2021 has seen a string of excellent Mobile Suit Ensemble releases, both in the basic retail sets and the EX-line. Out of all of them this is the set I had been looking forward to the most. By a large margin. While we are drowning in Freedom and Strike variations we very rarely get to see much of the extended Gundam line-up from the Cosmic Era. The set was released under the Premium Bandai program in August with a very intimidating price tag of ¥9350. On the other hand, Bandai wants almost ¥5000 for a Strike Freedom or Gundam Virtue alone, but for this crazy money you really expect something special.
The peculiar "Boosted Man" designation on the cover is seen in Gundam media here and there. What is referred to is a crew of experimental pilots that have undergone special training and conditioning, including medical implants, somewhat akin to what would be called cyber-newtypes in the Universal Century timeline. Referred to as biological CPUs each of the O.M.N.I. pilot team is paired with a particular experimental mobile suit from the Earth Alliance's second generation designs. The machines have wildly different profiles and characteristics and feature some of the best looking mobile suit faces of all time.
While the Earth Alliance finally got their mobile suit program up and running the task of piloting these new war machines proved taxing for the average pilot and so the Biological CPU research is aimed at increasing pilot skill, aggression and survivability in battle. The first generation test crew, whose personal records have all been deleted, are entering battle in a strange mental state and are all highly addicted to Gamma Glipheptin. Pilots are administered these drugs in smaller doses to ensure their cooperation as the withdrawal reaction is extremely painful.
Besides the superb front cover the packaging style also does a nice little nod to the title cards of the mobile suits as the show up in the television series introduction.
As usual the box is jam-packed with contents and an instruction that has to be folded to fit inside. The basic figures are all very typical standard Ensemble figures although they feature some special parts that take up a lot of room and three large bases.
GAT-X133 Calamity Gundam
The Calamity is of fine pedigree, tracing its root to the GAT-X100 series which includes the Strike, Duel and Buster. While the previous three are pretty traditional designs the Calamity has larger energy cells and new Trans Phase Armor that increases flight duration compared to the weaker Phase Shift Armor of the first generation machines. Like its predecessors the machine lacks flight capability and its pair of 125mm Beam Cannons give it excellent long range and anti-air capability. Hidden in its chest sits a 58cm high energy cannon "Scylla" that keeps any would-be enemies away and the loadout is rounded out by a hand-held 337mm Bazooka.
The colouring of the components is overall quite nice. I would recommend filling in the gaps in the chest armor to make its 3-effect stand out well. The shield could also benefit from some yellow paint for the three thrusters that sit around its top side, I may go back and try to paint it later. The back-mounted Beam Cannons are of course very heavy but I had little problem having the figure stand upright without a base but any dynamic poses are of course out of the question without a base.
The Calamity is piloted by Orga Sabnak, stage two enhancement implants. He is the de-facto team leader of the trio although no semblance of structure or organization can be traced as each pilot more or less acts at his own discretion. Like the others he turns into a crazed monster on the battlefield, recklessly and carelessly spreading destruction around him. In his spare time he can be seen relaxing with a book in hand. Apparently he has a soft spot for young adult novels...
GAT-X252 Forbidden Gundam
The Forbidden Gundam has a very different profile compared to the Calamity. While its frame is based on the GAT-X207 Blitz, the Forbidden trades the Mirage Colloid stealth system for a sophisticated and highly effective energy deflection armor that makes the machine extremely resilient since it simply can shake off both physical and energy attacks. Its weapons are still just as brutal. Besides the terrible Nidhoggr scythe it also has access to pair of 88mm Railguns and a backpack mounted Plasma Induction Cannon. The suit needs to transform into its High Speed Assault Form to access these more powerful weapons and lacks any powerful handheld ranged weapons.
Some really nice components for the Forbidden here. The two sub-arms for the shields take up a lot of room in the box compared to how tiny they are when assembled.
The Biological CPU for the Forbidden, Shani Andras, is at the stage four implant level which presumably makes him the most attuned (or messed up) of the pilots. His personality is reserved and brooding and he usually prefers and he seems to live inside his head disconnected from the world around him, often with a pair of headphones shutting out society. His fighting style somewhat resembles his personality traits in being less deranged and more deliberate.
Spotting the Forbidden Gundam in its mobile suit mode is actually quite uncommon. This typically only happens when the machine is landed on the ground or not in need of its ranged weaponry.
The transformation of the Ensemble figure into the High Speed Assault mobile armor mode involves removing the head and then tilting the backpack forward over its shoulders and then re-attaching the railguns to face forward. It works quite well although the figure can't really match the flair of the 2D animated figure with its graceful limbs and freedom from actual mechanical constraints. :)
It is difficult to recreate the Forbidden Gundam's iconic sweeping scythe or shield wall but I think the Ensemble figure works well and does accomplish what it sets out to do.
GAT-X370 Raider Gundam
I saved my favourite for last because oh man, do I love the Raider. Its X300-series designation places it in the highly transformable family of the GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam. Designed for high speed and maneuverability in atmospheric flight its name implies the mission profile of the machine, striking quickly and decisively and then dodging out of harm's way. The Raider also has a really cool blue variant called the GAT-333 Raider (Full Specification). The X370 is supposedly a semi-complete form of the Full Spec machine lacking its large wing unit. The Full Spec Raider hails from the SEED-MSV line and can be glimpsed briefly in SEED Destiny sequel.
