Mobile Suit Ensemble EX 02 : NZ-666 Kshatriya

With last week's announcement that Bandai is bringing the Ensemble Kshatriya back for one more manufacturing round it seemed prudent that I finally get around to actually reviewing it. So, apologies to Mr. Double X Gundam who was lined up for finally getting built but you are going to have sit this one out I'm afraid...

The Kshatriya is one of the early EX figures which was released in July 2017, back in the good old times when you could actually get a set of retail figures between each EX figure and not as now, where there are 2-3 EX figures in between each retail set. When it first came around it cost ¥3780 and I purchased mine in December 2017 (almost three years sitting in its box.... good job) and I had to pay ¥6000 at Mandarake so the price had nearly doubled already then. Nowadays they go routinely, and I mean they go, for around ¥15000 to ¥16000 so if you have been wanting to add this machine to your Ensemble line-up you have a really good opportunity now.

As far as I understand it the reissued Kshatriya will indeed be a simple reissue, none of that marking plus b-s that Bandai normally likes to do so I am hoping I can sit this 2020 version out. The new figure is expected to be delivered in December and has a price of ¥3850 which might seem really fair compared to its secondary market price, but you are still paying premium for what is in essence a souped-up regular figure.

The anatomy of the Kshatriya is quite interesting because the designers had to forgo the usual build due to the Kshatriya's massive bulk and look. It has an extra large crotch piece with larger ball joints for the legs, and the skirt armor is divided up into multiple components. The chest assembly is completely unique as well with special hinged shoulder components already attached to the back of the torso. Lastly the connector pieces for the legs are different from the ones used for the arms, so pay extra attention that you do not mix up the two pairs.

I have to say this figure is looking really good with its detailed Sleeves motif on the arms and torso. The colour applications are a bit lacking on the backside, it would have been nice to get the missing white trim on the shoulders and back of the legs. I have filled in some parts with black and I used red marker for the exhausts on the back of the legs. Overall I found the assembly straightforward but very finicky. It can be hard to find a good place to hold on to when you apply pressure to snap components together and it is equally easy to apply too much pressure in one end just to see pieces fly off at the other. You have probably experienced it with Ensemble before as well.

The Kshatriya can stand upright like a regular Ensemble figure but really comes into its right when flying. The basic size of its body is only slightly larger than the average Ensemble mobile suit and so they pose really well together.

Manipulating the four wing binders is also fiddly since the available space is very cramped. The forward binders get in the way of the rear ones and vice versa all the time. It is not that easy to try to set the dashing poses that you can see on the box and honestly I didn't feel like messing with it too much. Hear I have attached the four dual Beam Gatling Guns to the hardpoints at the tip of each binder. I have never seen these included with any other Kshatriya figure (are they even canon?) and honestly they look a bit ridiculous but you can always recycle them for your Unicorn Gundams to gear them up with lots of firepower.

The Kshatriya also hides 24 remote Funnel type weapons in its wing binders. Four are included with clear effect parts so that you can attach them to the various peg holes you find on the mobile suit's body or in particular on its wing binders. Once again I found it tricky to make nice looking pose out of these, I usually am not too inspired by this type of accessory, something we have seen on the Assault Kingdom Kshatriya and various Qubeleys in the past.

The two accessories I like the most are the two extra long transparent beam sabers that also come with the figure. A pair of holding hands are included so that the Kshatriya can properly wield them but as nice as they are I still prefer the expressive open hands for this figure; the beam sabers will be excellent accessories for the entire Ensemble figure line though and are much appreciated. It would have been even nicer if they were transparent yellow or green.

Posing together with the Kshatriya from Gundam Converge (EX 01, December 2013) and the Kshatriya Repaired from Gashapon Warrior NEXT (Premier 03, September 2014).
  

Conclusion

Overall the Kshatriya is a really sharp looking figure and a pleasing entry into the Ensemble line-up. It goes well together with the many Unicorns, Stark Jegans and Geara Zulus of the Unicorn era. If you are still hunting for this figure be ready to act on this opportunity that the reissue will now provide, since it will no doubt start to climb in price again once the new batch is sold out.

