Gundam Converge CORE 013 : GF13-017-NJII God Gundam (Hyper Mode)

During the past few months Bandai and FusionWorks have been releasing a little group of Converge G Gundam mobile suits spread out across the Converge figure range; The God Gundam and the Master Gundam as standard figures, the bulky Devil Gundam as an EX figure and here comes the Converge CORE representative; the God Gundam in its shiny golden Hyper Mode. This appears to be everything we will see in Converge as far as G Gundam is concerned for a while now.

The Hyper Mode figure is a Premium Bandai item only, and was released in December 2017. The price tag was pretty steep at ¥2000 yet I still ended up having to pay double that on the secondary market just one month later. Many of the earlier CORE figures are now available on the secondhand market but usually not at prices this hefty so I wonder how the price will evolve on this figure.

As you can see this is just a tiny little box almost the same size as your average basic Converge figure. Paying through the nose here...

The box might be small but offers a nice selection of components though. Notice how the main plastic bag containing the basic figure is different from the retail figure, instead coming with the large effect part instead of a pair of arms. There is also a convoluted instruction sheet which goes through the assembly process twice, one for each God Gundam figure even though they are just the same old thing. :)

While most components in the box are shiny gold coated parts for the God Gundam in its Hyper Mode we also get the "missing pieces" for the regular colour version of the figure. And yes, I say missing pieces, because they should of course have been shipped with the basic ¥500 figure. Sly marketing at its finest.

Here we see the Hyper Mode God Gundam figure with all its equipment tucked and folded away, just the way the basic white, red and blue figure comes in the Converge 168 box. Really nice sculpt detail give the figure a really convincing look even though it is basically almost just one colour. The black panel lining on the shoulder armor is an especially nice touch which looked great on the basic figure as well.

Alright, here you can see the two figures in basic configuration side by side. We will now begin to add the optional components included for both figures one by one for both figures.

Step 1: Removing the basic closed chest-piece with the open piece, a true staple feature in God Gundam figure history.

Step 2: Extending the God Slasher wrist blades, you simply replace the entire arms. You can of course choose to do only one of them

Step 3: Field Emitters deployed and now the figure's transformation is complete (and also awesome).

The last feature is to attach the effect part for the Hyper Mode which is a three-colour semi-transparent circle made of harder plastic. It has two holes which are lined up against pegs on the Field Emitters which can be a bit fiddly to connect but once lined up properly is securely fastened.

The field emitters are what make the God Gundam figure spectacular, without them it kind of looks like another minor RX-78 variation. Too bad Bandai and FW only give us one of the effect pieces in the box. I really wonder how a second piece would have affected the price. Can't imagine it would be that much more expensive to produce.

The deployed emitter field looks absolutely awesome on both figures. I think the standard white, red and blue figure looks the most attractive with the effect part on, but at the same time the golden Hyper Mode figure benefits more from having some additional colour.

Right now I have chosen to display the basic figure with equipment stowed and the Hyper Mode figure fully decked out. I might actually consider picking up a second basic white figure and place the extended effect parts on that one. The basic figure is still easy to pick up and doesn't cost more than around ¥400-500 on the Japanese secondhand market right now. The Hyper Mode figure pack is proving much harder to source, expect to pay up to ten times as much.

Overall the Hyper Mode figure is really a must if you want to fully enjoy the standard God Gundam figure. I would rank it absolutely necessary for G Gundam freaks and a safe skip for anyone else.