Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 07

While we have featured a couple of EX figures from the Mobile Suit Ensemble line here on the blog before this will be the first look at one of the "real" retail Gashapon sets. Ensemble started out in December 2016 and while I did my best to ignore it for some time I think it was the Hazel figures that finally won me over in late 2017. Since then I have been building up an Ensemble inventory although this is a slow process. While Shokugan like Converge is easy to find online the Ensemble line is much trickier to source in any decent supply.

The regular Ensemble Gashas can be found either wrapped up in colourful balls in Gashapon Machines or in cardboard blind boxes which in turn come ten in a larger box just like Converge. The standard Ensemble figure sells for ¥500 while the EX figures are priced all over the place. This is the first time I have picked up a full 10-box of figures since they have been quite tricky to find on the secondhand market. I ended up spending THB 1400 for this box in Bangkok, which amounts to roughly $45 USD or 5000 yen.

Having had no experience with these big boxes before I just assumed that the box would contain two of each figure which seemed like a decent value for this particular set as it would really only leave me with one superfluous Re-GZ. However, I was mighty surprised to find that the box content was balanced differently. I ended up getting two RX-178s, one Re-GZ, one G-Defenser and three sets of Geara Dogas with accessory sets each.

Somewhat puzzled I went over to Youtube to research a bit and soon stumbled on a guy who did an unboxing with the exact same contents in his box as well. In the video comments someone claimed to have gotten five Geara Dogas but that is not something that I could confirm. So it is possible that Bandai either decided to boost the Geara Doga's presence in this set or the boxes are balanced semi-randomly making especially the G-Defenser and the Re-GZ rarer. This would explain why there are so many Geara Dogas available on eBay as I write this.
 

038 : RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (A.E.U.G.)

The regular Ensemble figure waves up to this point follow the same pattern of five different products where only three are mobile suits. The fourth figure is usually a vehicle that often combines with one of the other mobile suits and the fifth box contains gear options for one or more figures in the set. For Ensemble Part 07 the titular mobile suit is the RX-178 in A.E.U.G. colours.

While some figures tend to get a lot of extra effort spent on them the RX-178 is a pretty basic design and so the Ensemble figure isn't all too complex either. We get the standardized set of limbs and connector pieces and only one weapon option (not counting the bandana-style Vulcan guns) as well as a nicely painted shield. The Ensemble figures usually have a lot of nice detail in their sculpts but the paint schemes tend to be very basic. Apart from some signature colour applications, usually on head and torso, there can be a lot of room for improvement. I have been messing with the figures you see here, adding in extra detail to bring out thrusters, vents and the like.

The figure in these pictures has been painted around thrusters and vents.

Ensemble figures utilize standardized joints and hands and their weapons are often a simple hollow piece of plastic like here. This hurts the overall appearance of the figure a bit while keeping production costs down. Other than that the Ensemble RX-178 has a very attractive sculpt and the slimmer style of limbs means you will have more wiggle room for posing. Overall though, Ensemble figures tend to be a bit static and their standardized action bases are very static and only raise the figure into the air a little bit (how spoiled we were with Assault Kingdom).

Economy of scale. Mark-II from SD Gashapon NEXT 22 (¥200, August 2014), Senshi Forte 03 (¥300, June 2017) and Ensemble (¥500, August 2018).

 
039 : RGZ-91 Re-GZ

Next up we have the nicely balanced Re-GZ mobile suit, a design which was totally neglected and ruined by an angsty teenager in Char's Counterattack. What a poor destiny for such a beautiful machine. Then there is of course also the Re-GZ Custom which - being an MSV - gets even less attention, having only ever received in SD Warrior NEXT and the 1:400 MFS series. Will we ever see it in Converge or Ensemble?

This is another very basic Ensemble figure design. It has the typical parts you would expect and comes with a single beam rifle as well as an attractive shield. The two antennas on the head are very tiny and don't feel very secure in their sockets, consider gluing them in place.

The Re-GZ figure is really attractive and feels very versatile. Once again I have highlighted some detail on this figure, bringing forward thrusters and vents in red and black. The component shot will give a clear indication of what has been tampered with. The proportions again mean that its articulation functions decently and the modular shield can be attached to either elbow as you see fit (or knee for that matter...).

