Gundam Converge SB 03 : Nahel Argama

Ah yes, the old Converge Space Battleship line... haven't seen you on here in a while. In part because Bandai is really taking their time to slowly release new vessels and in part because I am really behind on the reviews. Anyway, here we have the third ship to join the line, and after the White Base and the Argama I think no one was surprised to see the Nahel Argama join in, although they do seem to have skipped over the Albion for some reason. I think if the series is allowed to continue I would guess that the next possible entry would be the Archangel, not counting the various re-releases of the existing three we will have to suffer through first. Right, Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam it is then.


The Nahel Argama was shipped back in October of 2023 and has unfortunately been quite expensive on the secondary market. Customers ordering from Bandai were asked for ¥4900 (plus tax) but the model is currently sitting around ¥7000 over at Mandarake. The box is as you can see a bit of a departure from the previously smaller and square-looking packaging used for the two prior releases. The new box is elongated and considerably larger. As much as this lack of consistency irked the OCD-collector part of the brain I was curious to see what could be found inside.


The thin outer box is reinforced by a thicker brown layer of cardboard inside and the bags are in turn wrapped in bubble plastic. To my relief everything arrived safe and sound. Actually the Converge Spaceships seem more fragile than they really are but there's always some delicate components, on the Nahel Argama I think especially of the wingtips and the little guns on the sides of the catapult decks.


With all the parts laid out we can see that the build isn't all that complex. Converge Spaceships tend to be fun builds (if you can really call it that) with big chunky components for the most part. You'll be done in a minute or two.


For reference, the assembly instructions can be found online at this link, as seen on the box cover. There is only one option part in use here so there won't be a lot of parts swapping back and forth which really pleases me.


Here she is full assembled and resting on top of her stand. Just like the models before her, the proportions are compacted in a way to better resemble the Converge aesthetic, and it works pretty nicely I think. The colouring and detail work is top notch on all sides as well as its belly. As usual with the Converge SB line, the ships are not pegged to the stands but simply lay on top of them. Be gentle when handling the ships and do not position them on narrow ledges far from the floor.


The only feature I do not like about the SB line is the ugly stand design. I can understand why the designers go for these flat drydock things but it would have been nice to allow for more interesting poses on a movable base. The ship has no peg holes on the underside (or any side for that matter) to offer any action base compatibility so you will have to get creative if you want to set a more interesting pose. A bit of a shame I think as the best views need a bit of a roll going.


Unlike the previous two ships in the line we only have one option part to mess with here. The ship's experimental Hyper Mega Particle Cannon (who names these things?) can be displayed in either extended or retracted mode. It would have been neat if this was actually made up of two or more components that would have allowed the gun to be pulled back and forward rather than swapping parts but the two modes aren't that different so just pick the one you like the most (once the inevitable CORE re-release with special markings comes around you can do the other one...).


Another novelty for the Nahel Argama figure is that it now comes with adorable little craft to display on its catapult deck. Converge steals the practice of small single colour figures from the MegaHouse Cosmo Fleet routine and it is a fun little gimmick. We get small versions of the Mega Rider and the ZZ Gundam's Core Fighter to be placed anywhere you like on the various flight decks. There are no pegs or supports of any kind so the slightest breeze will tip the over the edge. It is a shame there are no colour applications on these things but I bet they will look really good if you go through the trouble of painting them.


The relative size of the Nahel Argama next to a standard size Converge Full Armor ZZ Gundam is not bad, but I am still not convinced that it is a good thing to pose the two figure lines next to each other. The tiny little Mega Rider and Core Fighter mess with the perception even more and would probably do well to be left out in such a display.


Here we have the current three hull sizes in the Converge SB line; with the White Base flanking the Nahel Argama on the left and the OG Argama sitting on the right. The three display reasonably well together although I find it boring to have three similarly styled ships sitting like ducks in a row. Imagine some green or red Zeon/Neo Zeon flair breaking up the monotone a bit. As it stands; if you enjoyed the previous Converge SB offerings you will be very happy with this third release as well, but you may have to dig deeper into the pockets to acquire it than you would have wanted. The fourth Converge spaceship just landed here the other day, hopefully it won't take me half a year to put it up on the blog.

