why am i so late? because people wanted the round to be over so out of spite i procrastinated (i actually went through the lowest point in my mental health in 5 years right after entries closed so i didnāt wanna do anything this is a cry for help)
The developers of Kiss Miss finally gathered around to review the designs at their little studio somewhere in Tokyo.
Centurion Fatale
Jesus fucking Christ man, this is such a sin youāre making me use the Lordās name in vain while cursing. Be fucking ashamed.
Itās pretty darn clear the effort was low on this entry, so I feel like i didnāt even need to put any effort into this review
i donāt even have the motivation to roast you
next
EF-0 Panoptes
Very cool looking entry. Itās a clean and very sterile design with unique proportions.
Unfortunately, those proportions are my main issue with the design. As much as I love the Evangelion-style body shape, and it feels rather organic with how long the limbs are in regards to each other and the body, this isnāt really what Iām looking for.
It reminds me somewhat of those battle droids from the Star Wars prequels, which, while cool, again isnāt the style Iām after.
The presentation is great, love the little blueprint thing you made for it, and the attention to detail by having poseable limbs are top-notch.
When it comes to weapons, I also feel a bit iffy with how they are. The shoulder-mounted missile pods feel a tad awkward to me. Their housings seem a bit small and the way theyāre positioned just doesnāt fit right with the design.
Good attempt, but not what Iām looking for.
AT-HI X-02 Zephyr
Badass design that seems to be heavily inspired by the TR-6 Woundwort. A design I very much love (fuck you bandai give me a non-peeb woundwort you bastards), and I initially wanted to keep as part of the inspirations.
Itās a bit too heavily inspired however, and if you substitute the mass-production-type head on it for a Gundam head, youād think itās just another variant of it. I think because of this devotion to being a Woundwort clone limits its design a lot. The leg joints donāt look functional and the leg seems to be just one piece. Then thereās the feet, which donāt exist and make it look like itād need a severe amount of thrust for balancing on land, which realistically will expend more fuel and limit its operational time.
Overall, the dedication to being an AoZ-ish design makes it unfit for the scenario I had in mind. The mecha feels way too space-oriented. The integrated shield/gun thing I think is rather cool though, but overall it just doesnāt feel like something that would be used primarily for fighting giant alien testicle monsters in the atmosphere and on land.
Helios HMR-06A Aethon
I absolutely love this one. This feels like a design that could come out for Frame Arms or Hexa Gear and Iād buy it. It looks armed to the teeth and feels very modular. Almost like a juggernaut of mecha of sorts. Depending on the mission, it seems like thereās a lot of changes to the armaments that can be done to suit the scenario which is absolutely what Iām looking for here.
Itās pretty darn detailed, even coming with an interior which is incredible. The control layout is nice, but Iād probably swap a lot of the buttons out with just screens and stuff.
A few complaints do rise with the mecha, and main thing is that metallic paint. It could defo just be changed though in the gameās final release. A bigger issue is with the proportions, which while from the side looks great, from the front is kind of awkward with how narrow the legs look. Thereās a bit of a lack of shaping in them, which feels like a nitpick but the way I look at it, it just feels kind of awkward. A personal thing for me would also probably be larger shoulder armour to have a bigger platform for that missile pod and gun to rest upon.
Looking at the mecha overall as it is though, I definitely do love the design, and I can see it in the game as the titular unit with a few adjustments. A refined weapon designed to push back the alien advance, itās really detailed and the singular monoeye just makes it look absolutely killer.
ARx-93v Rivale
Should yāall even be surprised this came out on top? This is an absolute beast of a design and ticks all the boxes Iām looking for. someone clearly played muv-luv
The proportions are great, the shaping of everything is immaculate, and whilst it doesnāt have the interior detail like the Helios, thereās plenty of other eye candy on this mecha that makes me want to have an actual model of this sitting on my desk.
The design has modularity built in, and the loadouts can be varied a lot. Pictures simply donāt do this one justice, and neither do my words which is why writing a review for this is really difficult because itās just that great.
If I had to complain about ONE thing, itās probably that single color face design. Not really a fan of the whole visor being one massive LED, but overall an incredible design with so many other details that outshine the face.
Final ranking