Gundam Converge CORE : RX-78/C.A Casval's Gundam

Converge saw a couple of red boxes ship during the late summer and here is the first of them to fall under scrutiny. Incidentially this is also the smallest package and so it was the quickest to get ready for review. We are looking at one of the Converge Redefinition figures which has been assigned number 023 on the Shokugan website (although the number is nowhere to be found on the packaging itself).

 

Casval's Gundam shipped as a P-Bandai exclusive in August 2020 and had a price tag of ¥1650. To no-one's surprise this appears to be rather popular and I had to pay ¥2800 for my figure just a month later on the secondary market.

 

Casval's Gundam comes in a box of the exact same size as a regular Converge #Sharp figure. The box however does not feature the typical perforated edge and <<open>> tab so if I had been a bit more observant I didn't have had to ruin the box when I took a knife to it in the same fashion I always do with the small boxes. :)

 

 

RX-78/C.A Casval's Gundam

Casval's Gundam is one of those what if-type scenario designs that are scattered throughout Gundam lore. While I am not familiar with the exact details from the Gihren's Greed game it is supposedly built by an alternate history Neo Zeon and used in a civil war against the Principality of Zeon, yet at the same time has supposedly also seen combat against the RX-78-2 itself, so the story seems a bit convoluted. Suffice it to say however that this is the RX-78 in red an piloted by Char Aznable under his real name Casval Rem Deikun.

 

The figure we find in the box is the exact same figure that was used for the RX-78-2 Gundam as well as the recent Real Type Color version. It has both the white Principality of Zeon crest as well as what I presume to be a Neo Zeon yellow bird design painted on its shoulders and you can see that the words Neo Zeon have been engraved into the side of the hyper bazooka. I don't quite understand why Neo Zeon would use the Principality of Zeon insignia if the two are at war but I suppose it makes some kind of sense if you are familiar with the game's storylines...

 

Just like on the other Gundam figures the Hyper Bazooka can be equipped in the right hand or stored on the mobile suit's backskirt. No additional gear options have been included here unlike the nice new gear choices we saw for the mobile suits in the related CORE 022 Char Aznable red Comet History box set.

 

Casval posing with two of the E.F.S.F. Gundams released thus far. We are still waiting for the G-3 Gundam to appear in Converge #Sharp. I assume that Bandai and FusionWorks are keeping it in reserve for another EX or CORE set, presumably together with Char's Rick Dom.

 

 

 

FF-X7 Core Fighter (Casval's Custom)

 

The highlight for me in this set is the appearance of a new Core Fighter. The Neo Zeon Gundam is making use of the same Core Block system as the regular Gundam so the Core Fighter is a given. Whether this means that Neo Zeon also developed the full G-P.A.R.T.S. system with G-Sky and G-Bull I have no idea but I have certainly never seen any of those vehicles in red colours.

 

The Core Fighter is small enough to fit together with the Gundam inside a regular Converge figure box, with stand and all. I would have gladly paid ¥550 for the basic Core Fighter to appear as a common retail figure but so far Bandai have only hid it away in the rare White Base figure accessory set which is a crying shame.

 

You can notice some slight bending in the fuselage of Casval's Core Fighter. This is the regular experience of dealing with Converge figures, sometimes you are lucky - sometimes you are not. Paying premium prices does not protect against the common afflictions of a basic candy toy. :)

All in all I think this is an excellent little set and a welcome pause from the many oversize figures we have seen lately. I imagine that this set will be quite popular and although fairly easy to source right now it will most likely become scarce and pricy before long so don't sleep on this figure if you are still planning to purchase one.