Gundam Converge EX 24 : XMA-01 Rafflesia

The Rafflesia (or Lafressia as it is pronounced in the anime) is not only a family of five-petaled, huge, stinky flowers but also a ginormous five-petaled mobile armor from an equally smelly Gundam product; the television-series-cut-down-to-movie-length-by-removing-three-quarters-of-the-plot abomination that is Mobile Suit Gundam F91. A feature film released in 1991 and full of disturbing or confusing sequences and cool but underused mobile suit designs.

With Bandai turning toward Gundam F91 and also the follow-up Crossbone saga we've seen the F91 itself pop up recently both in Converge and Mobile Suit Ensemble. The Heavygun, another E.F.S.F. design, also made it into both series but from then on they took different paths. MS Ensemble for its part is coming out with a Gundam F90D/H kit which looks really promising while Converge is now starting to release the various Crossbone Gundam designs as we speak. Along the way they also gave us a pair of Crossbone Vanguard Den'an Zon mobile suits and (quite surprisingly I thought) the monstruous Rafflesia.

The Rafflesia was released through standard retail channels in late November 2018 with a Bandai-suggested price of ¥3200. I however picked mine up in early December paying only ¥2000 for it which seems a more sensible price for what you are getting here.

I'm not really sure an assembly instruction sheet was needed here as the parts count is really minimal. You'll snap this thing together in half a minute. Note that there is also a separate Parts Option Set available for the Rafflesia (which will be covered in a separate review).

Each of the machine's Petal Binders has a hinge which allows each individual binder to turn approximately 90 degrees up and down to change the Rafflesia's appearance from its cruise mode (in which it almost resembles some type of squid) into a fully opened up and blossoming flower ready to unleash death upon all directions at once.

The figure sits very sturdily in its functional action base although if you lift it up it will come straight out of it. I really appreciate the clean and discrete appearance of this base, unlike the various faction insignia-styled bases we have seen on other recent EX-figures.

The Rafflesia's five binders are identical save for one of them which has a nice and crisp Crossbone Vanguard insignia on top of it. The undersides of the binders feature nice metallic-style colour which adds to the realism and help make the Converge Rafflesia look more impressive than the actual movie design itself.

Look even closer and you can see the other standout feature of this design. Seated in a green bubble-style dome is a little miniature representation of Carozzo Iron Mask Ronah himself. This is the very first time we have got a representation of an actual human in Gundam Converge. A very neat touch. It kind of also makes you wonder who thought it was a good idea to expose the pilot in the center of a forward-facing bullseye circle but what do I know...

Overall this is a highly detailed and beautiful representation of the unusual Rafflesia mobile armor. There are a couple of things where I think the designers could have improved on it though.

My first minor gripe is the actual size of the Rafflesia figure. The lore puts it at 37.5 meters height, which is about two and a half times that of the F91 and the Vigna Ghina. However, it seems way larger in the anime itself so the Converge figure feels a bit underwhelming in this regard. I can appreciate this from a simple cost perspective however. I suspect most Converge collectors would be unwilling to spend that much just to get a larger Rafflesia figure.

The second and more important thing is that the figure simply doesn't feel Converge. Converge figures are deformed and compacted and have a certain chunky aesthetic about them. Details are often over-emphasized to the point of being gimmicky. The Rafflesia figure instead feels more like a rather accurate and brittle model kit than a durable candy toy. It shares this problem with the Shamblo mobile armor from Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.

Out of all the Converge EX figures the one that has captured the Converge spirit the best is in my opinion the Neue Ziel. It looks perfectly like a Converge figure, it is made from similar type of material and has an intimidating size about it. The Rafflesia and the Shamblo pose better together with smaller and true scale figures such as the 1:400 Gundam Collection series (which is unfortunately devoid of F91 and Crossbone material...).

Overall, the Converge Rafflesia is a beautiful model of this key mobile armor although it comes up a bit short in the Converge-ness of the design. A must buy for lovers of the mobile armor but I suspect a pass for most other Converge collectors out there.

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