MG 1/100 Sinanju Stein (Narrative Ver.) Ver.Ka

Absolutely cinema 📽️🎥
Hvis jeg nogensinde møder ejeren til denne webshop. Så ville jeg give ham den bedste dab me up bro

There's a lot to go over, but the TL;DR version is that this is mostly a repeat of the Narrative version with a few upgrades. The difference is that there are almost no color correction stickers and you get beam axes. That's *basically* it, from the 2018 Narrative version.

Out of the 32(!!!) runners, only S1, S2, T1 and T2 are from 2024, while the new hands are from 2022 (MGEX, probably). It uses runners from years 08, 09, 12, 18, 22 and 2024. While there are a ton of runners, half of them are very small with a couple of parts. You get a whopping 80g of leftover parts.

Aesthetics:
It's the same as the 2018 Stein Narrative, in the same darker grey plastics - Fit for panel lining and painting and it would serve it well, because it looks a little more boring than it has to.
Most notable the chest plate, shield and sleeves are color separated plastic instead of relying on stickers, just like the RG Sinanju uses separate gold while the MG kits use stickers or water-slide decals.
Disappointingly the kit uses red metallic color correction stickers for the vents on the side of the legs. You'd think on the 5th iteration they'd do *all* of it, especially when there's a dedicated red runner, but no.
There's a big sheet of a couple hundred Ver.Ka. water-slide decals.

Mechanics:
It's the same inner frame that they've used for all the other 4 versions. I can't tell you what's different from each one of them, only that it's fairly simple but robust and while the elbow can't hold the combined rifle and bazooka, the shoulder and hand both can. Use the other hand to support it and it's fine. The cockpit hatches open, the forearms open and the calf-thrusters fold out and turn.
Articulation is solid, though it has that odd 'point arms inward' design that some kits have. The backpack is super annoying, it's set on five points of articulation each with extra long fuel canisters, so they're all over the place and fiddly.

Equipment:
NEW - 2 Beat Heat Hawks (axes) that combine into one and can be stored on the inside of the shield at the back and at the front for attack mode, comes with the Sazabi Beam effect parts.
1 Shield, only fits on the back of either arm (why..?)
2 Beam Saber hilts hidden in the forearms, comes with 2 standard yellow Beam Saber effect parts. There are no hilts for the flat blades that the Sinanju and Sazabi use (why..?)
1 High Beam Rifle that you can alternatively build as the normal Sinanju version with a scope. The High version can't equip the scope (again why..?)
1 collapsable Bazooka that can be equipped in hand, on the butt or underslung on the rifle (also fits on Sazabi rifle)
1 breach load Grenade Launcher, underslung on the rifle (fits on Sazabi)
2 fully articulated 2022 Hands which hold the beam axes or bazooka
1 alternate fixed pose Hand for the beam rifle
4 minifigs of Full Frontal and Zoltan

Conclusion:
The kit has almost no undergating and it's obnoxious, tons of cleanup.
Eye sticker looks outdated, no option to make a mono-eye.
The backpack verniers have a lot of mobility range, but are super annoying.
The model is very solid, but it feels old and like all 'Unicorn show' kits, it feels experimental and full of compromises.
There's nothing 'Ver.Ka' about this apart from the decal sheet, as far as I can tell, the differences from 2018 are very petty, like changing the color on thrusters, a single piece on the calf thrusters to match the surrounding color and changing the blue covers on the inside of the backpack thrusters to brown... The color separated emblems and cuff details feel cartoonish and rounded, especially compared to the super detailed RG Sinanju gold parts. I'm not sure what the deal here is, because this is the *opposite* of a Ver.Ka. look.
I can't score the kit low, because it doesn't do anything badly, it's just a really weird amalgamation of 4 other kits. My favorite part about it is that I now have the bazooka expansion to the Sazabi rifle (the rifle scope also fits on top of the bazooka scope) and makes it look way cooler - It also fits much better on the Sazabi due to its mass, while the Stein is a lot thinner and more like the Nu Gundam.
On a personal enjoyment score, this kit is a '2' for me, below mid, skippable, nothing special. I wish they had made a proper red Sinanju instead with separate gold parts.