Mini Hangar 2.0 for MS Ensemble & FW Converge

Here is something different, a custom item I stumbled across in a used-toy shop during a recent visit to Bangkok. There aren't a whole lot of official accessories for Bandai's Shokugan figures - come to think of it the only thing I can recollect is that 9-figure display box they released for the Converge 10th Anniversary. The Bandai designers did come up with stackable display stands for the reinvented Gashapon Senshi Forte line which was neat, and it looks like this item has been inspired by it. I have no idea how old it is however, it is possible that it even supersedes the Senshi Forte stand. It is however an unofficial piece of kit, a part of the current 3D-printed revolution if you will.


Whoever designed this stand was nice enough to also box it with a two-sided full-color instruction sheet. It gives off a rather nice semi-professional vibe unlike some 3D-printed figures that just come in a crusty plastic bag. The box itself is all blank except for the label placed on the front side.


I thought the printing quality of this hangar was a bit rough and there were lots of hair-thin strands to clean up and the overall texture is a bit rough. Besides the main bay we have an optional raised stand, pegs and hangers for gear as well as extra clips used to combine multiple bases together, a feature similar to Senshi Forte although that series used pegs instead.


The instructions will give you a clear idea of the features of this kit and how they are intended to work. Since I only have one stand I cannot show several bays joined together but if the rest of the features of this kit is anything to go by it should work well but might require a bit of clean-up or sanding down of some parts.


Rather than just being a 3D-object to display next to your figures the designer has given some thought of how to integrate the stand with the figure bases, to lock them in place. I guess he is also tired of figures falling off the shelf every now and then. Here you can see how the new Converge bases are intended to be slid into place and held securely. Unfortunately most Converge figures have a tendency to fall off their bases anyway but if you really wanted to I guess you might glue them on. Personally I don't care about the base plates and thankfully they are not needed to display the figures here. Out of the box the Converge base was not going to slide into this locking mechanism without brute force and or sanding down of the bay parts. I guess eventually you will get it to work but for me personally I don't want to have the Converge stand as part of the display anyway.


I picked a random Converge figure and placed it on the stand without its base. The scale seems a bit off, it will "improve" if the figure stands on its base or as in this case on the extra podium used by the Ensemble figures (and some presidents I can think of...). You'd want to put a tall Converge figure in there for best effect.


Next up we come to Ensemble. Here you can again see the ingenuity of the design. You are supposed to take your average Ensemble figure clear stand and stick it into one of the given combinations of peg holes. Again, this did not work straight away and you would have to widen the chosen peg holes somewhat. After that you use the extra stand and thread it over the clear base to lock it into place. This will create a very stable foundation for the figure to attach to, but I personally will never use these stands on Ensemble figures due to the risk of the connecting peg breaking and remaining in the figure's groin. Still, you get the idea and if you do use these bases it should work well.


View of how the adapter system will work for Ensemble. Notice that I haven't pressed the clear part all the way into the peg holes and so the flat gray base on top of it is not pushed all the way down either. I won't be using this set-up and so didn't want to mess with it unnecessarily, but you get the idea.


The Mini Hangar display seems better scaled for your average Ensemble figure rather than Converge. This display looks perfect and I think it would be a good way to display some of your choice figures on a line. The main problem would be deciding which figures that should get the honours. Luckily I do not display the figures at all so that is a brain burner I don't have to deal with.


Two types of gear hangers are provided, that snap onto the sides of the hangar bay. We have pegs intended for accessories such as Ensemble rifles with holes drilled into them and L-shaped rests on top of which you can place other items without peg holes. I didn't bother with trying these out as I can imagine the pegs will again require some extra work to fit the weapons properly. These hangers also seem to interfere with the combining bays together feature, perhaps you can turn them around to let the gear hang on the inside instead.


The last part of this review will be just showcasing the stand with some figures of other similar sizes, to give you an idea if the base might be something of interest for them. First up we have a Converge Plus figure. These have larger bases which do not fit inside the bay, so you will be a bit restricted here since some of the figures require the bases to display properly. You may find some figures better suited to display like this than the average Converge figure, since they will fill out the bay area to a greater extent.


Next up we have a Mobility Joint Gundam figure. These are larger and bulkier than the Ensemble figures, some of them like this Geara Doga fit well but others like the tall ReZEL will struggle. Still, it might be a viable option, especially if you are putting together a mini-diorama.


