NG 1/144 Contio Review

So having just finished IGCSE pre-mocks, I was strolling around and after eating lunch with my friends, I found this guy in a random shop for $20 HKD. So to celebrate the end of mocks, I bought it, at first I was curious because I didn't recognise the box at all and the grade, so I knew nothing about it. I would've assumed it was a knock-off, but it couldn't be due to the Bandai logo. When I got home, I searched the kit up and found out that this guy is a 23 year old 1/144 No Grade Contio kit from the original Victory Gundam series. So, I guess this is my first No Grade then! And a vintage kit as well!

Box:

The boxart looks and is old. The proportions are slightly wonky sand the art style looks like an old painting. You can clearly see the Contio in it's glory though, and I think it was a nice one for the time.

Parts:

You get one pink runner, one clear blue runner, one brown runner, and one "frame" runner made out pe PE plastic. There is also a sticker sheet and a cardboard background which I will get to later.

Completed Product:

Finished kit and accessories, it came with clear parts! Sure, the beam saber is a toothpick, but at least it's clear and is separate from the hand! I actually really like the beam rifle's design, it's just really good looking in my eyes. The kit itself misses a lot of color apps and has quite bad seamlines, but that can be blamed due to age, i'm honestly quite satisfied with what this kit has for the age. Still, if anime accuracy is your thing, bring the putty and paint. This kit also has this interesting "frame" where instead of polycaps, the kit uses a partial inner frame with even a bit of detail in place of those polycaps, which was quite a neat idea.

My main problem with this kit however, are the arms and shoulders. They. just. keep. falling. The reason I haven't posed this guy much in this review is because I spent at least 15 minutes to try to keep his arms on him. The connection is dated and absolute crap, and to make things worse, the shoulderpads are extremely loose on the arms itself as well, making for more falling parts, and even the Beam Guns on the shoulders fall out too much due to the option to display it with an open shot claw.

Articulation:

Needless to say, due to it's age, the 1/144 Contio is quite limited when it comes to articulation, and a lot of it can be attested to age and it's dated engineering. To be fair, what the Contio had was quite decent for the time, his head could swivel, elbows went just under 90˚, shoulders are pains  so I don't move those around a lot. The legs can go out decently due to the lack of a sideskirt, but there is no swivel. Legs don't bend very far back and feet move a bit for final posing.

Accessories:

A special thing from the Victory Gundam line, Tech Specs! Displaying the weapons and how effective they are (Y I no get awesome bazooka?) and size comparison, overall pretty cool, but the card has one other neat little trick.

If you flip it, you actually get a backdrop of space and some ships, which connects to the (clear!) stand. The picture is labeled as (Space 4). This is because the stand can actually connect to other stands from the Victory Gundam line, so with all 4 pictures of a certain setting, you could create a diorama-like thing! The other 3 Space pictures are sold in other kits, so you have to get those to complete the picture. Even back then, Bandai had many ways to market their kits.

For weapons, he comes with two clear beam saber toothpicks (at least they're clear, for the time that was a blessing already), one straight and one bent for slashing poses.

He also comes with a sword, and beam shield (which can't be posed with due to the shoulderpads hindering all movement with the shield T_T).

He also has that awesome beam rifle, he also has the Beam Guns on his shoulders which can be turned into a Shot Claw using an extra part.

Verdict:

Overall, it's an okay kit. It comes with absolutely loads of accessories, especially considering the low price. Stickers are sparce, but they all go on curved, rounded surfaces which can make placement annoying. Color accuracy isn't great, but then again it's good enough. Trying to pose this guy's arms is a bloody nightmare, but besides that, it's a good kit, with decent articulation with this guy, so I quite like him. ^_^

Pros:

-Really, really cheap. (!)

-Comes with clear stand & backdrop of space. (!) 

-Clear parts for an old, old kit. (!) 

-Old kit with different build process than modern kits.

Cons:

-Shoulder/arm assembly is terribly designed and keeps falling. (!) 

-All stickers are on rounded surfaces. (!) 

-Missing a lot of paint applications. 

-Hollow Beam rifle. 

-Shield can't be posed due to large shoulder armor.