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)

J.Norad Reviews: 1:6 Scale ZACCA Panzerfaust 30/60

Been a while since I've looked at some more ZACCA Bazooka Collection models. Today, we have the Panzerfaust 30 and Panzerfaust 60 in 1:6 scale. This is perhaps the best and worst blind boxed selection you could get from Series 1, depending on what you're after.

 If you love Panzerfausts and need a lot of them for $4 for two, they're great. They surprisingly don't have Engrish text for the German warning text. Nice detailing. Unfortunately, due to the size, the sights on the Panzerfaust 30 doesn't flip up. The sights on the Panzerfaust 60 do, and the safety pin can be removed. Firing handle doesn't move though. They both have a bit of a dirty look to them, which looks nice.

 Unfortunately, I have NO idea how most 1:6 scale figures would be able to use these. You'd need really specific hands to be able to hold one properly in the "ready to fire" position. I could barely get a decent photo of the Soldier trying to use one. The 30's easier to manage due to the smaller tube. You're supposed to fire the 60 like this. Good luck finding 1:6 figure hands that can do that.

The Panzerfaust 30 looks more like a club than anything. Or a tiki torch. Or a bamboo Q-tip. You'll probably be able to equip your WWII German army well with just these, or stick them in a diorama on a truck or crate.

Well, time to give the 30 to the King of BONK! with the built in "BONK-tastic action button" left over from the Shia LeBeouf figure. I hear Scout players actually have some skill aside from holding Mouse1 and W while equipping the bat. I don't think mine's one of those skilled ones.

BONK! Or should I say, "THUNK"

"Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here! Need a dispenser here!"

"Need a dispenser..."

 Ka-BOOM.

Anyways, I found the Panzerfaust 30/60 to be the most useful of the seven types you can get from Series 1, because you get two. This has the side result of being provided two sets of display pegs instead of one. If you're interested in also using the display boards as I have, they really help give you more mounting pegs to help display more objects per board. A lot of the space normally gets occupied by a large rocket launcher, but if you plan on displaying small guns and rifles, you'll want more pegs. On the backdrop, I've used 11 sets of pegs and clearly have room for more.

End notes:
MSRP's $4. If you somehow can get these for $4, they're great if they come with the display boards. Anything more than $4 isn't worth it, however, in terms of buying them for the sake of buying Panzerfausts. There's a few other brands out there with additional detail that ZACCA's display piece doesn't have. You could feasibly build your own Panzerfausts for cheap if you're not too picky about the warning labels. (ZACCA's actually are missing the large label on the projectile itself that has more instructions)

These things are disappointing unless you really wanted them specifically from the blind box. Compared to the other models you could get, the FIM-92, the Panzerschreck and even the near-unusable M202A1, this set's very unexciting compared in detail and actual content. They're just board and peg packs with bonus junk.

The Soldier Reviews 1:6 Scale ZACCA Panzerfaust 3

Attention, maggots! Today, I am holding the power of the an semi-belligerent god in my hands; a privilege allowed only by the best soldiers. I have here a Panzerfaust 3, issued by ZACCA, and have the special task of presenting my field report of it in action.


As you can see here, there's two parts to this model. A rocket, which the designers decided to not make the separation where the rocket meets the launcher, but at the head of the rocket so that you can't have fun dioramas of a fired Panzerfaust and the sorry gory mess of a bastard on the battlefield. For shame, indeed.


The markings on this model for once were copied properly without misspellings or disemvowelment. There aren't many other features on this model, but the warning and instructions are clear enough for dim-witted recruits like you.

The model is light and can be comfortably and securely held in the hands of an expert soldier, and fits soldiers of the Dragon, Ultimate and Worldly units. There's little fear in breakage, as the rocket is solid and doesn't have any small parts that easily snap off on impact.

Now, J.Norad instructed me to demonstrate my killing skills in this outpost. I have yet to encounter the Blu spy he spoke of in this area. No shapeshifting, cloaking yellow-bellied fiend will get past me today.