The latest Gashapon news...

There have been quite a few semi-official announcements on Bandai's social media but here they have made an effort to present it a bit more coherently in a very meaty post on the Gashapon Blog. Starting with the most uninteresting things first, we have two gigantic Advance of Zeta prototypes. One is the TR-6 Inle which we have seen before in white colour form, released as EX09 back in what feels like eons ago; February 2019, now in the spiffy navy blue livery which Bandai always likes to cram out of their figures if they can. I say uninteresting because this thing is absolutely enormous and comes with a price tag of ¥16500, up fiftenhundred since last time around. The Hazel with a gigantic arm unit might warrant a purchase though, costing "only" ¥6600. You can visit their pages over at P-Bandai here and here.

In addition, Bandai are adhering to requests to reissue two of the early Ensemble figures. The EX02 Kshatriya, which released in July 2017 is now routinely selling over at Mandarake for about ¥15000 so here is a good opportunity to pick one up from P-Bandai for a mere ¥3850. It's page is here. The second oldtimer to be revived is the EX03 Hazel Custom which was released in September 2017 and had a price tag of ¥4480. The new figure (seen here) will have a slightly higher price tag of ¥4563. The Hazel isn't nearly as rare as the Kshatriya and is typically in stock at Mandarake with prices around the ¥8000-10000.

The product development team also teases us with the above images of further Ensemble figures in development. There is in fact a lot of discussion in the blog post about the state of Ensemble and although the Google Translate transcript is very difficult to understand the gist of it seems to be that the regular Ensemble Gashapons are threaten to be axed very soon if they don't perform better. The P-Bandai program is what keeps the brand going but I really do wonder how much money people have available to spend on these things, I am starting to feel a bit fatigued from trying to keep up myself.

I completely missed out on the announcement of Ensemble volume 15 since it never made it onto the Gashapon blog (and it still hasn't, I googled it...). I knew that the Exia and the Kyrios were coming but it was a really pleasant surprise to find out that the ReZEL will be incorporated into this set and I will do my very best to build a squad of these suckers. Honestly I am starting to get really fed up by the constant requests for us to buy many figures to save the line when they are a) a real headache to even get access to and b) come in useless lots where army builders are mixed together with stuff you really only want one figure of. Ensemble 15 is supposedly ready for delivery in October.

Lastly for Ensemble we got a really nice look into volume 16. To no one's surprise the Kyrios will follow the Exia and the Dynames but I was shocked to see not one but two Union mass production type suits, this will be another killer set to try and collect.

If I am reading the transcripts correctly the Hi-Nu Gundam will also be part of volume 16, at least the HWS-components will be part of the volume's weapon set as seen in the equipment shot on the right, together with gear for the GN Flag and the Kyrios. Hopefully we can get some more information regarding the set as it is developed further.

Lastly we also see a new face in the Gashapon Warrior Senshi Forte line-up; the Wing Zero Custom from Endless Waltz. I placed it here next to previous images released of the Deathscythe and the Serpent; perhaps all three of these will be seen in an upcoming SF-volume. Again, the translation is cryptic but the author seems to muse about releasing Gashapon 13 as a cheap 300 yen set, attempting to raise the profit by increasing the volume sold. It is a bold strategy for sure. I just hope that whatever army-builders find their way into volume 13 won't be so damned hard to collect. We saw it again with SF11 and SF12 where the Z'Gok and the Zaku II are not only produced in the same quantity as the "hero type" mobile suits, but they are also fighting for space with Char's Custom Zaku II and Z'Gok, effectively making them rarer than everything else. I for one am getting really fed up with this practice.

Anyway, it is nice to see that Bandai sure hasn't thrown in the towel yet, and the autumn season of 2020 is promising to be very expensive if you intend to follow Converge, Senshi Forte and Ensemble in parallel.

