Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 7.5

Ok, so we are doing one of these re-coloured figure sets again. Ensemble Part 7.5 is the fifth re-release set of a standard volume where the figures are all differently painted from the originals. Since the Ensemble sets are designed around complete waves with their annoying equipment packs Bandai never attempts to shake things up with new gear or modified line-ups, so the sets always end up with figures more suited to re-release than others. From this point of view Part 7.5 is one of the better sets since you don't end up with too many pointless duplicates.


Wave seven and a half was released over the summer in July together pretty much in tandem with volume 18 and has generally been easier to find on the secondary market. At the time of review all the figures I found were from the Gacha capsule version but there are boxed figures out there as well. I will end up buying a figure I don't really need just to get at least one of those cardboard boxes posted up here eventually. :)


UPDATE: Yeah, there we have it. I found a rather banged up box with a spare equipment pack because the collection wouldn't be complete without some extra cardboard and all that...


115 : RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (Titans)


When Ensemble Part 07 was first released in August 2018 only wave 02 had been revived as Part 2.5 but I think it was clear to everyone at that point that the set would return as Bandai likely couldn't resist putting out a Titans Mk-II figure and I am sure it has been positively received by most Ensemble collectors. Mk-II's that come out in Titans colours can vary a lot from figure to figure, Ensemble falls somewhere in the dark navy territory which is a pretty good place to be, not too far from the actual design and not dark enough to have all its detail disappear. The figure has also received the "marking plus upgrade" on top of the faction switch with a really nice Titans emblem on the shield (wouldn't it have been nice if they how could improve on the A.E.U.G. figure too) and the typical made-up markings on the shoulders as well as a pair of triangles on the knees. The shoddy paintwork you see on the thrusters is mine but the poor white paint apps on the shoulders is Bandai's own.


As I already mentioned, there is nothing new under the hood. You get the standard beam rifle, shield and Vulcan Gun headband. I should have flipped the shoulder parts around in the photo to highlight the white paint apps straight from the factory since they are only present on the side facing front.


The two different Mk-II's look great together. I guess I could find a tiny A.E.U.G. sticker for the shield or even try to draw my own to bring it up to the same standard.





116 : RGZ-91 Re-GZ (Marking Plus ver.)


The Re-GZ is probably the least interesting figure in this set, it being a self-contained figure with no new gear or alternate modes on offer. If you have the original figure and the back weapon system bundled with the old Sazabi figure (Ensemble EX08) you could of course display the old figure integrated with the B.W.S. and keep the new figure stand-alone for some interesting variation. The new figure has darker colours and questionable markings on it. We have "E.F.S.F." and a fuzzy Londo Bell insignia on the shoulders, a "RA" on the front skirt (which I guess stands for the Ra Cailum carrier?) and a white smudge on the chest that I can't read. The best part is the yellow E.F.S.F. insignia on the shield that was missing on the old incarnation.


A really traditional line-up of gear as you can see. This wave doesn't even come with one of those clear tooth pick-style beam sabers but I am sure you already own plenty. A word of warning on the two antennas; they are made from soft plastic and like to fall out of their sockets whenever you handle the figure so I would recommend gluing them in place.


I have to say the new figure is definitely a much better looking design than the old one. Sometimes I get conspiratorial and think that Bandai are purposely doing the colours a bit off on the initial wave if they are planning for a reissue...





117 : AMS-119 Geara Doga (Marking Plus ver.)


The original wave 07 was unique as far as Ensemble goes in that it was saturated with Geara Doga figures. While you would normally expect to get two each of every figure in this wave in a 10-box Part 07 was weighed differently with three Geara Dogas in each 10-box at the cost of the Re-GZ of which there was only one, which for a while made it highly sought after and a bit pricey. While I haven't looked inside a Part 7.5 10-box myself a recent user comment confirmed that Part 7.5 will only give two of each mobile suit. Now that we have six figures in the set it is the two Geara Dogas that are instead made the rarest with one figure each for the green and blue variant which certainly sucks from an army building-point of view.


The basic Geara Doga figure comes with beam machine gun and shield to which a quartet of Sturm Fausts is attached. The Marking Plus version of the figure has a beautiful Neo Zeon marking on the front skirt, a tiny white cheek marking and some pointless text on the shield. I lamented the fact that the original figure did not get a yellow Neo Zeon crest on the shield and that should have been the obvious fix-up for a "Marking Plus ver." figure. I suppose the fact that the insignia is sculpted into the shield means it was deemed too costly to paint since printing probably would not work. I guess if you are good at painting you can get a really nice result but no way am I going to try it out.


Apart from unit markings the base colour of the new Doga is darker and more machine-like on the Part 7.5 figure. The dark green areas on the shoulders and skirts are also painted in a stylish metallic finish. All the mechanics on the arms and legs are of course not part of the factory process, even they wouldn't mess up that bad. Man, this just reminds me of how colouring overall is becoming less viable for figures in 2021, as the Bandai designer wrote on their blog the other week.





