J.Norad Reviews: Obitsu Multi Purpose Clear Stand MLST-AO1C

Thanks to reader Sabine for pointing my attention to Obitsu's Multi Purpose Clear Stands. I've been using Gundam Action Bases at the moment to pose the girls, using the hip holding forks. It's great if they're wearing dresses, but it won't work well if I decide to give them pants.

I bought three clear stands for evaluation ($8 each, shipping included off eBay; MSRP 294 yen; $4 at Parabox, $7.50 at Mimiwoo) in the event I liked the performance of one, I would have two more ready to fiddle with without having to wait another 2 weeks for shipping. You can inspect the contents and possible configurations at Parabox's site.

Here's a comparison of the Gundam Action Base (left) and the Obitsu MPC Stand (right). Obvious differences is that the Gundam Action Base takes a large foot path and only mounts by crotch grab. The Obitsu MPC Stand is cleaner and is designed for a doll in mind. Nothing that you couldn't have figured out by the stand names already.

From the back, you can see the massive tradeoff for using the Gundam Action Bases. The question is why use the Gundam Action Bases now that you have the Obitsu stands? The answer is unfortunately simple:

Weight. Hotaru is doing fine supported in the air with the Gundam Action Base, elevated a good 4-5 inches off the ground. Lia, on the right, is limited to poses that keep part of her body touching the circular baseplate to offset the load from the thin and delicate arms. I've tried putting the Scout on the Obitsu stand and there's no possible way I could suspend him in an airborne pose with it. The thin rods are not suited for large objects and it seems like they'd either tip over or snap before they'd cooperate with doing aerial acrobatics with anything heavier than a tournament pack of Magic: the Gathering cards.

So, the Gundam Action Base is beefy to support weight, but  has a limited use due to the grip. The Obitsu stand has great usage but is limited due to the strength of the support rods. What if we could combine the two...

I noticed that the rod ends from the Obitsu clamp fits into the Gundam support end, and snugly.

And so the Gun-bitsu Multi-Action-Base was born. Reminds me of that egg turner in Jurassic Park.

The setup lets me pose light weight objects in interesting manners. I'm no longer limited to clear runners in holding up props. The combined base lets me put objects higher than normal, and with a fair amount of strength and grip.

It's not suited for extreme weight, but I found that the Gun-bitsu stand is VERY good for posing the minigun. The minigun has been a tough item to pose due to the lack of a stand and the massive weight. The Gun-bitsu stand has a fairly mechanical look to it, and still blends in fairly well on a bright white background. It looks like it'll be well suited to propping up gun models in the future.

As for the Obitsu MPC Stand itself, it's great for posing light arms in addition to 27cm dolls. The Obitsu MPC Stand is best suited for 1/12 scale figures and anything the weight of 1.5 Magic: the Gathering tournament packs or less. For posing 1/6 scale figures, it's a toss up. The largest claw/clamp does not fit completely around a male doll waist, but you could put them around the thigh instead. Its not a good idea to have them doing anything fancy with the stand, as their weight will topple the stand.

As for female dolls, putting the claw around the waist may restrict the clothing's appearance, so you may not have the ability to have a free flowing look. It's still better to put them around the thigh. You can still do some interesting poses with it in either configuration. They're best suited for static poses and nothing absurd like a Guile flip-kick.

---=="""=._.=//Random Statistics\\._.="""==---
Price per stand: 4 good uncommon cards or 40 terrible common cards
Weight Limits: Less than 140 Magic Cards
Tools required: Phillips screwdriver, sprue cutters
Time spent assembling stand: 10 minutes (includes gate trimming)
Time spent figuring out how to use stand: 2 minutes
Time spent trying to make stand useful: 30 minutes


Rankings: MiniMS Stand vs Obitsu MPC Stand vs Gundam Action Base
(listed in order of best to worst for each application)
Stiffness: GAB/Obitsu/MMSS
Range of motion/posability: MMSS/Obitsu/GAB (Bendable wire beats liftarms any day)
Grip/Attachment/Support Versatility: MMSS/Obitsu/GAB (wires can be claws or racks)
Stability: GAB/Obitsu/MMSS (can't beat a crapton of plastic)
Aesthetics: Obitsu/MMSS/GAB (The MMSS stand can be used to store stuff, but then it looks ugly)