BJPM Gun Shell Dolls #1: 1 Box (10pcs) does any one have any of these? are they any good? i just wanted to know if the quality was any good on them?
Picked up a few sets I had snagged a few of these from HLJ a while back after seeing a Japanese page with some amazing custom models, some transforming. A box of the Gun Shell Dolls usually gives you two different color schemes of the various models with maybe one secret figure thrown in. They're all on the standard plastic model kit sprues, and the parts range from "easy twist-off" to "Needs a knife" in removal. They also had "Gun Shell Guardians" which were small, random boxed kits with only a few pieces already removed from the trees and bagged. They were very simple, but cool. Only two problems with the Gun Shell line were 1) The clear variant pieces would either break or show stress fractures very easily, even after only one attachment, and 2) they were VERY hard on the fingers to snap together. The later Geneblock line addressed a lot of these problems; no fragile clear pieces and easier assembly, but you still need a hobby knife or a pair of clippers to cut off some pieces. A lot of the early Geneblock kits are hard to find, especially the "Variable Units", some of which never made it to importers like HLJ. For my money, the "Battle Soldiers" line was very good. Each box only had 2 robot models, but packed in 5 different color schemes ranging from "Real type" to "anime". I usually ordered a box from HLJ if they were on sale, picked out one good color scheme for display, and used the rest for trades or customizing. I even made two fairly decent transforming jets before I put the kits aside when I moved. You should also check out the "Mode Lock" line they put out with Kotobukiya. A lot of the same pieces as Geneblock, but they added in custom made parts so you can make the mechs from Sky Girls: Mode Lock G2KO Reijin Or Full Metal Panic, among others: Mode Lock A4-1 Falke Only drawbacks to these kits is that they only came molded in one color and required painting to achieve the full look. Just check Kotobukiya's "injection kit" section on HLJ for the Mode Lock kits available so far: Search Results
