I was planning to do that later once I got them all built, but I'll see what I can do (most likely crappy camera phone is the fastest way to do it, the real camera takes actual effort).

---

Anyway I had an epiphany about the Bottoms set legs re: ATK Girls. There were two things that I figured out:

1. The new internal joint is actually the same as the one the ATK Girls already use and, with a bit of sanding, that could actually fit in Titans' extra thighs (the skeleton joint is slightly too wide). Not exactly my favorite solution, but....

2. Removing the washer from the ATK Girl leg suddenly makes it bigger than the MD thigh peg, which is easier to fix than the other way around. Some vaseline on the peg and hot glue to make a 'new washer' in the leg should prove to be a good enough grip (I pried the two upper leg halves apart and put hot glue on both sides, then sandwiched it back together with the peg in between so hopefully it spreads more evenly). The obvious reason to favor this solution is because the thighs between MD and ATK Girls are the same size, and I know I can spare a set of ATK Girl legs to do this (mostly because between the two JW sets and Serqet I have five sets of black legs; I can afford to do this to one of them. Doesn't even count Titans' sixth set which is shorter).

The sad thing is I realized that Magical Girl Darkness is the only one who still can't cross her legs (Witch Darkness has the new thighs installed). :/


---

Oh yeah. The JW sisters come with extra shoulders, but not shoulder joints. I tried putting in one of the extra Tops sets joints in it, but it turns out the internal peg for the ATK girls is much larger than on MD shoulders. Don't think I need to bother to fix this since it seems I don't have a shortage of shoulders at the moment (the Tops shoulders mostly works for both of them once put together; some need minor socket filler for the ball joint, but that's it), but it is there.

 

Megami Device Asra Tamamonomae on sale on the Koto US website for $84, with FedEx she totaled to sub-$100 for me.
ASRA TAMAMONOMAE - MEGAMI DEVICE MODEL KIT
She'll look great with my 'Iron Kitsune' Asra Ninetails later this year.

 

Warning: amateur camera phone pictures inc.

Serqet

First version is rocking the Arachne Kimono set plus some modifications (hair ribbon and scarf are by hand). The second one is Armored mode without the Scorpion attached; it is now probably the most 'naked' of the girls I've got.

Titans

Take a good look at how her backpack is arranged and then look at JW-021. Yeah, figures, doesn't it? Her backpack connection to the display stand is a piece of crap.

Most people would have her with the more skin exposed, but I went with the full body flight suit look because I thought it looked better. I mean, ultimately, we all have our own personal esthetics, and the option was there-- so I took it. I don't regret it. The thing I do regret was the giant swords were too heavy for the backpack (not to mention the wingspan is monstrous with them on)

JW-021 Shadow Warrior

One of the best things about this girl is you can have two girls at the same time. I don't know why this isn't a thing more often because it was such a pain in the ass to replace Serqet's limbs to put the armor on (hence I had to go through a bunch of hoops to come out with a solution where I had two full bodies for them).

The backpack joint at the base is fragile on my copy (as stated they readily pop off like Golden Disk Terrorsaur's wings; they do it less now that I've sanded it down and reinforced the connection with hot glue, but I don't want to take my chances) so I strongly hesitate to expand it to its fullest extent.

Saint Beast Qipao Set

Left is leftover Titans with Bottoms kit fused on to complete her body; right is stock bendy body from the Qipao set (other one is used for Serqet Kimono above) with Magical Girl Darkness's head (using the appropriate neck adapter piece). Left is also wearing stockings and shoes from a Daiso doll set for "reasons" (note: Daiso dolls are 1/6 scale so they don't naturally fit, but the price is right if you want to scavenge things here and there).

On right her left shoe is 70% made out of hot glue and painted over in black because that piece went missing due to a factory error. I made the best of it since it was the middle piece and now you mostly can't tell it was ever missing.

