed on online shops. The kits themselves look good and really convey the industrial nature of these powered suits. Now of course these photos are of painted samples, but these do give you an idea of what to expect.
I’ll also have to check on the color accuracy of this kit straight out of the box though it does come with a sheet of stickers. It also comes with metal parts for those torso hydraulic pistons, rubber parts for the tubing in the joints, and photo-etched parts for its chainsaw. As far as articulation goes, I don’t expect this guy to do dynamic poses, especially with that bulky design. It does have double jointed elbows and knees, as well as a shifting hip assembly so it’s probably on par with your typical Figure-rise Standard kit.
Outside of the Ultraman Suit Zoffy kit I finished recently, I don’t have that many 1/12 kits, and most in my collection are action figures. But I am quite curious about this kit, despite not yet watching the first season of Spirit Cage: Incarnation. So, I might click that buy button sooner than later. Heck, I might even get more Chinese made kits like those A.T.K. Girls I’ve seen for the longest time.
