Gundam Converge CORE 031 : PF-78-1 Perfect Gundam & MSN-02 Perfect Zeong

Sometimes Bandai loves to throw a real Converge curveball and announce, completely unexpected, a really obscure figure set. We saw it recently for example with the Anchor/Phantom Gundam set and before then I still think the Shrike Team box set was the most impressive of its kind. Today's subject for reviewing however felt almost like a given, considering both suits' recent appearance in the newly introduced Mobility Joint Gashapon line. Although these crossovers don't tend to happen when I really, really want them to there was just no way that Bandai would ignore the chance to do a Perfect Zeong in the Converge series. And so here we are, with the advent of the Plamo Kyoshiro manga-inspired set featuring two perfect mobile suits.


You'll notice that the box artwork of this release has a bit in common with the previously mentioned Crossbone Gundam themed Anchor/Phantom Gundam release from last year, in that an artist has been brought in to do a manga-themed image for the front cover, in this case famed Nijiichi Yamato, author of Plamo Kyoshiro no less. The Plamo set (as I'll refer to this box as in short hand) is the 31st Converge CORE release and it shipped to preordering customers in October 2022. The Bandai price tag was 4900 plus tax but the price is currently hovering around ¥6000-7000 on the secondary market, perhaps after this review I can push the price down a little...


The packaging is a little unusual from the typical CORE figure set in that the components are tightly wrapped within bubble bags informing us that the protective packaging should be safely disposed of and is not a toy. Once we unwrap things we find several large Converge component bags, some with almost ludicrously large compartment for very small components. The body of the Perfect Zeong is being carefully wrapped for additional protection.


I was caught off guard with the many option parts included in this set, especially for the Perfect Zeong. Unfortunately there is no instruction booklet included in the packaging but if you go visit Bandai's official page for this set you will find a 6-page full colour pdf-assembly guide for download there. I suggest you download one for future use. Of course I only discovered this after I had figured everything out myself and came on here to moan about the lack of instructions. You live and you learn I guess...



PF-78-1 Perfect Gundam


I have to say, this is one fine looking Converge figure. While the cartoonish colours of the Perfect Gundam will no doubt put some people off this is a really well executed and slick looking thing. There is a multitude of colour applications on display here and the figure is painted to a really good standard. The backpack has two peg holes on the right side for the shield to attach to. This limits articulation a bit but it is not like you need to do a lot of posing anyway. I guess if I wanted to improve something I would draw a black line inside the visor section of the shield that is carried on the left arm.


The most freakish accessory found within this box is a separate head with those funky Plamo Kyoshiro eyes. It is the Heavyarms clown mask thing all over again but thankfully this time around we get a full second head complete with its own V-fin so that this monstrosity can be hidden away in the box forever.


In terms of gear options we also get two optional beam saber wielding hands. Each saber is molded in nice translucent plastic and I can imagine these could be put to good use with other Converge figures you may want to customize. Converge hands are not standardized however and so peg hole sizes and shapes will vary greatly from figure to figure. Still, these could be put to good use on that centerpiece figure in your collection that just screams for a bit more flair.


The Gashapon version of the Perfect Gundam released in April in the new Mobility Joint figure line was pretty neat except for its myriad of stickers. The Converge figure shows the Gashapon division how it should be done; i.e. not with an excessive amount of shaped stickers.



MSN-02 Zeong


Well this looks oddly familiar. Maybe because it is the old Converge +Plus Zeong from January 2021 making its comeback in an alternate colour scheme. The two figures feature the exact same flying base as well. But hold on one second... what is that thing going on at the back of its skirt armor? That's right, we are missing a component.


Let's zoom in a little closer. Notice that nice skull marking on the Zeong's chest? Cool. A pity that they went ahead and smudged the very same section with excess gray paint. This is the Converge Plus quality control-experience all over again. Not as readily apparent is that we have a second component missing here; there is a small black component that attaches to the right waist of the figure that appears to have gone mysteriously missing. At this point I was crawling around on the floor and digging through the recycled plastic bags to find any missing component that I may have overlooked when taking the pieces out of the packaging but of course there were none to be found. Notice also how the main body of the Zeong was tightly and neatly packaged in a bubble bag of its own. Feh...


Just to drive this point home, remember that we are talking about CORE - Converge Redefinition - the absolute Converge crème de la crème output here. Limited premium figures with "luxurious specifications". I am sorry but that is not what I am holding in my hand. This is a figure missing multiple components that was speed painted by some poor sod seated inside a moving bus and with way too much work on their plate - perhaps a direct result of the global bug that has been wreaking havoc in the Chinese industrial output as of late. I'm sorry but that is not an excuse for putting out substandard product. Look at the contemporary figures coming out of Bandai Namco's own Gashapon range. You can't exactly sell an Evangelion figure with lipstick drawn half across the face now can you?