118 : AMS-119 Geara Doga (Rezyn Schnyder Custom)


I was really happy to learn that Part 7.5 would launch with a bonus 6th variant figure, a simple but highly effective colour variant to match the machine flown by Neo Zeon ace Rezin Schnyder. To me it always seemed like custom machine colour variants would be low-hanging fruit for Bandai to increase their sales but I guess they have their (financial) reasons for avoiding them. This figure looks great at least and has the same metallic colour finish like the new green machine. It features a rank marking on the cheek, a pair of wings on the chest and some bogus "RL" for the Rewloola cruiser on its front skirt. The shield has the same sad "NEO ZEON" marking as the mass production type.


One interesting thing to notice here is that Rezyn's Geara Doga actually isn't a mere colour swap. The figure comes with one of the optional head sculpts and the alternate beam machine gun that are normally found in the equipment pack. So, while there are technically no new components here the distribution has been altered from wave 07. This sort of opens up the can of worms for me as to why we don't get to see more of this in the Ensemble re-issues as far as new optional or additional gear is rarely if ever included.





119 : FXA-05D G-Defenser (Titans ver.)


Ok, so we are back to the Mk-II again. You would think it would make sense to place the Gundam Mk-II next to the Defender in the Ensemble catalogue but this is just how they like to do it, placing the smaller support craft at the end of the set next to the equipment packs. I don't know of the G-Defenser has ever been seen flying the Titans colours in the official lore but I like that the designers chose to include it (and it makes perfect sense from a toy-point of view as well of course). The Titans's style Defenser is quite dark and the cockpit sort of gets lost but overall I still like it.


The simple stand you get with the G-Defenser is intended for use when you build the Super Gundam and does a terrible job acting as a base for the figure itself (not to mention it would be terribly ugly since the colour of the base is the same as the figure). Once again the old Assault Kingdom action bases have to come and rescue Ensemble, will Bandai ever attempt to fix this? (Hint: No, they won't.) Do the lead designers ever lose sleep over this poor design? (Probably not...)


The details on the old G-Defenser stand out very clearly when compared to the muted appearance of the new figure but I still think both look great.





115 + 119 : RX-178+FXA-05D Super Gundam (Titans ver.)


Alright, the main number of this entire wave is of course building the Super Gundam by combining the Mk-II with the Defenser. You basically remove the front cockpit section from the G-Defenser and reposition its landing gear and move its powerful long beam rifle into the hands of the Gundam itself. Technically you are supposed to give up the shield as well but there is no way I will be dropping one of the best looking components from mine. :)


What a great looking duo! Now if only Bandai had come up with a nice clear base for the Defenser section the whole thing would have been even better but you know that terrible stands is par for the course when it comes to Ensemble.


I guess technically I should have purchased three Mk-II figures but I feel completely set with just a pair. You will need a total of two Mk-II's and two G-Defenser boxes for this line-up, the equipment pack is not necessary at all.





120 : Equipment Set for Wave 7.5


The equipment set for wave 07 and 7.5 is unusual in that it covers the Geara Doga only. I guess technically you could have thrown in a beam saber or two for the Gundam and the Re-GZ but you should be well equipped with those already. Instead we get a couple of head-options for the Geara Doga as well as gear to turn it into the "Heavy Armed Type".


We'll cover the commander gear first. It is the same commander antenna and optional beam machine gun that you saw on the Rezyn Schnyder figure and allows you to turn one of your Dogas into the flight leader. If you attempt to mix and match these components with the original parts from wave 07 the results will look a bit odd due to the different greens in use.


The Heavy Armed weapon suit introduces the stupidly named "Lange Bruno" 20cm cannon (I guess someone was trying to come up with a Big Bertha in space...) which is attached to the slightly modified back pack. The figure on display here also uses the third optional head sculpt which really belongs to the AMS-119S Geara Doga Kai, not sure if there is some other official variant out there which uses it too.


The Bruno Gun and attached propulsion tanks are slightly darker than on the original Part 07 figure but you could easily mix and match equipment packs from these two sets with each other as far as the weapons are concerned. The two tanks also have a pair of white stripes on them in the Marking Plus Ver. for no apparent reason.


Rezyn's team is good to go. Will we ever get to see Full Frontal's custom red machine in Ensemble or Converge? STANDart has already shown the way but yes, that means designing a new assault rifle accessory first.




Conclusion

The original Part 07 was a real killer set and this here is more of the same. The fact that you can do a lot with the figures in this set also means it is one of those sets that lets you get almost full use from an entire 10-box. If you don't want to grab both sets the choice of faction for the Mk-II is an important deciding factor. However, if you are into squad building you definitely want to go for the old 07 set since the distribution of Geara Doga mass production machines in that set is terrific while completely anemic in Part 7.5.