SD Gundam Full Color Stage 26

Almost twenty years ago, in September 2001, Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front was released in Japan for the Playstation 2. It lets the player manage the elite Midnight Fenrir Corps and fight for the cause of the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War. Since I was never a console player I haven't had the fortune of trying it out but with an international release in 2002 I bet there are a number of you out there who tried it out. For me though I have to make do with the themed SD Full Color set which released in the summer of 2001 to cross-promote the game I guess.

 

Stage 26 is devoted completely to U.C. mobile suits from the game's era and is as such a perfectly themed release. I guess if I wanted to moan about something it would be that some of the suits in the set could have been replaced to spread some more light on important machines like the Dom and the Dom Fünf rather than the millionth Gundam or Char's Zaku II version but that's how the story always goes.

 

You rarely see complete sets of Full Color figures but some of the figures from this set to show up fairly often in used lots and shops, specifically the Zaku I (which is a nice thing since it is so thematic for Zeonic Front). I did pick up a set earlier in 2020 though and paid ¥1200 for all seven. This puts it in the mid-tier of used Full Color figures that normally range between ¥600 and ¥2000.

 

 

141 : MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type (Ver 3.0)

 

I find it amusing that the Zaku II has the honours of being the front page figure for the booklet. The Gundam comes in as number two and Char as number three. Refreshing!

 

This is the third and final appearance of the Zaku II Ground Type in the series, and as such the premier version. The earlier two incarnations happened way back in 1998 and are armed with a Magella Attack cannon or Missile Pods and a Kracker Grenade. You can of course blend this right into your army of generic Zaku II machines where it will fit like glue. The Midnight Fenrir Corps machines feature a nice white emblem on the shoulder but there isn't really any room on an SD figure to display it. Check out the Gundam Collection 1:400 series for Zaku I's and II's with nice emblems on them, the only two figures ever to carry the insignia to my knowledge.

 

The Zaku II has had many appearances and different colour palettes over the years, this version goes very well with many of the later ones. You can see the earlier Ground Type machine armed with a Magella Cannon next to it.

 

 

142 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver.9.0)

Of couse the set comes with at least one RX-78-2 variant. Other options from the game could have been a Guncannon or perhaps the Mudrock Gundam which could have been a cool inclusion. You can scavenge Guncannons, Guntanks, various GM types and even the Mudrock from other stages in the figure series however.

 

This ninth iteration is a really classic looking RX-78 armed with a Beam Rifle and a shield held out in front. Together with Char's Zaku II this seems like the least interesting figure in the set.

 

 

143 : MS-06S Zaku II (Char's Custom) (Ver.4.0)

I don't know how much Char Aznable is featured in the game but I'd hazard a guess that you meet him on the battlefield here and there. As I mentioned earlier, wouldn't it have been cool if he would have given up his slot for say the MS-09F Dom Fünf instead? It is not like sourcing a random Zaku II in Char's colours is going to be a hassle.

 

Char's machine comes armed with a Zaku Machine Gun and a Knuckle Shield (notice the detail Zeon emblem sculpted on the shield on these two figures). This figure is clearly a repurposed MS-06J figure with an added commander antenna so if you are feeling crafty you could easily repaint it into army green for a line commander suit. The figure is a novelty in that it is equipped with a Knuckle Shield, I'm not sure if this is even canon but I believe this is the only Char colour figure ever made with one.

 

Here the two Zaku II figures from this set switching weapons with each other. Notice that the mass production figure's arm sculpt is different to allow for the larger bazooka weapon to fit in front of the shoulder. This poses no issues for the machine gun but Char will have some difficulty equipping the bazooka.

 

While Char's machines are typically more to the pink than the red in earlier versions and media this machine sits somewhere in the middle of the red spectrum.

 

 

144 : RGM-79[G] GM Ground Type

The second Federation mobile suit to grace this set is one of my favourite GM types, a Ground Type GM armed with a machine gun and a portable missile carrier. If you are feeling crafty you can steal the head and put it on a Ground Type Gundam from another set to create that abomination.

