KIT: BASH OR BEAUTY? - MG GM SNIPER-II
If you're a fan of the mass-production mobile suits, this kit is solid, and provides a good base for experimental detailing and painting.
TL;DR - Decent buy if you love the general purpose/mass-produced suits. Good selection of accessories (bullpup, sniper rifle, shield, and two beam sabers). Easy to pose, hands may give difficulties. Not a personal favorite but still a very decent kit.
Here I have the MG GM Sniper-II mobile suit guarding my LEGO cherry blossom-themed bonsai tree (gotta protect those frogs!). I didn't do anything besides general/lazier panel lining, and a top coat is missing (TBD, just going through the build backlog first!)
The kit comes with a relatively sturdy inner frame and the arms have a high degree of dexterity in order to compensate for the angles the arms will be at holding the rifle. The chest and head portions also bend forward slightly to further sell the "I'm aiming down sights" pose. Additionally, you can flip up and down the visor, based on your preferences.
The shoulders and arm portions are surprisingly stable, I didn't notice much sag, if at all any. If anything, the most annoying part of the kit came from where the gates were located on the parts. If you don't do any post processing on the kit like me, you'll see the stress marks where you snipped. Not really any fault of the kit, just know what you're getting into.
Unfortunately, my brain decided to completely turn off as this was surprisingly my first time working with dry decals, instead of wet, or sticker-based decals. I was stupidly trying to peel the decals off of the dry decal backing and then applying it. Didn't realize I had to use my trusty XACTO knife and go from there! That was entirely on me.
I think this kit has a lot of potential if you need a model kit to try new things on, which was one of the reasons for me. I had a decent time building this kit, and any pain points were little to none, and far in-between. It features just the right amount of details and posability, and may also be fantastic for a gunpla diorama!