Asra Tamamonomae Utage
Series: Megmai Device Brand: Kotobukiya Model #: KP721
Started: September 13, 2025 Finished: September 13, 2025
![[1-utage.jpg]]
Built, panel lined, decaled, coated and posed in just a single day, this the quickest Girlpla build I’ve ever done. It’s also my first Megami Device kit in over a year, which is kinda crazy to think about.
Asra Tamamonomae is one my favorite designs, but her overall build kinda sucks due to the dated engineering of her core body bearing the weight of her shitton of armor, which six months after finishing her, she’s gotten quite floppy and tedious to move around. Once I saw Tama’s Block 1.5L upgrade announced following Ninja Kaname and Archer Kizuna, I knew I wanted get her to lay Block 1 Tama to rest, or at least stand separately without her armor. I was able to snag Utage back in May at Gundam Planet, and finally got around doing her today.
Utage is by far the easiest MD build yet, having the same amount of plastic as Hresvelgr Bikini and 30MS kits, and there’s more Block 2 going on than Block 1.5. The core body basically comes from the AUV line (the bare belly is new, but shares the same engineering), while the arms are simplified by only being two pieces instead of the usual 3-piece sandwich joint elbows, and the legs and hips being entirely Block 2 with basically no seam lines in sight, though you will have to sand the mold lines. Once the legs are done, you just build 4 pieces worth of accessories and that’s it.
Snap building her up… uh, I was really warming up to her design that, I kinda just wanted to leave her as it is. OG Tama was already pretty as she is, but in 1.5L proportions she was looking gorgeous, helped by her design being mostly black, a little green and showing off a lotta skin. I’m one who prefers more covered designs, but Utage having a bunch of skin exposed got me a bit… uh… down bad. I got OG Tama to test Utage with all of her armor, and while she was definitely more stable donning it, it was still a bitch to move anything since the armor just collides 24/7 and the plastic was getting tight. In my personal opinion, Utage’s core design clashed with OG Tama’s armor, as well as silhouette having too much black to my liking, so I was just gonna keep Utage as she was.
Not literally though, I of course still did a bit of detailing, but wow was it minimal. I didn’t do any hand painting at all as it was 100% accurate of the box and there was really only like one or two spots where I could dab some paint, but I didn’t really feel like doing that. Instead, I panel lined as much as I could, which was basically limited to the green and the hair, and there wasn’t much to do anyway. Pretty much being almost done, I applied the six water slides and was surprisingly hassle-free for the most part even though some of them were going through considerably complex shapes, waited a bit for the decals to dry up, and then gave a flat topcoat, which luckily was smooth sailing as well.
I did figure out my topcoat problem that I had while doing Sourei, my flat topcoat can, which was already very low on juice anyway, lost its matte material, so if I coated a part, it would stay glossy. However, when trying to use another flat can to spray over the glossiness, it for whatever reason doesn’t work. Maybe I should have waited a few hours to try it again, but nevertheless I gave Utage a good coat, and it was time to pose!
As typical MD fashion, Utage’s a mixed bag when it comes to posing. The ball and socket shoulders still continue to be the bane of my existence as they are tight as shit yet pop out like all the time, sometimes just popping out even when I’m not even handling it. I’ve heard problems about the dress parts being bad, but holy shit, I didn’t think they were that annoying. The dress that covers her belly are connected by ball joints on her chest, and for whatever reason they have a hard time holding up. I tried Daiso double sided tape and even tried to strengthen the joints with Tamiya Thin Cement, but that didn’t fucking budge. You can’t even just tuck the joints for some reason, the best way to keep it snug (temporarily) is disassembling the chest, which you need to take out the collar and head, slapping them motherfuckers in, and you’re good to go, but not for long. The ankle joints are also a problem in which they just fall off from leg, which Daiso double sided tape didn’t work for shit, and I was unsure if Tamiya Thin Cement would work out, so I experienced the pain of the ankles just being a big bitch, especially when she has the heels on.
Despite my troubles, she is super flexible due to having barely any obstructions, so there is a lot you can do with her. Despite her tall heels, she can stand on her own, but juuuust barely. She comes with a bunch of hand parts, her accessories are good, and with her flat coat and decals on, my god does she look absolutely stunning. Her dress, sleeves and her heels really ramp up her appeal, and you can change her tone entirely by removing the dress, sleevs and replacing the heels with sneakers to make her more like an athlete instead. While the amount of plastic doesn’t feel worth $50, I still love how she looks. God I love mature women
Anyway, that’s about it. I still got like 3 kits in my Girlpla backlog to go, and I’d probably get to another one soon if my dad continues to not paint the rest of his PG Optimus, making me wait for him endlessly. See you soon!
