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With how expensive some of the HMM models are and how seldom koto rereleases kits, sometimes you just have to get the Chinese bootleg kits. They aren't bad actually. Plastic quality is not the best, a little more brittle on some parts but not overly so, tighter fits so more sanding needed and once in a while some weird mistake on the molds that may need fixing like a chunk of plastic that shouldn't be there.
Also due to the nature of them, special versions of the kits do not come with special characters only generic pilots. So if you try getting a color of Liger almost strictly because of the characters, that's not a smart idea focus on the color you like. Also last I checked I only seen the ligers and saber tigers for options for bootlegs on eBay. But $40-$50 a kit makes the downsides less an issue when those kits are hard to find cheap these days.