Oof, that bulky cloak on Aida does not look well. The cloak-and-dagger limited pose and the John Wick SMG pose from Defiance have avoided that and it makes them look dynamic, this is just heavy.
Yeah I get it, for those who caught Defiance early and were able to invest before closing orders you have better choices, but not all of us got that lucky so we have to see these models as our chance. Verdict is still out on Aida's cloak folds (hope they are fixable or something) and yeah I'd definitely use Defiance Uxia over any other if I had the model. Comparing the Beyond boxes to Booster packs, the prices sure are sky rocketing.
Interesting, I saw something on her back and figured they were just folded up. Still not sure I need a 3rd Ko Dali though...
I don't mean to like, hold it over anybody or anything, certainly. It's just kind of odd to release allllll these alt-sculpts so close together. Even forgetting Defiance, having Betrayel pack and then a couple months later having a Ko Dali & Nourkias pack seems a bit odd to me. The o12 pack is just one Defiance character and I like the sculpt, so that's cool enough, but then it also has a Hypo. Of course, this one isn't jumping off her tactical rock, so it might actually be a more "playable" piece... Like with Aida (and Messer), the original limited edition sculpt was gone long before I got into the game, so I'm happy for a new general release model. I just don't really NEED them since I just got the Defiance ones. Hell, if they weren't in Defiance at all and a general release sculpt came out, I'd have never cared. It is debateable whether the new sculpts were intended for Defiance or just retasked to us as stretch goals for already planned general release models, but I don't think that really matters either way. I'll probably never use Uxia in game, though I'll get Operation: 2021, I doubt either army will become important to me as anything more than cool figures, so there's that. :)
I saw the Aida's model of defiance and I was falled in love with it. I was hoping the February one was similar, but honestly it disappointed me.
I think they all look great but that Uxia looks fantastic and worth getting just for the sake of it. I'd use her for something in my Dashat or Ikari. I think Aida needs a different paint job. I think because of the braids, i want her to be black skin tone. She looks like albino. The figure itself is pretty good. The CA pack looks great to me.
Okay. Defiance exclusives needs more or less regular issues, I got that. I don´t have to like that. The exclusives, I would like to see regular, are not among then ... like the Aleph Char and her bot or Jazz herself. But ... ... why Characters, even side chars, like Aida, need a minimum of three variants? Why CB produces X-Versions of Y and let us starve for the holes in the new sectorials? Tian Guo? Karhu? Shang Ji HMG? Not that Ariadna is of much interest to me, but I´ve not seen a single Kosmoflot new unit so far ... but Uxia Nr. 6? Ko Dali # 4 is, hmm, a bit special. I asked myself, why they make three versions of AD Ko Dali (not counting the original one) and then bring this ... flat thing. Maybe she has a multi rifle on her back, like uxia her shotgun.But now I have a guess: They already planed her crouching version in this three-pack. Okay now to the looks: Nourikas look like a plant, but good to have a non diorama version. Ko Dali, I failed to recognize her. Victor, a bit boring now, but okay. O12: Crusher looks nice, dynamic,I like the static look of Cho and Hypo ... could be the painting, she looks a bit bold, okay at least she has to be, she is an Amazon. Why she has her cooking knife instead of the Myrmidon Steel? Looks tiny for an EXP CCW. Uxia looks nice so far, but realy? Another one? I lost count. Naga is nice and make sense for the overworked look of OSS. I don´t think I need him, since I have the old ones and they do fine. Aida - glad that I have the lim.ed. one already painted and used. I like the Defiance one a bit more, but this third one is okay from the look. Now the best part: The Terrain - cool thing, cheap objective room, some smaller stuff - I will pick it up! Best thing for me from this release!
Obviously because there only so many SKUs for them to use and Tohaa / MRRF and others had to die in a ditch for us to get a third Aida and fourth Uxia.
There's only one Aida SKU in the catalogue. Likewise the new Uxia will most likely be replacing the eight(?) year old Covert Action Uxia in the catalogue, so no real impact on SKUs there either.
I had my own "It can't be that long ago" moment looking it up, but she came out shortly after Campaign Paradiso IIRC, which was 2012!
Aida's a bad example since her original model was limited release and the other variant is in Defiance. So she's got 1 version for general sale. That said, the general point I'd think is that specific characters are detailed and enjoyable for what they are compared to generic troopers that are more easily subbed out with another trooper, especially when it's just a change of weapon profile. The specific characters that have more than one release are generally because most of them are limited edition and won't be general release. How many Uxia's or Jean's have been made vs how many are actually available for you to just buy from CB on any given day? Ko Dali and Nourkias are odd situations given they're both in the Betrayel pack, but also in the CA pack, which is odd to me given how close to each other they are in release schedule. So you can't just buy one of them, but if you want either of them you're getting other stuff.
At least with Ko the two general release versions reflect very different loadouts, with akimbo pistols & wings compared to single pistol and Forward Deployment gear.
The other Ko Dali is also still available, solo, and I think is the same as the Betrayal one. Also not sure of the limited one with Betrayal, though that probably doesn't count. Oh, I see Ko Dali is only available until end of the month, so there's that!
Huh, surprised she's still on sale, that's another 7-8 year old hand sculpt. The Betrayal one was a CAD remake, so visually similar but essentially sculpted from scratch with new techniques.
The "old" Ko Dali (original CA version) had a CAD backpack, but a possibly-manual body. In any case, I know the backpack and body had different sculptors listed.
On the one hand, I think this Nourkias looks far better than the Betrayal box version. On the other, I already have two Ko Dalis painted up, and the Victor coming in Defiance looks better than this one. With almost everything this month being a resculpt of characters that already have models, it feels a bit frustrating for models that are a lot of really important profiles that have gone ages without a model. The more I look at releases like this, the more I think Defiance may have been a mistake. As pretty as a lot of the models are, it's going to leave so many scraps.
Check out the guns on Hippolyta. I bet she can throw a mean javelin, if you know what I mean. How about that peplum. Niiice.