I haven't bumped into anyone, so I guess he must be good. I'll have to keep my eye on things here.

I've found the Blu spy, er, he found...gluuuuuuurg...

========================================================

The ZACCA Panzerfaust 3 is a solid model that for $5 is alright. I don't recall any other competitors that make a 1:6 scale model of it. It's not a particularly popularized RPG to have major companies make versions to sell, and I'm pretty sure it's a model you can not have in your collection and not regret missing out on.

There's not much in terms of paint application on the model. Just two labels and a safe/fire indicator. It would have been an excellent model if the designer made the detachable section purely the rocket and not rocket+front of launcher. As a display piece, it's fine. As a prop, it loses many points for execution as a result. I do give it points for being holdable by 1:6 scale figures without any awkward moments or problems.

As a display piece, it's very robust with two parts. It also looks great. I've had the Soldier hold it instead of his regular Valve rocket launcher since it fits him well. If you're not a fan of the RPG nor can find it for under $5, don't bother. There's others in series 2 that blow this out of the water though.

Where You're Going, You Won't Need Hats

Decided to deviate from the usual merry weapons making and revisit the simplicity of bladed weapons. The task isn't too difficult: it's nothing harder than gluing a cutout of a blade onto a stick. I've yet to devise a standard for melee weapon making as I now have for firearms. So far, I only have a rough guideline for grip diameters and blade thicknesses. I'll iron out something formal in the coming weeks when I experiment with different weapons.

"My, what a big blade you have!"
"The better to cleave you with, my dear..."

This week, I decided to build the Devilscale from Drakengard. Loved the weapon in game, and decided that some variety in my projects was needed. For this, I worked around in-game screenshots and a standard handle width of 4mm to scale up the polearm. The blade is rather massive and required stock material of a length of two card lengths. I tried to use some of the X-Men TCG cards I acquired for this task, since I'm never going to get rid of those otherwise.

Regarding material properties, here's a quick comparison:

Magic seems to be a bit less resistant to bending than the X-Men cards. Slight difference, but it's noticeable. The thicknesses are however equivalent. Further testing is needed.

I pretty much half assed this weapon since the references weren't too helpful in determining details. Can't really see much from a polygonal PS2 model built for quick renders. However, the staff part turned out better than I thought.

Anyways, what does one now do with a 1:6 scale of a giant bladed polearm?

"I'll teach you to hit on me via teamchat!" -Hotaru

For this photo, I decided to make use of a technique I saw in a LEGO diorama: use of the aquatic red bushes as an excessive blood spurt effect. I actually love that effect so much that I've stocked the LEGO parts close by for quick access. It's conveniently the right scale for a 1:6 scale decapitation... (Is it a bad sign I have a blog post tag for "decapitation"? Maybe...)

I've also kept around the sprues from my Gundam kits, in the event I need some thin plastic rods. With the clear ones, you can use them to suspend random body parts in the air. I've jammed the rods down the clothing for the Sniper and Scout to help support the heads hanging.

Anyways, next time: I'll attempt to make a simple task of sword making idiotically difficult!

The Soldier Reviews 1:6 Scale ZACCA M-72A2

At ease maggots! J.Norad deserted his post here to go to associate in the girly activity called "shopping". Meanwhile, he left me here to defend the post solo, but that's O.K. since I'm a hard blooded killing machine! J.Norad left me this M-72A2 Light Antitank Weapon issued by ZACCA, series 1. It is an outstanding weapon, worthy enough of being held and used by yours truely.

Unfortunately, this LAW comes pre-extended and has less moving parts than the bodies of my dead enemies. If you're looking for a M-72 LAW with full moving parts, extending rear, closable cover and actual missile, you should look elsewhere. ZACCA isn't the best for stuff with moving parts, unless they're falling off. That's movement, isn't it? Fortunately, this fine specimen doesn't have any issues with loose components. Nothing has fallen off so far, and the parts all fit snugly. J.Norad mentioned to me that a company called "Hot Toys" makes a 1:6 scale M-72 that has collapsible sights and the whole she-bang! Not bad from a company whose name suggests some purveyor of gentlemen's literature. Soldiers get lonely in the trenches sometimes, but , AHEM, that's not the point here. What was I going on about? Ah yes. How to use the thing!

