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STH-16/tc Io Frame Shiden Custom (Ryusei-Go)

A pink nose-art brawler that trades new engineering for a paint job worth chasing down.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Io Frame Shiden Custom (Ryusei-Go) · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the standard HGIBO Shiden Custom wearing a completely different personality, and honestly that personality is the whole reason to own it.

The frame underneath is the same solid, no-nonsense Iron-Blooded Orphans skeleton I already like, so nothing about the build surprised me. What did win me over is how much character the pink and cream Ryusei-Go scheme adds to a suit that otherwise looks fairly plain in its default colors.

Best for: IBO completionists and Norba Shino fans who want the Ryusei-Go tribute paint job, not builders looking for new frame engineering

The full review

What it is

This is the P-Bandai exclusive version of the HG Shiden Custom, given the pink-and-cream Ryusei-Go livery and nose art that ties it back to Norba Shino's old personal machine and the Alaya-Vijnana cockpit he salvaged into it. The new tooling is limited to the head, the shoulder-mounted thrusters, and the head-mounted weapon, so the rest of the kit builds exactly like the base Shiden Custom I already know: snap-tight IBO frame, sensible proportions, and a short shield swapped in per Shino's own request in the show. Building it felt familiar in the best way, like putting together an old favorite with a new coat of paint that actually changes how it reads on the shelf.

The catch

The molded plastic gets you most of the colors, but the nose art and some of the finer pink/cream separation are handled with a foil sticker and Gundam Marker touch-ups rather than extra colored runners, so out of the box it looks a little flat until you commit to detailing it yourself. It is also a P-Bandai exclusive, which means used-market pricing is all over the place and it is not sitting on a store shelf waiting for you. Since the frame is unchanged from the standard Shiden Custom, there is nothing new here in terms of articulation range, joint tension, or part engineering, so if you already own the base kit you are paying for the look, not the build.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you are building out the Iron-Blooded Orphans cast and want Norba Shino's suit with the actual paint scheme the show gave it, or if you just like oddball nose-art color jobs on an otherwise serious mecha frame. Skip it if you already have the standard HG Shiden Custom and are not attached to the Ryusei-Go story, since you would be buying the same kit twice for a recolor. It is also not the pick for someone chasing secondary aftermarket value or hard-to-find exclusives on a budget, since P-Bandai pricing tends to creep well past standard HG territory.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

The assembly is straight HGIBO from start to finish. Gates are placed where you would expect on an Iron-Blooded Orphans kit, cleanup is quick, and the frame snaps together with the same confident fit I have come to expect from this line. Nothing about the construction itself is new since only the head, the head-mounted weapon, and the shoulder thrusters got fresh molds for this release.

Articulation matches the base Shiden Custom: a ball-jointed neck, swinging shoulders, elbows that bend roughly 100 degrees, a 360-degree waist, and double-jointed knees with skirt armor that pivots out of the way. The short shield and shoulder-mounted thrusters that Shino requested in the story are both present, and the pink and cream molded plastic does the heavy lifting on the color scheme even before you touch it up with markers or the included foil sticker for the nose art.

Lore & trivia

01The Ryusei-Go is a personal customization of the Shiden built for Norba Shino, painted pink with nose art to match his own tastes.
02It carries over the cockpit seat and other parts from Shino's earlier machine, making it the only Shiden Custom variant able to run the Alaya-Vijnana system.
03This release was a Bandai Hobby Online Shop / Premium Bandai exclusive, first offered in late 2016 and reissued the following year rather than sold through normal retail.