Taking a cue from Assault Kingdom Bandai went ahead and bundled the Ensemble Sazabi figure with the Re-GZ' Back Weapon System accessory. We will look closer at that unit once we look into Ensemble EX 08.
 

040 : AMS-119 Geara Doga

The third and last mobile suit in this pack also hails from the Char's Counterattack film and is the ultimate highlight of the set for me. The Neo Zeon mass production Geara Doga mobile suit is an absolute monster of a design. Sure, it emulates the Zaku II's appearance but it also improves on it in so many ways.

Once again the figure features pretty much the very same anatomy as the overall Ensemble figure as far as body parts go. We have a couple of accessories in the form of two shields and a single beam machine gun. The elbow mounted shield for the left arm also comes with four Sturm Faust missiles attached to it. All these missiles are molded together as a single part however, so you can only choose to display them attached to the shield or not.

While the basic Ensemble Geara Doga figure is nothing to sneeze at here is where I really felt that it needs extra painting to liven it up. Even a shoddy job will look great when viewed from a slight distance. I have used orange acrylic to paint the tips of the Sturm Faust missiles helping them stand out, and yellow was used to liven up the shoulder boosters (I may go back in the future to do the thrusters on the feet as well). Finally I was inspired by the HCM Pro Geara Doga to also paint the exposed gear in the figure's arms and legs with silver, yellow and black which really makes the figure a lot more interesting to look at. I wish I had enough skill to also highlight the Neo Zeon logo on that shield but I know what the end result would look like if I tried... :)

The Geara Doga as it appears in SD Gashapon Warrior NEXT 15 (far left), Senshi Forte vol. 01 (center left, Sturm Fausts also custom painted here), Gundam Converge #03 (center right) and now also Ensemble (far right). We'll return to take a closer look at its bonus accessories in just a minute.
 

041 : FXA-05D G-Defenser

The vehicle option in Ensemble Part 07 is of course unsurprisingly the G-Defenser. Bandai loves to release iterations of this figure together with the RX-178s and they pretty much always combine. The Ensemble variation is of course no exception.

While the Ensemble vehicle packs are often less complex than their mobile suit counterparts the G-Defenser design is still quite detailed and features a lot of different parts to accomplish both its role as a standalone fighter as well as an attachment to the RX-178.

The Ensemble G-Defenser in fighter mode is a really sleek and clean looking design. It also has a nice size about it although the lack of a proper action base (or even an option part to help attach it to a regular Ensemble action base which you will have millions of...) is a definitive minus here. As you can see in the above photos, my figure is simply balancing precariously atop of the stand which is intended for is support mode. By the way, this figure I have not painted at all. It looks pretty good straight out of the box. See that white detail on its beam cannon? I wish we had that type of detail on the weapons for the mobile suits as well.

G-Defensers as seen in SD Gashapon Warrior 22 (far left), original Gundam Converge (center left), Gashapon Senshi Forte vol. 03 (center right) and Ensemble.

The G-Defenser has gone through many iterations in Gashapon and Shokugan form. Newer figures tend to grow in size and move away from the compact and stubby appearances of the traditional super deformed designs. Not present in the line-up is the updated version of the G-Defenser from Converge: CORE012 (as I did not wish to pull apart that Super Gundam) but it follows the bigger-and-better trend as well.

The Defenser poses really well next to the Mk-II. A clear stand with a ball joint would have brought it very close to perfection. Annoyingly there was only one G-Defenser in my 10-box so for the moment it remains in Super Gundam form. Hoping I can source a second unit eventually.
 

038+041 : RX-178+FXA-05D Super Gundam

So, just like every other set where it has appeared, the main gimmick for Ensemble Part 07 is the transforming RX-178. By combining the Mk-II and the G-Defenser you can build the Super Gundam for what must be the umptillionth time, I am starting to get a bit of Super Gundam fatigue now to be honest. Still, I have to confess it is a pretty neat design and the Ensemble execution is rather good.

The parts-transformation process for the Ensemble figure isn't too convoluted. Basically you remove the Defenser's cockpit and reattach the landing gear using different connector pieces. Then you just switch out the Gundam's beam rifle for the Super Gundam long beam rifle variant. At first I just assumed that the backpack should be switched out as well and couldn't figure out why the pieces didn't fit together... Luckily build instructions are available on the Ensemble website, you can find links to them on the Ensemble check list page as well.