Bandai just continues to prove that they are not capable of reliably producing high finish figures in the Converge line no matter how much they raise the prices. Sure, the design and prototypes are excellent but the execution continues to slip. It is getting harder and harder to support a smaller and pricier figure line if the quality control is going to continue to fumble like this. I can accept a shoddy retail Shokugan figure because I can go out and purchase another one that costs 500 yen. I am not going to throw away ¥7000 on a second figure that may or may not even be complete.


Alright, let's continue with the review... always good to vent a little, yeah? After I made these discoveries I felt pretty much done with this figure and found it hard to continue to care about it. I briefly considered picking up a second Converge Plus Zeong to cannibalize it for the missing parts but as you can see above, the Converge Plus figure (on the left) has a completely different colour scheme. Which of the two you prefer is all down to taste but there is certainly nothing wrong with the much cheaper alternative if you just want a basic Zeong for your Converge line-up.


One of the cooler features of the Plamo Zeong is that it comes with a pair of Psycommu hands. These are also supported by large and somewhat clumsy looking supports like we have seen before on other Psycommu equipped Converge figures but overall I think the effect looks quite good.


Option parts, aye. Here we see a stripped Zeong ready to get its legs on. Notice how there are option parts for the thighs and upper arms in either gray or metallic colour, so that you can kit your Zeong into a cartoon hot-rod or a more militaristic flat gray look. Notice also the optional hands that of course function the same way in both Zeong and Perfect Zeong configurations. The Perfect Zeong gets its own huge base which feels a bit over the top but whatever, let's see how it looks once we put it together.



MSN-02 Perfect Zeong


There is something endearing and enticing in the large and chunky mobile suit designs from the early Gundam years. I was never that big on the Zeong but when you put some chunky legs on it the appearance drastically improves. This particular figure is equipped with the impossibly large sword, which is attached to a special adapter that plugs into either side of the figure's waist. I am not convinced about the angle that the sword is stored as it seems quite impractical and overly clumsy. The plastic is semi-soft and on this sword there is a slight bending of the blade as well as a bit of imperfection on the tip, this is something we are quite used to in Converge by now.


Here we see two types of side skirt components that go into the Zeong's "belt". While it is hard to determine from the box cover or online assembly guide I am pretty sure you are supposed to get two of the smaller components so that you can display the Zeong without a sword storage adapter but in my case I only got these two so adapter it is. On the second picture the sword is deployed in the optional right hand (there is no corresponding left hand and according to the guide this is not a mistake). The fit was extremely tight (due to excessive paint application I assume) so I didn't force the sword all the way down into the hand as I feared the paint on the hilt might scrape off in the process. Luxurious indeed.


The Perfect Zeong is almost exactly as tall as the floating Zeong which I think is a nice touch. And speaking of floating, notice the right foot which has its own idea of floating going on.


The last comparison image will be with the recently released Perfect Zeong from the Mobility Joint Gashapon series (released in April 2022). I thought the Mobility Joint figure was really nice and a reasonable candidate for being a Converge stand-in but the new Converge figure really outclasses it in every way (if you are happy enough to get one that is decently painted of course). Notice that I have used the gray thigh components on the Converge figure in this comparison shot.



Conclusion

As you can imagine, all in all I was quite disappointed with this figure set. All is not bad however and I have no reservations about the Perfect Gundam figure I received which is a solid entry into Converge. If you are only really in it for the Perfect Zeong however, perhaps it is not unlikely that we will get to see a nerfed variant of this figure in a future Converge Plus line-up. For example a basic variant without the shiny metallic arms and legs painted in the standard colours of the original Converge Plus Zeong figure. They could even go so far as to reissue that old figure and put some legs for it in the set's accompanying equipment pack. I guess wait and see is my recommendation. Even though this set is quite rare on the secondary market right now it will probably get more common in a couple of years as most of these premiums tend to show up in force there eventually.

Gundam Converge vol. 5

The trend of me bringing out the old stuff continues with another retrospective review of one of the early Converge sets. In part this is because let's be honest not a whole lot is going on in the market at the moment and that gives me a good opportunity to give some love to older sets. In addition I have just spent a couple of weeks away from home with the first opportunity to visit the secondary market in Bangkok for the first time in three years (thanks to a certain type of flu...). I had originally planned to do a little feature on that but didn't deem it interesting enough but might revisit it in the future. I was a bit sad to see pretty much the same Gundam figures staring back at me from the shelves where they sat three years ago, only now there were fewer of them. Well, that is a topic for another time perhaps.

