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.
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