[Kit Insight] Bandai Kyoukai Senki HG 1/72 CO-03BR-B Bunyip Boomerang (Type B Equipment) - Customised Build

Model Number: CO-03BR-B
Designation: Confederation of Oceania Mass Production General Purpose Use AMAIM

Truly, one of the most unique model kits to come out this year!

Build Notes
The Bandai Kyoukai Senki line of High Grade 1/72 scale plastic model kits of the mecha from the AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline series continues to impress. While the MAILeS units were fun to build and pose in their own right, the Bunyip Boomerang brings something refreshing and interesting to the table. Adopting a "chicken walker" design with huge reverse-jointed legs holding up a large, flat main body, the Bunyip Boomerang invokes imagery of the old-school MechWarrior, particularly the Mad Cat, which has the same rough technical design. In the age of humanoid robots that look and behave like human beings, having a mecha design that looks intuitively like a machine is really a breath of fresh air.

Build-wise, the Bunyip Boomerang features large parts with decent colour and part separation, although the large legs are mostly cast in a single colour. You also get a working piston at the "spine" of the machine, a nice touch that adds a bold splash of colour to the AMAIM's utilitarian colour scheme. The Bunyip's design causes it to lean towards the front most of the time, and its tiny feet struggle to keep it upright, even with the clear assists installed. For dynamic poses, you'll most definitely need an action base.

Fictional Lore

As the Confederation of Oceania's workhorse AMAIM, the Bunyip Boomerang is ubiquitous with Oceanian military might. Cheap to produce, operate and maintain, the non-human visage of the Bunyip Boomerang - unlike the humanoid designs of other faction AMAIMs - had an unintended psychological effect on enemy troops and civilians alike - the almost-alien like shape of the Bunyip Boomerang could trigger dangerously heightened levels of the human fight-or-flight response.

While the Bunyip Boomerang was essentially an automated gun platform, its unusual design allowed it to move in unexpected patterns and was actually quite agile. The large, powerful reverse-jointed legs enabled the AMAIM to effortlessly cross treacherous terrain, and were able to extend to great heights for observation or manhunting purposes. As a general purpose machine, the Bunyip Boomerang was lightly armed with only a pair of 30mm machine cannons as well as a pair of concealed blades for close-quarters combat. Usually deployed en masse to overwhelm enemy positions with sheer numbers, the Bunyip Boomerang however falters when going against AMAIMs with heavy weaponry that can penetrate their thick armour. The 30mm machine cannons also have difficulty defeating the shields wielded by other AMAIMs and suffer from low ammunition capacity with the added disadvantage of not being able to be reloaded in the field.

To somewhat circumvent this issue and bring more firepower to bear against increasingly stronger enemy AMAIMs, the Type B Equipment variant of the Bunyip Boomerang was developed and gradually inducted into general ranks. While cosmetically similar to the standard model, Type Bs featured reinforcements to critical sections of the leg frames, improved targeting systems as well as a pair of 120mm rotary cannons that replaced the 30mm machine cannons. The rotary cannons significantly upgraded the firepower of the Bunyip Boomerang, with well-placed salvos able to pierce Nyuren shields like hot rocks through paper. The weapons also had deep ammunition reservoirs and were thus able to stay in combat for longer periods of time before requiring reloads. The height of the Bunyip Boomerang when fully extended also allowed Type Bs to provide overwatch for the rest of the platoon, laying down cannon fire onto enemy units that were out of sight from the main force.

With the deployment of increasingly advanced AMAIMs to the battlefield, the Confederation of Oceania will need to look into completely overhauling the Bunyip Boomerang.

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