Review – Maschinen Krieger Super Armored Fighting Suit

Created by artist Kow Yokoyama, Maschinen Krieger is something I still don’t completely understand. I’ve seen tons of photos online — and the 12-inch scale action figures and suits look amazing — but there’s very little solid information easily available. You can check out the Wikipedia entry, but for a blow-by-blow summary of the world, characters, and stories it’s next to impossible to find anything of value.

That didn’t stop me from grabbing this 1/35 scale Super Fighting Armored Suit five pack while I was in Hong Kong, though, because the (approximately) $20 price tag was low enough that I was willing to give the figures/models a shot. I’m glad that I did, but I think I’ve got enough Maschinen Krieger in my collection . . . at least until I get lucky and find an awesome deal on one of the 12-inch scale versions of these suits.

Packaging

A velcro-closed window box, the packaging is actually pretty drab and almost monochromatic. Even the painting on the box front — a gorgeous work of art showing four of the five suits — is almost monochromatic, with just a few faded colors driving home the design of the suits.

The back of the box, and the inside of the window flap, give us two cleaner shots of the armored suits, but again both images are fairly gray. The art’s beautiful, but I’d love to see an artist with a wider range of colors tackle the suit design and set these SAFS designs in a colorful battle scene.

Most of the text on the box is in Japanese so I have no idea what the box has to say about the suits or the actual figures. It’s not all that important, since popping open the box immediately showed that the “components to be assembled” note could be completely ignored.

Five Suits, Very Little Variation

The photo above shows all five suits that are included in the box. Coming in at just under 3-inches tall, these tiny armored suits are more mini-statues — or wargaming miniatures — than they are action figures or toys. With no articulation of any kind, and a lot of shared components, what you get for the money are five cool little suits of armor that are going to live on a shelf and collect dust. Not big enough to be fantastic statues or display pieces, I’m actually disappointed that these suits don’t move. I know that I basically bought them blind, but when I looked at the suits through the windows in the box it looked like their arms move.

Well, I can report that the arms do not move at all.

No matter, though. Even though each piece is effectively the same let’s take a look at each one of the five figures. While taking the photos for this review I labeled each figure as I shot it, since I knew that once I removed all of them from their packages I was never going to be able to match each figure with its listed name (well, except for the Captain).

Capt Heyward A Paxton Jr

The first figure I pulled from the box and the only one that’s immediately recognizable and different from the other suits, the Captain stands out from the pack because his suit’s opened, revealing the character’s human head. The figure, like the others, is painted a grayish color with small swatches of dull greens and browns giving the piece a very subtle camo pattern.

Sgt.major Jhon C Herbst

Herbst’s suit is marked with an “8” on the faceplate and shoulder pad, and if you enlarge the photos above you’ll get a good look at the level of the painted details on the figure. The subtle weathering effects look great, but it’s the dark wash bringing out the recessed details that really impresses me. As you take a look at the larger photos keep in mind that each one of these figures is under 3-inches tall; that’s an excellent wash job. If only the color range was a little broader.

Wo Joseph H Griffin

Basically the exact same figure as the Captain, these photos of Griffin give you a great look at the suit in profile. The arms are removable — different arms were included in the box, so that you can slightly customize the figures — but unfortunately the shoulder pads really restrict your access to the arms and snapping them out feels like something’s gonna break at any minute.

2nd Lt Forrest F Parham

Parham, identified as by a “9,” is basically just the Captain and Griffin again, but this time the right arm is outstretched which gives the figure a slightly more intimidating look. Take a look at the above left photo and notice the hose that leads from the arm and doesn’t connect to the socket in the side of the back. This is a common problem with all of these figures; the tiny details look great, but these little hoses just refuse to stay in place.

Lance Cpl. Donald S Lopez

The last figure in the group, the first thing I noticed about Lopez is that he’s the only figure in the bunch who refuses to stand on his own. The legs, which are held in place with friction, are a little loose on this guy and no matter which way I twist or pull the figure just will not stand. A small dab of goo under his foot held him in place for these photos — and will keep him standing on display — but it’s strange that for what’s effectively the same figure to be unable to stand when the other four stand just fine on their own.

Closing Thoughts

I bought these when I spotted them only because everything I had seen about the Maschinen Krieger series online looked amazing and I had never seen any of the models or toys in person. These are kinda neat figures, and would make great miniatures for a Maschinen Krieger combat game, but they’re not cool enough that I would recommend searching for them.

A search for reviews for this set revealed very little, but if you’d like to see another photo and a few more words then hit this page at Addicted to Plastic. It’s not an actual review, but it will show a set that’s substantially brighter than my own. I’m not sure if the poster painted his set, but the difference between what I’ve got and what he shows is immediately noticable.

Philip Reed may not want any more 1/35 Machinen Krieger models/figures but that doesn’t mean that he has stopped drooling on the 12-inch scale action figure versions of this suit design.