It is time to check out another SD Gashapon legacy set, this time from the Full Color Custom era. The FCC range was released between 2006 and 2008 and the conclusion of
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny can be clearly seen here as the figure series is heavily favouring Cosmic Era mobile suits. This set is a good example with the majority of the figure hailing out of the SEED/SEED Destiny saga.
This particular set was released in July 2007 and features ten random figures available in Gashapon machines for a mere ¥100, the good old times of figure collecting I suppose. Below you can see the parts as they would come in the bags although most figures can be disassembled even further.
In this set we have six figures from the Cosmic Era timeline, three from SEED and three from SEED Destiny, as well as four Universal Century designs, two of which are MSVs. Let's take a closer look:
101 : ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam
Up first is the Destiny Gundam, the powerhouse design from
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. It comes in a pearly shiny metallic finish with its standard wings folded. The face sculpt is particularly nice and gives it a rather menacing look which is unusual for most SD Gashapons.
The Destiny comes armed with a loose MMI-714 Beam Sword accessory while its other
two signature weapons are permanently molded onto the backpack. These are simply coated in the same black colour; backsides of SD Gashapons are rarely
given much attention to detail.
Above you can compare the Destiny with its predecessor from SD Full Color Custom 03, which is armed with the MA-BAR73/S High-Energy Beam Rifle. Notice the difference in paint applications, the former figure has the standard flat colour but also more detail painted on its shield. Several other SD-size figures of the Destiny have also been released, the most recent being its counterpart from Senshi Forte 05.
102 : GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam
Next one out is the Destroy Gundam which with its 38 meter height is an oversized behemoth about twice the size of the average mobile suit. This reflects poorly on the figure and it would have been nice if it had been allowed to grow a bit larger. There have been a couple of chunky Gashapon figures in the past such as the Adzam and the Byg Zam for example, however there are no such extra large figures in the Full Color Custom range.
The main gimmick of this Gashapon figure is that it can transform into Mobile Armor mode. You remove the head and move the alternate saucer-style head from the back to where the head was previously attached. Next you remove the arms which can be deployed as remote weaponry much like newtype weapons seen in the Universal Century era although you can also attach the Sturm Faust Beam Cannons directly to the saucer section like I did below.
Overall it is a neat representation of the Destroy Gundam which has seen a surprising amount of love from Bandai, seeing as this is the third time it appeared in Gashapon form. Sadly I don't have any of the two previous figures to compare it to (at least not yet...).
103 : AMF-101 DINN
The third figure is the Z.A.F.T. planetary forces' Interceptor style mobile suit, the DINN with its large wings for atmospheric flight operations (let's not go there...). It is one of my favourite designs from the Cosmic Era and it is unfortunate that it takes such a beating all through the series. :)
This Gashapon DINN comes armed with two different weapon accessories, the regular MMI-M7S 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun as well as a MMI-M100 190mm Anti-aircraft Shotgun. So if you are fortunate to find more than one of this figure you can build some different configurations (or why not give something to the AWACS DINN figure which comes unarmed...).
The figure also has the gimmick where the head can be changed into its streamlined aeroshell which otherwise sits on the figure's back. It looks quite nice but it is also one more component you have to look closely for when you are buying these figures secondhand. I have encountered several second-hand DINN figures missing weapons, helmet or even their wing binders.
104 : AMA-953 BABI
I guess you can say the BABI is the SEED Destiny version of the DINN. It appears in large numbers from time to time looking hapless and getting a swift beating. Like the DINN it is designed for atmospheric flight operations although as an Attacker-type it is loaded with weapon pods on stub wings, just like 20th century ground attack craft.
The head of the BABI looks like it takes some inspiration from the YMS-15 Gyan but the similarities stop there. Where the Gyan is armed with a beam saber and a shield the BABI features two hand held projectile weapons, the MA-M343 Beam Rifle and a MMI-M182 Aerial Gun-launcher. Just like with the DINN this gives you a nice arsenal to play with and also allows for the swap around of equipment, which is one of the reasons why second-hand figures so often tend to be incomplete.
The Gashapon BABI figure can also transform into flight mode, where the feet are removed and put on top of the flight pack. It looks a bit ridiculous and I wouldn't expect many collectors do bother with it. :)
105 : RX-79[G] Gundam Ground Type
For number five we switch things up a bit with a really classic Universal Century design. The Ground Type Gundam is a real staple in most figure series, probably due to its classic simplistic design and iconic gear. The figure itself though has some really detailed paint applications on the torso and head, but the rest of the body is pretty much all white.
The figure comes with four accessories, two weapons, the typical forearm shield and the large storage backpack. Both the NF·GMG-Type.37/100mm machine gun and NFHI·GMCa-type.09/180mm cannon can be held in either of the hands or stored on the outside of the backpack.
Although the figure does not bend its legs you can still recreate the
classic pose where the 180mm cannon can rest on the shield. It is amazing how much functionality has been crammed into this figure and you could build a pretty diverse squadron if you have a couple of them.
