SD Gashapon Senshi Forte 2.5

Senshi Forte 02 first appeared in March 2017 and was also the set that drew me into the line. A set with three grunt type mobile suits and two of them from Zeta at that? Sign me up! And here we are two years later and the set is being revitalized with an update and reissued as part 2.5. This is the second time a Senshi Forte set has been reissued, the first being part 1.5 which made the figures from the first set available again. I think we can safely assume that somewhere around part 03, the series had begun to pick up steam.

The main gimmick of the figure in this set is that they are either colour swaps (to create different canonical colour schemes) or metallic colour variations (to try and persuade you into buying duplicate figures you don't really want or need). I don't see why Bandai can't just put together a set of figures from various volumes where all the mobile suits would benefit from colour swaps instead of cheap stunts like this.

Anyway, although I wouldn't put it past Bandai to surprise us with another special color reissue set or individual figure as part of some Hobby Fair special or the like in the future, this is most likely going to be the end of these recolorings. The Senshi Forte line is scheduled for completion once it hits set eleven and from then on Bandai have mentioned a successor figure set with "simplified assembly" (I read standardized parts). The new series is still supposed to be size compatible though so hopefully the spirit of the series will be kept alive and Bandai won't resort to cheap tricks like reissuing mobile suits that we have already seen in Senshi forte (not holding my breath there...).
   

F054 : GNT-0000 00 Qan[T] (Trans-Am Ver.)

Out of the three figures in this set that received colour swaps, the 00 Qan[T] is of course the most spectacular one. Doing the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 lead suit in Trans-Am Color versions is an old trick that we have seen for the 00 Gundam in NEXT, DASH as well as Mobile Suit Ensemble and STANDart, but this is the first time the 00 Qan[T] has been allowed to shine in its Trans-Am colours.

Notice not only the colour swap but also how the dark red areas are painted using metallic finish and how the translucent greens are also in a completely new tone. The whole thing looks great although I would imagine that collectors who missed the 00 Qan[T] the first time around and who were hoping for a chance to catch it now may feel a bit disappointed.

The 00 Qan[T] comes with its signature GN Sword and Shield and there are two versions of the main blade to allow it to attach the bit components that start out on the shield. Notice also the differently sculpted right hand, intended to hold the blade at a downward angle. I wonder if the Senshi Forte successor figures will allow such individual attention to detail.

The Trans-Am 00 Qan[T] is a delight of a figure and bound to become just as rare as the original figure. I visited Hong Kong back in December 2017, and saw a shop selling all the four Senshi Forte sets that had been released up until that point. The going rates seemed to be around 30-50 HKD for the middle of the road figures with those in low demand such as the Messer and the Galbaldy Alpha going for as low as $15. The 00 Qan[t] however was priced at $150 already back then and the Hi-Nu Gundam from volume 01 was at $200...
   

F055 : MSZ-006 Z Gundam

The next figure while not as impressive as far as reissues go will be a welcome chance for collectors to pick up one of the true figure evergreens out there, the always attractive Z Gundam. There is just something perfect going on with its colour scheme of blue and white and lots of colourful detail on top.

The reissue figure is looking quite close to the original figure although we do see some minor colour variations here, more for the sake of altering them than anything else I would think. The blue tone is slightly different, the yellow detail is done in a brighter colour and so on. There is also this weird effect going on in my figure where the blue tone seems darker on the underarms than on the shoulders, not sure if it is supposed to be a gimmick or just how this particular figure turned out.

The Zeta comes with two accessories which I highly value. Apart from its classic beam rifle we also get a nice translucent red beam saber. When I grabbed the Senshi Forte 02 figure I equipped it with the saber and shield only and gave away the beam rifle to a Rick Dias. This time around the Zeta will have to make do with the rifle, the beam saber has been granted to one of the Galbaldy Betas. : )

Here we see the Z Gundam with its Beam Saber deployed. I wish more Senshi Forte figures came with optional gear like this but as we have all heard numerous times from the Bandai development team, they kind of blew the budget on the figures already so we can at least be happy about the accessories we did receive.

The old figure wielding a saber posing next to the new. As you can see there is not a whole lot of excitement going on here but at least you get some cool gear for other figures to make use of...
   

F056 : RMS-099 Rick Dias (black)

The second colour swap of this series is the Rick Dias which is being allowed to return to its early production colour scheme. This is incidentally supposed to be black, but here we have a sort of bluish gray and black two-tone scheme going on instead. We have seen this before with the FW STANDart Rick Dias being another example. While I really like this colour scheme i still find it fascinating that Bandai never seems to decide what colour certain figures should have (Z'Gok-E I am looking at you...).

The Rick Dias of course also comes with the very same gear as its earlier version. We get the Clay Bazooka as its primary weapon and two smaller beam pistols which can either be stored on the figure's back (which is where we normally find them) or equipped in its hands.

I always enjoy it when grunt suits get gear choices as it makes it more satisfying to drum up a squad. I currently have another three of these in the mail, can't understand why people haven't jumped on the chance to army build these guys.

I find it so very satisfying to have both red and black Rick Dias figures in the same figure series. Together with the Z Gundam and Hyaku-Shiki we now have a very strong showing for the A.E.U.G. in this figure line.
   