SD Gundam Full Color Stage 48

I have never really understood how the rarity works when it comes to the SD Gundam figures. Just the other day we were looking at Stage 47, which is quite easy to obtain, and then we stumble into Stage 48 which is a different beast altogether, not being nearly as common or easy to obtain. There is now real clear thread running through this figure series but if I were to make an overall sweeping statement, I would say that the easier stages to obtain are in the 20s and early 30s. Anything before or after that window tends to be more difficult to source, with the very last few sets almost excruciatingly painful to even find detailed information about.

Anyway, Stage 48 is one of those "we threw in stuff from all over the place and called it a set" type of set-ups, comprised of seven different figures and released in April 2004. It also carries the honour of containing the 300th figure (officially at least, because there are variations and reissues etc. so make of that what you will) which you will see, is a very odd bird indeed.

Parts-wise the figures correspond to the later era SD figures typically coming with at least partially articulated arms and turning heads. Only one of the figures in the set comes with the standard SD Gundam action base.
   

298 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver.24.0) (High Mobility Type)

No, it is not the RX-78 that is the 300th anniversary figure, even if that would have been a pretty good guess. However, it is the 24th version of the mobile suit to be featured in this series, so it can soon have a jubilee all by itself.

This 24th version of the RX-78 however looks like no other. Branded as the High Mobility Gundam this variation hails from the Gihren's Greed line of strategy games that they enjoy themselves with over there in Japan (no, I am not bitter...). You can find screenshot image of it over at MAHQ. Basically it is the Gundam with leg boosters stolen or replicated from a Zaku High Mobility Type machine and the dual beam rifle used by the FA-78. Too bad that the boosters on the back of the legs are not painted in the same colour as the boosters on the sides though.
   

299 : MSN-02 Zeong (Ver.3.0) (MSN-02R Zeong High Mobility Type)

Going up against the Gundam we have another variation from the Gihren's Greed games. It is one of the legless versions of the Zeongs; one the ugliest design to come out of the entire UC 0079 era but yet it seems to do quite well as a figure and model kit; do people really like this thing? Anyway, as an SD figure, this 3.0 figure is doing pretty well for itself.

The High Mobility type Zeong has a huge set of additional boosters attached to its back. You kind of have to wonder why they didn't bother to put legs on the damned thing first. They try to explain it in the lore that the legs were a hindrance in space combat and so only suitable for ground combat within the Earth's atmosphere. Well, according to that same logic Johnny Ridden and his pals had better cut the legs off of their machines when fighting in space so excuse me for calling this explanation b-s.

Man, I have not been very successful in my Zeong hunting. I can only offer up the Perfect Zeong from Stage 17 as a comparison item. The original Zeong figure was released already in Stage 4 and comes without an action base. The perfect Zeong followed n Stage 5 and the two figures were reissued in Stage 10 and Stage 17 respectively. The version 2.0 Zeong belongs to Stage 37 and comes on a flying action base like this one but has its crotch pierced by the peg of the action base instead.

It is clear from the artwork that the RX-78 and the Zeong in this set have been paired up to have at each other, but it is a pretty uneven fight. In my opinion it would have made more sense to have the High Mobility Gundam figure on an action base as well, but you can always go back and dig into your collection to find another suitable rival for the Zeong I guess.
   

300 : Thunder Gundam

Alright... now, just hold it one second... THIS is your 300th anniversary figure? What in the world is even a thunder gundam? I had never heard about it before I came across this set, much less could I find any sort of relevant information about it. This thing doesn't even have an entry on the Gundam Wiki, what on Earth is going on here?

Perhaps if I could type this figure's name in Japanese I could figure out what is going on here. Perhaps it featured in a really obscure manga or SD Gundam episode, maybe it was selected from a fan competition where the general public was encouraged to turn in suggestions, all I know is that you can find a fullsize image on pinterest that matches this... this... hideous thing. Apart from having Pikachu ears and some really oversized Gatling cannons it also runs on tracks, tracks that make the figure less stable and prone to topple over backwards I might add. NEXT.
   

301 : LM314V24 Victory 2 Assault Gundam

Alright, now I am back in familiar territory, this feels good. We have a League Militaire Assault  Gundam from the Victory era and it has a really sharp looking beam shield as its primary eye-catcher.

