Vic Viper by Kotobukiya

Suit Lore

Vic Viper is a name a lot of old school gamers should recognize. For those of you not familiar with the name Vic Viper (V2 for short) is the protagonist ship from the Gradius series. More recently however Vic Viper made a cameo appearance as a LEV (Laborious Extra-Orbital Vehicle) piloted by Leo Stenbuck in Zone of the Enders: Second Runner (Anubis if you're in Japan). ZOE:2ndR was a game originally released for the PS2 in the early 2000s, but has recently been rereleased and remastered  for the Xbox360 and PS3. If you've never heard of, or played ZOE I would highly recommend picking it up, it's a fast paced, stylish, and fun mech combat game created by Metal Gear legend Hideo Kojima.

Like the Zeta Gundam, V2 is able to transform between a mecha and an aircraft; it's sleek and nimble design hints at it's role as a fast attack craft.

Kit Talk

Unfortunately like a lot of Kotobukiya kits I felt like this require a little too much work to get it to a presentable level. I fixed seam lines on the arms, wings, upper legs and crotch, due to the assembly of the lower leg I left the seam lines exposed on the lower part of the leg. All of the joints needed to be modified to accept the parts after the seam lines were fused.

Out of the box this kit is mostly molded in a warm white color similar to the color of the EZ-8 Gundam. I opted to pre-shade this kit due to the simplicity of the of the design and lack of complexity in the geometry of the armor panels. 



Photos

Due to the design of the legs Vic Viper really struggles to stand on it's own without any help.

 Detail Photos

When in flight the little feet at the base of the legs are capable of retracting into the leg. 

Actions Pose

The way this kit moves makes it difficult to pose in a convincing fashion

The tips of the arms can be exchanged for a pair with little fingers. The down side is that the fingers need to be individually glued into the tip and they don't tend to stay attached. 

Fighter Craft