HGGS 1/144 TMF/A-802W2 Kerberos BuCUE Hound
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General and Technical Data

Series: High Grade Gundam SEED (HGGS) 1/144
Title: TMF/A-802W2 Kerberos BuCUE Hound
Release Date: 11/2006
Suggested Price: ¥ 1500
No. of Parts: 146
Plastic colors: black, gray, purple, white
Gimmicks: flexible rubber tracks, Wizard Pack adaptor, Kerberos Wizard pack
Introduction

Contributor: Gerard Mol
Date: August 14, 2007

Kerberos BuCUE Hound. A very unique design, by everyone's standard. The BuCUE is not very well liked by many (Though I've always had a soft spot for it) but the Kerberos Hound just has a menacing look to it. Unfortunately, I've never seen the show it's from, so I couldn't comment on how it did, but when I saw this kit, I just had to get it. It is the only High Grade BuCUE, as far as I know. The unposeable, one-color, no-grade kit of the regular BuCUE is best left undiscussed. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Bandai releases a regular HG-GS BuCUE though, after this kit.

Head

There are actually three of them. Because of the BuCUE's unique design, the heads have an animalistic, feral, ominous look to them. The Main head consist of two outer halves, with two 'middle' halves, and one center piece that makes the tongue. A mono-eye sticker goes on the two 'middle' halves, and then the two outer halves (along with some detail pieces) go on, adding articulation on two levels to the head - the top hinges up to reveal the mono-eye, and the 'tongue' hinges down to reveal a connection for a beam blade. Add a few tiny stickers for detailing. The two Kerberos heads are similar to the main head, though less elaborate, and with less articulation.
Torso

This is where I will be discussing the main body and the neck(s) of the BuCUE. As with the heads, it has a unique construction, to match it's unique appearance. The neck(s) consist of individual pieces held together by a piece of bendable metal wire. Finally a detail-piece of rubber is attached to complete the poseable neck. The body itself is quite simple in design - simply upper and lower halves, with pegs for the forelimbs. The rear body is also upper and lower halves, with pegs for the rear limbs, but the way the torso halves are connected give it a measure of articulation at the waist, and the two halves have the ability to slide into each other, making the entire torso block a rigid structure. Finally you add the cooling vents, the connection pieces for the wizard pack adaptor, and the mounting points for the wings. The wings are a very simple structure, just the main wing, the engine pod covering, the grill and the rear cone. Finally, a few large red stickers are supplied to detail the wing. The body overall is an interesting and nice build, with decent engineering, and the way it is articulated promises good poseability for the finished figure.

Limbs

I'll discuss the front and rear limbs in one paragraph, since they're basically identical in construction. This makes them a bit of a chore to build. The tracks are interesting - rubber, flexible, and the track pods are articulated to facilitate the conversion from mobile suit mode to tank mode. However, the tracks themselves are fixed in position and don't roll. The limbs are a chore to build, and you have to build four of them. For some odd reason, the rear limbs are designed with a bit of plastic impeding with the leg's ability to bend backwards at the knee, but I find that filing some of the plastic away helps greatly, here.
Weapons and Accessories

The Kerberos pack is another chore to build. Most of the time you will be building it will be spent making the heads and the necks, which are very similar to the BuCUE's main head and neck. Quite an exercise in willpower. The rest of the Kerberos pack is simply two halves stuck together, repeated a few times. The purple parts that the necks attach to come with very large black stickers for the lower half of it. Would it really have killed Bandai to design this differently, with a few more pieces, instead of big stickers? Well, the Kerberos BuCUE hound comes with 146 pieces already, which is quite extraordinary for a kit of this size and price.

Kerberos Hound comes with a gazillion beam blades. It's a pure Melee combat machine, and it shows. Fully armed, it resembles a mean black porcupine with clear pink spines. One of the best features of this kit is the fact that the Kerberos pack can be removed and exchanged freely with any 1/144 kit that's compatible with Wizard Packs - that means you could make a Kerberos ZAKU or GOUF, or, I surmise, a BuCUE Gunner or Noir if you are so inclined.

Conclusion

I bought this kit more for the fact that it was a BuCUE rather than the Kerberos pack. The BuCUE part of the kit is decent, but not spectacular. An interesting build, but the limbs were annoying. Posing it is a bit of a chore as well and it's not as poseable as you would imagine, despite being double-jointed all around. The Kerberos pack is an interesting design, but the way the necks are designed, they don't bend left and right very well, due to the way the metal wire is used. All in all, it's an interesting kit, but not spectacular. Before building this kit I was confident I'd also get the regular HG-GS BuCUE when it came out, but now... I'm not so sure anymore.

 Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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