S.A.F.S. Super Armored Fighting Suit
Allegiance: Mercenary Army

Kit currently in production from Wave Corporation, available from HobbyLink Japan.

I am pleased to offer a review of the Maschinen Krieger SAFS, as currently produced by Wave Model Corporation and obtainable from HobbyLink Japan (click the link above). TheSAFS is of course the original design in the SAFS-based releases, and comes packaged in a box showcasing Kow Yokoyama's splendid art. This particular kit represents the designthat descended from the AFS, and has been highly anticipated by fans worldwide. It differs from the traditional SAFS in a few subtle ways, and the sprue breakdown seems very logical, following the hints that the Snake Eye kit (which preceded this) laid out for coming other variations in the line. This is clever on Wave's part, by offering a parts breakdown that allows for more variant sprues, the company can offer more varied designs, and Ma.K. fans get more suits into their collection!

So let's start with the box art. Kow's painting depicts two SAFS on the battlefield with a freshly burning Kröte in the background, and is amazingly a continuation of a painting the Yokoyama-san created over 20 years ago!

Inside, you are greeted with bagged sprues, instructions, and a waterslide decal sheet:

The decals are wonderful, blending classic SF3D-era unit markings and newer iconography:

On the back of the instruction manual, a paint guide is provided:

Instruction manual is concise and easy to follow for the non-Japanese speaker:

And here are the "generic" SAFS-suit sprues, molded in green this time (the Sanek Eye was molded in off-white).

SAFS-specific sprues:

Here's a major point of interest - the incredible new face sculpt we are now offered with each new MaK kit!!

Fine molding with no loss of detail:

Parts are very similar to the old Nitto SAFS, but are now (of course) sharper with no flash:

Details have been sharpened as well, as this is a new tooling:

I can't stop staring at the high level of detail!

Next up - assembly!

Maschinen Krieger © Kow Yokoyama