Like all good Soldiers, we don't have time for reading. If you're too busy reading, you're too busy being DEAD. That's why it's a good thing that this M-72A2 has a picture showing you numb-nuts how to hold and fire the LAW. Unlike last time, those Japanese at ZACCA finally learned how to write the proper language of the world, English! I bet they knew I was going to be using one of these, so they buckered up and learned to write English, lest I come for them like I did for the Nazis in WWII. Never mind that my amazing killing spree was a bit late, but I showed them who was boss anyways.

I heard that BLU had more secret weapons built since the last time I went patrolling. They may have fooled me once by disguising their weapon as a toy car last time, but that trick won't fool me again. The intel I received that their weapon was codenamed "Mirage". Something about a robotic version of a Spy. Told me that it was capable of being better than the Spy, able to hide and make projections of itself. Such cowardly antics will not work against me, for I am the master of combat!

Well, I'll be. Looks like the intel was right all along. A BLU robot spy.


Fortunately, this weapon unlike last week, is capable of being utilized to the fullest in the hands of even maggots like you. Unfortunately the cameraman didn't get to live long enough to photograph a shot of me beating the living crap out of that BLU robot. But I can offer you the following tip if you want to be as great of a Soldier as I am. If you want to buy this M-72, it will set you back just $5 MSRP, but inflation and shipping charges can easily inflate that to around $10-12. I would suggest that if you want the best one out there, be prepared to pay $30-40 for it alone. I saw photos of the Hot Toys version from J.Norad's intel files, and I can say it looks very impressive and is superior in every way with extra markings and the removable missile. But I don't know how many of you pansies are going to need to buy that exact LAW in the highest detail possible, so if you're on a budget, the ZACCA one is not a bad buy.

J.Norad Reviews 1:6 scale ZACCA M202A1

Welcome back to the 4th installment of the ZACCA rockets'n'grenades-fest. Today, we have one of the lesser known rocket launchers, the M202A1. This grenade launcher is particularly fitting for the TF2 soldier due to the fact that it fires four rockets, much like the Soldier's rocket launcher. A bit of interest of this weapon is that it's also a flamethrower, by firing incendiary rockets. It seems to be rear loaded with a clip of four rockets at a time. Pretty awesome sounding weapon, eh?

This rocket is by far the worst rocket from series 1 I've reviewed.

First, let's look at the blatant problems.

The Japanese don't speak English for a reason.

Oh boy. I'm pretty stuck up when it comes to proper grammar and spelling. This thing infuriates me so much by existing.

"WARNING
IF TRGGER MALFUNCTION
REMOVE MECHANISM
PROTECTNE"

ZACCA is known for their model detail. Apparently, that's "physical" detail and not their decals. How hard can it be to copy letters off a stock image? Seems like the Japanese can't copy these odd blocky pictograms and squiggles correctly. What's with the "protectne"? Protecting Acne? Pyrotechnic?

The weapon is unusable.

There's a reason why I don't have more than one photograph of the Soldier using the M202A1. It's an absolute nightmare to pose any figure with it properly. First off, you absolutely need to glue the parts together if you must use this for actual posing. As a display model, it's not an issue. The front and rear covers come off fairly easily. Normally this is a problem, but the rear cover is the main culprit in making this grenade launcher terrible. It obstructs your figure's arm from being able to hold the firing handle with his right hand, and limits the ability of your figure to hold the foregrip with the left.

Why is that a problem? Why can't you have your figure hold the M202A1 with one hand?