Magical Girl Darkness

I've heard a lot of people say the accessories are usually the thing that define Megami Device sets and this one is one of the more modular ones. I don't have a care for the Magical Girl esthetic itself, but I did make something of it that I'm satisfied with. The Head is cobbled together from leftover Serqet parts with judicious amounts of hot glue and black paint over it. The face is Serqet's stock "crying" face painted over in parts and new lines drawn in with a Sakura pen (which gives it a bit of a goth look, I guess?). I realize I didn't have to do that, but I was never going to use that faceplate for anything (I mean, it does look awful), so *shrug*

Witch Darkness

The one kit that really got my attention with Megami Device. Went with silver trim accents instead of orange for a more subdued look (not to mention I didn't want her to look that similar to Magical Girl Darkness).

You are now spared from looking at horrible camera phone photos.

 

JW-059 Build In progress.

JW 059 is mostly the same as JW 021, but there are small differences here and there until you hit the accessories.

The funny thing is this time I didn't lose any of the small pieces and managed to get them on 059 without any trouble; the thing I DID have trouble with was the "v" decorative piece on her chest because a) I lost it a couple of times and b) I broke it in two pieces-- twice. That didn't happen for the other one.... The first time I broke it its staying in the chest without any outside aid, but the second time I had to glue it down because it wouldn't stay in.

My fingers are rebelling against me so I have to stop for now (well, that and I kept burning my fingers on hot glue fixing the above).

One thing I didn't notice until now was JW 021's eyes are pink/red, but JW 059's eyes are lilac/purple.

On a related note I did finally decide to order a 30 Minute Sister (ultimately decided to get Rishetta; was debating for a while between her and Tiasha because there's something about either of them I don't like "out of the box", but I realized that's kind of the point of the custom parts thing. Who knows if I'm really going to buy into that) and hopefully it isn't from the first run with the lousy neck (low chance of that, but you never know). One of these days I might actually get a Frame Arms Girl (provided there was one I found interesting enough because most of them look kind of bland to me).

 

I feel kind of silly asking this, but does anyone know what kits actually come with extra sets of legs? (not thighs, actual legs)

I was already looking at SOL Roadrunner which apparently does have an entirely extra set of full legs (including thighs) if one wasn't inclined to display her in unarmored mode (I was mentally toying with the idea of getting SOL Hornet and Roadrunner and having one in full armored mode and the other in Zero Suit Samus-style spandex wear, don't know if I'm really going for that. The problem is Hornet looks really underwhelming already; apparently this is the same dilemma/issue with the WISM sets selling you two kits if you wanted both girls), but I was wondering what else I could look out for.

Currently I don't have a shoulder problem and apparently both Chaos & Pretty girls came with extra sets of full arms, but NOT LEGS. The JW sisters come with extra shoulders and torsos, but NOT LEGS or thighs (they aren't directly compatible with the Tops/Bottoms sets, though, but that's what a little kitbashing can fix).

Side note: now I understand why people with the JW kit and Xuanwu can easily give Xuanwu black chest parts since they're compatible and there's a ton of torso parts left over from the JW kit to do it.

Side note 2: also realized that the Saint beasts' head cores are the same as the JW sisters. Somebody please save me; this rabbit hole is turning into a death spiral.

 

Road Runner definitely does, and I believe Archer and Ninja also come with 2 pairs of legs (1 armored + 1 unarmored/thigh highs).

 

So I'm back, with JW-059 completed.

JW-059 Shadow Hunter "Archer" (Overseas Version)

She's 70% the same as JW-021 "Swordsman" so knowing what I did there helped a ton when working on her (although like I said before, I made new mistakes).

I did not bother to make the arrows nor put together the bow or the crossbow (because I knew ahead of time I didn't want to deal with those parts); I mainly got the set knowing I would only touch the guns and the swords. The backpack is kind of neat in that you can store most (not all) of the extra parts on it, although I do question how you're supposed to get some of them out (I already have trouble sliding the handgun out at times). Since I don't plan to make the bow or crossbow that shouldn't be an issue since that's what the extra parts are for; I just have to make sure I don't break the barrel of the handgun (the barrel is rubbery ABS, but it's a thin part and a possible break point).

The rifle and the swords are just as you'd expect. Only thing is they're all a bit on the heavy side compared to 021's swords (especially the rifle's length doesn't help; perhaps using one of the extra arms to prop it up would help?).

