It’s kinda hard to be in this hobby and not be at least familiar with Kotobukiya. While I’ve always known them primarily as a company that sells figurines, they also sell model kits as well. This includes a whole lineup of generic model kit weapons and accessories, conveniently sold under the sub-brand “M.S.G.”, which of course stands for “Mobile Support Goods”, and couldn’t possibly be hinting at any other thing.
(Just kidding. Of course they’re alluding to Madison Square Garden. And maybe monosodium glutamate too. But nothing else, especially not Mobile Suit Gundam. How dare you imply such a thing)
Anyway, I found one of these M.S.G. accessories when I visited a Hobby Town when I was traveling out of state:
This is basically the off-brand version of the YHI 6ML-79MM Missile Launcher seen being used by the GM Ground Type and others in 08th MS Team:
Which made it a perfect fit for the Master Grade EZ-8.
What’s in the Bag?
Just a couple of small runners. I guess since the thing is so small and simple, they only way they could justify selling it was to give you two of them, whether you need two or not:
After assembly, we have the missile part itself, the grip, and then some tiny other little thing in the bottom corner. I’m guessing it’s used to help mount the weapon onto hardpoints on certain models, but hell if I could figure out how to make use of it for my needs.
It has some really nice surface detail in certain places, though not a lot of it is exciting. Best thing you can do is add some color where you can:
This is especially true considering it doesn’t do anything. The grip is on a small hinge, so you can more easily rest it on your model’s shoulder, but that’s it. There’s no compartments that open up or anything.
That really sucks considering that this isn’t the case with the official version that comes with the GM Ground Type:
I suppose it still looks decent in hand; it’s just not at all dynamic:
Is It Worth It?
(Yes, that heading is a hyperlink. Click it!)
This was fun enough as an experiment with a non-Bandai product, but I’m not sure if I’ll be hunting out these M.S.G. parts. I see a few decent’ish ones on the Kotobukiya website, but this Missile Launcher leaves me feeling gunshy. It looks decent enough, but without any gimmicks it falls a bit flat.
And that’s to say nothing about the price. These things cost me $7, but meanwhile, this thing from Bandai cost me $9:
So for two bucks more, I was able to get four customizable guns, a knife, and a small shield.
If the M.S.G. line wants to compete with Bandai, it needs to provide more bang for the buck.
One More Thing About Kotobukiya
After finishing this, I asked myself - “Why haven’t I ever looked into buying any other Kotobukiya stuff?” So I went to their website to see what they had.
And I was quickly reminded as to the answer. While the company certainly does make a variety of all-ages stuff, I think they have a different primary demographic in mind.
