Busou Shinki – Benio. I acquired her from my local AnimeStop for $38 CAD ($44 with taxes). Poor Benio was stuck on the store shelves for many moons/months without an owner to pick her up. I saw her many times during the winter when I still wasn’t interested in them. I’ve finally picked her up during the same year, and before Shinki Renge.
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(All images taken with a Lumix GF1 – Pancake lens.)
Benio -> quick-Bio:
Benio is a Samurai warrior within the Shinki realm. She can battle without armor, light armor, or her full samurai armor. Her main weapons are a lance, a long old rifle, and about three katanas of different lengths.
-> Wave Three:
- – Japanese Release Date: 7 December 2006
- – US Release Date: 22 March, 2007 (Note, this release consisted of Benio only)
- Benio (ç´…ç·’ (ã¹ã«ãŠ), BENIO), Samurai Type, Full Set
Character Designer: ç¯ æˆ¿ å…郎 Shinofusa Rokurou
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In-game Benio – Shinki-Net/Battle Rondo:
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What are Shinki’s? They’re basically your 15 cm desktop companions. They’re 15 cm tall figure sized battle bots for desktop combat. Might want to think of Pokemon – minus the pokeball and torture. Within the Shinki-Net (check below links) you train your Shinki’s to be the best fighting figure. You combat other figure’s owners to win achievements and etc. You interact with them as you would with a friend and they’ll behave in a human manner.
When I opened up the package I almost thought that I was messing with a model kit instead of a figure or a Figma. For those that own Figmas or Revoltechs, this is a mix of both. The joints are done in a mix and can be pulled and interchanged with other figures.
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Related material:
– Busou Shinki – Benio (Official)
http://www.busou.konami.jp/figure/lineup_007.html
– Battle Rondo (aka Shinki-net)
https://arcticukitsu.com/Blog/?p=1250
– Busou Shinki – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busou_Shinki
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Box Art & Packaging contents:
And the lovely box art that usually helps advertise the figure and to make you buy them when you first see them in stores.
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The plastic was pretty large. Goes without saying that the plastic is as large as the box itself as it contains two layers of parts – one in front and one just behind it. This thing is pretty close to being a low grade model kit with the amount of parts it has. I don’t think Figma Saber Lily or Figma Signum can match the number of parts supplied with this Shinki.
If a parent is going to buy this for their kid then don’t. Well, unless your kid is pretty mature minded and can take good care of their possessions. These things may break with easel as parts keep falling off.
-> Layer 1:
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-> Layer 2:
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And both layers side by side.
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The code given to add your character onto Battle Rondo/Shinki-Net (Link given above). And of course, it’s greyed out like a lottery ticket so nobody could write down the code/memorize it for use online without paying.
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Instructions on how to put on Benio’s armor and how she poses. I spent a good thirty minutes to an hour trying to put both types of armor onto her.
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Introducing the main star of the show, Benio!~
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A sea of parts.
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Shinki vs Figma comparison:
Not really a hostile versus. Just comparing Shinki’s vs Shinkis. Also, there’s no way a Figma could do a pose like that (below)….The best I could get Haruhi was into a sitting pose (not shown).
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Though, a Figma could probably do these with ease.
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And instead of a parts bag you get the samurai armor and weapon stand.
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Shinki Stand (black – back) and the two Figma stands (white/clear – front).
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Also added a measuring tape to show you how tall both figures are.
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And the spin around…
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Benio’s hands are similar to the Figma/Mobip pieces. The pair of yellow hands (not shown) are one piece with a set hand position. The white white hand pieces are literally flexible and made of some very soft rubber that flexes easily.
Repositioning her hand or trying to take it off is a slightly might be bit of a challenge if you’re into swift interchangeability. The Rubber connecting to the black peg may slip off when twisting or pulling.
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The head piece is also similar to that of the Figma line. Ball joint.
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The back of Shinki’s contains visually unappealing holes which would normally displease many figure collectors that aren’t familiar with Busou Shinki. Being miniature 15 cm robots they can afford to have their joints exposed; unlike Figmas that need theirs hidden for visual quality and accuracy.
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Also, the Shinki’s are meant for high user customization. Nobody within the Ottawa region wanted to acquire Benio so they could make their own custom figure(s)? She was selling for $38 CAD (44 with taxes) and they usually go for double that. Or double that for Figma’s or Nendos. Ah well, guess people want to statue up their collection ^^.
Don’t worry, I’m just joking around heh. No harm meant.
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Random images:
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Woops, I forgot to reposition the armor chest piece. My bad! Also should note that posing with armor on is a bit tricky.
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More images like these in future photo-shoots!
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Pro’s:
– Has similar qualities to the Figma line and can be highly customized to the user’s desire/specifications. The figure can pose well doing what many North American figures can’t and most of what other Japanese figures may struggle at doing.
– Comes with two sets off armor -> Light samurai armor and full samurai armor. Armor can be “easily” inter-changed with other pieces.
– Comes with an armor and weapon display base.
– Comes with a code for Shinki-net game so you may interact with her in the digital world.
– Detail is pretty good for something that came out in December 2006.
– Hands can easily peg in and out of the wrist. the hands are also made with soft and flexible plastic.
– Comes with numerous armor pieces to position
– Comes with two head pieces in place of face plates (minus skull mask). Skull mask can be taken off and put back on.
– Box art nicely drawn and placed around the box. The art could easily rival that of Fate/Unlimited Codes’s and Fate/Extra’s box art illustrations, even if a bit dated. The Samurai illustration stands out nicely on the box.
Cons’:
– False figure color advertising on Konami’s Shinki-net site.
– Limbs and parts fall off with ease when posing figure in either two armor sets. Either that, or I haven’t placed them properly. Some armor pieces comes off easily while others make it hard to pose figures.
– No parts bag. I had to use a sandwich bag to store all the armor materials.
– Contains small parts that may easily get lost in the house or in outdoor environments. Be extremely cautious of your figure, figure parts, and environment as you can easily lose parts.
– Lacks any face plates of any kind (minus the skull mask). Probably makes up with head pieces.
– Pony-tail doesn’t seem able to move. Seems to be glued or attached as a single piece.
– The thigh blue armor piece seems out of place and needs to be painted to an appropriate color.
– Clip for breast piece keeps falling out on it’s own. Something unhooks and it just falls which might cause it to get lost with ease in outdoor photo-shoots.
– The sword doesn’t sheath. It cheats by giving you random accessories of it sheathed and not sheathed.
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Fubuki is my first digital Shinki while Benio is my first Shinki figure. I was hoping to get Renge and wasn’t expecting to obtain Benio. Thanks for reading my review and hope this was helpful. If you can still acquire her then by all means get her!