While its colour scheme is less spectacular than the other two machines it has stylish red trim on various parts of its body. Two external weapons are included; the dual barreled shield cannon that attaches to the side of the arm and a peculiar semi-ranged melee weapon in the form of a spiked mace attached to a long anti-beam coated controlling cable. Its more menacing high energy weapons are usable only in mobile armor mode.
The Biological CPU of the Raider Gundam is the completely psychotic stage three implant level Clotho Buer. He is truly insane and lives for the fight. In his spare time he keeps the adrenalin flowing playing shoot 'em ups on a portable gaming console. Like the other pilots of the Boosted Man trio his given name refers to one of the 72 demons described in the Ars Goetica. It would appear that O.M.N.I. has completely erased the identity of these men. Clotho Buer's file as well as the Raider make a cameo appearance in SEED Destiny when Z.A.F.T. raids the Lodonia research facility where the earth alliance is developing its Extended program, which is a further refinement of the process seen in SEED. And on a side note, why Athrun Zala reacts when seeing Buer's face on a monitor I don't understand, surely the two never met?
I just want to take another moment to point out that Buer and Raider have an awesome combined animation of their respective faces, you can really see how the two have become one. The Raider also has by far the coolest Gundam face in general. :)
Deploying the Mjölnir Spherical Breaker. A rocket-boosted steel ball that can punch through even Phase Shift Armor. The long control cable has protective coating that enables it to be used as a shield by spinning it really fast like a helicopter rotor (ok, this is really dumb). The Ensemble figure can either store the unused mace on the front skirt or equip it to a handlebar. We get a fairly generous length extension bar to represent the cable when the weapon is deployed, enough to create some interesting dioramas at least.
The beast weapon of the Raider however, is its Zorn short-range 100mm high energy cannon which fires from the mobile suit's mouth. This is just insanely cool and I think Bandai missed a trick here. I would really have liked an option face plate and a glowing effect part, here I am messing about with the METEOR beam saber accessory and a pair of unfortunate Senshi Forte Z.A.F.T. mobile suits.
In mobile armor mode the mobile suit leans forward transforming into a bird-like form. Its two enormous claws normally stored on the side skirts swing forward and down and resemble birds legs but each claw also holds an Ahura Mazda short range Plasma Cannon for additional fire-power. The double barreled cannon seen on the suit's right arm in mobile suit mode somehow ends up on the left arm after the transformation, not really sure how that works.
Transforming the Ensemble Raider figure into its bird-form involves removing the arms and keeping the shoulder components only, which are then attached at a 90 degree angle. The claws are repositioned forward and the head has an extra peg hole at the back so that it can be reattached facing forward. It looks kind of strange when viewed from the side but looks alright head on. You can of course attach the head facing downwards as well. The action base has an extra stand with a shaped peg tilted 90 degrees to allow the figure to be lying flat in mid-air. A second smaller stand is intended to prop up the head but I had trouble figuring out exactly how Bandai intended for it to work so I just left it out as it is not important for a quick photo shoot anyway.
Two bonus pieces are included to emulate the pair of 76mm machine guns that deploy from inside the Raider's shoulders. I'd hate to maintain this thing as it looks insanely complicated.
Since the Calamity Gundam lacks flight ability the Raider is designed to carry it on its back into the combat zone. This can also be achieved with the Ensemble figure. While it would be difficult to balance a figure on the Raider's small wings and back a small extra stand is included to connect the two figures together via the standard action base peg hole on the Calamity. You should be able to use this for other mobile suits too of course since these are standardised components but be careful not to damage them since they can be quite fragile.
I have to say that the look of the two Ensemble figures piled on top of each other looks a bit uncomfortable, especially when you know how mean the real 2D version looks. Due to the tall base of the Raider it also becomes a bit tricky if you want to set up a battle scene since the opponent will also need to be propped up from the ground quite far. After the review I just switched my Raider back into mobile suit mode and from that it will never again stray.
As usual I do not like the large footprints provided by the Ensemble action bases so here is the designated place in the review where I whine about those a little bit. When possible, I always look at options based on the very dynamic Assault Kingdom stands which allow for an incredible range of poses and can be combined to create larger bases for multiple figures at once.
And yes, speaking about fragile parts. The special base for the Raider's flight mode is very thin and sits very tightly in the socket of the mobile suit. Even though I tried to be really gentle some amount of force will have to be applied to get the damned thing out again and after gently wiggling it in small movements the plastic snapped and lodged inside the socket. Absolutely useless design and I can only thank the small fortune that I do not want to deploy the raider in its MA mode again because that would have made me furious.
Conclusion
In spite of a few annoying things - mostly to do with the bases - I find the O.M.N.I. Gundam team a superb Ensemble release. Since all of the machines operate highly destructive energy weapons a couple of translucent effect parts would have made for a really nice inclusion (oversized V2 Assault-Buster energy shield I am looking at you...), they don't have much in the way of hand-held equipment after all. Considering their high price I wonder just how many units have been made compared to more popular mobile suits so I wonder if this set will become a bit of a rarity, so I wouldn't sleep on it for too long.
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