MegaHouse Gundam Military Generation - Earth Federation Soldier

When G.M.G. dropped early 2021 I was caught completely unaware and quickly developed a symptom of advanced jawdrop. It didn't help once I had the figures in hand either - I hadn't had this much fun with mini figures since good ol' Assault Kingdom. Naturally I have been keeping a close eye on the series' development since then and struck like a cobra when the first items hit the Mandarake store in late April.


If you missed them last time around, the MegaHouse G.M.G. figures are highly articulated action figures with a lot of accessories and swappable hands, kind of like the Robot Spirits figures for mobile suits themselves. Scaled at 1:18 the first set saw a trio of Zeon soldiers and so it was only natural that a follow-up featuring Earth Federation infantry should appear.


Similar to the previous set, we get three apparently nondescript characters in basic uniform. If they are made to the likeness of any characters that appear in a game, manga or anime it is beyond my knowledge I'm afraid. Each figure features a different body type and set of accessories, some of which are shared and some which are unique to each figure. The Zeon soldiers each carried a part of a heavy machine gun to be combined (as a lure to get you to invest in the full set). Here the shared components are still themed together but function on their own in isolation and so do no not utilize the same merciless sales tactic.



Earth Federation Soldier 01


There is no innovation in the packaging since last time, we still get the oversized cardboard boxes that feature two separate plastic trays for the components. Since they aren't visible from outside anyway this seems like a tremendous waste of space and probably only exists to increase shelf-presence. I plan to discard the accessory trays and keep two figures in each box instead because yes, of course I want to buy two of each.


The first E.F.F. soldier is the normal build type. He wears the basic federation uniform which appears ill-suited for waging war but on the other hand it works equally well on the bridge of a starship and so is quite useful for whatever environment you want to place them in. Articulation is mainly centered around a set of tiny balljoints with double-jointed swivel action in the elbows and knees. Hands operate using traditional swivel action but also feature an extra swivel of their own at the wrist. The feet sit on very fragile balljoints (haven't managed to break one this time...) and the toes feature an extra bend action as well.


Each Zeon figure came with two different head sculpts, basically helmeted and non-helmeted versions. Still, the faces were quite different and you can easily work them as six individual characters rather than three which I took as excuse for purchasing a second set. There are some design differences with the E.F.F. soldiers however since these are clearly the same people which means I'm not sure if it is such a good idea to double them up. This disappoints me a bit because I definitely prefer being able to create two unique characters rather than giving the same soldier a minor cosmetic difference. The Earth Federation soldiers also introduce swappable face parts with a unique expression for each of them as we shall see some examples of below, an invention not present in the Zeon gang.


Just like the Zeon soldiers, all Federation troops have access to a battle harness which allows them to carry additional gear. Putting it on means exploding the upper body of the figure and so I don't really want to mess with these too much, they tend to stay on once I have attached them. Each federation harness comes with two peg holes on the front side for minor pockets and holsters (replacing the ones on the uniform) and a universal plug on the back side for donning one of the extra pieces of equipment.


Soldier one comes with a rubbery poncho that can be carried on top of the uniform. I found that it didn't really fit over the helmet but fine with the un-helmeted heads. On the back you can see this soldier's back mounted gear, a small utility pack. All the Federation soldiers can carry each others' backpacks but the Zeon and federation figures have different pegs so you cannot mix and match between them, which I find rather disappointing and a missed opportunity for some extra fun.


Besides combat gear and weapons our frontline man also carries some field rations complete with a sticker sheet to label them. This is really neat but the stickers are of the usual type that will begin to unwrap themselves and so you may want to skip them. The jars all have a nice metallic finish to them anyway.




Earth Federation Soldier 02


Taking a cue from the Zeon team figure 02 is the large burly man although he doesn't appear to be quite as grumpy as his spacenoid counterpart. Although the box looks pretty full to begin with when you boil it down you don't really get a whole lot of equipment here, which I find a bit suspicious. The federation soldiers all carry the same rifle and sidearm, soldier one carries a bazooka and this guy some kind of man-portable mortar (I guess..?). The third soldier has no extra weapon at all, which seems a bit lacking.


