A.F.S. Mk.I
Allegiance: Mercenary Army

Kit #03 (Nitto) originally released in 1984. Out of Production.
Kit currently in production from Wave Corporation.
There was a 1/20th kit from Kato-san of Rainbow Egg (of the corrected body shape to better match the original scratchbuild), and a 1/12th Pro-A kit available via the (one day only) Winter 2004 Wonderfestival in Japan, making it virtually impossible to get, even for the Japanese.

The AFS was built off a Micronaut. Hobby Japan showed the molds in its magazine, but were really just the Mk II molds with the new Mk I sprue. Since it is just a MkII with minor differences, this third kit release did not get much attention at the time of it's release. This of course made the kit scarce. Most agree the figure is a better sculpt than the one in the Mk II kit. This is the first Armored Fighting Suit, intended to be a support weapon for guerilla operations and was therefore produced in a limited quantity. However, 1st Special Infantry Company (made up of 14 prototype AFS Mk I suits) achieved unexpected and stellar results. It was decided that the AFS would become the main weapon in the Mercenary Army and mass production began.

The AFS Mk I was more energy efficient but inferior to the Mk II in performance, but at the time of it's deployment, the Strahl Army did not have a counterpart, so the Mk I was virtually invincible in battle fields. 23,491 AFS suits (including the Mk.III prototype) were produced. 20,992 of them were Mk.II (which had higher performance and defensive power) and 2,315 of the rest were Mk.I.

The following photos are from the pages of Hobby Japan Magazine, which published SF3D from 1982 to 1985.

Maschinen Krieger © Kow Yokoyama