The model is virtually a giant box of plastic. The handles are thin and unless your figure has spring loaded hands, it will fall out of his hand quickly. You'll have problems trying to pose your figures with this. Only figures I can possibly make this work with is the Scout/Shia Lebeouf and the girls.

The upsides

This is perhaps the only model out there of the M202A1 in 1:6 scale. In terms of workmanship, it's fairly good. There's no cheaply done weathering or odd paint schemes/problems on it this time. If you can ignore the bad decals, it's a good model. Maybe some of you with good painting skills can touch up that problem and make it tolerable. Or alternatively, add wear that conveniently obscures the typos. For $5, it's reasonable to not expect too much from it.

Anyways, as is the tradition with these reviews, time to feature more "Let's attack blue things with rockets".

The Soldier looks to find out where BLU is hiding the intel for their new secret weapon.

We must scour every possible hiding place for the new weapon. They may have put it in places where you'd never think. Like in...HERE!

Negatory! They have not hidden the intelligence inside this blue vehicle.

I do recall them saying that the new weapon was located around here somewhere.

Oh.

I do believe I have found the weapon. Yes, I HAVE found the weapon. Or has the weapon found me?

J.Norad Reviews ZACCA 1:6 Scale RPG-7

Welcome to part 3 of 11 of J.Norad's "we've got money, so let's buy small fascimiles of illegal arms" series. Today, we'll be looking at the RPG-7, one of the blind boxed models in Series 2.

The model comes in four pieces and measures 24.5cm long. There are no moving components, and the rocket unfortunately is molded with the front half of the rocket propelled grenade launcher. Not too great if you're childish and love being able to launch your ordinance at things.


The model is fairly detailed, with what constitutes "aging technique" for the aluminum colored parts. The grenade part looks like someone went overboard with the black paint for the crevices. Heavy lining that helps you find the details easily, but looks like it's been drawn with a black sharpie than painted. The wooden rear section isn't really made to look like anything except extruded orange plastic. For $5, it's not a bad model.

The Soldier's rocket launcher in Team Fortress 2 somewhat resembles the RPG-7. The elements are mostly there: two hand grips, wooden rear section, and a conical rear black exhaust port. Unfortunately, no optical sight (the front dust cap is NOT rubber and should not be moved) for the TF2 rocket launcher.

If you're looking for an RPG-7, there's a version out there packaged with the Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield figure. Haven't seen it in person, but I'm certain it's probably sturdier for play than this one would be. Product images so far show a lot better quality in terms of paint, and similar build quality. The ZACCA version needs some adhesive to keep the rear part on securely. I had to apply Loc-tite around the circumference of the interface to thicken the part.

Overall Meaningless Scores and Stats

Price per unit:
MSRP: $5
Price shipped: ~$10
Competing prices: Hot Toys' Chris Redfield figure, ~$140. Expect figure scalpers to be selling the RPG-7 separately for somewhere around $12-$16, if they for some reason decide to.

Build quality:
If you're looking for an RPG-7, there's a version out there packaged with the Resident Evil 5 Chris Redfield figure. Haven't seen it in person, but I'm certain it's probably sturdier for play than this one would be. Product images so far show a lot better quality in terms of paint, and similar build quality. The ZACCA version needs some adhesive to keep the rear part on securely. I had to apply Loc-tite around the circumference of the interface to thicken the part.
I would be confident dropping this off a bookcase, since there's very few delicate components. 7/10.

Overall:
You have two options for getting a 1:6 scale RPG-7: ZACCA or Hot Toys. You're not going to be buying the Hot Toys version en-masse at the price of $140+. You're forced to buy the ZACCA model, but it's pretty good and sturdy for posing and play. How sturdy is it? Enough to go outside and do some shooting.

"Boys, I see the signs of a BLU base! We must attack at once and crush the enemy!"

"A Pepsi plant? Sweet! Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Charge!"

"We must stop that BLU cart from getting past this point, boys!"

"This is my street! You are not welcome in my street... Hmmm. Maybe you are welcome in my street. I'm going to get going now."