BTF Full Saber Review

This is a follow up to the MG Qan[t] review I posted recently. The Full Saber addon equipment featured in this review is not manufactured or licensed by Bandai. This kit is manufactured by a company called BTF or Butterfly Hobby. It can be purchased through a number of online shops or through Ebay.

Background:

 

The Full Saber is an experimental weaponry system used to test the bit control system used in the normal Qan[t]. The system was comprised of a revised backpack, with an additional hard point for the saber; and the actual saber unit which if further comprised of 5 parts. The Saber can break down into 5 sections: three gun blades, the handle section, and a weapon similar to the katars from the 00 Seven Sword/G.

If you don’t remember this weapon from the movie A Wakening of the Trailblazer, that’s because the Full Saber was only featured as combat simulation data in 00V War Chronicles.  

Quality:

Quality is usually the first thing sacrificed on unlicensed kits, so how did the Full Saber fare?

I’m not entire sure what this kit is made of out. It doesn’t have the smell commonly associated with resin kits. But it’s heavier than styrene, and it has a slightly rougher almost pebbly texture.

The parts come molded in color, and the colors are surprisingly accurate to the kit. 

I’m not completely happy on the mold quality of this kit. There are several small dimpled areas along certain flat edges. It looks like the injection material may not have been sufficient to fill those areas. 

The clear green plastic used for the blades is harder and more brittle than the Bandai equivalent. Despite my best efforts I was unable to separate any of nubs cleanly from these sections. You must be careful handling the saber I'm almost positive that even a short fall would result in sever damage to the clear green parts.

The fitment on this kit is all over the place. The male pegs are thinner and longer than the ones typically seen on Bandai models. Some these pegs fit snugly, while others are too loose to hold the parts in place. 

On my kit the white hexagonal shaped part below the saber's handle will not stay in place, additionally only 2 of the 3 gunblades will stay in the flat of the saber without falling out.

Design:

 

If you're looking for a MG version of the limited edition HG Full Saber parts, you're going to be disappointed. This version of the Full Saber is only practical when attached to the hard point of the backpack. The Qan[t] simply can't handle the weight of the weapon. Additionally the handle design of the Fullsaber was not built to fit into the peg on the Qan[t]'s hand.

Don't expect to dynamically pose your kit with this equipment!

The Qan[t] can handle the gun blades just fine, however they also don't utilize the palm peg system, so they just kind of flop around in the hand.

The gun blades cannot transform or connect to each other like the HG versions can.

Looks:

 

If you can get past the material flaws, the saber actually looks pretty good. It's sharp, angular an massive; It also adds some much need symmetry and balance to the Qan[t].

Seed may have been all about the backpacks; but 00 is all about the shoulders

The Full Saber's handle can retract into it's body when mounted on the kit.

The backpack deviates from the 'real' Full Saber design, which should have a 'cone' type GN drive poking out of the back similar to the Exia. 

Ignore the gap between the blue and grey parts when the saber attaches, I didn't press the part down far enough.

Once the saber is removed the hard point on that side looks boring. The blue portion of the backpack is a redesign of the original part included in the kit. Unfortunately the new backpack limits the articulation of the GN Shield.   

 

Overall 3.5 out of 10

 

Pros:

It's easy to assemble

The parts come molded in color

It looks good


Cons:

Sub Bandai Quality

Limited configurations

Cannot be used dynamically

Limits the articulation of the kit

Molding defects 

Extremely hard/brittle clear green parts


Things to watch for:

Removing nub marks from the clear green parts

 

Bottom Line 

 

I can't recommend purchasing this item to anyone but the most diehard Qan[t] fan; even then I wouldn't pay more than $25-30 shipped for what you're getting. The overall quality is lacking, and you're very limited in the ways you can pose the kit.