Back to the review at hand, Converge volume five was released in November 2011 when the series had been going for a year and the figures had an MSRP of ¥350. As with other figures I have held on to for a while there will only be the occasional unboxing style photos because this was before I had any secondary thoughts of reviewing. The exception here is Char's Zaku II which was really hard to find at the time and so was purchased later. Ah yes, I should point out that these were purchased mostly through eBay since I had yet to discover the wonder that is Mandarake and so were purchased at prices around $4 to $10 USD except for said Zaku which I had to shell out $37 to obtain in 2014. Do yourself a favour and don't do eBay kids...


27 : AGE-1 Gundam AGE-1 Normal


Bandai loves to feature a Gundam as the lead in to any new set and for volume five the honour was given to the constantly overlooked Gundam AGE-1. It was natural at the time because the television series premiered in that same year which led to a couple of appearances in Converge only to be forgotten/ignored ever since. A serious attempt seems to have been made in Ensemble in 2020 but it petered out quickly after a few figures. Bit of a shame since I had hoped it would spill over into Converge as well.

Talking about the figure itself it looks absolutely great and faithfully reproduces many coloured details which stand out even better in such a small figure. The mobile suit design itself is really vanilla but I can't fault the figure of that but it would have been interesting to see some of the later incarnations such as the AGE-2 Dark Hound or AGE-3 Fortress in Converge form, perhaps in the +Plus line-up?






28 : RGE-B790CW Genoace Custom


More AGE, and it isn't even a Gundam! I have In spite of this figure's simplistic appearance and dull colour scheme (even the Wolf logo is hidden on the backside of the shield) always considered this figure as one of the more interesting designs and it works great in deformed mode. The AGE designs are all pretty clean to begin with and can benefit from some extra panel lining to grime things up a bit.


The best part of the Genoace is that it belongs to a suit family much like the GM or the Zaku II. I have had plans to customize this sucker for awhile now but it is still on the waiting list. Seen here from left to right we have the mass-production RGE-B790 Genoace, Woolf Enneacle's RGE-B790CW Genoace Custom, the successor RGE-B890 Genoace II, another of the same type in Diva Colors and lastly the future which is the RGE-G1100 Adele. This suit line is perfect for super deformation, simple, robust and colourful designs, make it happen Bandai! :)


Converge has so far given us three Advanced Generation suits, the two from this volume and the Gundam AGE-2 Normal which followed in Converge volume 6 in february 2012. Since then there hasn't been anything. Poor effort.






29 : MSN-001A1 Delta Plus


The Delta Plus is a beautiful high-performing machine in the Delta-family which leads up to the Hyaku-Shiki and features the same type of slick fins and thin shield. The detail is lovingly reproduced in Converge form and is a good showcase for what the designers are able to pull off in such tiny figure format. The more I look at it the more it just continues to amazes me and I shed a tear for the cancellation of the FusionWorks 1:220 figure line which was on the same incredible level. But, those days are gone friends, now we have to build our own damn figures.


Ah yes, we just saw this sucker didn't we? That's right, in the previous Overseas Only 2012 review. Here is the original figure and as you can see relatively little changed for the reissue, the most obvious being the metallic touch to the paint although it isn't as evident as you might first think.


The Delta Plus has a fine pedigree and belongs to a bloodline of some truly awesome mobile suits developed by Anaheim Electronics under its Zeta Project. This development line shows the MSN-001 Delta Gundam, MSN-001A1 Delta Plus, MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki, MSR-00100S Hyaku-Shiki Kai and MSR-00100S Hyaku-Shiki Kai Mass Production Type.






30 : RGM-96X Jesta


One of the good things about being the bad guy in science fiction is that the writers generally spend a lot of effort on developing a great host of memorable enemies for the same bland hero to fight. The Earth Federation is mostly about a handful of Gundam machines and some GM cannon fodder sprinkled around them but the Jesta is a reminder that there are several cool mobile suits also on the EFSF side. You need to dig for them though since they are often relegated into the background. Whoever designed the Jesta nailed the riot police/special forces look and I think it is absolutely phenomenal. Other strong designs such as the ECOAS Jegan, Karl Gustav or Stark Jegan can't really match its menacing face and lovely colour scheme. This is another overlooked gem and its various weapon choices make it an ideal candidate for Mobile Suit Ensemble.


The Jesta was reissued together with the Delta Plus in the Overseas Only 2012 special package and as you can see, the differences are minor. In my opinion, the original figure one-ups the metallic colour version with its EFSF logo on the shoulder shield.


