The latest MS Ensemble news...

The latest premium Mobile Suit Ensemble reveal - EX 17 - is an old MSV-design dug up for I don't know exactly what reason, has this suit recently been featured again somewhere? The HFA-78-3 or Heavy Full Armor 7th Gundam which is its clunky and uninspired name follows hot on the heels of the G-Self and the Victory 2 Assault-Buster. We're seeing this trend of busy mobile suit choices for EX releases, in my opinion an EX package could also contain something innovative like a squad of mobile suits with advanced gear options but that's just my preference. :)  Preorder for the 7th Gundam will open on November 1.

We also get some feedback on the recent Premium Ensemble survey conducted through the blog page. I did partake myself but as usual you never know if comments from customers outside Japan will be completely disregarded. Basically the answers went as follows:

- Ensemble patrons would prefer the frequency of EX figures to occur around once every two months.
- Four out of five respondents want to see broader gear ranges and option parts in the EX figures.
- Regarding development of the Ex-S Gundam and/or the Deep Striker people want to see both.

The developer team comments that 2020's EX figures have already been planned and we can expect to see Premium Ensemble figures appearing about once every two months and then some. So, start saving up is apparently the message to us. :)

Gundam Converge CORE 011 : MSA-0011[Bst] PLAN303E Deep Striker

We have arrived at Day Seven of Mobile Armor Week and it is time to take a look at a blast from the Converge past. The Deep Striker is one of the very first Converge EX figures and was first released as EX 03 in June 2014. It then got the CORE treatment in May 2017 and this is the figure we will examine today.

It was actually pretty hard to come by this figure after its release; it took me half a year and several near misses with sold out items before I managed to snag mine in late 2017. The figure originally sold for ¥2800 and I paid ¥3500 for mine six months later. Lately on Mandarake I've seen it go for ¥5000-¥6000 so it seems to remain pretty rare even today.

Parts-wise we have the same set-up as for the original EX03 Deep Striker figure. Basically the figure retains its old colour scheme but it now features metallic paint job here and there. I think action base may also has a received a slightly different colour tone about it.

The Deep Strike figure also has a basic mobile suit mode where you put legs on the weirdly drawn out torso and give it a proper right arm. This figure looks pretty hardcore I must say. Notice the two-tone red colour scheme on the shoulders; we have seen the same pattern used on the CORE S-Gundam although that one was in blue of course.

The action base also doubles as storage for the unused mobile armor parts. You can extend the base and the place the various equipment and gear choices in specific places on the base. Honestly it feels rather gimmicky and it can be a bit fiddly to get all the pieces in place and avoid accidentally bumping the base which will send half the components flying. I just ended up putting unused components in a ziplock bag inside the box...

Looking at the EX 03 and CORE 011 figures you can see that the changes are kind of minimal. Sure, the metallic paint job is great but it isn't all that superior in my opinion. Notice also how the printed logos and text on the left shoulder isn't even readable on the new figure here.

I am not really a huge fan of the Deep Striker design and the Converge version looks even weirder than the real thing. That is why I ended up keeping the original EX 03 figure in mobile suit mode, but since I now have two of them the CORE figure gets to play Mobile Armor. As you can see it looks pretty impressive on its base but I still can't shake the feeling of weirdness. I have the same problem with the Converge Dendrobium whereas designs like the Neue Ziel or Neo Zeong look almost normal to me. :)

Got to love the blue metallic detail on that dish. The paintwork on this figure is really, really great and helps me to look past its weird shape.

Overall if you are a Gundam Sentinel fan you have probably already managed to find a copy of this figure for your own collection. If you are only moderately interested in this design I think there are more interesting Converge figures to grab before it, such as the transforming EX 04 Hummingbird or the floating EX 18 Ex-S Gundam.

