Gundam Converge EX 31 : AMA-X2S Neue Ziel II

With a release date in late July, Converge EX 31 felt like it ended up disappearing amidst the general C19-circus taking place during the first wave of infection. I don't really know if it made it into shops as planned, all I know is that I saw the first unit in the Mandarake store in late September. In the past few weeks it has begun appearing more frequently, which is something you would expect from a retail figure after all.

 

The Neue Ziel II is one of the more exotic products in the Converge line for 2020 and something I didn't see coming. It was released in tandem with a reissue of the basic Neue Ziel with "special markings" and has a Bandai suggested price of ¥3500. I ended up paying ¥4000 for this unit myself.

 

The Neue Ziel II figure is an oldschool style Converge figure made out of soft plastic and a limited set of large and chunky components, just the way I want my Converge figures to be. Look at those assembly instructions, you should have this thing built in virtually no time.

 

One of the advantages of the Zeonic designs is that they often focus on appearance rather than mechanics. This is why E.F.S.F. mobile armors with their many details can be nightmares to assemble. The spacenoids generally have figures with larger and simpler to assemble components, something which also helps you handling the figures without having pieces constantly falling off.

 

But hold on a second... Bandai, what the... Even though they put the wings in cardboard protection accidents apparently still do happen. That is a mighty fine warp in a very hard to ignore place. I normally do not fret too much when a Converge figure has some mild warping here and there but this was too prominent to endure. I managed to straighten it out reasonably by doing the ol' place under hot water, bend to shape, replace under cold water method. However, the plastic does like to bend back into the original shape over time.

 

The Neue Ziel II assembled and sitting on its stand. This is a really beautiful machine and I love the colour scheme. The figure has one of those moving Zeonic monoeyes too, although I didn't bother with it for this review.

 

Just like the original Neue Ziel figure this figure has a well designed support system to keep it in the intended position, without having to lock it down tight like on an Ensemble figure. You just slide the figure gently into the maze of clear support pieces and it will display perfectly.

 

The figure comes with two optional arms which are attached to the underside of the wings. These arms have two joints that enable some repositioning and facing of the (really tiny) claws. These claws look really tiny when compared to the original Neue Ziel by the way and not very frightening. The arms are my least favourite aspect of this figure.

 

Each hand has a beam cannon at the center and these can also be used to project two magnificent translucent beam sabers. As much as I like these clear effect parts I still prefer the basic no-arms look of the figure but it is great to have the option (perhaps when the inevitable CORE reissue figure stumbles into the Converge line I will display one of the machines with arms extended...).

 

The Neue Ziel (here the CORE reissue from July 2020) posing with its intended successor. You can clearly see how the design philosophy of the first figure has been carried onto the next. As beautiful as the Neue Ziel II is, I still think that the original Neue Ziel design is the most beautiful EX figure ever released in the Converge line. If you don't have any of these two figures definitely start with the green giant in my opinion.

Overall, the Neue Ziel II figure is a great entry into the Converge EX line-up and follows the spirit of true Converge design as far as size, component proportions and plastic type choices are concerned. The EX-line has had a string of weaker releases for a while now so it is nice to see it back on track.