Gundam Converge EX 27 : NZ-999 II Neo Zeong

Welcome to Mobile Armor Week, Day 1. This week we're running a little mini-theme here on the blog for no particular reason really. Yes, the mobile armor boxes were beginning to pile up and I wanted to crack at least some of them open before the last remaining autumn sunlight remains available. The Mobile Suit Ensemble EX backlog is also pretty severe but those figures tend to require a lot more work to review properly. On top of that a lot of effort has also been spent toward a new checklist project which I hope to have up on the blog before long.

The week's first entry is also the most recent item, the Neo Zeong II from Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative. As far as technical designs go, it is perhaps the laziest thing I have seen out of the Universal century for quite some time. It is like the Psyco Gundam all over again...

The Converge Neo Zeong II was released in late September with a suggested price tag of ¥4200. Funnily enough I picked up my unit from Mandarake on the very day of its cited release, paying only ¥3500 which I felt was a welcome discount since I wasn't too thrilled with this release to begin with.

If you have any sort of familiarity with the original Converge Neo Zeong figure (EX 15) you will immediately recognize the parts spread above as it is basically the same figure all over again with a couple of cosmetic changes only. Most of the components are molded in hard and a bit brittle plastic, this is one of those fragile Converge figures you must protect from harm at all times...

Still, I have to give credit where due here. FusionWorks have done an amazing job of putting the upgraded Neo Zeong II together. The new colour scheme is really sexy, especially with the blue and red detail. This new and more subdued colour scheme compared to the original's bright Zeonic red also works better for plastic figures in general, since the whole thing looks more realistic.

Looking pretty good there guys. I have said it before but the Converge Neo Zeong figures together with the Neue Ziel are some of the best when it comes to scaling with the regular Converge figures. Other large figures such as the Rafflesia and the Shamblo are less successful and don't feel chunky or large enough.

One of the changes for the Neo Zeong II compared to the original design is that the Sinanju Stein sits more exposed and also feels the need to muster up two giant bazookas for some extra protection. When I saw the two bazookas (molded in hard plastic and painted with metallic finish) in the box I immediately became curious if they were compatible with the regular Sinanju Stein figure which has a beam rifle only. And as you can see above the answer is... no, not really. The pegs on the arms of the Neo Zeong's Sinanju figure are bigger than those on the basic figure for some idiotic reason. Converge has never been strong on standardization but this just seems awkward.

Fortunately the figure designers were foreseeing enough to at least make the weapons interchangeable. This allows you to equip one of the bazookas on the regular figure and switch the rifle back to the Neo Zeong II. An optional holding hand for the left arm on the basic figure would have been appreciated, now you will have to make do with the right hand only.

Flying side by side with the original Neo Zeong figure you can see how similar the two of them are. We will of course end up with extra hands and the psyco ring also for the new figure as these are present as an option set released through the Premium Bandai program. Now that I think about it I perhaps it is only sold as a bundle with the Neo Zeong II itself. That would explain the lower price on the figure I bought... pffft.

All in all the Neo Zeong II is an excellent Converge figure and if you have any sort of love for the design or the previous Neo Zeong figures you will find much to like about this one as well. The only real drawback is its cumbersome size which makes it difficult to store somewhere safely, especially now that there are three of them. Stay tuned for the inevitable fourth review once Bandai decide they want to do a special coating version or something...