The very first challenge of photographing the Jesta Cannon was in figuring out how to … well … photograph it.
The colors are so dark that it was hard to see front of a white background. Unfortunately the black background that came with my lightbox is made of shiny plastic, rather than matte paper, so it was reflecting light everywhere. After covering it up with one of the side panels (which is made out of paper), the background looked better, but then the model was a problem. All that silver weathering compound I brushed across the body was now reflecting light.
At least, that was the case with my smartphone camera. When I busted out the mirrorless, I had to lower the brightness settings and the aperture (in addition to cranking the lightbox’s light source all the waydown) just to get it to look halfway decent.
It was, I suppose, a good lesson in photography. Note to self - dark model kits are dark!
Visual Design
It really helps that the Jesta Cannon adds some grey to the Jesta’s color palette. Not only does grey make it look less uniformly dark, but it is also a fairly standard color among Earth Federation machinery. I think it makes it look less out of place.
I also think the head is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It is the best looking part of the mobile suit, and is responsible or roughly 60% of its toughness alone.
The overall silhouette of the Jesta Cannon is bulky without being too bulky, and familiar without being too familiar. It’s a bit taller than your average GM:
And even has a bit of height on the GM Custom (which it seems to have taken a lot of cues from):
It wasn’t until the model was finished that I truly realized that the Jesta Cannon is strapped. There is always a danger that such a design will look too ridiculous with all of its weaponry, but in this case I think it just barely lands on the right side of the divide between “tactical and cool” and “tacticool”. All the extra armor and bulk gives the impression that it was built to be packing so much heat.
Articulation
It’s not good, but I expected that. Big, chunky mobile suits like this almost never have good range, but then again, they don’t need to. As long as they can pull off a few basic poses, and look poised as hell while doing so, then that’s all that matters. And thankfully, the Jesta Cannon excels at that.
Granted, “Poise” is not easy to define, but for me it means that the model looks effortlessly cool, whether in the middle of a simple standing pose:
Or an action shot:
It means having to do little to no repositioning to get a pose looking just right:
It also means that action poses look natural:
Bonus points if the model is built like a brick shithouse and doesn’t easily tip over:
The Jesta Cannon gets high marks in all these areas. Its reduced articulation puts a limit on the number of poses I could think up, but each one looks perfect.
With the Shield
While the Jesta Cannon can equip the regular Jesta shield, it works worse than I would have hoped for.
Using one of the two control arms, you can either attach it like this:
Or like this:
The first option is impractical, since the shield is literally just strapped to its back. The second option only looks natural if the arm is positioned directly parallel to the shield. Move the arm even a little bit up or down, and the shield can’t move along with it.
Additional Observations
I know the big rifle is the Jesta CAnnon’s main weapon, but I like the OG rifle even more. It’s actually a better size, and I love how it can easily pull off a two handed grip:
Oh, and since I didn’t have anywhere else to put it - am I the only one that thinks the Jesta Cannon looks a lot like this Spartan from Halo:
Conclusion
This build was quite an ordeal. It took me quite a lot of time and effort just to get my thoughts and feelings in order. I ended up writing multiple draft posts that were thrown in the trash. And that’s before I even got to the build, or the subsequent posts that I am now writing and publishing afterward.
But it was all worth it. This build was such a pleasant surprise. My only regret is that I didn’t build it sooner, but perhaps that was for the best. Who knows what I would have thought had I built it before I warmed up to the Jesta design.
I don’t always give a recommendation on whether to buy a kit, but in this case it’s an easy “yes”. It looks great even without any extra detailing (well, except for the guns). One of the best High Grades I’ve come across in a while.