Garage Resin Kit 1/6 YoRHa 2B

The year, 11945, humans, through millennia of intercene combat, war, plagues and diseases, plus an alien invasion in 5012 have been driven to the moon. Low in numbers and nearly extinct, they created the YoRHa android units as premier soldiers in their fight to win back earth. Over 5000 years later, during the 14th “Machine War”, what is left of humanity sends out two of their best android warriors 2B and 9S to finally end the machines once and for all….Thus begin the story of Nier: Automata and the epic struggle between the never ending battles of the androids of YoRHa and the Machine life forms that rule the earth.

The game Nier: Automata first came out in 2017. It’s made as a sequel to the first game, Nier and indirect sequel to Drakenguard III. All of these games are made by Japanese mad man Yoko Taro (How does he act? When in public being interviewed, he always wears the head of one of his more famous characters, Emil to hide his face). The man may be an eccentric, but he can write a great story with hidden meanings that espouse what I like to call the “human factor”……..Previously, most of his games had low budgets and strictly controlled, and thus, did not perform well and was riddled with gameplay issues. But now partnered with Platinum Games (The same company that make my num. 1 bae-bae waifu games, Bayonetta), and published by Japanese RPG (Role-Playing Games) powerhouse Square-Enix (SE), which finally allowed him a far bigger budget, Nier Automata finally sold what it should be and earned Yoko and Platinum the recognition they deserved due to its smooth gameplay and for adult gamers, a well written story full of philosophic wonderings that make you question the meaning of the “human factor and condition”…….

Now, I get what most of you are saying…Video games? Philosophy? human factor? Hah! YEAH RIGHT! Ok, I’ll admit…The initial reason I got the game…finally in 2020 and this resin model of 2B is that 2B is a female android with a very THICC behind and she knows how to shake it (As you about to see when I finish this)! But the more I play the game, the more I fell down the rabbit hole and certain parts of the game makes you wonder truly what is like to be human…Still going, HA!!! Yeah right! Video games can never be like that! Well, here are some examples!

The names of the three main characters in the game, 2B, 9S and A2 all have their basis in Shakespeare…Don’t believe me? 2B, surely even if you never ever read any Shakespeare, you heard the phrase, “to be, or not to be….” from Hamlet right? And yes, this main character fate is very much like the main character from that play. Ok, this one may be harder to get. 9S is Ninus Tomb from A Mid-Summer Nights Dream. And yes, like Ninus, 9S dies again and again and again. A2, say that real fast a couple of times. A2 A2 A2 A2A2A2etuetuetu etu etu et tu…..et tu Brute? Yes, from Julius Caesar. And yes, A2, in one of the many endings, do get stabbed like the namesake from history!

Ok, fine, that is one and it’s a fluke...Is it? Remember how I say one of the character dies again and again? But how? Well, these androids, in death, can upload their memories to the “Bunker”, a floating space station in orbit and then can be downloaded into a new body and keep on fighting in a never ending circle of suffering, death, new life, keep on fighting and suffering until some of the “resistance fighters” are growing numb from all the fighting…..Sounds familiar? Any Buddhists will instantly recognize this and any soldier will instantly recognize the downfall of constant combat. In fact, the game intro instantly throws this at you, “Everything that live, is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped…in a never ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the God that blessed us with this cryptic puzzle…and wonder if we’ll ever have a chance to kill him”. And yeah, the game’s third act throws that phrase at you with such a bang that you just wonder how the game had turned!

Still not enough? Check out Michael Saba’s YouTube channel which covers nearly all of Nier Automata’s hidden meanings in detail. Two of my favorite are the Simone and Pascal. Yes, some of you may have already deduced, A LOT of in game characters are named after major philosophers of old. The boss Simone screams “I’m pretty! I’m pretty” while trying to kill you! Fitting the adage, “beauty is only skin deep”. But if you know Simone De Beauvoir and her thoughts on feminism, then this fight just took on another meaning, meaning I won’t cover here. That’s what google is for! It’s kind of sad actually to hear her scream “I’m pretty! LOOK AT ME!” during the fight now that you have some references.

Then there is the character Pascal, a machine who denounces all fighting and violence and help you more than once in the game…..Then comes his ending which is a shocker….But if you know that he is named after Pascal and his book Passe and the meaning of fear, then pretty much it’s a foreshadowing…Sigh, Pascal even says, “…..Or (he) skipped right past the profound straight to insane” before all hell breaks loose while, ironically, the book being delivered to him next is Passe……..And oh, if you elect to spare him and not kill him when the choice is given….Be prepared, be VERY PREPARED to learn the meaning, “There are worse things than death!”