The cape is awesome, but getting it on was a bit of a pain. Unstrapping the two on the back did help. Have a bit of a slight issue where the wire inside the cape is poking through at the bottom of the cape; I don't know how to fix that if I can at all (I suspect all wire-lined cloth items have this problem eventually).

The hat stays on with a pair of magnets hidden inside 059's head, and an iron 'bowl' inside of the hat. The connection really isn't that strong (I mean, there's a layer of ABS plastic between them), but it is mostly serviceable.

Overall, I don't know if I can really recommend one JW Sister over the other; they're really just as good as each other and do a different thing better than the other. I know most people love the cape and hat ensemble of 059, but 021 has that sword nut thing going and the helmet really isn't that bad in person (supposedly it is based on the 'flying guillotine' weapon). The sheer number of swords 021 comes with is fun in of itself.


Posing the JW Sisters as they appear on the box art (if you put the two boxes together with 059 on the left and 021 on the right they make a complete picture). 021's pose is basically like a Megaman X dash pose, and while it was a little difficult to get her in that position it looks great. I also switched out the giant backpack for the more conventional, and reliable, single sword holder. Also features 021's hair repainted for personal reasons (this is a spare set since between the two JW sets you end up with four sets of hair for her helmet, but only one helmet, so why not? Heck maybe I can do a Super Saiyan blonde version, too)


Finally, completed version of my avatar girl. She's rocking a resized Daiso doll costume plus accessories from the Daiso pink kimono set (unaltered), plus more parts from the Arachne Kimono set (the set that keeps on giving as long as you have either Serqet or Arachne). Basically my "life's ambition" when I started on this crazy trip, but it's not done...

...because I ordered more girls.

Speaking of which, yesterday HLJ opened up preorders for Asra Aoi Ninja (Reissue) and not even 12 hours later it's already sold out. I was warned ahead of time how fast things go on HLJ and how pupluar the Asra girls are (especially the Aoi variants). Holy crap.

 

Uncouth though it may be to bump my own post so soon, I just got my Amazon Warehouse 30 Minute Sisters Rishetta.

Well.

Apparently the entire kit was put together, put back in the box, and returned to Amazon, so I didn't have to put it together. Oh well.

After looking over it carefully, all the parts are still there, even the ones that you can miss easily like the tiny hair piece, but the thing I realized was wrong with it (and may have been a source of frustration for its previous owner) was the forearms were put on backward. Then I realized it was both of them. I won't judge why someone would build the figure and return it like that (okay, I will... I mean don't you have any sort of pride?), but if there's nothing wrong with it I'll take it for the price offered.

The box has the remains of a shipping label on it torn off to the best of its ability, save it was dated 03/05/2022 so it was done within the last month.

Not exactly how I imagined my first 30 Minute Sisters experience would go, but it's certainly a memorable one.

ED: I knew the thigh peg was smaller than on Megami Device figures, but it's the same size as ATK Girls (3mm peg, Megami Device seems to be 4mm peg). Arms are loose for both of them, but can be tightened with small filler (as usual). Neck joint, as usual, is not directly compatible, but can be 'fixed' with the appropriate neck adapter. Think I'm starting to like these as inexpensive body options (the big trouble being that it can be difficult to come by 30MS at times).

ED2: Rishetta is half a head shorter than Magical Girl Darkness, up to JW unarmored's chin, and about the same height as unarmored Titans. I image Tiasha is shorter still. Her build feels very quality, set really apart from Megami Device and ATK Girl level-- I guess this is what the difference is between juggernaut manufacturer Bandai and everyone else (granted I knew that Bandai made quality kits already, but I haven't made a Gundam in a really long time).

 

I got Frame Arms Girl Gourai last week in a similar situation; already assembled + complete with all parts, and one of her forearms was assembled to the elbow backwards. I still need to go over her and clean up the nubs, although I did sort out the one at the mid-torso joint that was stopping her from being positioned straight.

I guess some people don't pay as much attention to the details/instructions as theythink.

 

I realize I was being unfair comparing anything to unarmored JW since they have high heels which makes them even taller. Truth is, the torso is pretty much the same size, it's the arms and legs where proportions get thrown out of whack (where if Megami Device is the middle ground, the ATK Girls beside Titans/Heracross have long arms and legs; 30MS is more comparable to MD and so are Titans/Heracross).