I guess the Assault Gundam loadout is for the Victory 2 Gundam what the Assault Shroud is for the GAT-X102 Duel; basically a kit that enhances survivability and firepower. It can also be combined with the gear from the LM314V23 Buster loadout to create the LM314V23/24 V2 Assault-Buster Gundam which taking the SEED analogy further would be something akin to the Perfect Strike Gundam.

Sadly there was never any Assault-Buster Gundam made for the SD Gashapon line, but we do have the other members of the family. The base LM314V21 Victory 2 was released in Stage 29 (November 2001), the LM314V23 Victory 2 Buster Gundam appears in Stage 49 (May 2004) and the LM314V24 Victory 2 Assault Gundam is here in Stage 48.

Well, hold on a second, a reader asks, can't you simply build the Assault-Buster from the Victory Buster and the Victory Assault figures? Put on this train of thought I dug up the figures again, switched out their backpacks and sure enough, not only do we have the Assault-Buster good to go, but the spare parts make for a nice extra Victory 2 Gundam!
   

302 : RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (Ver.4.0)

Continuing with the classic faces we have a really old friend here from the 1985 sow Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The Mark II Gundam is originally developed by the Titans but in a shocking turn of events (not really...) they get stolen by the Anti Earth Union Group through the bumblings of an angry kid with latent psychic abilities. Did I just accidentally describe every Gundam show ever?

Jokes aside our Mk-II from this set comes in the stolen A.E.U.G. livery and is equipped with a beam saber and shield. It carries the version number 4.0 out of five and this means for A.E.U.G. specifically. That number doesn't include the Super Gundam and Flying Armor variants which bring the total number of variations up to seven which is pretty impressive.

I don't have all of the Mk-II variants available for comparison but here you can see the Mk-II on Flying Armor (Stage 46, released January 2004), the figure from Stage 48, a bazooka wielding Mk-II from Stage 7 (February 1999) and another beam saber equipped RX-178 without shield from Stage 20 (October 2000).
   

303 : PMX-001 Palace-Athene

The Mk-II got to fight quite a few of opponents during its Zeta Gundam career and one of its more fearsome opponents was the Palace-Athene, which belongs to the family of handcrafted mobile suits designed by the Titans prodigy Paptimus Scirocco. Kind of like a Hipster ale in the future.

The Palace-Athene is a significantly large mobile suit yet this Gashapon figure retains the normal  height. The designers have done a good job of including a lot of its detail however and it looks great. I am really curious to see if Bandai will finally release the Palace-Athene in its Gundam Plus-size figure line now that the Messala has been revealed.

The battle of traitors. Reccoa Londe of A.E.U.G., newly defected to the Titans, gives Emma Sheen of the Titans - newly defected to the A.E.U.G. - a piece of her mind.

Three of the four Paptimus designed mobile suits from Zeta Gundam, the PMX-000 Messala from Stage 12 (December 1999), the PMX-001 Palace-Athene and the PMX-003 The-O (here the ver.2.0 figure from Stage 37 released November 2002). The PMX-002 Bolinoak-Sammahn sadly never made it into SD form.
   

304 : XM-X2 Crossbone Gundam X-2

The last figure in this stage is picked from the Crossbone timeline and is the second in the family of Crossbone Gundams developed for use in Jupiter's strong gravity well.

The X-2 comes armed with two close range weapons; the large Shot Lancer spear-type weapon and a traditional beam saber. The Shot Lancer is used to skewer enemy mobile suits and also features four back-up heavy machine guns.

The Crossbone Gundam family in SD Gashapon form includes the X-1 from Stage 46 (the actual figure in this image comes from a Nintendo SD Generation promo pack), the X-2 from Stage 48 and the X-3 from Stage 49 (released May 2004).
   

Conclusion

Full Color Stage 48 is an eclectic set which opens up with some really unusual machines followed by some additional high profile mobile suits from various Universal Century eras. The figures uphold the expected SD Gashapon quality and I would say mainly act as fillers in a collection.

