Review - Fresh Retro SIB-07 and MP-01 Brave 13 Mech

Before we get into the review I want to give a huge thanks to my friends at Ages Three and Up for letting me check out this awesome diorama building set from Fresh Retro. Get yours here!

First things first, as soon as I opened the box I was blown away to find a thick full color instruction booklet, and each and every piece packed in individual labelled zipper bags. I’ve seen Lego kits that were less organized. This is a far cry from some of the building sets I’ve handled over the years and a very welcome discovery.

The diorama set itself is very fun to assemble, with clear instructions, and great tolerances. I didn’t struggle to find where anything was supposed to go, nor to put any of the pieces together. Taking them apart can be a different story. I recommend having a couple nylon spudgers, or some old plastic gift cards on hand to separate some of the pieces.

The set comes with all the pieces and instructions to build one of two different designs, with extra parts left over for customization. I opted for design “B” initially. The build was straight forward and I probably spent 1-2 hours on it over a couple evenings, including decals and a bit of brainstorming for customization down the road. The set is listed as 1:18-1:24 scale, personally I found it to scale closer to the 1:24 mark as even 3.75” figures look a little big when compared to the railings, ladders, and stairs. I don’t have a lot of smaller figures as I typically collect 1:12 and un-scaled lines, but I had a couple smaller Hasbro figures that I was able to put a scene together with.

Once I was finished shooting my Spider-Man vs Cobra scene, I disassembled the build and began work on creating a custom configuration that I could use with different scale figures more easily. Rebuilding was just as enjoyable as the initial assembly. I was even able to do a few things that surprised me!

I only ran into a couple concerns with the set. Firstly the small pegs on the red girder pieces are very thin and easy to shear off. I lost one while putting together my custom build, but thankfully it didn’t affect the design I was going for. I’m also concerned about the longevity of the decals. Within just a few hours some of the decals I had applied were already peeling. Yet others are still adhered perfectly several weeks later. I found the decals applied to the railings seem particularly resilient, whereas the red and black danger striping on the floor tiles started lifting almost immediately. So you may have to pick and choose your battles when it comes to the decals.

The MP-01 Mecha was an equally surprising discovery. It is a highly articulated 3.75” bot that comes with a decent selection of weapons as well as a small diorama piece of his own. The diorama has a metal piece clipped into the base, that works with the magnets built into the bot’s feet. The magnets are strong enough to hold the figure upside down by one leg off my lamp arms.

The mech comes with 4 weapons; 2 rifles, one knife, a grenade of undetermined variety, and a backpack that can store whatever isn’t in use. Getting the weapons to fit in his hands can be tricky. The knife and grenade fit well enough, but the rifles both require some flexing of the plastic to get into the hands properly. I haven’t seen any stress marks or damage yet, but be careful forcing the guns in to the hands all the way.

Final Thoughts

All told, this is a very fun and well built set, with clear, easy to follow instructions. If you collect smaller 1:24 or 1:18 scale figures, you can put together some really fun and intricate scenes especially if you pick up multiple sets. If you collect 1:12 or larger, you may find the sets hard to utilize as intended, however you can still put together a more open design like I did to use as a more generic backdrop/photo environment.