SD Gashapon Warrior NEXT Premier 04

Yup, it is Mobile Armor Week, Day Six. Today's discovery is an old Premium Bandai release from five years ago. It appeared as the Gashapon Senshi NEXT figure series was nearing its end of life, releasing next to the final regular set of figures in December 2014 (that would be NEXT 24 by the way). NEXT hung in for a few months in 2015, but the only thing produced were reissues with "real-type" or metallic color variations.

NEXT Premier 04 is a set containing four different figures sold in special packaging with a little promotional leaflet included. The box is packed really tight as you can imagine. Once you take the stuff out you will struggle to get it back inside again. The set sold for ¥2980 and I think you can still find it on Mandarake from time to time for about the same price.

Just like more modern figures, Each figure comes in its own compartmentalized bag. NEXT figures of the time would usually just come in small bags where everything was stored in the same compartment, like that little Gundam for example.
   

RX-78-2 Gundam

And yes, speaking about the Gundam, let's get him out of the way first. This is Mobile Armor Week after all...

The RX-78-2 Gundam figure is pretty much a bog-standard Gashapon NEXT figure with some minor touch up for this premium release. Specifically it appears that the beam saber is a different sculpt and the front camera is now painted red. Oh, and we get a new weapon, the Beam Javelin. I'd like to do a side by side but I don't have the original RX-78 from this series.

You can get an idea about the articulation present in this figure by observing the parts spread above. Notice that the arms can also swivel underneath the shoulder. This is by the way usually the easiest way to tell a NEXT figure apart from a DASH figure. The latter will have a swiveling joint similar to the one connecting the shoulder with the torso.

There are a couple of RX-78s released in the NEXT line. The figure from volume one with a beam saber and shield later re-appeared in volume 11 as a realtype color version and since I happen to own that one you can see how similar the premium figure is to that one.
   

FF-X7[Bst] Core Booster

The remaining three figures in this set are not only proper mobile armors but they also happen to be brand new machines adding to the richness of the figure line-up. To be frank this is a little odd because the remaining three mobile armors all hail from the original U.C.0079 timeline but the Gashapon Warrior NEXT line is very thin as far as this era is concerned. It only features the Gundam and the Ball on the Federation side and then the Zaku II, Dom, Z'Gok and Magella Attack tank for Zeon.

The Core Booster attack craft is a neatly painted little figure, the cockpit especially is quite detailed. This figure seems simple enough that it could have been released as a regular figure, I have to assume that the paint job is what prevented that from happening. It is a little bit sad because I would have been happy to hoard these and build up a couple of squadrons. :)

The Core Booster also has a gimmick which allows you to convert it into the FF-X7 Core Fighter. The wings are actually folded up by default but they can easily be realigned to form up the proper silhouette of the fighter.

The Core Fighter component has a peg hole just like the white booster unit so you can put it on the standard NEXT action base. Above you can see it compared to the Core Fighters from the old SD Gundam Full Color era (left) and the rare Gundam Converge figure included with the White Base (right).
   

MA-04X Zakrello

The last two figures in this set are really peculiar. Specifically, they are peculiar in that they are very large; almost built to scale with the mobile suits and so are absolutely huge. There are a couple of other mobile armors released in the NEXT Premier line, but those are not much larger than the average figures which doesn't add up with the Zakrello and the Byg Zam at all. It takes a little bit of getting used to.

The Gashapon Warrior NEXT interpretation of the Zakrello is unique in the way it features joints similar to the standard mobile suit figures for its two arms. It also features a rotating join at what is presumably some sort of elbow. No other Zakrello figure that I know of can produce this much movement.

As you can see in this parts-shot the Zakrello is made up of a few really chunky and suitably heavy components. It has nice weight to it and the paintjob is really good as well. It might not be a very interesting mobile armor as such, but the figure manages to bring out the best in it.

