Bandai 1/12 The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Bandai has released the first of several kits based upon the Mandalorian television series that airs on Disney+ and this kit looks as nice as every other Star Wars kit they've produced. You'll note that there is a kit 2557093 due to arrive in the US shortly, this is kit 5061796 which I assume is the Japanese release of this same kit. There is yet another kit (or two) that are this same kit but the silver kit parts are metal plated (I have one of these on preorder as well). The kit parts are molded in several colors of styrene and when assembled, replicate the look of the Mandalorian without painting, however you will get better results with paint.

The first interesting thing in this kit is the instructions. Right at the beginning, they show all of the parts not used in this build, and there are quite a few. I suspect that some of the parts are shared with the previously released Boba Fett figure who also wore Beskar armor. Nevertheless, you have many options available to you in the box if you choose your parts and colors carefully. If you've seen both seasons of the Mandalorian (I have a few times), you know that the character changes the configuration of his armor and gear as he acquires more Beskar (this is the way). When you build your model, you might just choose an episode from either season to get the right combination of torso, shoulder, arm, and leg armor, with or without rocket pack, disintegrator rifle or not, etc.

I don't know if the US release will offer waterslide decals along with the stickers that are usually in these kits, but this kit is stickers-only and provide the look of damaged armor from season one. Since this kit also provides a dark saber from the end of season two, you do have a wide range of possibilities to work with.

The kit includes a nice display stand to allow the model to be posed standing and be posable without worrying about it falling over.

Oh yes, there is a cloth cape which can be hung full-open or draped around his rifle or rocket pack (again, choose an episode to refer to when building this.

Since I have the plated kit on pre-order, that one will be a season two representation, so this one will be based on season one, but there are eight episodes and a number of armor and weapons variations there to choose from. Sounds like another round of watching the Mandalorian, excuse me while I get some popcorn...