The latest Gundam Converge news...

We have discussed the new Converge Plus brand in the comments here before and now Bandai have put up some nice promo shots of the first figures in the line on their Shokugan blog as well as on P-Bandai because apparently these items will hit both retail and premium.

The Plus line is designed to allow for the addition of larger or more complex mobile suit types without sacrificing size or detail based on what you can do with the regular 550 yen line-up. These new figures will form a line with a recommended retail price of ¥900 and will mystifyingly also be available in lots of six from P-Bandai at a price of ¥5940. There appear to be no variations or hidden figures in this line-up so why anyone would want to order six figures seems weird, unless you happen to be a retailer and want to buy maybe two boxes to get three sets or however that works.

Personally I am really happy to see the Messala finally hitting Converge and the Rig Contio is a nice surprise as well. Expected Converge Plus 01 to hit the shelves in (probably late) December.

SD Gundam Full Color Stage 47

Stage 47 is one of my personal favourites from the long running SD Gundam Full Color Gashapon series. Primarily because not only does it contain four army builder type figures, but three of those happen to be some of my preferred mobile suits as well. The set is constructed around three dueling pairs with a Gundam thrown in for good measure.

I have picked up several sets from Mandarake (still available there for as low as ¥600) as well as additional loose figures here and there. I have found this set to be fairly easy to come by compared to several of the other SD Gashapon sets. Stage 47 released in February 2004 and contains seven different mobile weapons that originally sold for ¥100 per figure.

Since this is one of the later sets in the Full Color series you can see how elaborate the designs have become compared to the early figures that were pretty much solid statues with little to no articulation.
   

291 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver.23.0)

Hoooh boy... version 23 of the granddaddy Gundam. That means that the RX-78 has appeared in every second set on average, not a bad feat and well out of reach for any other mobile suit.

This version of the RX-78 comes with the traditional loadout of beam rifle and shield with both arms articulated and the equipment removable. It also comes in a slightly leaning action pose. I sort of expected this figure to have a peg hole in the backpack so that you could mount the shield on its back when not in use but you'll need to pick up another SD Gundam for that feature.

At first pass this seems like your average Gundam figurine, so what is the special draw of this particular version of the RX-78? Well, it has been sculpted to resemble the final "Last Shooting" scene from the anime - remove the head and left arm and relive this epic moment of Gundam History in SD form. I don't know about you but I can't say I am particularly enthralled by this gimmick but whatever... :)

Since there are a bazillion of Gundam figures in the line I just placed it here next to a pair of the others with a similar loadout to them. As you can see the proportions of the mobile suits themselves as well as colour choices tend to vary a lot over the different stages.
   

292 : RB-79 Ball (Ver.2.0)

The original Ball figure was released back in Stage 5 already in September 1998 and saw a minor version 1.1 upgrade in August 1999. Bandai revisited it again here in Stage 47 and decided to build a pair floating on an action base which is a neat idea and something they did with the Zeon Dopp fighters before.

I have purposely selected a crappy pair of figures here to represent how some of them will have issues with the peg size for the cannon not fitting very well into the top, you may need to work them over a bit. I am not really a great fan of the two different sizes in use here; i can see what they were going for but frankly I think it looks better to just remove the little extra ball and stick with the main one on the peg.

This revised Ball figure has been scaled down to better match the sizes of the mobile suits which I think is a good design choice. On the right you can see a recent Ball from the Gashapon Warrior NEXT line released in 2013.

Even if you are not really into the concept of this Ball figure it should be pointed out that it comes with a valuable SD Full Color series action base which is compatible with the other SD figures and these are always useful as they are often missing from items you purchase second hand.
  

293 : MS-14A Gelgoog (Ver.2.0)

Next in line to receive an upgrade is the Mass Production Type Gelgoog and what an upgrade it is. The Gelgoog always seems to appear as an afterthought once the Zakus, Goufs and Doms have been exhausted so it is nice to see it receive some fresh attention and even a flying pose on a stand.

