If you told me a year ago that I would buy an SD Gundam kit, I would've straight up laughed in your face, I saw no reason to buy them back then and thought they were a waste of money. Half the price of an HG and you get a weird looking kit with chibi proportions, cute eyes (?), and limited articulation, it was safe to say that I highly disliked SD's. Skip forward to the present and I currently own 5 (7 if you count a pair of SD Sangokuden bootlegs) kits of this grade. I don't know what came over me, but somehow, I changed from hating SD's to somewhat liking them. It's strange, but the main focus here is the kit.
I had always heard that the Legend BB kits were the best of the line, with little hollow parts, tones of gimmicks and sometimes, even mekki parts for golden areas. Eventually, the Hobby Store I usually go to just stocked a new batch of SD Legend BB kits, and I decided that I was going to get one. So I picked the Musha Victory Gundam alongside with a Kudelia stand plate, and excitedly hurried home to build my kits. If you haven't noticed, the SD Musha Victory is actually based off the Victory 2 Gundam instead of the Victory Gundam, which is a good thing in my book, as I prefer the Victory 2 over the Victory.
Box:
The boxart is your standard legend BB boxart, you get art of the Musha Victory up front with a red sky-like background. In the back, you also get to see some drawings of the Metal Garuda and the Musha Assault Buster Victory at the back.
Parts:
For an SD, you get quite a bit of stuff, but for a Legend BB, it's quite standard. You get a white runner, a blue runner...
...a runner molded in puke gold...
...a grey runner, a red runner...
...a clear pink runner with metal flakes inside and a mekki plated gold runner.
It's worthy to note that the mekki runner is only gold on one side, and that the other is just bare silver plating. While the two smaller parts aren't too visible when the kit is finished, the v-fin stands out like a sore thumb when seen from behind.
You also get a pair of polycap runners...
...and like most SD kits, you also get a large foil sticker sheet.
Manual:
Since this kit is my first Legend BB kit, I don't know if the traits in this one are shared with others in the line, just noting that right now. Inside, you get the part count, instructions, and surprisingly no color guide, so we won't know the exact colors.
Something you also get in the manual is a little comic in Japanese. This is something you get with most "warrior-type" SD Gundam, those being the Legend BB and the Sangokuden SD's.
Frame Gundam:
This kit is one of those SD's that has a Frame Gundam mode, which is bascially the base Gundam without the extra armor put on. These tend to be slightly more articulate than when the armor is fully equipped, and you're supposed to be able to mix and match armor parts with other SD kits with a Frame Gundam mode. Bandai marketing everyone!
Frame Articulation:
His head is on a double ball joint, and has some decent range.
Arms are on a polycap that swings out a bit.
Arms swivel at the bicep and bend 45˚. The fists can move to give it a 90˚ bend. Nothing impressive here, average SD articulation.
Arms go up that much, mainly limited by the shoulder's joint design. While the legs move a bit, the feet don't move that much at all, but swivel. The above picture being the maximum pivoting range, and that limits posing on the ground without an action base,
Completed Product:
This is the Musha Victory's normal mode and I think it looks great. 3 parts on the kit are mekki gold, those being the v-fin, the v on the chest, and the mouthpiece of the scabbard. He's got a considerable amount of stickers, but most of them are average and aren't horrible offensive, except for the gunmetal ones on the shoulderpads, those are absolutely atrocious and look horrible, definitely consider painting those.
Articulation:
Articulation isn't that much different in the Normal Mode, although forwards movement on the legs are slightly hindered due to the front skirts. Also, the helmet combined with the larger shoulderpads may limit head movement.
Accessories:
For accessories, he comes with what he needs and nothing more. He comes with his wings of light in that beautiful clear pink plastic molded with reflective flakes in them.
You just plug them into his backpack and he's got his wings of light active.
The wings of light are used as a weapon, quite literally just beam wings that slice through enemy MS, very powerful weapon.
