pm sent!

Oy! Hoping to start getting these sometime this month. I was curious; how would one go about painting these things? I imagine it won't be easy. What have your experiences been like?

Ive been using sharpie paint pens with some tape for borders. Works quite well.

Can somebody tell me more about minipla? Are they model kits? Where do I get them?

Cool. Thanks for that!

Yeah, they're model kits. Much smaller versions of all the various Mecha that have stickered details, similar transformations to the DX toys & more articulation. Only place I've been able to find them are Ebay. They're not impossible to find but they aren't easy either, atleast for me. Hopefully you'll have more luck.

You can get them on AmiAmi, but they tend to sell out quickly, unfortunately.

Also, if you do get some, either invest in some super glue, or learn to paint, because those stickers can easily peel within days...

Oh yeah. I've heard that so often that I think painting these is actually a requirement for collecting them. ^^;

I use the little jars of Tamiya paint and hand paint mine. I also use Gundam markers to panel line them after I finish painting. It's not too difficult though its good to have some fine brushes so you can paint the smaller details. Painting is definitely the way to go, makes the models look much much better!

Here's my most recent kit though this was done last year:
http://i.imgur.com/zlrn0ES.png

Holy crap! That's incredible! How long did that take you!?

Lol, thanks! I think it took about 5 days to fully paint everything. I spent about one day painting each Gokai machine. The details on the model weren't too hard to paint and the colours that were missing are the same for each model so it didn't take too long to paint them up. I definitely cheated and used stickers for details that I wasn't able to paint or for colours that I was missing like the pink on the submarine and some of the other parts where the details were on the sticker while the model kits was just blank.

Nice! Though I can imagine some series' designs would be harder to manage than others. How does the painting process feel? What was it like to see the product slowly grow over time?

Next question: about how big are these compared to, say, a standard 1/144 scale HG Gundam model kit?

Pretty close to the same size. For example, Zyuoh King is about a head taller than the MK I Revive. They get a bit bigger when combining, like how the Wild Zyuoh King is about a head shorter than the 1/100 Barbatos.

If you don't feel like dealing with case assortments and having to split extra sets, CStoys and itcamefromjapan sells individual sets of them.

What do you mean by this?

A lot of Minipla releases comes in sets of 12. There's usually only 4 or 5 different figures in a given set, so you can often times end up with 2 or 3 of the same figure (Since the largest figure usually has 2 different minipla kits dedicated to it).

This all sounds so confusing hahaha

It's actually all really simple once you get your first one :lol
Find a set you want, if you can't paint, get some super glue to make sure the stickers don't peel, and don't be surprised if you end up getting 2 of the same mecha~

Top coating seals the stickers on and also removes the cheap plasticy look.

Also if you aren't in any immediate rush I'd suggest waiting till the end of Zyuohgers run as they usually release a case assortment that contains everything in one box.

Had an epiphany of sorts.

Just realized it would be awesome if Bandai would release older Sentai mecha in Minipla. It would be an affordable alternative to having to scour for older DX mecha, plus you'd get the advantage of articulation that the originals were missing.

Oh sweet god, the things I'd do to get an articulated Muteki Shogun and Kakure Daishogun :lol
They'd be so cool!

I'd also have a complete Zeo Megazord/OhRanger Robo without having to go without groceries for a month :lol

I never knew that about the top coating. I might give that a try with some of my other minipla to see how it looks~

AmiAmi has posted the preorder for the clear versions of both Zyuoh Wild and Zyuoh King: http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...GOODS-00093356

Am I correct that we still don't know what's in set 3? It's infuriating; I didn't preorder because it could easily be a re-release of existing sets, and AmiAmi preorders of it already sold out.

I got one in the books. If i get an extra ill hit people up here. i am kinda suprised we dont know what it is yet. im assuming its the world's mecha and kuma.

I wouldn't worry, it'll reopen once the set comes out. They always do, I haven't ordered it myself yet either.

Our first look at the Tousai Zyuoh mini-pla!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJtToErz7bk

Are preorders available for him? I want one~

All that DX-looking-but-tiny stuff has me intrigued. It looks smaller even than the gashapon versions.

If I understand the numbering properly, this might also confirm that Tousai Zyuoh is, indeed, series 3, rather than a reissue. Legs! Possible elbows! And unbelievable top-heaviness! I want to own this.

Finished up my Zyuoh Wild over the weekend, really enjoying these kits. I wish Wild Zyuoh King's arms so weren't so pathetic, but the combo itself holds together a lot better than previous multi-robo combinations have. I'm hoping it might look better once there's a Kuma Axe to go with it as well.

https://i.imgur.com/vmsXLb3.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/swoJ81I.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/3XkIfDY.jpg

Agreed, if his arms were at the least poseable he would be perfection. But alas.....

Preorders for series 04 are up:
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...GOODS-00088720

Frankly I have no idea what this one will contain. I think it might have Cube Kuma or Cube Komori, as we don't know if either of those are coming in series 03. And I doubt it's the Whale, too early for that. Maybe the movie exclusives?

They can be made less pathetic with a little parts-swapping. Since Eagle and Gorilla are built so similarly, you can switch one of the arms from Gorilla over to Eagle (or vice versa) to get them consistent with one another. I think the Gorilla arms look better, since they can be hinged in the proper direction, and the fists can be swiveled.

The arms still aren't great, but they're significantly better than in the default configuration.

I'm very hesitant to order. "Zyuoh Cube A & Weapon Robo" suggests Kuma and Komori, but possibly also reissues of Kirin and Mogura. Maybe the EX weapons? The "Cube A" makes me think it'll involve reissues. Argh! Can't... order... with confidence...!

Welcome to the purgatory that is preordering model kits from AmiAmi that aren't gundam.

So...When cube set 3 is released, will anyone have any extra sets?

You're in luck. Some more preorders opened up on AmiAmi finally for series 03

Could I get a link? I'm not seeing it.

Thank you for posting the PSA! I've got my pre-order, so I'm super-happy.

Thank you.
Anyone willing to split one with me?