Gundam Converge EX 25 - XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Full Cloth

Converge has seen a healthy injection of F91 and Crossbone Gundam material recently and more is still to come. It started with the F91 and a couple of Den'an Zons in October, followed by the Rafflesia and a Heavygun in November and the Crossbone Gundams X-1 and X-2 in December. January 2019 sees this X1 Full Cloth as well as the X-3 releasing as a Premium Bandai option in parallel. Finally we'll see the F90 and the RXF-91 this Spring and it seems this wave will then dry out. I sure would have liked to see at least one more Crossbone Vanguard army builder but I have a feeling Converge will switch into another gear from then on.

Anyway in this review we will concern ourselves with the X1 Full Cloth version of the XM-X1 which released this January through the standard retail EX series. This particular version of the X-1 hails from the Steel 7 manga. Let's just take a quick look at the cryptic X-1 development history:

- XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1
- XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai
- XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai Kai "Skull Heart"
- XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 "Patchwork"
- XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Full Cloth

Quite a mouthful, isn't it? The latter three variants all hail from the MS Crossbone Gundam: Steel 7 manga.

Bandai's recommended price for this set is ¥2500 although I got mine for ¥2000 and I wouldn't be surprised to see it go a bit lower than that. Notice also how economically sized this EX box is compared to its predecessors. As I am keeping all the boxes around this is definitely appreciated.

Just like the recent Sinanju EX figure the Full Cloth X1 is all about the accessories. At its core it is a regular figure which has been given a couple of extra weapons as well as a stand to put it into flying mode.

The Full Cloth figure is a really vibrant design and it becomes even more so in this compact version. I just love colourful figures such as this one. There are a couple of tweaks to this figure as we shall se.

First up we have the basic standing around doing nothing mode. The Full Cloth heavy armor and thruster plating rests along the machine's sides partially covering the arms. At the shoulders we see the skull-shaped I-Field Generators peeking out.

We can then choose to arm the mobile suit with two of its most eye-catching weapons. Both hands are available to us to deploy either the Peacock Smasher (that signature crossbow shaped multi-barrel beam gun) or the Murasama Blaster, which is a combo beam rifle and beam emitter nasty. The latter is provided with its side beam emitters either activated or deactivated. While the weapon is a prototype only nothing is stopping you from equipping both.

Notice how the Full Cloth armor can swing to the sides to give the figure a chance to actually wield its weapons. Due to the simple articulation though, the figure will look the best when the arms are not raised that much. The compact design also means that weapons, armor and the X-shaped core fighter will constantly get entangled when you mess with the figure and I have a feeling the joints will quickly wear out as well.

Another gimmick (that will be familiar to Gashapon Senshi Forte collectors) is the optional face designs. You can remove the face and eye section and replace it with the "open face" design. This is a basic X-1 feature and is a method to release extra heat and improve performance. Why you wouldn't always have that mode on I don't know but hey, I guess it looks cool in animation.

The X-1 figure has a slot in its crotch for its own custom Crossbone Vanguard action base. You can also replace the feet with the dangling type we've seen on a couple other Converge EX figures like the S-Gundam and the Sinanju. In addition to this, the feet also deploy some type of dagger weapons for those Ninja-style drop kicks. I don't yet know if the other Crossbone Gundams X-1 through X-3 will be compatible with this action base although I wouldn't be surprised if they are not. Sometimes I wish the Converge action bases were cleaned up and standardized but by now it is really too late anyway.

X-1 Full Cloth together with the contemporary X-1 and X-2 from Converge #13.

The new guard posing together with the first generation Converge Crossbone X-1, X-0 Ghost and X-2.

In conclusion the X1 Full Cloth is a really solid Converge EX figure and its decent price point should also mean that lots of Converge collectors will be able to add it to their collections. I am really looking forward to seeing the Converge Crossbone figure line expand over the coming months.