The hangar is perfect size for the old Micro Wars figure line. You will have some issues with displaying the figures in the opened up position however, the GM here is hitting the ceiling if opening up completely but I still think these two are a great match.


Next we have a 1/300 scale Strategy of Gundam RX-78. The hangar bay looks a little oversized, especially since the S.O.G. figures have a lot of small detail on them, which makes the bay look a bit rough in comparison. Not the best fit I think, but it could work.


We're scaling up to about 1/285 size and the Gashapon HG line, this is also a good size-match for the bay. Many of the HG figures have action poses however which can make them less suitable but if you pick the correct figures you could get a nice display thing going.


So what 1/220 figures? Now we are nearing the ceiling limit of the hangar bay and you will find some of the taller figures out of bounds but this FW STANDart 00 Qan[T] fits really nicely. The STANDart line is the best fit since pretty much all of them are standing to attention with weapon at the side, the hangar bay could work really well here.


The last figure I wanted to test out is a Bandai Ultimate Luminous G-3 and here the base is too small. Forget about larger figures like the 1/200 HCM Pro, Mobile Suit in Action or 1/144 scale model kits.


All in all I think this item is a neat concept and while a bit rough to handle could definitely be of use as a diorama accessory, perhaps more so than building a giant figure display wall. So where can you find it? Well, as far as I know it is currently only offered through the Shopee online store, a clone of sites such as Aliexpress or Wish that is popular in Thailand. I cannot even open the website here in Europe so I have no idea if you can go around its limitations via VPN and ask the seller to ship abroad. It is probably doable if you are interested in jumping through some hoops. The asking price is currently 169 Thai Bath which is approximately 4.5 USD/EUR. [Link]

Mobile Suit Ensemble EX 46 : GNR-001E GN Arms Type-E

While I originally planned to sleep on Ensemble all those years ago, its main draw (that also slowly sucked me in...) was the unusual mobile suits and armours its designers chose to focus on. Early on it had a large Advance of Zeta footprint and while the brand has been somewhat "diluted" with more common and often seen units since then it still has the ability to stir things up from time to time. I certainly did not expect to see a set of GN Arms for example and although it is not cheap I was so onboard.


Lately, Ensemble has been all over the place with its releases. In 2023 we saw all the Trans-Am colour reissues of Celestial Being suits in the retail line but there were also two Premium bandai EX releases, the very large and expensive Alvatore in April and the GN Arms Set in August. The Alvatore is a really tempting release but fortunately I have not even had the opportunity to consider purchasing it as it has been exceedingly rare on the secondary market. The GN Arms set hasn't been much in the way of available either, and so the second time I saw it available in January I decided to pounce on it. It last went on Mandarake for ¥8000 which is quite steep, but when you realize the EX Calibarn has nearly the same price tag it immediately seems more "reasonable". I do believe that Bandai's preorder customers paid about ¥8250 to secure their copies.


Anyway, enough rambling. The GN Arms Set comes in a thick box that is stuffed full with plastic bags. Black and white assembly instructions are included in the box but as is always the case with these some of the 3D-renders can be tricky to follow and I often found myself looking at the mirror image for the other side of the craft to corroborate, as those pieces would typically be displayed from a different angle.


Here are the components sorted by category. The first image shows the Exia mobile suit-related parts while the second image deals with the many components of the GN Arms set. As much as I drag my feet on assembling model kits there is a bit of charm about the larger Ensemble craft, especially when there is not much need for additional painting.



GN-001 Gundam Exia


Let's start by getting the Exia out of the way. You have most likely seen this figure before and this kit contains no surprises. Originally released as a retail figure in Ensemble Part 15 in October 2020 you could see from the parts shot above that this figure works on the simpler inner frame used at that time. Still, the original release was really excellent and this version retains all its gear options; the large GN Sword, the GN Long and Short Blades and two translucent beam sabers with separate hilts. I am always a fan of the expressive open hands that we so rarely see in the retail line, they are especially useful given that most Ensemble figures use the same generic hands.


I am not going to cover the Exia in detail in this review, consider the review for Part 15 or Part 15.5 for more insights. Included here is a comparison shot with the original retail version of the Exia armed with a pair of beam sabers. The colours are pretty much exactly the same between the two.