Absolutely cinema 📽️🎥
Hvis jeg nogensinde møder ejeren til denne webshop. Så ville jeg give ham den bedste dab me up bro

There's a lot to go over, but the TL;DR version is that this is mostly a repeat of the Narrative version with a few upgrades. The difference is that there are almost no color correction stickers and you get beam axes. That's *basically* it, from the 2018 Narrative version.

Out of the 32(!!!) runners, only S1, S2, T1 and T2 are from 2024, while the new hands are from 2022 (MGEX, probably). It uses runners from years 08, 09, 12, 18, 22 and 2024. While there are a ton of runners, half of them are very small with a couple of parts. You get a whopping 80g of leftover parts.

Aesthetics:
It's the same as the 2018 Stein Narrative, in the same darker grey plastics - Fit for panel lining and painting and it would serve it well, because it looks a little more boring than it has to.
Most notable the chest plate, shield and sleeves are color separated plastic instead of relying on stickers, just like the RG Sinanju uses separate gold while the MG kits use stickers or water-slide decals.
Disappointingly the kit uses red metallic color correction stickers for the vents on the side of the legs. You'd think on the 5th iteration they'd do *all* of it, especially when there's a dedicated red runner, but no.
There's a big sheet of a couple hundred Ver.Ka. water-slide decals.

Mechanics:
It's the same inner frame that they've used for all the other 4 versions. I can't tell you what's different from each one of them, only that it's fairly simple but robust and while the elbow can't hold the combined rifle and bazooka, the shoulder and hand both can. Use the other hand to support it and it's fine. The cockpit hatches open, the forearms open and the calf-thrusters fold out and turn.
Articulation is solid, though it has that odd 'point arms inward' design that some kits have. The backpack is super annoying, it's set on five points of articulation each with extra long fuel canisters, so they're all over the place and fiddly.

Equipment:
NEW - 2 Beat Heat Hawks (axes) that combine into one and can be stored on the inside of the shield at the back and at the front for attack mode, comes with the Sazabi Beam effect parts.
1 Shield, only fits on the back of either arm (why..?)
2 Beam Saber hilts hidden in the forearms, comes with 2 standard yellow Beam Saber effect parts. There are no hilts for the flat blades that the Sinanju and Sazabi use (why..?)
1 High Beam Rifle that you can alternatively build as the normal Sinanju version with a scope. The High version can't equip the scope (again why..?)
1 collapsable Bazooka that can be equipped in hand, on the butt or underslung on the rifle (also fits on Sazabi rifle)
1 breach load Grenade Launcher, underslung on the rifle (fits on Sazabi)
2 fully articulated 2022 Hands which hold the beam axes or bazooka
1 alternate fixed pose Hand for the beam rifle
4 minifigs of Full Frontal and Zoltan

Conclusion:
The kit has almost no undergating and it's obnoxious, tons of cleanup.
Eye sticker looks outdated, no option to make a mono-eye.
The backpack verniers have a lot of mobility range, but are super annoying.
The model is very solid, but it feels old and like all 'Unicorn show' kits, it feels experimental and full of compromises.
There's nothing 'Ver.Ka' about this apart from the decal sheet, as far as I can tell, the differences from 2018 are very petty, like changing the color on thrusters, a single piece on the calf thrusters to match the surrounding color and changing the blue covers on the inside of the backpack thrusters to brown... The color separated emblems and cuff details feel cartoonish and rounded, especially compared to the super detailed RG Sinanju gold parts. I'm not sure what the deal here is, because this is the *opposite* of a Ver.Ka. look.
I can't score the kit low, because it doesn't do anything badly, it's just a really weird amalgamation of 4 other kits. My favorite part about it is that I now have the bazooka expansion to the Sazabi rifle (the rifle scope also fits on top of the bazooka scope) and makes it look way cooler - It also fits much better on the Sazabi due to its mass, while the Stein is a lot thinner and more like the Nu Gundam.
On a personal enjoyment score, this kit is a '2' for me, below mid, skippable, nothing special. I wish they had made a proper red Sinanju instead with separate gold parts.