Both Kotobukiya and Good Smile Company provide elaborate model sets of female characters to build on. The company previously sold Frame Arms Girls, Megami Devices, Sousai Shojo Teien, and the new Arca Nadea line. Good Smile Company has chitocerium and Plamax. While Bandai offers a few, it is moving deeper into the Frame Arms Girl style category with its lineup of 30 Minute Sisters (30MS) models. As the 30MS SIS-G00 Rishetta demonstrated, this collection of Bandai Spirits figures is affordable and very easy to build, but not as complex as its contemporaries.
For starters, the Rishetta 30MS model kit isn’t very expensive, and you won’t get a lot of spare parts for your money. (I found mine for $27.) Once done, you have the base character and a few decorative touches. Her main “accessories” are the optional armored “hands” mounted on top of her real hand, several armor accents, cat ears, and a small, unjointed cat tail. Three painted faceplates come with the kit. One expression is neutral, the other shows Rishetta screaming, and the third is smiling with her eyes closed. You also only get two pairs of hands. One with her fists, and the other capable of holding small items.
This means you need to buy additional accessories. Instead of doing it like Good Smile Company or Kotobukiya and include more cosmetic body parts, a bunch of extra body parts, additional hairstyles, more weapons and faces. When I checked, Rishetta was also working with optional 30mm parts. (I didn’t spend the extra $15+, though, to buy any of the official 30MS extra bits.) My figure is not compatible with the Megami Device or the hands of my Sousai Shojo Teien model kits. (Though she can keep their accessories just fine.)
It all means that, upon entering, someone needs to be okay because this is a rudimentary character. You don’t get bells and whistles. Joints are in the arms, elbows, hips and knees, so you can have some action shots. However, you won’t get the same range of motion as you would from the Kotobukiya or Good Smile Company sets. You also won’t get many accessories out of the box, unless you’re willing to spend more. I also admit that I’ve been spoiled by two other manufacturers and hope Rishetta’s “claw” will have articulated fingers. Alas, they are static and locked in a pose.
On the plus side, a number from the 30MS line of model sets like Rishetta can help you figure out, “Hey! Do I want to build a model like this? “It is an extremely easy construction. Not too many pieces. Everything is very well labeled. You don’t need to use pliers to cut pieces from fruit. Everything sticks together well, no glue needed. Due to the (lack of) current degree of articulation, assembling the neck, shoulders, chest, and torso doesn’t require many intricate details or intricate elements. I started building the toolkit around 6:45pm CT and finished it by 7:45pm. Usually, a set of Kotobukiya models takes me at least three hours. No decals or water slide paint needed. Other than that, I don’t see the need to document any parts to make things go more smoothly.
As I see it, the 30MS model kit line could fill a niche. They won’t produce the most intricately articulated numbers. Basically, you won’t get the entire character and armor set for them. As the 30ms Rishetta kit shows, you’re getting the basic parts and the chance to see if you’d like to build such a thing at a budget price. Though personally I’d rather pay the extra $10 and get more accessories in the box. It’s good now. But the experienced should know that it sounds like it should come with at least one of the $15 parts packs.
The 30 Minute Sisters Rishetta Bandai Spirits model set is now available.
