I've got Busou Shinki on the brain. Ever since I first read about this line the words have been pinging around my head. I'm not exactly sure why; maybe it's just that girls and robots combined together is inherently "toyetic". In any case I'm not alone, there's been a buzz building in the collectors community in advance of these reaching our shores.

Articulated Japanese figures are relatively few and far between, as that market is seemingly focused on preposed vinyl figures and block figures (a generality, but that seems to be what mainly crosses to US shores). However there are occasional forays into the articulated world and are usually worth a look: 1:18 Microman by Takara, Max Factory's amazing Guyver 1:12 series, Bandai's 1:12 SIC Kamen Riders, and most recently Kaiyodo's Revoltech and their larger Trigun figures.

One thing that they have in common is either a design sense encouraging hidden articulation (such as the Kaiyodo and Max Factory figures) or a more generic design, encouraging customization (Microman).

Busou Shinki belong to the latter category.

Busou Shinki, or "Armored God Princess" aren't strictly action figures. Each set comes with a scratch off insert card featuring a code usable with Konami's online video game, though that seems to be available only to Japanese customers at this time. If you want to try and figure it out, goto www.busou.konami.jp.

These figures use a propietary joint system, called "Multi Movable System" which aside from the hips doesn't signify anything significantly different, and is likely just a marketing gimmick, as with Kaiyodo's Revoltech joint (which is really just a ball joint).

This review is of two of the figure sets, Angel Arnval and Devil Strarf, both based on designs by Japanese artist Shimada Humikane, whose work helped popularize Mecha Musume, and these two sets are perfect examples of the "mecha girl" aesthetic.

The packaging is fairly large. It seems to be exactly what you'd get in Japan, down to the misspelled English text ("custamaize"). I don't usually care about packaging, but due to the sheer number of parts included with these figures, and the inevitable leftover pieces, you'll end up keeping it just for those parts. So it might as well look good, right? There's a nice window box covered by a cardboard flap, with plenty of illustrations by Shimada Humikane.

Inside the box are two trays. Take a look at the sheer number of parts included, you won't need them all to recreate the design on the box, but probably 75-85%.

Under the trays are the instructions - be forewarned, they're in Japanese and not very helpful at all. Angel Arnval, the first set I put together, took an hour and a half, due mainly to just figuring out how to take the body apart. The directions are not step by step, you'll be doing a lot of comparing/contrasting to the pictures on the box. Let me save you some trouble:

The picture above shows how the base body (Devil Strarf in this case) is meant to come apart. The mech suit will be plugging into the lower legs or arms, as well as the peg holes in the back. The ring connectors in the arms and legs are easily lost since they're not used when you put together the mech suit, so keep track of them.

The base body is highly articulated: Ball and socket joint(above neck), neck swivel(below neck), hinged and swivel shoulders(x2), bicep swivels(x2), single hinge elbows(x2), forearm swivels(x2), wrist swivels(x2), wrist hinges(depending on which hands you use), double ball jointed chest, ball and hinge hips(x2), thigh swivels(x2), single hinged knees(x2), single hinge ankles(x2). Around 28 points of articulation, depending on how you count them. The range of movement, particularly at the hips, is considerable. In fact, I've never seen hip articulation quite like this, so here's a closer look:

I described these as ball and hinge hips above, I don't know how else to describe them. They allow the figure bring her knee up to her chest, something I've never seen in a ball joint. It's not quite a successful joint for posing, it leaves a fairly large gap in certain positions.

The sculpting is not realistic, nor intended to be. It's accurate to it's fine-lined, anime style origins. There's still plenty of fine detail, particularly in the tooling of the mechanical parts of the mecha suits. The paint is minimal to an extreme, most of the figure is raw plastic.

There was a lot of speculation and inaccurate info about the size of these figures. Before I received mine I'd heard anywhere from 3" to 6". The truth is closer to the latter. A bit short of 6" (the base bodies are approximately 5.5") which for a teenager-looking girl figure makes them pretty clearly in 1:12 scale, a trait they share with Marvel Legends, DC Superheroes, Max Factory Guyver, and Bandai SIC.

However the proportions and style don't fit in, though if you're not picky, they'll still work. The picture above is of the Devil Strarf body with Waffe Bunny accessory pack (it adds perhaps half a centimeter to the figure's height) standing next to a Marvel Legends Captain Marvel and a Revoltech Revy figure.

Follow the link below for PART II of this review, includng a look at the lovely Angel Arnval.