F057 : RMS-117 Galbaldy Beta (Metallic Color Ver.)

Here is the really anomalous thing going on with Senshi Forte 2.5. While the set contains either colour swaps or metallic colour versions of figures from part 02, here is a figure that can do both. The set was expanded from six to seven and the Galbaldy Beta now comes both as a metallic colour version and as a colour swap in Titans navy blue. It is also that these figures are not being distributed in the same quantities as the others in this set due to this strange decision.

As you can see the figure has quite a lot of metallic colour flair going on about it and I suppose for a figure with such a garish colour scheme it helps making it look more realistic.

The Galbaldy Beta comes armed with its beam rifle and a shield which has also been given a nice metallic coat. The head opens up to allow you to mess with the positioning of its monoeye as well. By the way, notice that the scope on the beam rifle is a separate part that can be removed (and subsequently lost) so pay attention to this when shopping for second hand figures and consider gluing the scope into place.

Unless you count the completely translucent blue version of the Hi-Nu Gundam the Galbaldy Beta is the only Senshi Forte figure that is available in three different colour variations.
   

F058 : RMS-117 Galbaldy Beta (Titans AOZ Color Ver.)

The last of the three colour conversions of this set is also one of its absolute highlights. This version of the figure has been painted in blue metallic colour in an attempt to liken it to the High Mobility Type Galbaldy Beta which was an Advance of Zeta prototype concept. We have never seen that Galbaldy Beta in figure form although this haphazard colour scheme has been done before in the Mobile Suit In Action action figure line, where the Galbaldy and the Marasai were given these half-baked colour conversions.

I don't know what it is but as soon as Advance of Zeta and the Titans Test Team are referred to, figures just seem to fly off the shelves. I am therefore infuriated that Bandai chose to make the Galbaldy Beta a double colour occurrence in Senshi Forte 2.5. Because what usually happens is that the colour swap figure is only distributed in half the quantity as the other figures in the set. We saw this with other mass production types like the GINN, the GuAIZ and the Bawoo and it makes me go insane each time. Building a squad of these puppies will likely mean having to purchase complete sets and selling off all the other extras.

As far as parts go, nothing exotic here. The shield looks very plastic in its orange colour, I wonder if they tried out a metallic coat for it but figured that it looked odd.

The official artwork for the Galbaldy Beta High Mobility Type, as seen on MAHQ.net.

The "real" AOZ designs also feature some orange and white detail on the mobile suits themselves, which is completely missing here. Of course there isn't any official artwork to go on for simple recolouring as far as I know but a little improvisation wouldn't have hurt.

The Galbaldy Beta posing with the Gundam Mk-II from Senshi Forte 03 and a Titans Color Marasai from FW SD Gundam Neo 1.

The SD Gashapon style Titans forces are slowly growing and with the handful of Hazel variations on top we are getting a pretty good line up by now. Bandai's Mobile Suit Ensemble line has done a commendable job at bringing some of the overly complicated AOZ designs into Gashapon form and I am secretly hoping that they will eventually spill over into different figure lines as well.
   

F059 : Me-02R Messer (Metallic Color ver.)

With all the colour swaps out of the way we are back to doing metallic colour variations again. Next up is the Senshi Forte exclusive Me-02R Messer deployed by Mufti together with the Xi Gundam which has been given a nice makeover for this release.

While everything is more or less the same as the original figure the metallic finish helps to give the figure a more realistic appearance. While the new red colour looks really good I think that the coffee coloured sections that are now markedly toned down compared to the original figure take away somewhat from its appearance.

The figure comes with its typical beam rifle and also features a ead with a moving mono eye. The eye itself is so small that it nearly gets completely lost behind the visor when facing forward.

This side-by-side comparison shows the pretty big colour variations between the old and the new figure. While the metallic finish is great I kind of miss the brighter coffee-coloured trimmings of the old version.
   

F060 : Musha Nu-Gundam (Metallic Color ver.)

The last figure of this set is (of course) an SD Character; a samurai-style version of the RX-93 Nu Gundam featuring dual fin funnels at that. This figure actually sported metallic detail already the first time around, so the change is less overwhelming here.

The only really obvious change between the old and the new figure is the metallic coat which now sits on top of the red areas. If anything needed improvement on this figure, I would say it is the large white fin funnel components which come off as really boring when viewed from behind.

The Musha Nu Gundam comes with the same sword and staff weapons as the original. Notice however the rare packaging mistake here; my figure comes with two connector pegs for the stand when there should only have been one. I hope this doesn't mean that some poor sod received a figure with this component missing...

Posed side by side both the old and the new figure look really splendid. I think I kind of prefer the flat red finish of the old figure, there is enough metallic flair going on there anyway.
   

Conclusion

Exactly no one will be surprised to learn that I find Senshi Forte 2.5 to be an absolute must for the serious Senshi Forte collector. The three colour variations are of course what seal the deal, the other four metallic colour versions I wouldn't really fret that much about, they are nice to haves but the original figures do a fine job already anyway. The only real drawback here is the very limited availability of these figures and the doubly difficult task of finding enough blue Galbaldy Betas. That will continue to bring me pain in 2019 I'm sure... :)