The other week I was digging through my un-built Senshi Forte backlog vainly trying to bring it under a bit of control. Among the various Efreet and GINN type army builders (and the cursed Bawoo, the worst figure in SF history) I also had an entire lot of volume 09 figures still in their bags. Well, I finally received the missing Zeta Plus figure and so could get to work on it (and the fingers appreciated the switch from Bawoo for a while).
Part 09 was released two years ago in June 2019. I recall running around in Bangkok at the time trying to secure a set, but they were sold out or not stocked anywhere. The sellers who had had them in would typically them in batches of four (with either the Zeta A1 or C1 in a single batch). In the end I purchased two full sets from a seller in Hong Kong for $21.00 per lot which was still decent. I have since added a couple of extra Jegans and Zetas from Japan and it sure took its sweet time. It is only now that I have managed to complete a full squad of GINNs as well and those guys were out in October 2018...
F061 : RX-93 Nu Gundam
You know it is only a question of time before the RX-93 and the Sazabi make it into a Gundam figure line. In the case of Senshi Forte however it took 2.5 years since the series' inception but I would say it was clearly worth the wait. This is a great sculpt and the figure has the basic gear you expect it to. With a little bit of marker pen here and there it will look even better.
The Nu Gundam comes armed with both a beam rifle and a bazooka and one fin funnel set. As usual the figures in this wave also include optional open hands as well as the revised figure stands with extra peg holes for the option hands. I have stopped using these stands by now (because I am sick of the figures falling over each time you want to pick one up from a box...) so although you won't see them in the review they are still present as usual.
The RX-93 might have been late to the party but the Hi-Nu Gundam was there from the start in 2017 (and has even been released in three different forms).
The evolution of the RX-93 as seen in Gashapon Warrior NEXT 03 (July 2011), DASH 02 (August 2015) and Senshi Forte 09 (June 2019). Notice that the previous two versions are equipped with the unique looking curved beam saber. You can steal the Jegan's translucent red beam saber as a nice option for the Senshi Forte figure to wield.
F062 : MSN-04 Sazabi
Next up is the Nu Gundam's eternal enemy, a very stubby and wide looking Sazabi. Even in super deformed form this Sazabi has great proportions but I think I would have preferred it a bit taller. The figure has Char's logo on the front skirt and a decoratively painted shield (this brings me back to how they skipped painting the MicroWars version's shield... I never got over that). I will probably add some red paint to the six funnels in the racks on the back, which will make the figure look even better.
The Sazabi gets the economy treatment and is armed with its basic beam rifle included. The suit has very lavish gear both in beam and rifle form so it is a little bit disappointing not to see anything extra included here.
The Sazabi has an evolution tree similar to that of the Nu Gundam, since they keep following each other around. Again we have the NEXT 03 version, the tall DASH 02 variant and the scaled down Senshi Forte figure. Here you can clearly see the refinement in the basic figure form - the Senshi Forte figure's proportions are really excellent when compared to the previous incarnations. You can also steal a beam saber from one of these earlier figures if you want to use one.
The Neo Zeon crew now consists of the Sazabi flanked by a couple of Geara Dogas from the very first Senshi Forte set. Good luck trying to army build these; if you weren't there in 2017 chances are you will never see them again.
F063 : RGM-89 Jegan
Alright, that's the two bosses out of the way, now we can look forward to the first of the three army builder machines. First out is the Earth Federation's beautiful Jegan. While the colour of the figure mostly resembles toothpaste you can easily improve upon its appearance wt a bit of marker pen here and there. I love the look of this figure and really wish that it would return to Senshi Forte in its D-type configuration paired with the brown ECOAS variant.
The Jegan figure is decked out with both a beam rifle and an expensive looking beam saber (the type that Ensemble retail figures can only dream about...) and a shield. I wish the EFSF logo on the shield was prepainted because I don't want to try messing with that myself - it is awfully small.
Together with the last year's Re-GZ figure from Senshi Forte Part 11 we now also have a nice line-up for Londo Bell. It is really only the two Jagd Dogas that are missing from the main cast of Char's Counterattack but I doubt we will see them in Senshi Forte form (in fact I am starting to doubt that we will ever see any further Senshi Forte figures full stop).
F064 : MSZ-006A1 Zeta Plus A1
While I don't particularly like the equipment sets that we see in Mobile Suit Ensemble (and now recently also returned to Gundam Converge Plus) I sure prefer them to the A+B type distribution that Senshi Forte has been mucking about with for a long time. The way this makes certain figures harder to get (and also the most interesting ones too) is a bit like rare cards in collectible cardgames. This wave's victim is the Zeta Plus, seen here in its planetside A1 form intended for atmospheric flight. It is another great sculpt but just like the Jegan it is very flatly painted and so you'll likely want to enhance it further with some panel lining or similar. Notice the colour variation on the shield component which is clearly painted on for some bizarre reason.
Be careful when removing the arm components from the sprues. I wasn't really paying attention and so cut off the (in my defence, enormous) pegs on both arms on the first figure before I realized there was now no place to attach the shield. The peg on the other arm is used for the C-variants large rifle. Luckily I am in the squad building business so I could easily work around the problem but I would have been really mad if I had done that mistake on a figure of which I only had one single copy. You can see the large ugly peg on the figure's right arm here, I will most likely cut them off once I have decided on the exact armament of each figure.
This picture shows the different components unique to the A1 (left) and the C1 (right) figure variant. It doesn't bother me that I have to purchase one of each figure since this is a mass production type suit, but it would have been really annoying if it was a unique type mobile suit. Well, as long as you can manage to pick up multiples of a figure which is already half as common as the others in the set that is...
F065 : MSZ-006C1 Zeta Plus C1
Here we have the space type C1 variant of the Zeta Plus with its additional thrusters on the back and the signature beam smart gun. Here I am posing the figure with the smart gun equipped and standing at ease. In the latter pose it is simply leaning on an open hand and is not attached to the figure in any way.
I wonder how much it would have cost Bandai to include the complete A1/C1 parts list with a single figure, but I can imagine that it is probably quite significant.
Considering that it took me two full years to complete the line-up above I wonder when I can finally do a Serpent squadron for Senshi Forte 13... :)
Conclusion
The Senshi Forte figures are a bit of a pain to collect outside of Japan (and a painful to assemble as well, at least the early sets...) but I always feel really pleased when I manage to complete a set. This particular lot is a highly thematic and great looking and should be high up on your grab list already as it is bound to become only harder to find with time. Actually I am a bit concerned with the way Gundam Gashapon figures sort of disappeared from Bandai's generic Gashapon blog in the past year and a half. Sure, there is still Ensemble kicking about but SD figures seem to be in rather sort supply these days.
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