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Here is our first review for 2017 Daban's copy of the MG Marasai. BTW. IF you can afford it just buy the Bandai kit it's superior in quality and it's just worth it.
The Marasai or to be specific the RMS-108 or the MSA-002 Marasai is a mass produced Mobile Suit built by the Titans to replace their Hizack. Yup. this monoeye MS is a feddy suit. You can see this suit in MSG Zeta and the Unicorn series.
So without further ado. Here's our review of the MG Marasai from Daban.
The Box
The Kit
I wasn't the biggest fan of the Marasai kit. I thought if anything Daban should have copied the Geara Doga first but it does make sense since they are coming out with the Zeta 2.0 sometime soon. Speaking of 2.0 the Marasai shares some parts from the Zaku -II 2.0 such as the shoulder and some arm parts, the waist, hips and foot inner frames are similar or if not identical to the Zaku 2.0.
I have nothing against the 2.0 Zaku frame it's just that the armor design of the Marasai severely reduces the flexibility of the frame itself. Oh well. It still does look cool though.
When I reviewed the Daban MG Jesta Cannon I said that something is wrong with Daban's plastic. Here in the Marasai the plastic is good really good. it's crisp and substantial much like the old Nu and Sazabi ver ka's from Daban. Good job, Daban.
One gripe I have with this kit are the polycaps. They are inconsistent, some are to loose and soft while others are too firm and i had to shave and force parts in. The shoulder polycaps are a bit too loose and the arms tend to sag when posing them. While the shoulder armor, shield and ankle polycaps are a B*tch to connect to. Much force and finger pain was experienced when i was connecting them to the kit. C'mon Daban, TT Hongli/ Gao gao did the Zaku-II 2.0 polycaps better than you.
The details are good. Much like the original from Bandai the Daban Marasai doen't have that much in terms of panel lines but since it's a grunt suit I'll give it a pass.
The Weapons
The weapon choices for the Marasai is pretty sparse. you get two beam saber handle and beam saber effect parts and a beam rifle. That's it. If you're thinking you can use other Zeon weapons without modification then you are mistaken. the Marasai uses swappable hand parts to hold the weapons. It does have a Zaku 2.0 style jointed hand but they can't be fully closed and are just for posing the kit.
The Gimmicks
Aside from the normal action base attachment the Marasai has this crecent backpack adaptor that can simulate an atmospheric re-entry position for the Marasai. Why a re-entry pose, you may ask? You can also equip the Hyaku Shiki Ballute system on the Marasai that's why.
Verdict
As a whole. I enjoyed making this kit. I can't say that I'm a superfan of the design but it seriously is growing on me. Plastic quality is a very substantial improvement over the Jesta Cannon but the quality of the polycaps keep me from giving it a really high score. Despite that it is a very very solid kit. here's hoping that Daban makes a copy of the Ballute system as well. It's not a must buy but it is a very good buy.
85/100
PS
I hope you guys enjoy my review of the Marasai. Oh btw. If you can please consider donating to the blog it would help us considerably in keeping up with the ever increasing kit releases in the future. There is a donate button on the upper right of the blog that leads to our paypal account and we would give you credit in our future reviews.
Please subscribe to my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/thelatejuanmiguel we would be putting up video reviews very soon. Thank you.
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| In the right lighting you should notice that the cardboard quality isn't as silky smooth as Bandai's box. |
The Kit
I wasn't the biggest fan of the Marasai kit. I thought if anything Daban should have copied the Geara Doga first but it does make sense since they are coming out with the Zeta 2.0 sometime soon. Speaking of 2.0 the Marasai shares some parts from the Zaku -II 2.0 such as the shoulder and some arm parts, the waist, hips and foot inner frames are similar or if not identical to the Zaku 2.0.
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| Seriously... I'm not a Zaku, boy. Not a Zaku |
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| Jegan! How are you??? |
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| Much pain was experienced in putting those ankles in |
I have nothing against the 2.0 Zaku frame it's just that the armor design of the Marasai severely reduces the flexibility of the frame itself. Oh well. It still does look cool though.
When I reviewed the Daban MG Jesta Cannon I said that something is wrong with Daban's plastic. Here in the Marasai the plastic is good really good. it's crisp and substantial much like the old Nu and Sazabi ver ka's from Daban. Good job, Daban.
One gripe I have with this kit are the polycaps. They are inconsistent, some are to loose and soft while others are too firm and i had to shave and force parts in. The shoulder polycaps are a bit too loose and the arms tend to sag when posing them. While the shoulder armor, shield and ankle polycaps are a B*tch to connect to. Much force and finger pain was experienced when i was connecting them to the kit. C'mon Daban, TT Hongli/ Gao gao did the Zaku-II 2.0 polycaps better than you.
The details are good. Much like the original from Bandai the Daban Marasai doen't have that much in terms of panel lines but since it's a grunt suit I'll give it a pass.
The Weapons
The weapon choices for the Marasai is pretty sparse. you get two beam saber handle and beam saber effect parts and a beam rifle. That's it. If you're thinking you can use other Zeon weapons without modification then you are mistaken. the Marasai uses swappable hand parts to hold the weapons. It does have a Zaku 2.0 style jointed hand but they can't be fully closed and are just for posing the kit.
The Gimmicks
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| what are those holes in the backpack for? |
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| What the heck is that? |
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| Oh..... |
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| Nice. |
Verdict
As a whole. I enjoyed making this kit. I can't say that I'm a superfan of the design but it seriously is growing on me. Plastic quality is a very substantial improvement over the Jesta Cannon but the quality of the polycaps keep me from giving it a really high score. Despite that it is a very very solid kit. here's hoping that Daban makes a copy of the Ballute system as well. It's not a must buy but it is a very good buy.
85/100
PS
I hope you guys enjoy my review of the Marasai. Oh btw. If you can please consider donating to the blog it would help us considerably in keeping up with the ever increasing kit releases in the future. There is a donate button on the upper right of the blog that leads to our paypal account and we would give you credit in our future reviews.
Please subscribe to my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/thelatejuanmiguel we would be putting up video reviews very soon. Thank you.
