Gundam Converge : Heavygun and Rafflesia Option Parts Set

The gigantic XMA-01 Rafflesia (or Lafressia as the Japanese like to write it) mobile armor was recently released in Converge form as a retail figure in November last year. Priced at ¥3200 it was a fine if a little bit underwhelming representation of this rather unusual machine. This option parts set is the most recent in a rapidly growing line of extension kits for Converge figures, released through the Premium Bandai limited service. This set released more or less in parallel and had a hefty price tag of ¥2400.

While option parts are indeed becoming something of a staple in Converge they clearly aren't for everyone, so recently Bandai are trying to push sales by including exclusive mobile suit figures with the bonus parts, making the deal that much more attractive.

As you can see from the pictures, the parts set box is huge. Admittedly the box for the Rafflesia itself was a bit cramped but this thing is mostly made up of air, the same tired trick used to peddle cereal boxes in the supermarket shelves. Embarrassing...

Let's just get the value for money aspect of this release out of the way first. You are not getting a whole lot of stuff here. It is kind of like the Hyper Mode parts for the God Gundam all over again. This pack is Spartan at best.

All in all there are three groups of components in the box. We have expansion parts for the Rafflesia itself, a new mobile suit the Heavygun, and a Bug mass destruction weapon. We'll go through them one by one.

Rafflesia Option Parts

While you would be forgiven for thinking this is the main attraction of the box I think most people would agree the other stuff is much more interesting. After all, the only new gimmick we are getting for the Rafflesia itself is five optional wing (or Petal Binders if we are going with the lore) components showing its nasty Tentacle Rod equipment. While the Rafflesia design itself has room for 25 of these rods per petal binder - 125 in total - FusionWorks and Bandai are fortunately making do with four per wing for us.

The assembly involves removing the underside components of the Converge Rafflesia figure and then reattaching the option parts in their place. This is a little bit fiddlier than I would like it to be and if your parts are only slightly bent you may find that they do not slot perfectly into their assigned slots. Finally the tentacle rods themselves are made of flexible plastic although they immediately want to slide back into their factory assigned shapes making posing a little bit tricky.

Overall the effect of the Tentacle Rod parts are fine but if you attach all of them the look will become rather busy. A better option is to use only one or two of them for what I think is a better appearance. Personally I like the Rafflesia better without them at all.

   
"Bug" Mass Destruction Weapon System

The bug is easily on the list of the dumbest and most useless weapon systems ever imagined. Designed by Iron Mask as a means to cleanse a colony of its population without burdening his soldiers with disturbing notions of having to pull the triggers, they can now sleep soundly at night knowing they serve a madman who would murder an entire world through the push of a button.

Deployed in large numbers the bugs are advanced autonomous machines weighing in at 1600 kgs and come equipped with double fusion reactors. At least the Titans method of deploying nerve gas made more sense from a financial perspective...

The Converge bug is an accurate depiction of this idiotic yet gruesome weapon, and also comes with its own little clear stand. The stand has a ball joint at the top, allowing you to change the pose the bug a little bit. I think it looks great but what exactly is the point of only including only one bug in the box? If we could have got 4-6 it would be possible to create some interesting dioramas, but with one the effort is kind of wasted. And it is not like you are going to pick up multiple Rafflesia Option Sets to get more... How sad that this was not released together with say the Heavygun as a regular figure, that would have opened up some interesting options to consider.

   
RGM-109 Heavygun

We are saving the best for last. Of course the Heavygun mobile suit is what most people will see as the real takeaway from this package and rightfully so. It is a beautiful sculpt and a brand new mobile suit for Converge. other than that there is nothing especially unusual about the figure and it has no option parts or gear choices, so it could easily have been sold as a standalone figure. Doing so would have allowed people to army build it as well. I think putting an updated sculpt of the XM-07 Vigna Ghina would have been a much better choice for the Rafflesia Option Set. Not only is it a unique Mobile Suit but also more thematic since the Heavygun has nothing to do with the Rafflesia in the movie.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 is currently being featured also in the Gashapon figure series Mobile Suit Ensemble. Here you can see it side by side with a slightly modified Heavygun from Ensemble:

I really love all the attention that Bandai and FusionWorks have been paying to the F91 and Crossbone era as of late. Both the Federation and the Crossbone Vanguard line-ups are growing stronger and more numerous and we can look forward to even more reinforcements in the coming months.

F91-era Federation line-up: Gundam F91 (Converge #12, released October 2018), F91 Mass Production Type (the old F91 sculpt, released as secret figure in Converge 12 in October 2013), the Heavygun from the Rafflesia Option Set and the Gundam F90 (Converge #14, released April 2014).

All in all I think the Rafflesia Option Set is a fine product if a bit pricey for what it is. Still, with a couple of modifications, such as upping the number of Bugs included and swapping out the Heavygun for the Vigna Ghina, I would gladly have paid twice the amount for it.