The Minipla Avataro Gattai Series 02 ToraDoraGonJin and Omikoshi Phoenix set will come out on November 21.

A very basic, potentially silly question - it's my first time building a MiniPla kit, so what tools am I going to need to make it look good? Like, for cutting the runners, stickering up, etc?

There's no such thing as a silly or stupid question as far as I'm concerned. You'll need some nippers, maybe an exacto knife to help trim the excess plastic from the piece you just nipped it from the runner. You are also going to want tweezers to help you put the smaller stickers on as well as some sand paper to smooth out the imperfections on the pieces. That's what I use.

You?ll definitely need the nipper or clipper tool. You will probably need a tweezer too to grasp the stickers and hold them in place until you can stick them on.

I bought this tool set when I first started out a couple months ago

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01AND0FRG

Something like this is not a necessity, but it can be nice to use to organize the sprues
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08R23GF1S

And then a nice glass file could help with smoothing nubs out. I myself am not too worried about smoothing everything out
https://www.amazon.com/Military-Poli.../dp/B09FFDLFYX

These are just some ideas. I would think the only thing you absolutely need is some sort of tool to cut the pieces off of the sprues. You can?t do it without a precision cutting tool.

EDIT: Oh and maybe a parts separator. I’m actually in the market for a good rec on one of those. Something to pry loose all the stuff if you accidentally attach two pieces together too soon. I use the flat head screwdriver to do it sometimes, but I’d be lying if I said I never stabbed myself with that thing while trying to jam a model bird’s wing apart or something

You want something called a "spudger". They are plastic tools used in electronics repair.

Because parts separators are always made of a softer plastic (to not damage the model kit parts), they will always break down and eventually become unusable, so you want this tool in large quantities and relatively disposable.

https://smile.amazon.com/Universal-S.../dp/B01DGNCNR0



Good starter nippers:

https://smile.amazon.com/GodHand-Nip.../dp/B07NWBG938

Thanks for the advice all! I'm in the UK, so these links aren't going to work in every case, but I've got an idea of what to look for. I guess we'll see the results in a while!

For part separating, I discovered the ones that come in Lego sets work quite well

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41SalaC5TQL.jpg

On a different note, you guys think we'll get another version of minipla Onitaijin released near the end of the shows run? I missed out on the original release, so I'm debating either finding one on the resell or wait it out for something new. The minipla mechs for Kiramager and Zenkaiger had different versions right?

They did, but those were pretty early in the line -- so it's pretty weird that Onitaijin hasn't had one, and a lot of people have taken that to mean it's not happening. Fingers crossed though!

I never used any tools. The box show that you don't need a nipper or glue to make a minipla kit. The parts are really easy to part form the runner and left no real strain on them. I never tried to sand parts (I don't do it neither for kits that require a nipper)
If you try a super minipla, there you will need nippers !
Putting small stickers can be a painwithout a tweezer.

What kind of minipla are you making? For standard minipla, they're designed to not need any tools - you can pop the pieces off the runners with no marks, and if there are marks, you can usually just rub them off with your fingernail.

For super minipla, you'll need nippers and something to sand with. Personally, I have a pair of godhand nippers and glass files for sanding, but I also build a lot of expensive kits, so it was worth the investment for me. To start, a pair of entry nippers and sandpaper of varying grit should be fine.