Frame Arms Girl – Materia Normal Version

Welcome back to a revived and alternate Busou Shinki line named ‘Frame Arms Girl’! I need to thank Kotobukiya for keeping it alive in one manner or another. I also, on a whim, also purchased this lovely ‘Materia’ in curiousity to see what the fuss was all about.

– Surprised at the size of the delivery & main box. Quite a nice simplistic box art that I love.

[All images taken with a Lumix GF1 – Pancake lens.]

It really pisses me off when I have to make note of how idiotic Konami has been to both the Busou Shinki line and the world. They really fucked up hardcore that the gaming world hates them, the Busou Shinki world hates them, and the North American side hates the Busou Shinki side for hating Konami first. It’s all fucked up. Even so, I am pleased and overly grateful to see Kotobukiya keeping the Busou Shinki line alive in their alternative manner with more of a ‘sci-fi’ military theme to them.

I do hate the acronym for ‘Frame Arms Girl’, yet I do love the name in full. Same with the designs they’re making for them. I was also surprised to find out they’re model kits, yet was also partially aware they were model kits. It’s no big deal because now you have a larger selection to customize these beauties [minus the Busou Shinki artificial intelligence lore]. She happily arrived from ‘Hobby Link Japan’ for a good $54 CAD on January 30th, 2016; piecing her together on February 2nd. I find her awesome. No regrets (I first did because I confirmed she was a model when opening the box, then I warmed up to her awesomeness when building her with Renge.)

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– Seeing this made me curse lightly for I was expecting a figure, not a model kit. I actually quite like how they took the gunpla style route that it makes her more personal to you for customization purposes.
– Renge, being the fox that she is, also had to join in with her curiousity and her foxy traits. Even to also compare the size of her and Materia.
– This is what I love the most about building model kits: The booklet with examples & the art. I missed this, actually.
– Renge happily assisting me with starting to piece her together. Let’s get Materia up & active! XD
– Anime girls always complain when you say they’re heavy, thus this is now a compliment of how light Materia is & how much Renge can lift 😛
– Renge lost in her own world now while multi-tasking in lifting & examining the parts she’s holding up.
– Clever! They basically kept the Figma, Busou Shinki, Nendo, gunpla & etc faceplate patent while keeping things nice and light. Three nice faceplates also to choose from.
– Even if it’s just the head, this is already looking out to be an overly awesome build! Such detail. Such reward & satisfaction! Can’t swap between Busou Shinki parts, sadly.
– Her upper-torso looking awesome. Nice! Just about the same size as Renge’s upper torso & every other Busou Shinki.
– The lower torso is quite clever also with the flaps that face the front. It loosely covers Materia’s crotch area while being able to articulate. Piecing it together made me think of a plane’s rudder section.
– That lovely suggestive rear-end & the crotch section. Quite large when not assembled with the torso, yet teaseful when attached from being ‘protected’.
– Renge now comparing assets given to her & to Materia. Don’t worry, no envy or desire for trading. Just simple curiousity heh. That part also reminds me of Altine & Altene’s lower region of a design.
– Even though it makes sense, yet also highly amused, that Materia’s rear-end has an “ass-guard” to keep her safe. Only natural when borrowing similarities with the combat-aimed Busou Shinki line.
– Oh! That looks awesome all pieces together. Partially surprised her body fits the size of Renge’s. ‘FAG’ being heavily influenced by the Busou Shinki line afterall. Nice design she has.
– Three lovely faceplates to choose from and 5 pairs of hands for variations. I am however highly disappointed that she doesn’t come with any ‘sleeping’ faces that limits photo-shooting possibilities. No options in decals given also.
– Ooo!~ Simple, yet fancy feet! Love how they articulate. Also a problem with the front tip falling off during posing & movement. You need to be extra cautious.
– That leg also being similar to the Busou Shinki design, if in a more ‘gunpla’ manner. The advantage being how you can repair & pose with the legging of a ‘gunpla’.
– Even if Renge is a slightly smaller Shinki, that leg is just about the same size. I’m loving this the more I spend my time piecing her together. It’s like building Legos.
– Just one more leg & a peg for the head, then we’re done. Renge assisting me in keeping her up-right.

……..and,..DONE!…..

[Note: I had one person horrified I used scissors when piecing together Materia. I’m not a ‘Professional’ model-kit/gunpla builder so I stick with the basics. I simply used a pair of scissors to both cut & smooth out the pegs; nail clippers to deal with similar; Used my green extending pocket knife to do sharper cuts, if rarely. I did have a hobby knife laying about, yet lost it from all the years of not building gunpla. Be as horrified as you want because I had to make due with what I had. I still got her put together in the end so it’s all cool in the end. She’s awesome!]

