By Loran
I’ve gone on about my love for the Jesta’s design enough times now, so I’m just gonna cut the BS: this kit is awesome.
Maybe I’m just a little biased because I like the design, but this thing is just cool. It doesn’t have all the little nuances of the 0079/0083 GMs or the Zaku I. It’s just a really nice, solid kit of a great design. What more could you ask for?
Now that I’m actually able to hold the suit in my hands, I can get a much better look at the design and all the little design elements that complete the whole look of the suit, a lot of which I never would have thought of. After giving this thing a better look over, it’s basically the lovechild of the Jegan and the Nu Gundam.
And that’s awesome.
The Jesta stands at about the average height for grunts in the UC 0090’s, coming in about a head taller than the GM II from Zeta Gundam. I like it when kits end up with a height like this. It feels very… substantial. It’s about the height of a shorter figuart (namely, the female Super Sentai bodies).
Now you’re probably wondering why I said it was a cross between the Nu Gundam and the Jegan. It’s a bit subtle, and probably one of those things only I care about. It just has a more substantial feel like the Nu does, and it has a beam saber mounted in the underarm like Nu. Again, it’s probably just crap I care about, but it would be cool to see the Federation using some design elements from Amuro’s Nu, considering how expensive that thing was to mass produce.
Like most of the other GM-type kits these days, this has a clear visor with detail behind it. You can’t see the detail here, but it basically has a monoeye beneath it. Neat.
The suit has plenty of joints, like most other kits these days. I’m glad Bandai finally learned that ball-jointed shoulders and stick-jointed hips are much more functional than stick-jointed shoulders and ball jointed hips. I can’t tell you how many hip joints I broke as a kid.
The arm joints aren’t double-jointed, but they are cut in a way that gives them a range of movement greater than 90 degrees, so hey, that works.
What I really like is the waist joint. Plenty of kits have been using a ball joint for awhile now, but this one can actually USE it. Yes.
There isn’t anything special about the accessory compliment, just a rifle, shield, and saber. I like the extra ammo clips under the arm, however. What I find interesting is the shield. It doesn’t clip to the arm but instead hangs off the back. There are two clip systems for this, one for having it face the arm and the other for protecting the back.
The hand compliment is great—the same as the one the GM III had. Please, Bandai, give more kits these hands!
Many stickers are included, with labels for the Federation, Federation special forces, Londo Bell, and Anaheim Electronics.
My hopes for the Jesta kit were certainly not in vain. It’s a great kit, and pretty much everything I was hoping for. Highly recommended, come to FPNYC and get one!
Too bad we probably won’t be getting the Jesta Cannon for another year…
