Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam Witch From Mercury Suletta x Miorine (Season 2 Ending Ver.)

I thought we were done with the Witch of Mercury claw machine figure series after the "first seven" but Banpresto kept an ace up their sleeve. Suddenly another two figures appeared in the late winter sporting a combination-gimmick at that. Seems my work here is not yet done. I have been delighted that Bandai/Banpresto has been keeping up the cheap figure series also in 2024 with a couple of releases from SEED Freedom as well as another U.C. Newtype pilot character, that we will get to eventually.


So, we have two new versions of Suletta and Miorine released under the moderately spoilery title "Ending Season 2 Version". I guess it is my own fault for still not having watched series, eventually they'll probably remove it from the Gundaminfo channel. Anyway, according to HobbyLink Japan the two figures appeared a couple of weeks apart with Suletta hitting the arcades in late February and Miorine in early March of 2024. The two boxes use a common theme that also illustrate how the two figures were intended to be displayed. Intriguing.


The packaging is your typical reinforced cardboard box with a walled section inside holding each figure in a Shokugan-style compartmentalized plastic bag.


As you can tell from this image, assembly isn't exactly going to be a problem. Notice that the two stands that look very similar are branded with different article numbers, which can be useful if you encounter these items in the wild down the line. I've been meaning to generate a master list of Gundam Converge figure base numbers to aid in their organization but it is a large undertaking that I have not yet mustered the required energy for.


Alright, here we have the two figures put next to each other in a way reminiscent of the packaging. I moaned a lot about how the original WoM figures have such large bases that it is hard to pose them together - here are two figures designed to literally go hand in hand. However, if you look at the box art you might get the impression that the two figures should be further apart vertically; I guess practical limitations got in the way here and so the actual scene isn't quite as dramatic as on the box artwork but has a better chance of fitting on your shelf.


Each figure has a rectangular hole in the back which easily fits on the respective stand. This of course means you have no means of altering the pose with the exception of putting the figure upside down, so that you can display Miorine in the normal orientation if you so choose.


Taking a closer look at the Suletta figure we can enjoy more of the fine sculpting and paintwork which made the previous Witch of Mercury characters rather pleasing to the eye. One should remember that these figures exist in the lower budget bracket but this does not affect their attention to detail and character likeness which is really good. While I personally do not care that much for civilian clothes the proportions and sculptwork applied to her suit is really expressive and interesting, I am even getting some 1960s or 1970s vibes. It is nice to see a more mature looking face than the happy-go-lucky Pikachu-expressions we normally see on Suletta miniatures.


The Season 2 figures are slightly smaller than the original Banpresto Witch of Mercury figures, especially if you were to compare them to the very tall figures of Guel and Shaddiq. This can be a bit of a problem if you pose them together, I do wish that the original series had in fact been designed to be a bit smaller. The old Suletta figure seen here was the first of the Banpresto WoM series and was released in December of 2022.


Next we can examine the new Miorine figure, which I have flipped upside down for a more traditional pose. I must say that her dress and shoes are really dull and together with the white hair it makes her look like an old lady which I find a bit boring. I would have loved to see the figures in flightsuits instead. By the way, Miorine's hair must have proved a bit of a challenge to the sculptor. Ideally it should have had a freefloating spread when the character is suspended upside down. I guess what we see here is a compromise allowing you to display the figure in two different ways.


See what I mean? The old Mirorine figure from April 2023 has a lot of character and all the WoM figures really shine in their uniforms. The new pale skinned, white hair figure just lacks that same oomph.

So there you have it. Wow, nine WoM-figures released for the arcades in a little bit more than a year, and all of them are currently cheap and accessible on the secondary market. It looks like we will see more Witch of Mercury figures releasing this summer, but they will be coming out under the very expensive MegaHouse G.E.M. brand. The series will feature all the seven main characters seen in the Banpresto range but in various sitting or lying down poses. The prices however will start around ¥8000 per figure, which is frankly ridiculous. Not something to look forward to.

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]