Still not enough? Well, go to the comment section and read what “Moon Twister” wrote about how the game hid Chinese philosophers like Lao Zi, Mao Zi, Zhuang Zi and Confucius into the game and how the game subtly expand on the teaching espoused by them…It’s subtle but very well done and I didn’t realize it until I read his comment! But anyways, enough about me rambling about a game that got me so deep in the rabbit hole I still have not gotten out! On to the kit that I got cause of how great the game is, not just because android waifu 2B has a very thicc, very nice looking gluteal!

Yeah, after finishing the game the first time, and promptly went back to it the second time to cover those things I missed and delve even deeper into the hidden layers of meaning the game offers, I trolled eBaaaahhhhhyyyy and bought this kit to do a tribute to a great game that I’m still trying to dive into! It’s much more expensive than my Bayonetta kit. This is because for one thing, the kits are older now and 2. There are a lot of parts. This is because it’s not just 2B herself, but her support “pod”, a floating squarish robot helper that go where ever she goes is also included. The kit arrived without damage after over 20 days due to UGH, in no small part to that little virus I shall not name! But yeah, the packaging, can’t say enough how great it is! It is in a small plastic container which after I’m done, will be put into great use to hold my various modeling accessories, but also because each parts, sans the various small parts, which are in a zip lock bag, are all individually in their own shrink wrap so when laid on top of each other, have plenty of room. This meant there are no damage whatsoever! Have to give two VERY big thumbs up for this! Once open the package, I realized the kit contains many optional parts. These include two heads, one with her blindfold and one without. An explanation here. All YoRHa android soldiers wears a blindfold type “visor” that display all critical combat data. Removal is prohibited in operational areas….However, it’s also a subtle hint that soldiers like the YoRHas are “blind to the truth or not allowed to see the truth”. Conversely, their control operators wear face veils that covers their mouths so they “can’t speak the truth or not allowed to” while their commander wears none…Thus can see and speak the truth but choose not to….An all too true allegory to hellholes like Vietnam and Iraq if there ever was one! Anyways…

The other option is the fact…Well, did I say that 2B has a very sexy butt? I did did I? Yeah…Sigh...This little fact just make me feel old…….Sigh……But back in 1998, Nintendo released this game call Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is still considered by many to be the greatest video game of all time……………Skip forward some 20 years later…………..2B’s gorgeous bottom behind has more polygons than that entire game combined!!!!! Sigh, how far we become and damn! That little fact just make me feel old………..SIGH!!!!!!!!! But anyways……………….Sighing again here……………..Let’s continue……………

The kit does offer two waists, thus the main body breaks down into three main parts. No avoiding it since the two waists, as surmised, contain one that is her sexy behind in a thong. Yes, in the game, 2B wears a very very tinnie small thong underneath her skirt and you can at any time, literally, blow it off to ogle at her “glory” (and for all those perverts, there is a “trophy” that you can get in which if you pan the camera down before she swats it away, and view her “secret” 10 times, you get the “What Are You Doing?” trophy!). The other waist of course is attached underneath her “combat skirt” to build her in “combat mode. This means the model is separated into half a dozen main pieces sans her hair pieces, hands and her main weapon “Virtuous Contract” and that’s not including again, her combat support pod, Pod 42 so you got A LOT of parts, many of them small so be careful not to cement you damn fingers with superglue here!

The other is the painting. 2B’s main outfit is almost Victorian like, mainly black and if you remove the skirt, silver underneath with plenty of cutouts to show off her skin. This plus white gloves with a black motif means painting will try you to your limits even more than Bayonetta I did several years ago! Luckily, since most of her body is covered up, her thonged buttock notwithstanding, skin painting will be a lot less so there is that…But still, I’m seeing most of the build time will be spent on getting her painting right, not build and especially if the kit fit nicer than my Bayonetta kit!

So this one is definitely gonna be the “sexy” version without the blindfold and in her thong. Yes, I already ordered another one to dole her up in “Combat Mode” with the blindfold and combat skirt. It will be a while since the painting session will be a major time consuming and getting the right paint gonna be a PITA now that my favorite brand Model Master has ceased production. But hopefully, I can get this done to put another waifu on the shelf alongside my num. 1, a certain hell spawn angel hunter of a umbra witch!

OH, before I go, here is something I like to share with you, from one of the game’s endings:

Pod 45: I just conducted a suicide mission and yet, I’m still alive. I musta look silly!

Pod 153: You are alive…..And life is a constant stream of embarrassment!

Sigh, Pod 153…………You do NOT know how true that adage is!!!!!!!!!

P.S. astute reader will notice and say, wait, “machines?” and “androids?” Aren’t they all one and the same? YEPPIIEE AIYEE you are right! In fact, the game delve into this by dropping a major hint near the end of the third act! This is another subtle hint at the human condition. Yes, we may look different, act different but in the end, we are all still the same aren’t we? Yet, like the machine constructs on both sides of the conflict in the game, it still does not stop us from wounding, maiming, and killing each other…Just look at what is going on currently!

Donald Zhou

June 2020