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.