Steel Legend Metal Build 1/100 Kshatriya Review

The Steel Legend Metal Build Kshatriya is a third party/bootleg figure. At 1/100 scale it’ll look fantastic with all your MG kits (MG or RE Kshatriya when?!). Who would’ve known that a Metal Build kit out of China would be, not only the best third party piece of Gundam merchandise, but better than any Unicorn official merchandise from Bandai/Banpresto?

As you should already know by now, I’m a sucker for all things Gundam Unicorn (even though the Jesta Schezarr Type Team B & C is stupid is fuck - why the fuck are you using your mechanical eyes to look at a flip down mechanical eye which is pointed at an even larger mechanical eye?). When I see a 1/100 Kshatriya, I jump. Even if it’s a bucket of mess like the Elyn Hobby version. When I saw that someone was making a MG sized figure I had to have it, even if getting a pre built metal frame toy from third party folks in China is a questionable concept. Shoutout to my crack dealer Samuel Decal where I picked this up for roughly $200 plus shipping.

Steel Legend’s design, as best I can tell, is their own take on the Kshatriya. Doesn’t match up with any of the resin kits I've seen, nor the MC 1/100 Kshatriya which is a direct copy of the Eyln. Everything about the design is great, even if it’s not the chubby Kshatriya we all miss. RIP.

That’s right, the Steel Legend Kshatriya, as one might suspect from the name, is plastic built around a metal frame. While I haven’t taken it apart to look at the guts it wouldn’t surprise me if 90% of the inside is metal. For one, it’s heavy, over 4 lbs with the wing binder things. It’s also extremely sturdy. You plop this thing down, you throw the binders on, and the core doesn’t move a damned bit. Lift the binders up and fully extend them? Still nothing. Okay, I exaggerate. The torso does move forward and back just slightly, not a real issue but it can be annoying - more on that in a few. At last I didn't have it fall over on me, or worse, the torso pull apart like my Eyln kit.

The binders are connected via metal hardpoints independent of the blocky shoulder things which is a big part of the figure’s stability. They just set in freely so it’s easy to put them on and take them off to adjust the arms when away from the rest of the figure. That looseness means that they swing around if the torso it tilted - say when the torso shifts forward or back slightly. Generally not a big deal as once things are in place they stay, but it can be annoying when posing.

The arms for the binders are metal as well, the joints super tight so they hold without issue. There’s also one joint that has a latching/locking mechanism which almost seems pointless with how well the other joints are built. The end result is that pretty much any Kshatriya pose you’ve seen, you can do here. Sadly, no base, ...though there is a connection point on the back that might be for some sort of stand connection?

On that note, is the kit posable? Not really sure. I’ve seen the photos but I don’t want to risk the paint job.

One of the things that surprised me was how good the paint is. In most the colours there’s a very fine metal flake that looks great when you get up close, something my photos don’t capture. A lot of great colour separation that is very well done. Some of the masking might be off by half a mm, but that’s just my picky Gunpla paint job nature bleeding through. The silver marking and decals are even better, I have yet to see a flaw. Not only that but every binder and arm is individually lettered (alpha through delta), and every funnel lettered and numbered to match the binder. Holy crap that’s amazing. The only thing I don’t like is the orange they chose. Would’ve been better if it was a proper yellow more in line with the original design.

Included with the figure are three sets of hands and two beam sabers (the sabers come attached to the hilts). The sabers look good, but I feel like the extra hands don’t really fit too well on the arms. The bulky sleeve designs get in the way.

Also included are thruster effect pieces for the binders. The thrusters themselves are spring loaded so you just push the pieces in - a super effective design.

Each binder has one of those claw hands, the arm can spin around and each finger of the claw is individually articulating.

And, if you weren't aware, the Kshatriya is huge. In proper 1/100 scale it dwarfs the MG Unicorn, let along a meagar HG.

In all, this is an easy must have for anyone a fan of Gundam Unicorn and the Kshatriya design. Where the Elyn Hobby looked great after a lot of luck and a lot of work, this looks great right out of the box. It’s so awesome I may have accidentally ordered two and I aint even mad.

 


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