I featured this comparison shot in a review earlier this week. Just to reiterate we see here from left to right Zakrellos from Gundam Collection (1:400), Gashapon HG EX Mobile Armor Selection, Strategy of Gundam (1:300), Gundam Converge and finally Gashapon Warrior NEXT. I find it interesting that the designers really cannot even decide on what its basic proportions should look like.

While the Zakrello does not come with any action base of its own (come on now, isn't this supposed to be a premium figure?) it has a peg hole on its belly which is compatible with the standard NEXT action bases so you can easily use any such base you have lying around. The Zakrello is quite heavy though, so if the joints on the base are old and loose it will not manage to hold it up for very long. Too bad because this thing really needs to be up there in the air.
   

MA-08 Byg Zam

The real star of this set is of course the Byg Zam (or Big Zam or Byg-Zam or what have you...) which is absolutely huge, or well... at least wide. It actually only stands about nine centimeters tall but the weight when you hold it in your hand make up for it. This thing feels really solid.

The sculpting on this figure is really nice but look at those terrible nub marks on the backside of its body (no, I am not going to call it saucer section, this isn't Star Trek...). It looks pretty bad on a premium figure I have to say.

The Byg Zam follows the basic engineering school of the regular Gashapon NEXT figures. You have the same T-shaped connector piece for the legs and while the Byg Zam doesn't have any arms you have similar joints in place at its knees. It is a nice touch even though you won't be doing much leg movement on this thing because it will just topple over if you try.

I am recycling this comparison shot from the Gashapon HG EX review as well; here we see the Byg Zam as it appears in the original SD Gundam Full Color series (left) and in its non-deformed full proportions as seen in Gashapon HG EX Mobile Armor Selection (right).

So what about an action base I hear you say. Well, we have the same peg hole for the regular NEXT action base present on the Byg Zam as well, but this figure will put your base under a lot of strain. Forget doing any wild poses leaning to one side or another, but if you have a base with still stiff joints you can at least propel the Byg Zam into the air.
   

Conclusion

Overall I think this set was very well designed and superbly painted. While the two large mobile armors perhaps aren't really compatible with the rest of the Gashapon NEXT figures they work very well with the figures from the original Mobile Suit Gundam television series. I kind of wish they designed some functional action bases for the Zakrello and the Byg Zam but what we have is at least a start. If you collect the SD Gashapon Warrior figures I think you will enjoy having these in your line-up.

You can find the below clear action bases in the Gashapon Warrior NEXT volume 17 set, where they are used by the RB-79 Ball.

SD Gashapon Senshi Forte EX 06 : NZ-333 Alpha Azieru

We're keeping up the pressure. Mobile Armor Week Day 5 sees an absolutely formidable mobile armor piloted by a psychotic teenager with a bad crush on Amuro Ray and one on Char Aznable as well. I don't know exactly how the Zeonic mobile forces screen their pilot material but it seems they should expand their requirements list to include more bullets than "newtype potential". I've said it before; Char's Counterattack has some of the best mobile suit designs and some of the worst writing...

The Gashapon Senshi Forte Alpha Azieru is the biggest Senshi Forte figure yet and was released through the Premium Bandai program more or less side by side with the Apsalus II from Mobile Suit Ensemble. Delivery began in July 2019 and the figure was priced at ¥5184. When it reached me in September the price had already climbed to ¥6000 but there was no way I was going to miss out on this one.

The figure comes ina pretty large box and contains five bags crammed full of parts and a very large step by step assembly guide. Hmmm.... this looks like it is going to be a bit complicated.

Yikes... that's a lot of parts for a Gashapon toy. That's right, we are talking Gashapon toys here, not model kits but Bandai seems to think they two terms are interchangeable...

The assembly guide will take you through building the different extremities one by one and then you assemble them all at the last stage. Overall I found assembly straightforward once I figured out exactly which pieces I was supposed to use where. Most components are hard plastic while some details are made from the softer plastic you are used to in the Senshi Forte line.

