DISCLAIMER: This is a reader-submitted review. We cannot directly verify whatever is written below; with the exception of the overview, which has been rewritten by us to give some background on Souling Toys, the rest has been left unedited (save for formatting). The author is u/GraffitiGargoyle from the r/Megami Device subreddit.
Overview (by Girlpla Guide)
Souling Toys is one of the newest companies in the girlpla industry, dating back to 2023, which may make them the youngest company in this guide that we know the founding date of. Most of their activity so far has been dedicated to starting their series of model kits, blending a mix of fantasy and sci-fi in their designs, and they do have an extraordinarily detailed record of the development of their debut kit, Daytime Meteor, even working on hiring writers and video editors to make promotional material for her prior to her release in 2025.
As an aside, this was also a remarkably difficult company to look into; while there are copyrights linking Soulingtoys to an Aoyi Co. Ltd, we are unable at this moment to verify which Aoyi it is, though some pointers lead us to believe that they may be the same Aoyi that has had experience developing Transformers figures, which would be in line with their ability to produce model kits.
Overview (by GraffitiGargoyle)
Daytime Meteor is an interesting kit, and perhaps not a perfect fit for this guide since the larger of its two characters is a dragon, not a girl. And yet, while there have been kits combining a girl and creature companion before (MS General, DarkAdvent, and some of the Arcanadea Kits), very few kits can match the presence of this fantasy princess and dragon duo.
Since the makers of this kit have only one kit released as of this writing, the section below will focus on Daytime Meteor only, not on SoulingToys’ kits as a whole. The various documents included with the kit are slightly inconsistent about the naming of the two characters, with the girl model kit named “Done” and “Dawn”, with the dragon being more consistently named “Meder”. For simplicity, let’s call them “the girl” and “the dragon”.
Construction and Engineering
For a first kit from maker Souling Toys, the construction is impressive and innovative in many ways.
For the girl:
Part separation is a strong point, with the breastplate and pauldrons being a notable example. The construction of the former is clever and looks seamless when complete.The neck joint is a standard 5mm size, making the design friendly for kitbashing. Articulation is comparable to other girlpla lines with a single elbow joint with a special mention for the boot’s toe which can be angled upwards or downwards.
For the dragon:
One of the few kits which include metal pieces in its construction, well utilized in connecting the legs to the body. The construction and articulation of the claws is excellent, even allowing the dragon to hold small objects. There is a significant amount of effort applied toward the modeling of parts you cannot easily see, such as pieces of the legs below the white outer shell. One of the assembly steps involves using a piece of the runner to align pieces of the wing for final assembly, showing some creative thinking on the part of the kit designers. The wings themselves are assembled using a locking mechanism, preventing the wing from falling toward the ground under its own weight.
For both:
The plastic is solid quality and easy to work with. Perhaps most impressive is the lengths the modelers went to avoid nub marks. Almost every piece for both the girl and dragon is undergated, resulting in a remarkably clean build. However, while the kit’s engineering is strong overall, there are a few areas where it is lacking.
For the girl:
The hair modeling is a weak point, with few parts, limited articulation, and a relatively flat appearance. It looks fine from a distance, but the lack of detail is more apparent when comparing to other girlpla lines. More articulation would have been a nice way to represent motion for a character flying atop a dragon. Another issue is the design of the wrist joints, which rotate diagonally in contrast with the horizontal rotation typically found in other kits. While this improves posability in theory, in practice it increases the chance of the wrist part detatching, especially when holding heavier items like the shield.
For the dragon, the kit’s weight distribution is an issue. The wings are a significant part of the kit’s weight and put a lot of stress on supporting parts such as the section joining the wings to the body and the piece joining the dragon’s belly to the black plastic stand. Both of these parts are not strongly connected to the rest of the kit and may separate from the main body if the forces on the part are unbalanced. The clear wing supports included with the stand are critical to prevent the dragon from falling off its stand. All of this makes the kit a hassle to pose. A more minor issue is the attachment of several parts, such as the gold circle rings inlaid into the wings, or the scales on the underside of the neck. These attach weakly to the main body, and a plastic cement may be required to fix them in place.
For both kits, while tolerances between plastic pieces are decent, some pieces such as the dragon’s claws or the girl’s armor may come loose and fall off when adjusting a pose.
Aesthetics
The Kit:
Daytime Meteor is a unique blend of Fantasy and Sci-Fi in a market where typically kits lean solidly one way or the other. While it may not be a perfect fit for existing model kit collections, there is a lot to like about the design.
The color scheme is simple overall, but contrasting black and white pieces emphasize the modeling of the armor, for both girl and dragon. The plated gold pieces are a bit of an unsung hero here, since they make an otherwise simple color scheme stand out. The gold color is a soft matte plating which contrasts well with the black and white pieces for both characters.
There is a good mix of rounded (e.g.: forearms) and angular (e.g.: head) parts which contribute to the half-mechanical design of the dragon.
Extra pieces such as dragon’s breath, wing, and shield effect parts are detailed and add to an already visually impressive design.
Outside of appearance, scale is an important factor in this kit. Alongside the girl, or any other girlpla for that matter, the dragon’s size alone is an attention magnet. There is a good amount of playability in the wings of the dragon as well, being able to unfold and rotate outward to take up even more space.
There is a rather large water-slide decal sheet to add detail to various parts of the dragon. The pieces are long and narrow, so may take a significant amount of time to position properly.
Depending on how much “mech” you want to include in the dragon, there’s a good amount of opportunity for customization here. Panel lining would bring out the modeling for rivets and panels. The hind leg runes can be painted in a color of your choice. Water slide decals are optional and can be applied to any part of the kit. Finally, the kit’s primary white color lends itself well to painting.
The Box
It would not be entirely fair to talk about the aesthetics of the kit alone without mentioning the contents of the box. The contents include two sections, one containing the runners for the girl and documents, the other containing parts for the dragon and stand. The two sections are separated by a cardboard background which can be used for photographs. The documents in the top section include a manual, fantasy map, illustrated field guide, and a short story featuring the characters. The manual includes illustrations of a character who guides you through the various steps with helpful tips. Each runner is individually packaged in plastic with a printed logo. Overall, seems like a lot of care and time went into the presentation and story for the kit, before even starting the build.
Ease of Acquisition
While Daytime Meteor is a popular kit and sells out quickly, restocks appear to be frequent for now. The kit currently retails for around $100-$110 before tax from various U.S. distributors. British retailers field around roughly the same value for about £80, with a Japanese retail price of ¥8000 (£37/$50).[1]
Personal Verdict?
Daytime Meteor is not for the faint of heart, you will need to put significant work into the construction of both characters, and still more to apply the decals, panel lining, and other customization to truly make the kit shine. This is certainly not an easy first kit to build, and newer builders may want to work on some simpler kits before looking into this one. More experienced girlpla builders looking for a fresh build experience will certainly find that here. The resulting duo makes for an impressive display piece when all is said and done.
If you have the space in your schedule, shelf, and heart for this kit, it’s one that will give you a challenge and consistently impress with design and construction.
Official Site: https://m.weibo.cn/u/6218707574 (Weibo, in Chinese)
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