In the Gundam world, we have a sliding scale which ranges from intended realism (as realistic as gigantic mobile suits could possibly be anyway) to cartoon action. At one end of the scale we see complex political conflict where the machines themselves are just one of the many tools available in the toolbox. We then start sliding down the scale passing super-heroes (Newtype abilities), gimmicky designs (Windmill Gundam...?), sentient machines and all the way down to mobile suits which are actually characters who fight mechanical dragons... Wait, what? Yeah, I don't know either, but what I do know is that SD Gundam Bind is at this far end of the scale.
Released some time in 2009, SD Gundam Bind volume 03 is the third of a total of seven figure sets in this short lived series. The whole series is build up around a central gimmick; that you can build a behemoth machine by combining parts from the others. However, SD Gundam Bind isn't quite as ambitious as the contemporary
Bandai Minipla Shokugan series, as we shall see.
Each volume of Bind consists of ten figures, divided into two groups. The first five figures each depict a mobile suit or mobile armor from one of the different Gundam timelines. The figures very much resemble the SD Gundam Full Color and Full Color Custom series and are designed with likeness of the original machine in mind. The last five figures however, all come in a single color. In the case of volume 3 all the figures are dark purple, in volume 04 they are all brown etc. Each figure also has a single eye painted in green.
Now, you'd expect this to be something as simple as the first five figures being recycled and recoloured to create the last five, but Bind follows another route. While the last five figures are commonly also released in full colour versions (normally included in another volume), the sculpts are actually also modified. Each figure will receive a different bodypart somewhere, perhaps an arm with a new weapon, or wings and legs are tampered with, to create something new. These alternate parts are then used to build something completely different, more on
that later. Let's begin by taking a look at the initial five figures of
the set.
21 : RX-93 Nu Gundam
Things start fairly conservative here, with a Nu Gundam figure. You might expect it to be paired up with a Sazabi and while there is indeed a Sazabi in this set, it is only as one of the purple figures. The normal colour version of the Sazabi was released in Bind 02 however, together with an all-red version of the Nu.
The Bind figures are pretty tiny but they still feature a decent amount of details in their sculpts. The paintwork also tends to be a little bit simpler although there is reasonable detail on the Nu Gundam, complete with Amuro's logos on the shoulder and shield. Only one Fin Funnel set is included but the backpack has slots for two. The Fin Funnel component itself has pegs on both sides so if you happen to own two Nu Gundam figures you could add a second set to the backpack, pretty clever design there. The figure also features a rotating head and swivel-joint shoulders as well as a removable beam saber.
22 : NRX-0013-CB Gundam Virsago Chest Break
Now, here is something you don't see every day. Gundam Virsago in figure form is a very unusual thing to behold. Except for its appearance in Bind I think it has only ever also been featured as a HG Gashapon figure in normal proportions (one that I don't own of course...). There appears to be no single colour version of it in Bind (at least as far as I can tell) but it isn't completely alone seeing as the Gundam Double X is present in Bind volume 2.
The Virsago Chest Break is the largest of the figures in this set and is approximately the same size as your average SD Gundam Full Color figure. It comes with a head that can rotate and arms that swivel at the shoulders. The exotic colour scheme means it stands out well in the collection which is something I really appreciate.
23 : GF13-017NJ Shining Gundam
Bandai continues to mix and match, next up is the Shining Gundam from the
Mobile Suit G Gundam television series. I have also spotted the God Gundam in Bind 01 but the Master Gundam seems to be conspicuously absent here. The promotional images I have dug out from Bandai are so tiny though that it isn't always that easy to see what things are supposed to represent.
The Shining Gundam surprisingly comes with a pink beam saber. Here's an opportunity where they could have gone for something lazy like a green coloured hand but instead we got a functional accessory that can also benefit other figures in the line. Notice also how the shoulders have been fully painted on the backside, something I wouldn't have expected on a ¥100 figure (the feet aren't though, so there's that...). Articulation follows the two previous figures with moving arms and head.