While this bloke's body is a bit more compact it does not affect the articulation noticeably. As with the Zeon gang all team members also have their own personal size battle harnesses. The Zeon harnesses even carried the figure's number on them but not so here, presumably because there is no good spot to place it. You shouldn't have any trouble figuring out which gear goes with which person if you mix them up, however.


I'm sorry, but what the hell is going on here? At first I thought this man carried a really small beret but it appears to be his weird choice of hairstyle. This makes it even harder for me to motivate purchasing a second figure for army-building purposes. A little bit depressing.


Our second man has the same type of battle harness as the others but also carries a little backpack that can be worn directly over the uniform. It has a dubious colour resembling a school bag more than anything but at least it is nice to have an optional piece of gear. Next to it we have the strange portable mortar or single-use rocket launcher; I'm not sure how it is supposed to be used. The guy on the box cover just carries it under his arm.


Battle fatigue? Once Amuro went around and beat up all the Zakus single-handedly all that was left to do was eat rations or read cheap magazines, but hey, a soldier's life is never easy. Again you will find that perhaps these accessories work better without the provided stickers. It wouldn't be too hard to pen some lines into the open pages yourself and the colour matching between the stickers and plastic also leaves a bit to be desired.




Earth Federation Soldier 03


Our feddie team is rounded out - to no one's surprise - by a female soldier. As equipment goes, she is really stuck with the junk. Apart from the two basic weapons and harness she doesn't even get the backpack but instead a flight pack option. She also has a pair of binoculars and a a smoke grenade. I note that the grenade does not have peg that allows it to be carried in belt, something that was present in the Zeon explosive grenade. Overall each team member in the Earth Federation unit has the exact same two accessories for their belts; one carrying pocket and a tiny pistol holster. Unlike the Zeon soldiers their belts also do not feature any peg holes on the back, so carrying limit is also down from four to two. I think this is a little sad, it wouldn't exactly have exploded the budget to throw in a couple of extra carrying pockets and/or grenades to be able to customize each soldier's loadout a bit. The last two accessories are just random junk, a banged up canister where the crew have started a camping fire and an enormous spent bullet casing, presumably from a mobile suit machine gun round.


Soldier three is the shortest and leanest build of the three and I find the easiest to do dynamic poses. I haven't brought it up in the review yet but remember to be very careful when you break in the individual joints or you may find that you break them off instead. New figures can have very tight ball joints specifically, avoid using force with uncooperative joints whenever you can. Once used they quickly loosen up and I wonder if too much playing around will present issues further down the road. I always try not to stress the figures too much.


I really would have liked a different hairstyle here but we have to make do with a simple helmeted option. I realize now that another really cool accessory would have been a headset. There are so many characters doing comms duty in Gundam storylines that it would have been a handy inclusion. By the way, doesn't the helmet look a tad bit uncomfortable? It reminds me of my first week in basic training. The first helmet I received was like a large bowl and when I hit the dirt it would inevitably fall forward over my eyes like an auto-blinding sci-fi visor...




Conclusion

While I may have brought up a point or two in this review where I think MegaHouse took an easy way out I really treasure the G.M.G. figures and perhaps even the Earth Federation team a bit more. While the accessory count is a little bit limited for this group the optional face parts are a fun gimmick but I would really like MegaHouse to consider shipping alternate character heads to encourage proper army-building. Stay tuned for the third set which is intended to hit the stores in September and will feature none other than Char Aznable himself together with a pair of really gritty looking mobile suit pilots. Looking forward to see them in action!

Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Figure Museum

Before the Sergeant had earned those Shokugan stripes he'd went on an assignment to Tokyo's old Asakusa district to scout the Senso-ji temple grounds. Things were simpler those days; scenery could be taken in peacefully without any angst of the "got to make it back to Akihabara before seven"-type of concern that comes with being on a mission these days. A beam rifle blast away from the temple we happened to walk past an office tower guarded by lifesize statues of characters like Ultraman and Doraemon and the lobby was filled with toy exhibits facing the outside. We smiled at the statues and peaked through the windows a little at the now closed showroom and continued to the temple. Later I would learn that we had just passed Bandai's Komagata headquarters and I can only imagine what interesting sights we missed out on there.


Now why am I going on about this random piece of nostalgia and not getting to the point the reader wonders. Simply because the figures under scrutiny in this review carry the word museum in the title. As far as I can tell this is not a showroom exclusive like some of the other Bandai Museum exclusives we've come across but looks to be an aesthetic choice of words only. It doesn't help that this appears to be a complete one-off either. The closest relative would be another five-set called the Banpresto SEED Destiny Figure Collection that sports a couple of versions of the Impulse Gundam together with the X24S Chaos and the warship LHM-BB01 Minerva.


The SEED Figure Museum set with its decorative and differently coloured packaging was released in 2003 during the height of the Gundam SEED craze and consists of five neatly packaged figures in rather cramped boxes. I would classify these figures as not impossible but quite hard to find, I have mostly seen the odd figure out of packaging here and there but finally managed to grab a full set with the last missing items in 2021. While rare they are not pricey - I paid ¥1500 for a complete set.


GAT-X105 Strike Gundam


The Museum set is mostly showing off suits and vehicles from the early phase of the series (before Earthfall pretty much). As such we get to see the basic Strike Gundam armed here with a simple pair of Armor Schneider combat knives. While you can see that the legs aren't completely aligned the entire figure is made from less bendy plastic than the average Gashapon and all pegs are shaped which means that this is the one and only pose you will get out of it. Notice also the detailed paintjob with lots of black on all sides of the figure. Stuff like this you have to do yourself these days...


It sure is crowded inside these boxes. This parts shot should give you an idea of the build of the figure, it is simple but effective.


For a couple of comparisons I have selected these two figures. On the left a MegaHouse Chess GAT-X103 Buster Gundam (non-scale, also from 2003) and a Launcher Strike Gundam in roughly 1/280 scale from Seika's Sharpener EX collection (I think it is from 2004).





LCAM-01XA Archangel


Spaceship figures are always hard to come by and I was really delighted when I encountered my first and battered Archangel on eBay in 2015. For several years I had no idea where it came from and I assumed it was perhaps from a Mecha Selection or Mobile Armor collection set. While it shares some similarities with those it is far more elaborate in design and paintjob. One of the figures sadly misses its lower fins but I will attempt to have that part molded from another. It would be cool to paint up a couple of custom ships for the class. :)


The peg used for the figure is a simple circular type with a round hole and so no ball-joint. While this limits posing it also helps protect the figure from damage that can occur when figures sit atop ball-joints and the fragile stand snaps in half (which has happened to the occasional MegaHouse Cosmo Fleet figure I am sad to report).


The closest kin of the Figure Museum Archangel would be the Minerva of the 2005 Banpresto SEED Destiny Figure Collection (which I am currently still hunting for with slim success) and its closest likeness is the MegaHouse Cosmo Fleet Archangel from 2011. The Cosmo Fleet figure is also quite rare and pricier; expect to pay around ¥2000 to ¥3000 for it.





TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero


The Zero is a curious mobile armor design which bases its idea of a modular system of four gun pods that can be disconnected and remote controlled by wire by the pilot of the main unit - kind of like the bit-type weapons on Zeon's various Newtype designs. Exactly how the Zero's pods are controlled is unclear to me, is it a mind-machine interface or the world's fiddliest controls? Considering how each pod also contributes speed and maneuverability to the main craft it must be extra difficult to operate it with much success. It is not surprising that the design was dumbed down into the TS-MA2 Moebius craft instead. It still remains a true beauty though (the panted eyes are superb) and this Banpresto figure is the best version I have seen of it thus far.


