It is late December 1999. The whole world is holding its breath, collectively awaiting the Y2K systemwide breakdown. The IT-boom is just about to start and your distant auntie in Tokyo has sent you a crisp ¥1000 note for Christmas. You hurry on down to the arcade eager to spend it before doom hits the world and walk into the Gashapon section. You only have to take a few steps before you spot the latest release, the Full Color Stage 12 beckons you in. You exchange the note and burn all ten ¥100 tokens on Zeta Gundam goodies...
If you were lucky enough to do the above, this is some of the items you may have ended up with. Like most of the early sets there are only six items to collect, seeded in no particular rarity to my knowledge. To this date I still haven't seen an SD Gashapon figure in its original capsule, it would be interesting to know a little bit more of how they were packaged back then. What you see here is a set of still in bag figures that you typically encounter in the second hand-market in Japan. This particular set cost me ¥1000 which places it somewhere in the medium range as far as these figures go.
Not a whole lot of assembly is required here. When shopping for loose figures, pay special attention to the fin component for the Zeta Gundam which is a typical item that will go missing. The Hyper Mega Launcher with the Waverider will probably be missing many times as well I imagine.
062 : MSZ-006 Z Gundam (Ver.2.0)
This entire set is devoted to mobile suits from the Zeta Gundam television series. It is the fourth such set, but only the second time the Zeta itself appears. Ts figure looks a bit different to how they are usually depicted. The colour is very dark blue and we get a half-baked action pose at the cost of missing the iconic black and red shield.
The Hyper Mega Launcher carried by the Waverider figure is compatible also with this Zeta. The launcher has two handles so you can choose to display it in use or held at rest, which is a nice touch. The beam rifle of the Zeta is in turn compatible with the Waverider.
My collection still lacks a lot of the early Zetas for some reason, here it poses with a number of the later figures. Notice the very dark blue colour as well as how the figures have shrunk over time.
063 : MSZ-006 Z Gundam (Waverider Mode)
Next up is the Zeta in its mobile armor Waverider mode. The figure has two peg holes, one on top and one at the bottom, which enables it to carry different weapons or sit on the standard SD Full Color action base. No such base is included with the figure and with the Hyper Mega Launcher attached there is no place to attach the base anyway, but I still think it is a bit of a missed opportunity. I have used various bits and bobs to prop the figure up here for this review.
When the Hyper Mega Launcher is removed the peg socket becomes available for the standard action base. Here the Waverider is using the Zeta figure's Beam Rifle as optional armament.
The Waverider returns once, in Stage 63 in 2006, with a translucent atmosphere re-entry effect part. As you can see, the two figures have a lot in common as far as the appearance goes.
064 : RX-178+FXA-05D Super Gundam
Third and last representative of the A.E.U.G. in this set is the final form of the Gundam Mk-II, the Super Gundam. In this mode it docks with the FXA-05D G-Defenser and uses the Defenser's Long Beam Rifle which gives it a highly destructive potential. Being a large contraption made up of two different vehicles the actual figure is of course in a smaller scale than the sizable Z Gundam we just looked at (and the same pattern will hold true for the remaining figures in this set which are all really tiny).
The Super Gundam figure was re-released in the Stage 50 jubilee set as version 1.5 which is essentially the same figure but with a special coin-shaped base. Seen here however is the Super Gundam from Stage 27, which is actually a combination of a separate Z Gundam and G-Defenser figure. I have had more than enough of my fair share of fiddly Super Gundam parts conversions and much prefer figures such as the one from Stage 12 which is good to go right out of the packaging. It is the same story like Macross toys; just give me separate toys for each mode instead of messing with obtuse parts configuration technology (yeah, I guess I am in the minority there...).
065 : ORX-005 Gaplant
The remaining three mobile suits are all massive machines with ridiculous performance across the board. In fact the entire Stage 12 is really crowding with monsters at the high-end of the power spectrum. The sexiest of these is the Gaplant, a tall sleek machine with menacing purpose and transformable ability. The SD version however is short and fat and is dwarfed by most of the SD family of figures. It still retains the attractive colour scheme and an angry stare, but i really wish there was a super-deformed figure to do it proper justice. This is the only Gaplant ever released in the SD line and so it is highly overdue for a revision.
066 : PMX-000 Messala
The Messala has a lot in common with the Gaplant as far as size and shape are concerned, and the result is just as tame in its SD form. The sculpting however is excellent. Look at all that detail on its clawed arm getting ready to smoke an unwitting pilot with a round from the grenade launcher. Just like the Gaplant, the Messala has never been seen in SD form again.
Three of Paptimus Scirocco's experimental mobile suits made it into SD form, the PMX-002 Bolinoak-Sammahn being the missing one. Seen here are the PMX-000 Messala, the PMX-001 Palace-Athene and one of the three different PMX-003 The-O figures available.
067 : RX-160 Byarlant
I have to give a special award to the Byarlant figure as being one of the most horribly disfigured figures ever to grace the SD Gashapon Full Color series. The Full Color Custom series that followed made this style much more common, but at least that can be partially explained by the desire of the designers to make those figures parts swappable. This Byarlant figure is just a statue and as such I think it deserved some artistic flair. The Byarlant was also never reissued - as such these three machines form a sort of sad, forgotten trio.
Conclusion
Stage 12 is a fine set, although I have some personal reservations regarding the art style inflicted upon the Titans suits in particular. The set is however essential if you wish to fill those slots in your mobile suit armory. It hasn't stopped me from purchasing a squadron of Gaplants (and a second unit of Messalas...).
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