The revised figure has received the updated colour whereas the original figure sported the warmer yellow toned livery that you can also find in older illustrations. More importantly we now also have a figure with the typical loadout of beam rifle and shield compared to the original figure that came with a beam naginata only.

The flying 2.0 figure compared to the MS-14A Gelgoog as it appears in its version 1.0/1.1 configuration (left) and the weirdly proportioned Gelgoog from the Full Color Custom 12 set released in August 2007 (center). Yes, the Custom figure is also sporting a horrible muscle car flame pattern put there by the previous owner. :)

    

294 : RMS-099 Rick Dias (Ver.2.0) (Early Production Type)

Here is my favourite figure from this set; the black coloured early production type Rick Dias. The version one figure was of course the red type and it appeared already in December 1998 way back in Stage 6.

The black version figure comes with an interesting pose where the pilot is pointing at or challenging something (you'd think they can share targeting data via link so pointing seems a bit 20th century but whatever...). This looks great for a single figure but admittedly makes it a bit harder to use as an army builder.

The version one figure looks pretty archaic even for an early SD Full Color figure. Perhaps not unsurprisingly it was revamped into the 2.0 design and reissued in Full Color Stage 60 (released October 2005). That figure also got a spiffy beam shield accessory of sorts that you can clip to the figure's wrist. I am not entirely convinced by it but it is there if you want to use it.

 

295 : RMS-117 Galbaldy Beta (Ver.2.0)

The last of the army builder type mobile suits in this set is also a revised version figure. The Galbaldy originally saw the light of day back in Stage 6 together with the Rick Dias and was really just as much in need of an upgrade as the former. Not that there is anything wrong with the original figure, but the new version shows just how far the series had evolved around this time.

The upgraded Galbaldy retains the same equipment and like its predecessor uses its shield to protect itself from incoming fire. Once again the action pose sculpt makes army building look a little forced but it works for the most part.

Man, those Galbaldys keep shrinking in the laundry each time... From left to right we have the figures from Stage 6 (released December 1998), Stage 47 (February 2004) and with Ballute landing equipment from Stage 57 (May 2005).

 

296 : ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam (Ver.3.0)

We're nearing the end of this stage and we have yet another version of a previously released mobile suit. Here it is the Freedom Gundam itself and it had a really busy release schedule with this being the fourth incarnation since it first appeared in Stage 40.

This version three figure is the first of the Freedoms to come with its wings fully spread, in fact none of the other Freedoms with wings spread can match the size of this one. The mobile suit comes armed with a single beam rifle and a really nicely detailed shield.

The Gashapon Full Color series features six main types of the Freedom (a couple more reissues also exist) lined up here in the order they were released. Top row: Freedom with folded wings from Stage 40 (April 2003), version 2.0 with railguns deployed (Stage 41, May 2003), a really tiny Freedom with the METEOR strike package (Stage 45, November 2003), the 3.0 from this set with fully spread wings, the fourth version with double-edged beam saber (Stage 54, January 2005) and lastly a translucent Freedom with railguns from Stage 59 (released August 2005).
  

297 : ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam

Well, well, finally... in the very last slot of this stage we actually have a brand new mobile suit type; the Providence. This important design, perhaps the ultimate mobile suit design to come out of the first Cosmic Era war was revealed far too late to really make much of an impact in the television series and so the general lack of figures tend to reflect this.

You couldn't really tell from this figure just what a beast the Providence is. Some of the SD Gashapon figures do a really good job of hinting at size (figures for the Zock and The-O come to mind) but here the Providence looks just like any other mobile suit. The colouring of its head and face is neat though and adds a little bit of that menacing feel.

Here the Providence poses with its beam saber wielding clear color version from Stage 59 as well as its cousin from Full Color Custom 08 (released in February 2007). The Custom figure has that bit of missing weight added to it and looks more imposing (although its strange proportions make it less attractive than the Stage 47 figure).
   

Conclusion

Not a whole lot to add here, I have sung this set's praises enough already. It is very versatile and fairly easy to obtain. i guess since it is not focused on a particular era or series like many of the other sets are this could be the primary factor standing in the way of a purchase decision.