He also comes with an unpainted toothpick beam katana. In the show, the actual beam katana is just the hilt, the scabbard is honestly useless and is just there for decoration. When he draws the katana from the scabbard, the beam activates and he uses it as his main weapon. If you want this to be anime accurate, you're going to have to paint the hilt.
As for the actual katana, it simply just slides out and can be held in the hand with ease.
His largest accessory (or accessories) come in the form of the Metal Garuda. This thing is molded completely in the Bandai puke gold, and you may want to paint him up. Still, for what he is, he's quite cool. He's your average animal companion familiar-thing and he has a few stickers. You may want to panel line him though, he honestly looks a bit boring without anything. For an idea of the size, the Wingspan of the Metal Garuda is about the size of the HGUC Gyan, meaning it's quite wide
He doesn't have any real action base connector, however you can rest a peg on one of the holes in his butt, note that this is not a secure connection.
Finally, the main thing about the Metal Garuda is that you can combine it with the Musha Victory to upgrade it into the Assault Buster Musha Victory. If you haven't noticed by now, the Metal Garuda is essentially the Legend BB equivalent to the Buster and Assault upgrades for the Victory 2. To upgrade the Musha Victory, split the Metal Garuda into the following parts above.
Next, you take off the front skirts and the shoulderpads of the Musha Victory.
The legs of the Metal Garuda is not used in any way of the partsformation, but keep it safe, you need it for the Metal Garuda.
You then attach the cannons and the wings onto the backpack pegs on the Musha Victory.
You then bend the cannons down a bit, and attach the new shoulderpads.
You then attach the pieces above as the new frontskirt and chest armor before finally flipping in the head of the Metal Garuda, as well as turning the connection point a 180.
Now put the new shield into the hand.
Armored Mode:
It's certainly a busy form. I prefer the Normal Mode as the large puke gold pieces look a bit bland and unappealing, however this mode easily has the most shelf presence out of the 3 modes. The wings are quite big, and are quite impressive from a visual standpoint. Like I said, the main weakness of this mode is that the gold looks a bit bland, panel lining will help a lot here, and if you're willing to go anime inaccurate, skilled painting will definitely make this kit look a lot better.
He can also detach the cannons on his shoulders and use them as handheld weapons if you wanted to.
Gimmicks:
For gimmicks, you can take off the top of his head, and in it, there is a two-sided eyepiece. With this, you can choose two of the 4 given eye stickers to use. I personally used the eye stickers given and painted over them so I can have the "expression-less" eyes that I personally prefer on an SD, and i'm probably going to display this guy with those eyes.
You just put it back together with the eyepiece set and voilà, new expression.
Verdict:
Overall, this has been a pleasant SD experience for me. This kit is more pricey than your average SD Gunpla, and is about HG price, but i'd say you're getting your money's worth considering the mekki parts, the beautiful clear pink effect parts, and the giant Metal Garuda. As a kit, it's certainly one that has a lot of ornate flair, and for an SD, looks really good on the shelf, especially on an action base. Of course, getting this guy anime accurate will require a bit paint, it's an SD kit, what would you expect, missing color apps are a given. I think straightbuilding will not give you the best results in the world, giving you a mediocre kit overall. But all you need to get this guy to really stand out, is simply paint the gold, and panel line this guy, and that is all you'll need for a good looking SD kit with some real shelf presence. Plus, if you don't mind anime inaccuracies, like I said, painting the Metal Garuda parts in more colors is completely an option, and it will make the kit look better when done right. Overall, the SD Musha Gundam is a good kit that does have a few flaws, but has the potential to be a great kit. If you want an SD kit with shelf presence, want to try a Legend BB kit, or are just looking for something quirky to build, I can definitely recommend the SD Musha Victory, especially if you're willing to paint that gold.
Pros:
- Pink clear effect parts have nice metallic flakes in them.
- Mekki gold for a few details.
- Assault Buster Victory has a lot of shelf presence for an SD.
Cons:
- Metal Garuda is made entirely in puke gold. (!)
- Mekki gold is only gold on one side.
Neutral:
- High potential for a very good looking kit, can be achieved by simply painting the puke gold and panel lining.
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