 

I have a couple of these figures and I have encountered no issues with them standing up without toppling even when the missile launcher is held out in front. Having said that, the margin is pretty slim so it is possible you could run into trouble there. I suspect this is why we didn't get a forward facing machine gun (that would have been nice to create some different action poses however).

 

The Ground Type GM scales well with most of the other later era GM's although the basic RGM-79 GM figures themselves tend to be quite large in comparison.

 

 

145 : MS-05B Zaku I (Ver 2.0)

The Zaku I is one of the other signature machines of the Midnight Fenrir Corps. Its clean lines could perhaps have facilitated a unit marking on the left shoulder but I will hope for Bandai and FusionWorks to perhaps do an outrageously expensive Converge CORE box with machines with Fenrir style insignias; what a fantastic release that could be. Here's hoping that the sales for the Shrike Team CORE box have been encouraging. They are certainly hard to find on the secondary market but that might be attributed to supply issues during the pandemic rather than popularity. I am still trying to source a box by the way, I actually ordered one earlier today, let'shope it isn't already sold out again... :)

 

The Midnight Fenrir Corps version Zaku I is armed with a very nicely sculpted and painted Heat Hawk for close combat. It still sucks that Bandai haven't made a figure carrying the old Zaku Machine Gun and Shield combo, too many Zaku I figures are released into the void unarmed just because of that one scene in Mobile Suit Gundam... Again the 1:400 scale collection has you covered here with many good gear choices (props also to FusionWorks for a properly geared up 1:220 Zaku I in the FW Ultimate Operation figure line).

 

As this line-up painfully illustrates, three of the five Zaku I figures released are fist fighters which is ridiculous. The fifth figure from the more recent and modular SD Gundam Full Color Custom line is armed with a menacing Poison Gas Launcher for subduing unruly civilian populations. You could always swap weapons with another Zaku II to get a machine gun or bazooka into its hand.

 

 

146 : MS-07B Gouf (Ver 3.0)

Next up we have a classic Gouf in its third iteration of around half a dozen different ones seen among the SD Full Color and SD Full Color Custom ranges. And there is a whole lot to appreciate about it.

 

Just like the Zakus in this set this is a very clean looking figure with beautiful colour choices, moving towards a brighter blue colour compared to early appearances which tend to be very dark in style. It comes armed with a menacing whip-style Heat Rod and the shield carrying-arm also has the iconic five finger 75mm battery.

 

Here are some of the many Goufs (and Gouf Customs) released in the range (they appear to be quite popular since they can be hard to source compared to say the Zaku II).  The version 1.0 figure from 1998 on the right is considerably larger and more cartoony in its appearance and the same goes for the Heat Sword brandishing 2.0 figure on the left.

 

 

147 : DODAI YS

The last figure in this lot is of course one of my favourites. I was drawn into the SD figure range for its (relative) multitude of vehicles and mobile armors and the DODAI YS ground attack craft here is one of my top picks from the One Year War era. I was hoping we would eventually get to see one in the MicroWars range but that line seems to have curled up into a ball and died as I haven't seen any announcements for months now. The last set is proving really hard to source as well, while the early sets are currently being dumped on the secondary market. I assume the series didn't perform as well as initially hoped.

 

The DODAI YS comes on one of the generic action bases common to the Full Color line-up, treat these carefully as I see many such damaged bases on the second hand market. Nowadays I tend to buy duplicate figures such as Gundams when I encounter them to build up a little supply, especially for figures that are compatible with them but do not come with a stand in the capsule. Notice by the way the nice separation of colour on the engine exhausts but the curious omission of paint on the missile battery up front, usually it tends to be the obvious around.

 

The DODAI figures of course allows your mobile suits to ride on them which - although defying all sorts of gravity theory - is a cool way to display them. Notice how the rudders have been purposely flattened on the sculpt to enhance playability before aesthetics. By the way, does the DODAI YS feature n the game? Its name is not listed in the tech section for the game on the Gundam Wiki.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Wow, I am really in love with this set. Allthe figures look great and have beautiful vibrant colours and there is a heavy focus on army building. This set seems a given for an U.C. 0079 collector although you will probably have to scour used mixed lots on e.g. eBay or in local shops to find them.