I must say, out of all the HGBF Island Wars kits, the one I was most looking forward to was the Shia Qan[T]. This is because of a few reasons, for one, Shia is one of my favorite characters in Build Fighters, her mysterious, seductive, innocent-like nature just intrigues me, and I can't help but love her. It also helps that my second kit was the HGBF Gundam Portent, which was the Gunpla Shia used before she built this one, and thus it also has a lot of sentimental value. As well, the bright forest green and clear blue colorscheme is one I really like, and makes me love the kit all that more. Plus, she's got cat ears, and I really dig them for some strange reason!
Box:
The box is your standard HG box. You've got some nice boxart of the Shia Qan[T] slashing away while sparkling with what I assume to be GN particles with colorful space art for the background.
Parts:
For parts, she has a light green runner, a grey runner...
...a smaller light green runner, a white runner, a yellow runner...
...a multicolored runner...
...and two transparent blue runners. It should be worthy to note that this kit isn't just based off the Qan[T], but is also based off the Transient Gundam as well. Yep, those clear parts come directly from her onii-chan.
She's also got the polycap runner.
As well as a sheet of foil stickers.
Manual:
The manual is your average HGBF manual. You get some info on the Gunpla, it's builder which in this case is Shia, the instructions, the part count, and finally the all helpful color guide.
Completed Product:
The completed Shia Qan[T] looks great, and while the original 00 Qan[T] missed a few color apps like the grey on the feet, this kit fixes all of that, all you need here for anime accuracy is panel lining and that's it. There are silver stickers behind the blue lenses, which make the blue pop even more and look very nice on the MS. Not to mention that it's GN shoulder binder makes this kit look a bit more unique. While some people don't like asymmetry in their MS, I love it, it just adds a bit more uniqueness and personality into the MS, especially on something like the Fenice.
Articulation:
For articulation, her head is on a ball joint, so nice movement there.
Shoulders go up 90˚, quite decent.
Her arm can move a decent range due to the polycap and slim torso design.
Her arms swivel at the shoulder and elbow bends at a decent 90˚, nothing impressive but it's not bad.
It can even go backward if you like.
A design choice I found weird was that while the hands are on ball joints, they are designed in a way where they can only swivel, meaning posing with the hands are extremely limited, similar to the first two HGUC kits where the hands were just on pegs.
Her torso moves a small bit but not a lot, and she can swivel at the waist. Her legs spread out really wide with her awesome ankle rockers.
Her legs also swivel at the thigh and bend a nice 180˚.
Accessories:
For accessories, she doesn't come with a whole lot for held weapons, however, the GN Binder is where the money goes.
All she comes with is a left open hand and her GN Sword, which can also shoot lasers in the show. They function well enough, however I can't help but feel that there could've been a smidge more included.
The main accessory of the Shia Qan[T] is her GN Binder on her left shoulder. It acts as both a weapon, and a shield.
You can also put her into a flight mode, you do this by swinging the GN binder to the back, taking the grey connection part and flipping it out.
Before plugging it into the GN drive in her back.
Done! I would've liked making her head look up in this pose, however in this mode, her head is blocked by the GN sword's "arm", making it hard to make a convincing action pose with it. Oh well.
A little part can also flip up to reveal a clear blue piece. I don't know what it's for, but hey, it's there.
The individual GN Sword bits can also be removed from the binder if you want to, however there is sadly no way to display them midair.
These GN Sword bits can also open up and shoot lasers, however, it should be noted that the hinge connection is fragile and breaks easily, so be careful whenever you open these up.
For the Shia Qan[T]'s final weapon, you can take the blue effect part of the middle GN binder, and stick it on the end of one of the fork-type GN Sword bits.
Like this.
This weapon then plugs into the forearm of the Shia Qan[T]. It's not a perfectly secure connection by any means, however it is decent.
You can can still open the Sword Bit up to form the trident-look.
Here is something special! My first two kits, my Gundam Astray Red Frame and my Gundam Portent greeting her!
"Welcome to the family sister."
Verdict:
The HGBF 00 Shia Qan[T] is one of my favorite MS from Build Fighters, and this definitely carries on to the kit. It's got great articulation, the HG00 00 Qan[T] was a kit made 6 years ago, yet still has articulation that holds up well with today's standards. The Shia Qan[T] is no different, so articulation-wise, you may not find the kit to be that dated, and it certainly doesn't feel old. The new parts give the Shia Qan[T] a nice amount of uniqueness compared to the original Qan[T], and despite sharing the same body, it's new parts make it pull off the feminine vibe much better. It's certainly a nice, fun kit I enjoyed building. However, it does have a few weaknesses, mainly the limited head movement in flight mode, and the lack of movement in the wrists, but those issues are minor in the end. In the end, if you're interested by the kit by any means, or like Shia as a character, I urge you to try this kit out. It's nothing special and doesn't do anything extraordinary, but it's a good kit and if you're a fan of the Gunpla, you're going to enjoy this kit.
Pros:
- Clear blue parts look great with the green, especially the ones on the MS due to the silver backing stickers (!).
- Color accurate with little work needed to make look good.
- Pretty good articulation.
- Cat ears.
Cons:
- Wrists can only swivel.
- Head cannot look up when in flight mode.
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