The Brave's posability is vastly improved from the HG ENACT and HG Susanoo, though because of its transformation some of the joints are a bit strange. The head is on a ball joint, and can move around very well. The chest can open up as part of the transformation, and the shoulders pull out for the change to mobile armor mode as well. The shoulder armor parts are on ball joints and can rotate around the main shoulder piece. The shoulder joints themselves are on a short peg with ball joints on both ends, and can move around pretty well. The limiting factor in the arms, though, is the upper arm-to-shoulder connection. Because it's such a tight fit, the arms become a bit of a hassle to pose. The elbows only bend in one place, and the hands are ball jointed onto the arms. The wing arms ball joint into the lower back and can move around at the connection point, and the binders ball joint onto the other side of the wing arms and can rotate and fold up.
As for the lower body, the front waist armor ball joints into the front of the waist, but can't move around all that much. The torso ball joints into the top of the waist, and can lean back and twist around. The hips are very strangely shaped, and take their design from the HG Flag/ENACT kits. They ball joint right into the top of the legs, and can rotate around a horizontal peg on the waist. The upper leg armor is ball jointed onto a ring that covers the top of the leg and can turn around the leg for the transformation. The knees can bend at two points, and can bend very well at that. The feet [clearly inspired by the Masurao/Susanoo] ball joint into the bottom of the legs and can rotate and bend at the round ankle joint. The foot pads are attached to the foot column thing via a ball joint.
The Brave is a pretty posable kit, but the arms are a bit difficult to work with sometimes. This guy's also REALLY tall, but with the very lanky build it doesn't have a very imposing presence among other kits on the shelf. Whether it's on an action base or not, though, it always looks so awesome and dynamic~!
~*~ACCESSORIES~*~
The first of the Brave's two accessories is the custom beam rifle, the Drake Howling. The Drake has two handles that can be attached stored or down, so you can make the Brave right or left handed :D. The Drake's barrel can stay closed, be opened or be totally removed for a "short barrel shotgun" sort of look.
The other accessory the Brave carries is the beam saber. The entire part is molded in white, so some orange paint will be necessary if you plan on using it at all. The hand pulls apart in the middle, and the saber handle fits right in.
The Brave looks so powerful in this pose; the beam saber makes for a very strong-looking accessory~
Baby TheEnd, Brave Standard Test Type, heading into the battlefield~!
~*~FINAL VERDICT~*~
Simply put, the HG Brave is an awesome kit. If you're a fan of the more lanky and tall kits, then the Brave is definitely for you. I didn't show much of the mobile armor mode, but the transformation is very straightforward and looks pretty darn cool~. It requires a fair bit of painting to make it look accurate, but it's well worth the work. The Commander Test Type version is the exact same kit with a few small aesthetic changes, so either version is worth buying. The HG Brave retails for around $17, and is a fantastic green addition to any Gunpla collection~!
And that's all for this review! See you next time, Gunpla fans :D
great review! i recently just built a brave of my own. i was wondering if you had any problems with the waist? the cylinder inside seems to have problems keeping together whenever i make a new pose >.<
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