106 : GAT-X370 Raider Gundam
Aaaand, we are back to the Cosmic Era again. Next up is the Raider Gundam; one of the three experimental second-generation designs developed by the Earth Alliance. It is piloted by Clotho Buer, an augmented human referred to as a biological CPU. Its basic design is a derivative of the GAT-X303 Aegis.
Black Gashapon figures often suffer from their crisp detail being
obscured by the colour scheme and this is no exception. The face however
is really on point, and looks suitably menacing just as it does in the
anime itself. The figure features the a two-barrel 52mm Hyper Velocity Shield Cannon on its right arm and the
Mjolnir Spherical Breaker which is the Cosmic Era variant of a Gundam Hyper Hammer. The suit also has two
Ahura Mazda type short-range Plasma Cannons hidden within its two claws.
You can transform the Raider Gundam into its Mobile Armor flight mode but the result looks pretty unspectacular. The figure now leans forward and the head is replaced with a rectangular faceplate (which also looks really nice). The claws are moved into place on the figure's sides, acting like bird legs. While the actual real Raider MA design is dominated by its large extended wings these look really out of place atop its back, looking more like a hood ornament than anything else.
There is also a non-transforming MA-form Raider released in SD Gundam Full Color Stage 49. That version at least gets a proper stand and larger wings but still looks rather unspectacular in my opinion, basically a face with arms...
107 : MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type (Shin Matsunaga Custom)
For the next slot we have one of two Universal Century MSV designs. This is the custom white steed of Zeon's ace pilot Shin Matsunaga. He pilots an early generation High Mobility Type Zaku II with a high visibility colour scheme that should make him a real bullet magnet on the battlefield.
The figure has pretty good paint applications for a Gashapon style figure and comes with two weapons which have received proper colouring as well, a Zaku-type bazooka and a Heat Hawk for close encounters.
The accessories that come with this figure are both ideal for use with any Zaku II-type figure, I really like that we have a couple of figures in this set that come with multiple weapon choices.
108 : MSM-08 Zogok
The second MSV-design is the amphibious Zogok, a design really coming out of the bottom of the barrel. As outlandish as they are, amphibious designs like the Zock, Z'Gok and Zogok seem completely outlandish but the Zogok really takes the cake. Here we are looking at a mobile suit with telescopic arms using Boomerang Cutters as its preferred weapon of choice. Ten of these are stored atop the head looking like comb-over eyebrows. For some reason our figure gets an eleventh boomerang as an accessory as well.
I really think the Zaku Marine Type designers were on to something with their handheld rocket pods. It seems even Zeon did come around eventually; apparently the occasional remnant Zogok did receive beam weaponry in the
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn-era..
There is also a Zogok in the Jaburo Capture operation colours released in Full Color Custom 13. The two are as you can see basically the same. I like how the FCC figure series does alternate versions like this.
109 : YMS-15 Gyan
We briefly mentioned the Gyan in this review already and here it decides to show up in person. This odd melee style design was designed as a complement to the MS-09 Dom which features long range weaponry. It lost out however, to its more competent rival the Gelgoog and so remained at the prototype stage only. The paint scheme is pretty crisp, but notice the missing detail on the back of the head. This is a common trait for most Gashapon figures.
The Gyan figure comes armed with three accessories. Its signature beam saber - designed for piercing attacks rather than slashing - is balanced by its missile shield which holds up to 60 Needle Missiles. The last accessory, the Hide Bomb, is quite unusual for a Gyan figure. It is basically a drifting space mine and the shield can supposedly store up to 25 of them. I wish my figure storage was as efficient as this shield.
The Hide Bomb can both be hand held or stored on the back side of one of the shoulders. As far as I know, this is the only Gashapon Gyan to feature this accessory.
One thing that stands out about this Gyan figure is the bulky shape of its head. When placed next to older Gyan figures I think they look much more attractive in this regard. This is a trait I often see in the Full Color Custom figures when compare to their older Full Color brothers.
110 : AMRF-101C AWACS DINN
The last figure of this set is a variation of the DINN mobile suit. Basically it is a repainted version of the purple AMF-101 that has been stripped of its weaponry (boooo!) and geared up with an airborne early warning radar system.
When displayed in its standard mode the huge radar dish sits attached to the Aeroshell Helmet making this figure very back heavy but this is not a problem since the dish will connect with the ground on the same level as its feet.
When the helmet is swung forward you can either choose to place the radar dish on top of its head (as suggested by the mini-booklet) or let it remain in place on the back. Consulting the actual design you will see that the dish sits firmly on the mobile suit's back (for rather obvious reasons) but the choice is yours.
Notice the helmet designs of the fighter type DINN and the AWACS version, a little detail that has been carefully reproduced also on these tiny Gashapon miniatures.
Conclusion
All in all I think this set is fantastic if you like Gashapon minis and the Cosmic Era designs. Universal Century fans are still getting some value here although I can understand if the level of enthusiasm isn't up to par.