Not getting enough mileage out of your Heavyguns? Gedlav stuck in a hamster wheel? Looking to extend the lifetime of your old GM squadron? Look no further - Anaheim Electronics is proud to present the Super Mode economy battlefield upgrade option kit.

The Super Mode parts make the Mark-II very back-heavy and so Bandai have designed a special stand to help keep the figure standing up. Of course you may have wished for this stand to be molded in clear plastic and at least not the same white as the mobile suit itself, even black would have been a better option. One neat touch however is that the stand can hold up the backpack all by itself just fine, so you can create some interesting custom Super Mobile Suits yourself.

Super Gundams from Senshi Forte vol. 03 (June 2017), the updated Converge design (CORE 012, September 2017) and MS Ensemble Part 07 (August 2018).

While it is always nice to see the Mk-II / G-Defenser combo I do hope that Bandai will surprise us in the future with some less common figure combinations. How about the Gouf atop a DODAI YS for example, or the Nemo using Shackles or even the Titans experimental Hizack with a Bigwig beam cannon?
 

042 : Equipment Set for Ensemble Part 07

The last box of this set is, as always with Mobile Suit Ensemble, an accessory pack for the other figures in the set. This is a trend started with the very short Build Model Gundam series and which lives on to some extent in Gframe and here in Ensemble. And as I have moaned here on the blog before, while I can sympathize with Bandai's need for increasing the prices of their figure lines I think this is the wrong way to go about it. As long as people buy 10-boxes (and ending up buying more figures than they really want) or full sets this may work to their advantage but how about that kid who goes to the Gashapon plaza with a ¥500 coin burning in his pocket. He throws it in the Ensemble machine and ends up with a set of building blocks that are completely useless on their own. This is the stuff that creates psychopaths later on... :)

The use of the equipment set varies from set to set. The set for Ensemble Part 07 is dedicated exclusively to the Geara Doga. As such it is adding a lot of value to an army builder figure which I really like, however it wouldn't have hurt to throw in a bazooka or beam saber option for the Mk-II or Re-GZ here as well.

While the Heavy Weapon suite is the main draw here let's not forget the other accessories here. The Geara Doga has access to two different types of beammachine guns and while one ships with the figure itself, the other type can be found in this box. The second minor improvement here is a helmet reconfiguration kit. You can pull the top of the standard helmet off and replace it with a commander antenna-style version, or the 19th century style army hat look-a-like that we see on the AMS-119S Geara Doga Kai.

Doga Bloodline from left to right: AMS-119 Geara Doga (Char's Counterattack), Geara Doga  (Sleeves use), Geara Doga Commander Type (Rezyn Schnyder Custom), AMS-119 Heavy Weapons Type and AMS-119S Geara Doga Kai.

Still, a helmet option does not a Geara Doga Kai make. While the gesture is appreciated I would rather have seen resources spent on the Doga's little beam axe or one of the aforementioned weapons for the other mobile suits.

The main course here is of course the extraordinarily massive Heavy Armed Type gear. This transforms the figure into a walking gunnery platform and although the backpack is rather heavy it is balanced out nicely by the large gun. The gun is connected with the backpack through a ball joint which allows for a little bit of flexibility but this thing is so bulky that you won't get that many poses out of it unless you decide to disconnect the gun. And while it probably isn't supposed to use the missile shield it will stay on easily but the right shoulder armor plate is a pain to keep in place. Still, everything does manage to hang together and the end result is just brutal.

The best thing about the Geara Doga accessory kit is that you can build an army of different looking Dogas which is absolutely awesome. The same thing happened in Gundam Converge and I loved it there as well. While we are missing Rezyn's custom blue machine I wouldn't be surprised if Bandai decided to come out with a Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 7.5 in the future, bringing in the Titans' Mk-II as well as a "Marking Plus" version of the Re-GZ. Such a set would be greatly appreciated.
 

Conclusion

While I have enjoyed collecting the Mobile Suit Ensemble figure series for a while now this was definitely one of my favourite sets. I am also very pleased to see the Geara Dogas being allowed to deploy in what appears to be pretty significant quantities, this is how army builder figures should be treated in Gashapon Senshi Forte as well, rather than as extra rare A/B-version figures. If you enjoy MS Ensemble this set will not leave you disappointed.