It’s big, it’s overly complicated, it’s wrapped up in mystery and full of weird little doodad parts that you have no idea what they are for… So of course it’s a 40k Imperial miniature. Welcome to Games Workshop’s Plasma Obliterator unboxing.
I have to comment on the packaging, rant even. I meant, really, GW? I like it that I’m not buying air any more and honestly the packaging is more compact now, but…
On the left are all the parts taken out of packaging. On the right is a mostly unpacked box. You can see that GW really packed things tight for this.. But what exactly are in this bubble wraps?
Well…
Two of the five bubble wrapped stuff are buttresses, and they actually took styrofoam cubes and stabbed the spikey bit at the top into the styrofoam to ensure that the part got to you undamaged. My prior experience with the GW graveyard box was that this tended to get bent a lot, so it’s nice…. If a bit weird.
Another two had two wall panels that they stacked on each other and taped up in bubble wrap. And the last?
Yeah that’s just one layer of bubble wrap to protect the base layer and yes, skewered styrofoam to protect yet more spikes. I just scratch my head.
The best part is that the most important bits of the “miniature” could fit into a blister:
I mean, I like what GW is doing to protect the product but, this feels a bit overkillish. Having said that, I do like that GW appears to be moving in more customer-centric thinking, with more compact packaging and more protection for product. Might be interesting in the future…
As for the kit itself, I’m more than likely to part things out, but I can see uses for most of the panels, the gaping hole in the ground, etc. If this kit gets back into production I can forsee other kitbashes utilizing parts in this kit.
The quality of the plastic casting is definitely second-tier, but no surprise there. The miniature is simple enough, with a central circular assembly propping up the turret and buttresses coming off it towards the floor and the wall panels. The whole thing sits on a hole in the ground, as framed by the bottom parts. As I said, I’m likely to part these all out in favour of less high-profile buildings, but basically I can see uses for the central pipe, the buttresses elsewhere, the wall panels.. even the whole in the ground can be done up as an interesting water catchment or some such. So, it’s not a bad purchase, if a bit pricey.