24 : Apsalus III
While the Virsago is also a novel inclusion here's what really inspires me about this set; the Apsalus III mobile armor. How awesome is this? We also have the Apsalus II in the SD Gundam Full Color range (Stage 25) which goes just perfect together with this. The Apsalus III also appears as a single-color black figure in Bind 01 with a Gundam-type head!
As a figure it doesn't actually
do much, but you can pull it apart into smaller pieces if you would like to play around with it. Isn't it strange by the way that the Apsalus II was never made in Gundam Converge form? Now that we have a whole group of 08th MS Team figures coming out in Mobile Suit Ensemble later this year perhaps a Converge or MS Ensemble version of this mobile armor isn't all that far away?
25 : RMS-099 Rick Dias
The Rick Dias is one of my trusted and always dependable favourites. If a figure series contains the Rick Dias (and for some reason they often do) you can be pretty sure it is going to be a solid and entertaining figure and this is no exception. The mobile suit also returns in Bind volume 05 as an all-blue variant with extremely odd organic-looking arms.
In Bind 03 form however it is still looking the part. Decked out with both a Clay Bazooka and one of its puny pea shooters it is the only figure in this set to sport dual weapons. Of course each weapon is an accessory in itself so you can spread the love to less fortunate mobile suits. Or... try to seek out another Rick Dias figure to let it dual wield its guns. I love little stunts like that. As for articulation you have to make do with swivel shoulders, the peculiar head form doesn't lend itself well to being a separate part unfortunately.
Before we proceed let's just take a moment to look at the Bind-format figure and how it scales to some other figure series. In the above photo you can see the Bind 03 Rick Dias next to a black early type Dias from SD Gundam Full Color Stage 47, the articulated Dias from Senshi Forte 02 and at the far right a Gundam Converge Rick Dias (whose clay bazooka looks really puny next to the others).
This far into the Bind 03 set we have pretty much covered the vital
Mobile Suit Gundam components. What follows next requires an interest in
the less orthodox side of Gundam lore. More specifically we are about
to plunge into the deep end of that realism scale I mentioned earlier.
The second half of Bind 03 features five mobile suits in the same dark purple colour. Each is a bastardization of an existing mobile suit or mobile armor, and the represented designs aren't always that obvious. The last five machines are variations on:
26 : ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam (Wings of Light)
27 : GX-9901-DX Gundam Double X
28 : MSN-04 Sazabi
29 : ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice Gundam
30 : MA-04X Zakrello
As mentioned earlier, each figure has received one or two modifications to its sculpt. The exception here is the Sazabi which remains unmodified. Instead a large leg-component is included with this figure. Below you can see the figures laid out with the modified or included custom part below.
As you can see, in this manner the Destiny Gundam provides a head, the Double X a pair of wings and the Sazabi some nasty legs etc. The parts combine together like so:
And here we have it... whatever it is. A bird? A dragon? A mecha character? Is it something out of the SD Gundam lore or just a random custom build? You tell me, I haven't got a clue.
While the whole combine-spread out-parts-into-a-special-figure gimmick is certainly nothing new I guess there is some moderate level of entertainment to be had out of it. For about two minutes... Was it really necessary to create five alternate figures when all you really need from them is to take them apart to build this monster and then be left standing with five incomplete figures? Perhaps the sales team figured it was a good way to get people to spend more money in the Gashapon machines. Wouldn't just a traditional five coloured mobile suits with five transparent color versions set have done the job just as well?
As it stands, SD Gundam Bind is a bit of a failed concept (having only seven waves under its belt) but the traditional mobile suit figures themselves aren't bad at all and can be used to round out your SD figure collection quite well. Availability is pretty much nonexistent however. You really need to stumble on these in some dusty old secondhand shop these days. The figures also have a tendency to pop up randomly among other SD Gundam figures as many secondhand sellers wouldn't really be able to tell them apart.
