SD Gundam Full Color Stage 32

Time for another legacy figure set. SD FullColor Stage 32 sits in the middle of this legendary series and was released in April 2002, about five years since the first figures came out. The figures originally sold for ¥100 and they don't really cost a whole lot today either. Apart from all the Medeas I have been hoarding I picked up a complete set at Mandarake for a measly ¥350, half of their original price. This must be some sort of record...

These figures look like they have been opened and repackaged before being sold again. I don't think that the transparent action base was included with the Medea but with the Dom. Anyway, it is here...

Stage 32 basically consists of three mini-sets of figures that are paired up together - three in case of Mobile Fighter G Gundam as we shall see.
   

183 : GF13-017NJII God Gundam

First up we have the God Gundam in its first appearance for this series. Prior to this we saw its predecessor, the Shining Gundam, in Stage 20.

There is some really good colouring going on here, the figure looks very vibrant. The mobile suit comes in an action-oriented stand-off pose, ready to face off against the Master Gundam. Notice how its field emitters are folded away on this figure.

Here you can see the God Gundam next to its 2.0 and 2.5 versions as well as the larger figure from Gashapon Warrior DASH 01. I like how we get the mobile suit in this low power configuration, the only thing missing is the glowing Hyper Mode figure, which you could always repaint from the 2.0 figure.
   

184 : GF13-001NHII Master Gundam (Ver.2.0)

You can almost tell with certainty that the Master Gundam will make an appearance when the Shining Gundam or God Gundam stops by, and this is exactly what happens here. We saw the first version of this figure together with the Shining Gundam in Stage 20, and here we get a version two figure to go up against the God Gundam.

Just like the God Gundam's pose we see the Master Gundam figure striking a pose of its own, he's ready to duke it out!

Master Gundam v1.0 from Stage 20, v2.0 from Stage 32 and the heavily upgraded version from DASH 01.

Strangely I found the pose of the 1.0 and the 2.0 figures to be pretty similar. I would have preferred if one of them was spreading its wing binders and showing some nice red and yellow colour.

The two combatants are ready to have at it but wait, there's another figure in this set that we need to take a look at first...
   

185 : Fuunsaki

That's right... while Bandai usually feels content to show us a constellation of the Shining Gundam or God Gundam against the Master Gundam we sometimes also get to see perhaps the Devil Gundam or even the Nobel Gundam. While I am not really a fan of G Gundam I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of other combatants added to the mix, like the Gundam Spiegel or Dragon Gundam. Now here's a fresh face though... a horse face.

That's right, the mobile... horse. Take a good look because this is a design you won't see making it into figure form that often. Off the top of my head I can only think of a Banpresto keyring figure and the 1:400 scale figure from the Gundam Collection series.

The SD Gundam mobile horse is actually a pretty decent figure. It has excellent mobility with four differently moving legs and a neck that rotates 360 degrees as well. This will allow you to create some interesting poses but the figure has no support for an action base so you'll need to improvise or  use glue...

The second gimmick for this figure is of course that other mobile suits can ride atop it. The mobile horse is quite large compared to the average SD Gundam Full Color figure, so you can likely combine it with most of the mobile suits in the line. However, there is no particular feature to support or connect the figures you want on its back so you'll need to balance the rider perfectly for it to stay in position.

The Banpresto Flight Ops keyring figure is where you want to be if God Gundam on horseback is your thing...

   

186 : MS-09 Dom (Ver.5.0)

Leaving the G Gundam saga we head on over to the Universal Century line-up for a couple of figures from the origin of Mobile Suit Gundam. First up we have a Dom and a Medea from the 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam television series.

As the booklet informs us, this is the fifth time the MS-09 Dom pops up in this series. The designers have decided to send it into the sky this time around, so you'll need the standard SD Gundam action base or this figure won't be standing up at all. The way it is holding the heat saber is a little odd; it looks more like ceremoniously holding a candle than getting ready to strike a foe with fury.

Here the Dom poses with some of its colleagues (and relatives as we have a Dom Tropen and a Rick Dom in the photo as well). This version of the Dom is easily recognizable since it is the only one not standing on the ground.
   

187 : Medea

The Dom figure has interestingly enough been paired up with a Medea heavy lift transport craft. Before I really got into collecting the SD figures proper I had already taken a liking to odd figures such as this one and I am slowly forming a heavy lift squadron of my own.

I really love the clean and functional design of the Medea and even the super deformed version of the craft looks neat. If you want a medea figure of more realistic proportions there are couple of options open to you. First and foremost would be the cheap 1:550 plastic model kit from Bandai (number 55 in their evergreen model kit collection). You can also find it as a slightly larger action figure in the Bandai MSIA and M/V collections. A true 1:400 scale of the Medea from War in the Pocket is also available as a hopelessly rare B-Club model kit.

The cargo container is removable but it also features the only a peghole for an action base, so you will have to improvise if you want to use it with the unladen Medea.

The Dom and the Medea of course go together well in recreating the famous scene from the Black Tri-Stars episode from the original show. You'll want to stock up on extra action bases if possible of course.

   

188 : RX-78-02 Gundam (The Origin)

The last two figures in this set hail from the retold version of the original Mobile Suit Gundam saga, as told in the Origin storyline. We don't have all that many figures from this era and this was one of the first to be featured in the SD Gundam Full Color figure line.

The Origin version of the Gundam, the RX-78-02, can be a bit tricky to recognize for the untrained eye and it doesn't get easier in super deformed mode. The rifle is usually a good indicator as well as the shield which is normally held upside down (I forgot to flip it upside down for these photos since I normally do not equip it in that way).

Here is the Origin Gundam figure next to a random beam rifle equipped RX-78 from the original television series. As you can see they are pretty similar, it is only really the weapon that will give it away. And the same goes for the next figure we will look at.
   

189 : MS-06 Zaku II (The Origin)

The last figure in this set also hails from the Origin storyline and is a mass production Zaku ready to fight off the Gundam.

The booklet doesn't tell us specifically which version of the MS-06 we are dealing with here. I am not really familiar with the intricacies of the mobile suit designs of this era but I would guess that this figure most closely resembles the MS-06C-5. Notice the twin forearm machine guns on the left arm and belt fed machine gun, neither of which you will see on Zaku II's from the '79 television show.

SD Gundam Full Color featured a total of five different figures from the Origin era which is not half bad. If the series had been released today it would probably have included some of the more exotic and so far unseen mobile suits like the mobile workers or the MS-04 Bugu.
   

Conclusion

While Stage 32 might not be the most interesting set from the Full Color series it does feature four unique figures that you will not find anywhere else in this series. The figures are as competently designed and coloured as you might expect from this era and will be just as endearing to SD figure fans as any other set although there is probably little here for anyone else.