Anyway, now that I've sat down and played with Rishetta more I pretty much plundered her accessories and put them on the figure I've been customing (while also using the parts of Magical Girl Darkness more fully-- that includes taking the wings back and disassembling my beam naginata, unfortunately. I need to fix that some other way). The back adapter giving an effective extra two slots on the back end is pretty awesome and I used that to attach MGD's wings (the middle slot was effectively a passthrough for the tail piece, so nothing exciting there). Also plundered Rishetta's whole arms to get her claw attachments (the rings only work on Rishetta's arms the way they should; they're too loose on the spare MGD arms with the wrist recesses for her own wrist accessory).

After all that, Rishetta is effectively a naked bare body. I don't have anything else to do with her at the moment so I dressed her in the retro gym clothes that came with Titans (with the angry expression so it looks even more funny/ridiculous on her. The shirt is a shirt, its the bloomers that make it look funny. If you took them off it almost looks like that one swimsuit look with the t-shirt). I also completely understand why people were buying up Magical Girl for spare bodies/parts.

Think I need to look into Parts sets more closely now.

 

So this ATK Girls Imperial Guard isn't bad but damn I don't think I'll build another one again.

She looks great! I love how she can hold all her weapons. The hat magnetizing to her head is wonderful. The soft goods pieces are great.

Just her building process was painful.

 

Why didn't anybody warn me about the ABSOLUTE UNIT of a box Tamamonomae came in?!

Are all MD boxes this size, because I have at least two more coming later this year!

 

*Insert joke about it being to reinforce the social stigma of shapely figure kits with buxom accessories for maximum shame and profit.*

 

No they're not all that size. Tamamonomae is that large as it has the full Asra kit (I believe she's based off the Archer kit) as well as all the runners to make her Tamamonomae.

 

So there's an 'Asra' base unit that the Tamamamonomae parts are built onto? I thought that was just a fancy style name they put on, but that makes it sound like her build will be similar to the Asra Ninetails MD I have coming later this year.

 

Just started getting into the line maybe a month ago. Any word on if this big guy is going to be released/"officially" announced any time soon? Looks big enough to go toe-to-toe with Bump-Up Expander and looks amazing. Curious given nearly everything else in this post from Hexa Gear has been out for pre-orders for a bit

 

From what I understand Ninetails and Tamamo are effectively 'deluxe' versions of Asra Ninja and Archer, respectively, so yes, that would make the two similar.

AFAIK the only other kit like that is SOL Raptor which is a 'deluxe' version of Hornet and Road Runner (with probably Hornet being the base).

Although I do have a related question.

Between Asra Archer and Tamamo, if I could only pick one, I like the color scheme of base Archer (because as a nerd she fulfills my desire to have a miko type character), but Tamamo is basically Archer + extra stuff for "a few dollars more." As much as that "a few dollars more" is like the price of another half a kit, I can't deny the accessories I've gotten in other MD kits were useful for my needs. So should I just stick with Archer, or go get Tamamo... or should I wait a bit and try to get both? (note: for information purposes I don't have any other Asra kit. Technically I can buy Tamamo "right now" it's just I'm trying to pace my entertainment expenses after this past month of splurging)

 

I personally got Tamamo more because as of late I've actually been doing research on the real legend of Tamamo-no-Mae for a project and I happened across the MD one for a good price.

I'd suggest you get Archer so that way you get your Miko needs met and if you like the build, then you can look into getting Tamamo since she's an "Expanded" version of the same kit.

 

Tamamo no Mae, AUV Susanowo and A5 Sugumi Kanagata all come in an exact same size box.
Susanowo differs only because it's now a proper box with an insert, not a simple printed top on cardboard bottom.
Sitara Kaneshiya Ver. Ganesha (both versions : just the gear unit & the one bundled with the figure) are even way bigger.

The other MD boxes are half size in lengh, but can be very high, like Nine tails for example, a very tall "small box".

 

just to add to the discussion: Asra ninetails/tamamonomae is basically the base asra ninja/archer + extra body parts + half rapid rider bike