– After seeing how she posed online I can now see where she gets her posing capabilities from (being a model). Look at that squating! She however does have major issues sitting, special thanks to the popping hip joint.
– That hip-ball joint pisses me off so much! There’s no way it wants to sit in snug in that torso connection. It just wants to keep popping out at the slightest of ‘provocation’. Try to pose? POP! Try to pose upper-torso? Pop! Move the hands? POP! I’m overly tempted in trying out the other parts to see if they may, or may not, work. This is the only major flaw I can find with these ‘FAG’ units.
– She’s a lovely cheerful one. She fits right at home that she can easily pass off as a Busou Shinki sister. (Being influenced heavy by them, and all)
– Shhhh!~…….

My fellow Dutch comrade (Naito-Nii) suggested I should purchase those 1/12 scale guns for her to use. Those guns & some accessories to act as armor so she can be less ‘bare’, and more fearsome. I much agree, yet have some of the unused Busou Shinki weaponry that she can currently make use of. Now if I actually had a display (train model scale) I’m sure I could have a battlefield going on. I’ll look into getting more weaponry just for Materia, and for her eventual sisters that win me over.

– Happily making use of Benio’s ‘defensive’ samurai sword. She’s armed and dangerous! (Name make sense yet? ‘Frame Arms girl’? It should….)
– Benio sure keeps her blade perfectly sharp. Materia loves it 🙂
– A bit of a yandere vibe to this, yet hopefully giving off that ‘Busou Shinki’ vibe of her designed for battle. Reminds me a bit of ‘Zelnograad’.
– Don’t underestimate Materia either, even if she’s more of a ‘basic’ type. Give her the proper accessories & weaponry, then you’ll see her shine brightly!
– I can give her the beam saber from my Gundam 08th Team – RX-78 [G] Gundam: Ground Type. She’s overly deadly with that!
– She’s at a disadvantage? How about both the beam saber & Benio’s defensive samurai blade. Even if she comes with nothing, I can still give her loads of weapons heh.
– Possibly not the best example, yet close enough. She’s actually capable of going prone, as with holding a sniper for those sniping photoshoots & posing moments. I’m tempted for her to get a sniper just for kneeling and prone photoshoots.
– She can happily make use of the unused gunpla weaponry I have laying about. This may be from a Geara Dogga Gundam figure, yet fits her nicely. She now needs a ‘trigger’ hand pose heh.
– I’m now tempted in getting her an AK-47 for the fun of it all. Having her pose (like in this image) is an awesome sight. Amusing.
– Armed and dangerous. Now if only I could get my weaponry supplied by HCLI (Jormungand anime) to provide to these lovelies.
– Oh! That expression is serious! I can now imagine her headbutting another opponent with the rifle she has in her possession.
– For the fun of it all: Her back to show that ‘ass-guard’, where the stand would plug in her upper-torso, and with the extra detail added onto her through little parts. Even her artificial white teaseful panties.
– Getting her into this sitting pose was overly tricky (special thanks to the hip ball-joint), yet had to continue showing you her range of posing capabilities. Just so you’re aware, her hip joint extends downward & upward to allow for standing and sitting poses. It’s quite neat.

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[Final Thoughts:]

I absolutely love and approve of my ‘on-a-whim’ purchase. She’s heavily influenced from the Konami’s (spits on Konami) Busou Shinki line, nicely detailed, nicely posed, and treated as a model-kit figure. Calling her a doll would be a great insult, yet something I want to praise Kotobukiya for. I want to praise them for keeping the Busou Shinki influence going; In making them a model kits; In making them highly customizable and posable; Continuing to release more variants for us to mix-and-match with. Thanks to Materia’s purchase I’m now itching and desiring in obtaining more (once I gain my new PC, that is) in adding more to my collection. I want to support this lovely line!

Even if Materia is simple, she is awesome with her blue-white hair. She’s indeed a starter type to customize, as with still having enough parts to add more parts onto her. You can swap her arm & thigh skin parts into other parts to add on other sorts of armor. You can give her various weaponry from standard 1/12 & Busou Shinki related weaponry. You can customize her with other ‘FAG’ units. You can do whatever. The posing range for her, just because she’s now a model it, is overly large that you can have deep photo-shooting fun with her and others. I love the little detail to the tip of her shoes to allow for more complex legging posing positions, as with being able to go prone. She’s meant to be highly articulated, if with faults of being fragile and “too pose-able”.

She’s on the fragile side because of the ‘light’ plastic she’s made of. Her center-of-gravity is almost non-existent, and her posing range makes her overly fragile. Her pros also become her cons that you have to be extra careful with her, and her sisters.

Even so, I stopped regretting my whimsical curious purchase. I did regret when I first saw she was a model kit, yet saw how easy it was to build her. I love having Materia in my possession, and I give out my full praise and respect to Kotobukiya. It’s a shame though that they sell out so fast that they go out of stock. Once they release, they’re gone. Want to save up after having real-life issues? You have to admit defeat while having to aim for the next one. Tough luck! I found this out the hard way once I gained Materia while seeking out Gourai for appearing like Zelnograad from the Busou Shinki line.

[Many thanks to Raiska for keeping me up to date on the ‘FAG’ line. Her, Jl-Colburn, & those on Tumblr when my net was MIA. Seeing lots of goodies and love this line now.]