GN Arms Type-E

Alright, here is where the fun stuff begins. The GN Arms type crafts are following in the vein of other support craft such as the 0-Raiser or even the G-Defenser. At its core it is a transforming fighter craft that can dock with a Gundam to boost its output. The Type-E unit is specifically intended for the Gundam Exia and its close combat-fighting style, whereas the Type-D is paired with the Gundam Dynames and features long range weaponry. It is not unusual to see colour swaps even on the large Ensemble mobile armours and I suspect that Bandai will be ready to modify the kit into its D-Type if the Type-E proved enough of a hit with its customers.


Here we see the GN Arms craft in its (somewhat) sleek fighter configuration. There are actually a lot of moving parts on this thing which can make it a bit tricky to line up both sides symmetrically. The large stand with support for its "legs" help getting the craft into shape but you also need to balance its long "arms" without any additonal support. The colour sits somewhere in between light blue and light violet, the photos don't necessarily make it full justice but I do find it a tad bit on the violet side where I would have expected it to be fully blue. It is not a big deal however and I absolutely love the three colour design that resembles the larger Ptolemaios carrier.


The rear view especially shows off the many seams and nub marks you will have to work on if you are serious about your build. I found that when manipulating the "legs" especially the outer armor had a tendency to slide apart and widen the gap. I did have some issues with the articulated cover for one of the two Large-Size GN Cannons but for the most part the build was alright. As usual with Ensemble the assembly booklet will contain number references to components but it isn't always clear exactly which components these refer to on the actual sprues. Most large panels and frames are helpfully marked with left and right indicators on the insides however.


The action base provided with the model follows the same boring idea that the model be displayed at level flight without the slighest indication of roll or bank. Considering the size of this model it will take a bit of effort to create your own support if you would like to display it in a more interesting pose like above.


The two top fuselage panels can slide upwards to reveal two additional thrusters. I don't know if the craft would ever make use of these in its basic GN Arms mode or if they are only used in the GN Armor mode when the craft is docked with the Exia. The Ensemble model fully supports it though.


Speaking of docking, the main feature of this kit is of course to transform it into the GN Armor with the Exia in the pilot seat. To do this the entire cockpit section is folded away backwards and the two legs are lowered (do this gently as the joints are quite tough) to form platforms for the suit to stand on. As you can see here the GN Arms craft has two backpack peg connectors as well as a groin attachment (ouch) that can swing forward to secure the suit in place. The small claws at the edges of the legs can also be raised to provide some additional support. Notice also how the action base is rotated 180 degrees and how the arms are intended to rest on two small supports. It can be quite tricky to line these up accurately but the intent is there.


Just like with every other Ensemble figure I review I did not actually attach the Exia to the GN Arms using the connecting piece, here it only rests upon its legs (very precariously, the slightest nudge may tip it over) to give you an idea of what it will look like. I am very thankful that the mobile suit's arms do not have to be attached to the craft as that would have been a bit of a pain. The two Large Size GN Swords instead can be moved about freely and sit on multiple hinges to allow for moving both up and down and spreading out sideways. I was curious that the swords do not come with any sort of fancy translucent effect parts, perhaps the GN Swords do not change colour when used (I have yet to watch the series).


Walk around of the GN Arms with the two main Large GN Cannons exposed. These weapons can be bared by flipping the covers upwards and backwards. The right-side cover does not cooperate willingly or as elegantly as the cover on the left side, but I couldn't see any real difference in how I assembled them. Notice also the stub wings having been folded upwards and their small white inner sections swinging forward like the blades on a Swiss knife. I don't know what it is for but it looks kind of cool.



Conlusion

In closing I think this is a really neat kit on par with other Ensemble EX figures like the Meteor or the Titans Test Team mobile armours. And just like the previously mentioned kits the price on this thing will rightfully scare away many. I think only those with a heart that thumps a little faster for the Ensemble Celestial Being crew need go through the trouble of finding one. To my knowledge the GN Arms has never been released in another figure series like Robot Spirits or Mobile Suit in Action, so you don't really have that many options unless you decide to go hunt for an actual model kit. Both the Type-E and the Type-D are available as HG 1/144 kits for example, and their prices are likely to be very competitive to that of the Ensemble release.