While you could modify the figure to remote-operate some of its auto cannon-pods you would still have to create the cannons and open hatches from scratch. The 1:400 Gundam Collection Gashapon series features a Moebius Zero with four removable pods (that quite like to remove themselves by the way...) out of which one was in open configuration so if you purchased a couple it opened up for some different configurations.


The Zero together with the Orb Union's hopelessly outdated mobile worker MAW-04 Mistral (MegaHouse Gundam Chess, 2003) and the successor to the Zero, the TS-MA2 Moebius (also from the MegaHouse Chess series). There is a Moebius Zero also in the MegaHouse Chess series but I don't have one available for comparison.





ZGMF-1017 GINN


While you can still see some of the features of the MS-06 Zaku II present in the basic GINN design I really think the designers struck gold with the different Z.A.F.T. mass production-type mobile suits. While both streamlining the design and getting rid of tubing the entire profile is changed by the large angelic wing-style back mounted thrusters that we also see in the successor designs. The colour scheme is also highly unique and appealing and this is done full justice in full 360. No GINN figure tends to look as good as the ones in the anime since their proportions are probably best suited for two dimensions. The Banpresto figure performs well although perhaps the head and wings could have been a bit larger in relation to the rest of the body.


This GINN figure comes armed with both a MMI-M8A3 Assault Rifle and a MA-M3 Heavy Blade which stands in for the customary beam saber. The GINN has many interesting weapon options but the sword does not rank among my favourites (even though the detail on it is great here).


Posing together with two different GINNS from the Seika Sharpener collection (ca 1:280). Notice the very different proportions of their bodies. The leftmost figure has a very awkward pose with fins that appear way larger than they need to be but I think the middle figure captures the spirit of the GINN the best out of this trio.





ZGMF-515 CGUE


The complex Z.A.F.T. suits rarely get to make the jump into figure form and I assume they pose considerable challenges for the toy designers. At the same time it must be easier to create fixed-pose Gashapon figures compared to the sometimes questionable looking scale model kits. I would really like to have seen what the FusionWorks design team could have brought out of these suits if they placed them in the slightly buffed up Ultimate Operation figure line for example. Here I think the designers have come up with an interesting and sharp pose for the CGUE and its simple but detailed paint scheme also looks great. Traditionally the CGUE figures tend to be light grey but this one goes more in the direction of minty toothpaste while perhaps not entirely accurate still looks very much the business.


The CGUE figure also wields two weapons; a 76mm MMI-M7S Heavy Assault Gun (an improvement of the GINN standard rifle) as well as a Gouf Custom Gatling Shield-look alike which in the Cosmic Era universe is known as the M7070 Vulcan System Shield.


As nice as this figure is my favourite CGUE can be found in the Gashapon HG line and it is just more of everything - what a monster! Notice the larger proportions on pretty much all detail including the Vulcan Shield, I love it so much.


On the topic of badass Z.A.F.T. mobile suits I just want to bring in a couple of relatives here. First we have the ZGMF-LRR704B Long Range Reconnaissance Type GINN that should in my opinion be mandatory in every figure collection because that thing is just insane. Instead I have to make do with this rare SEIKA Sharpener EX figure from lord knows what set, I stumbled across it by accident in a toy market in Bangkok a couple of years ago. In the center we have a ZGMF-600 GuAIZ from the regular MegaHouse Chess series that looks a bit underwhelming to be honest. I don't get why these suits aren't more popular. Sigh...





Conclusion

Summing up, what we have here is a rather exquisite team of Cosmic Era figures that delivers in spades as far as the presentation goes. As is usually the case with this type of one-offs it can be hard for them to find a proper space in a display based on scale compatibility. I will of course still recommend them to any Gundam SEED-oriented figure collectors in a heartbeat.