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[Pros:]

  • Kotobukiya (in one manner, or another) revived the Busou Shinki line as a military influenced line. Materia is your ‘standard’ model of customizing further into whatever “type” you want. Give her any weapon & armor you so desire.
  • Not a figure, yet a model-kit designed figure that you can mix-and-match whatever piece you want. Treating them as gunpla pushes their potential as far as being revisitable to make custom ‘FAG’ or ‘Shinki’ girls. You’re given a deeper base to work off of to make something even more complex.
  • Great designs, even as a ‘basic’ model kit. Nice collar, back, front, front skirt (rudder style), and ‘ass-guard’ in keeping her ass safe. Interesting style of choice.
  • Given extra parts to attach various other armor accessories onto her from other ‘FAG’ units both previous and after her release. She has arm & thigh parts allowing her to be further customized.
  • Materia & her sisters designed for a vast range of posing styles. You can have her tip-top (tip of shoe articulates), or you can have her kneel, prone, or whatever pose you desire. Can keep up with the Busou Shinki line, even 1-upping them in certain places.
  • You can give them any Busou Shinki related weaponry, yet may struggled with armor related goodies. They’re meant to hold whatever you give them in 1/12 scale, and to be customized as you desire. Basically taking this line above where Konami originally intended while giving you even more options by treating it as a model kit/gunpla.
  • Thanks to her being a model kit you have a larger range of posing options that you can have her tip-toe, or squat. This however acts as a double-edged sword (view below), yet allows her to reach posing ranges that other figures tend to struggle with greatly. Her lightness also gives her more freedom in various posing options.
  • Her hip part (where the leg attached to the lower-torso) has two pegs that can move slightly upward & downward for various angled posing. Basically aimed at sitting & standing related posing.
  • Highly amused by her front articulated ‘rudder’ style skirt. Even her ‘ass-guard’ that protects both her crotch & ass from light combat. Adds onto her modesty while not exposing her ‘intimate’ spots. I love how they articulate when you move the figure’s torso forward, backwards, or to whatever position you’re able to.

[Cons:]

  • The poorly named line that gives it a derogatory ‘FAG’ acronym. Frame Arms Girl is fine, yet ‘FAG’ is not.
  • The torso hip-joint being a stubborn piece of crap for me. It’s just not having me keep her torso kept in place that her hip & torso pop off at the slightest of touch. It’s frustrating!
  • Limited face-plates, even if meant to customize them. Decals given being the same on the faces. Wish there was a sleeping face plate given to her. There’s no ‘blank-face’ portion with a whole range of emotions to allow for simple decal fun of customizing your own faceplate. Have to buy another spare kit to remove previous decal to then add your own, or to even paint over it if a ‘pro-modeller’ with these sorts of things.
  • No weaponry or armor, yet that’s a given thanks to her being a “starter” type kit. Not really a con, yet noting it for customization purposes.
  • No stand given when trying to display her, or similar. You have to get that separately, or from another more detailed ‘FAG’ unit.
  • Once Frame Arms Girl are released you won’t see them again. After seeing Materia released I noted that she wasn’t re-stocked to keep the line going. You have to acquire them while you can, or luck out. This should be normal to the Busou Shinki collectors, yet a ‘buzz-kill’ to those not within (familiar with) the line. [Note: Half-lie, because Hobby Link Japan claims re-stock for any sold out. Quite troublesome when you miss out to see ‘sold out’ & ‘pre-order closed’ statuses. Materia & Stilleto getting a March re-release on HLJ from when this article was posted.]
  • Materia ended up being overly fragile to me, possibly because of being a model-kit (gunpla) style figure. She needs extra caution when taken outdoors, when handled, and more so from being made from ‘light’ plastic. Her plus side is also her down-side here. Her weight is nearly as light as a feather, thus more fragile in state, as with parts more eager to be lost.
  • No gun-trigger hand, yet a point hand is given. She can hold, or hold & point. I guess that shall be my compromise until I can get another ‘FAG’ unit.

Here’s to seeing if I obtain any more ‘Frame Arms Girl’ figures, or if she’ll be my only one. I really am tempted in obtaining Gourai (reminds me of Zelnograad), yet fearing I may miss out on obtaining her. Her, and Architect. Same with a figure similar to the blue ‘Stylet‘ with a chibi-sized plane addition. Since I’m on the hunt in acquiring a new gaming computer (for February, and in three-four sections of acquisition) I’ll miss possibly miss out on my favourite ones out of the not-so-favourite types.

I hope to see a serious Benio (Samurai) & a serious ‘fox’ type ‘FAG’ unit, even if they’re not modern-future military themed. I may never see them, yet desire/wish for them to appear. I just want to have a proper Benio that was falsely advertised by Konami (brighter red in advertising image than in figure form; Face wasn’t modernized while kept old) & to have someone ‘rival’ Renge in a more serious manner. How sweet that would be in a ‘FAG’ style. I’ll keep wishing and desiring for being a low-skilled in modeling.

Thanks for viewing, and hoping to see you next time! Hope I can take more images of Materia, and others!