Hayate Liger
It's Bricky, BrickyBricky the wonderful Lunp...
...yes, I'll stop singing. So after getting annoyed with Murasame's prebuiltness and reading how horribly unbalanced and fally-aparty this design was, what posessed me to get one? I don't know, beyond some growing desire to paint it pink once summer comes.
Like Murasame, Hayate Liger comes mostly prebuilt, with what's left being mostly fiddly armor, my least favorite bit. I like the mechanics, thanks. Despite this, the head's kinda fun to piece together, as are the slidy bits on the leg armor and the boosters. They're pretty clever, even if they're almost finished for you-press a button and they make like an automated safety-plastic-rich version of Jäger's boosters. Side fins pop out farther, and multiple pokey bits inside the boosters themselves frill out. Poke the tops of the boosters and they go back into place with a satisfying click.
Unfortunately, unlike Jäger, Hayate's boosters are set really far forward. It looks...well, really bad, considering their size. Move them back and a lot of its issues would be solved, especially if they were stuck on the hideously loose piece around Hayate's waist to stabilize it. I'm plotting to do something about that along with the pink.
The blades, aside from being asymmetrical for no real reason, are horribly soft poke-yourself-in-the-eye-safely plastic. Trim off the goofy safety tips and they display okay, though, aside from the trying-to-fall-off act their bit of leg armor does.
On the plus side, Hayate's mane is far less escapist than Murasame's, and I can actually open and close the cockpit without problems. It's an improvment, as is the lack of stickers for markings beyond a few places. Mine walks better too, and I haven't heard of others walking horribly like was a problem with some Murasame. On the other hand, my pilebunkers won't bunk-they're stuck permanently up. I'll take that over the mane shedding, thanks.
Together, Hayate looks better than I expected, aside from the booster placement. It's nice and pokey, at least. Really, better than expected but better in photos sums up my opinion of Hayate. I'd had my expectations lowered so far I couldn't help find the bits that don't suck and focus on them.
So is it a good model? Not by Zoid standards, I'd say. Is it a bad one? If you're a pointy cat fan you'll probably find something to appreciate. But if you don't like prebuilt things or you didn't dig Murasame, stay away. From what I hear of Mugen, it gets rid of the Lunp crew issues and actually uses the prebuilt. I won't judge something properly until I've built it, but take that how you will.
...oh, and the box is almost a cube-very bricklike. This would be incredibly cool if not for the bit on the side where it calls Hayate "Murasame" in kana. Oops.