Just look at this beast. This figure is about 21 centimeters tall when sitting on its base. I remind you again that the Alpha Azieru belongs to a capsule toy figure series where the typical figure will be just a few centimeters tall.

The head opens up to reveal a traditional Zeonic monoeye cylinder that you can manipulate to have the mobile armor look left or right. As usual I tend to just put it facing straight forward.

The Alpha Azieru stems from the Neue Ziel and you can see resemblances to its design here and there. The two claw arms for example look very much like the ones on the Neue Ziel. These hands sit on little arms which feature the traditional Senshi Forte style rotating joints and you can also remove the entire arm and replace it with a panel that shows the arm covered up (see examples of this further down). At the tip of the arms we also have the hand-like five-barreled mega beam cannons. These are Psycommu controlled on the NZ-333 but here you have to make do with swiveling left or right.

On the back skirt we find the dreaded Funnel weapon system. Nine Psycommu controlled remote weapons extend the range of the Alpha Azieru's combat range tremendously and does away with dead angles as they can move around on the battlefield independently of the mobile armor itself. The figure comes with extra fins that you can put on the funnels when they are out and about but you have no way to actually pose the Alpha Azieru with flying funnels unless you go down the path of doing some sort of custom diorama.

The coolest thing about this figure is in my opinion how it transforms into landing mode. You basically remove the claw arms and replace these with closed panels under the arms, and then remove the head and fold the head armor together. Next you tilt the booster tanks backwards (they sit on Senshi Forte-style leg joints) and reposition the claw hands attached to the legs to form the front landing gear. The tail landing gear is attached on an extra pipe component to have it reach down and form the rear landing gear. It looks easy in the instructions but I found it a bit fiddly to pose correctly.

I love the figure in this mode and I heavily debated getting a second figure to have one permanently folded up like this. Still, with the parts transformation being pretty simple and the painfully high price of the figure that sits way down on my priority list for now. Hats off to the designers for making this mode possible!

The Alpha Azieru figure isn't just huge and imposing when parked next to these two Senshi forte Geara Dogas but I think that it actually works really well as a complement to figures from other series as well. We will take a quick look at how it compares with some other figure lines.

I felt that Gundam Converge was the natural choice to compare. The proportions and head style of the Senshi Forte Alpha Azieru style is very similar to how the Converge figures look and I definitely think it blends in perfectly with these. To be honest I don't really see the need for a Converge Alpha Azieru now that we have this one but it wouldn't surprise me if they'll get around to making a really pricy Converge figure anyway.

Did I mention just how imposing this figure is? Here it poses with two EX figures from the Converge line; the Psyco Gundam Mk-II and the Queen Mansa. The Senshi Forte Alpha Azieru easily dwarfs both the Converge Neue Ziel and Neo Zeong figures as well. Once again, the proportions and style of the figures go together like hand in hand.

So how does the Alpha Azieru stack up next to the Mobile Suit Ensemble line? Really well would be my reply. While the regular Ensemble figures might be a bit taller than the Converges and the Senshi Fortes they still don't reach even the skirt armor on the Alpha Azieru here. Again, a great fit in my opinion.

Speaking about Alpha Azieru figures in general we have a really tiny one in the SD Gundam Full Color series which basically looks like the tip of a finger. The Gundam Collection line produced a large figure in 1:400 scale (which I don't have available for comparison) and I believe there is also a traditional model kit in 1:550 scale. The Gashapon figure that you see to the left in the picture above is much smaller. It hails from the non-scale Gashapon Mecha Selection series volume one, released in 2000. This series was a direct continuation of the Gashapon HG EX Mobile Armor Selection series we reviewed here earlier this week but the line now also contains mobile suits and other vehicles and not just mobile armors.

As you may have guessed by now, I am madly in love with this figure. While I normally don't like to focus on the huge figures instead preferring to have many different types of grunt type figures I can't deny that this figure is magnificent and I highly recommend it if you have the funds to spare.