The Jesta was - somewhat surprisingly - resculpted an brought back into the Converge #Sharp line up in volume 14, released in February 2019. The new figure looks so very similar to the original that I get the feeling the literally took the old design and just touched it up a bit rather than redoing the whole thing but I could of course be wrong. The new figure got a new colour scheme and a larger rifle but again lost the shoulder shield logo. The new figure also features a special goggles option part (which is really stupid for a mobile suit when you think about it) as well as a back pack which can mount the booster tanks from the RGM-96X Jesta figure released in parallel. As is often the case, the reissue has some advantages and some drawbacks compared to the original.






31 : MS-06S Zaku II (Char's Custom)


Before Bandai decided to saturate the Converge line with various incarnations of the MS-06S it was near impossible to find a red Zaku on the secondary market for a couple of years. I hunted high and low on the western secondary market for it - having not yet taken the step into sourcing from Japan directly - and it continues to be popular and a real evergreen design. The figure itself is similar to the original green mass-production version MS-06F Zaku II save for its commander antenna (which you should probably glue in place) and the new Zaku Bazooka armament (and also glue that handle while you are at it). In my experience several of the early Converge Zakus tend to lean to the right and forward which might detract from their appearance quite a bit. Overall though, it is a nice figure even though its likeness to the original Zaku design is perhaps a bit debatable.


Look at that, some actual unboxing shots! While not evident in these pitures the Zaku II has a functional monoeye. You can remove the upper part of the head to manipulate the eye which sits on a black donut-shaped component, allowing you to simulate the suit looking left or right.


Char's Zaku II was brought back in the short-lived Revival Selection program which saw old figures return to the retail line-up; as part of volume 16 in September 2014 in this particular case. The new figure features a bonus accessory Heat Hawk (the same one as used by Garma) to sweeten the deal but is in other ways indistinguishable from the original release.


From left to right: Machine Gun wielding Zaku (Dengeki Hobby Magazine supplement, September 2011), Bazooka Zaku (Converge vol. 5, November 2011), Overseas Only limited metallic paint ("Converge Limited" twin-pack, March 2014), Converge Revive version from vol. 16 with extra Heat Hawk (September 2014), Gundam Front Tokyo clear colour version (Converge Ver. GFT, April 2016) and the new sculpt from Converge #09 (January 2018).






31 : MS-06FS Zaku II (Garma's Custom) (secret figure)


As far as Converge Secret figures goes this one is pretty spectacular. Up until this point the secret figures were all about tossing in an alternate weapon arm but this was a game changer as it introduces an entirely different machine. While Garma Zabis machine carries a different designation the actual figure is mainly a repaint although Garma gets to wield an entirely new weapon in the Heat Hawk. Optional weapons were still not a thing in the Converge retail line at the time and generally came as separate figures entirely and so unfortunately we therefore didn't get both weapons with each machine. Too bad, especially since Bandai has not bothered reissuing this machine to date, even in Ensemble. Now that Bandai are finally beginning to release colour various of Zeonic mobile suits we might eventually get a new #Sharp variant of Garma's machine but then in the new (and in my opinion inferior) sculpt.






32 : MS-09 Dom


The last figure in this set is the unmistakable and super-chunky mobile suit known as the Dom. Developed by the Zimmad company as an aggressive and highly mobile ground combat unit it features massive hover jets hidden under its bulky armor. With a head resembling nothing else and a simple but effective colour scheme it is the best looking early Zeon design and always comes out a great figure no matter what scale it is sculpted for. The Converge variant dishes out pain primarily with a 36 cm bazooka and also features a Heat Saber although the latter is stowed on the back (the peg is round, you choose the angle). Notice how the hand is attached to the bazooka but still has a decent colour separation, something we can't even achieve in 2022 because the Senshi Forte and Ensemble figures have generic black hands now...


The Converge Dom was reissued in a lighter colour as part of the Operation Jaburo box set in 2012. The Space Type evolution of the Dom, the MS-09R Rick Dom followed in Converge volume 10 in April 2013 and features larger skirt armor and bigger thrusters. The Converge figure also comes in a darker blue-violet style and has an optional Beam Bazooka weapon arm.


Comparative pictures showing some of the sculpt differences between the Converge MS-09 Dom and MS-09R Rick Dom figures. Most of the components are enlarged on the Rick Dom including the feet themselves.


The Converge #Sharp re-sculpt of the Dom has been used extensively in various colour combinations and while the primary variant seen here (from Converge #13, December 2018) corrects the colours and smoothens the sculpt to be more show accurate I tend to prefer the earlier more machine-like sculpt myself.






Conclusion

As with many of the early sets volume five features an interesting and eclectic line-up of suits from various eras. Common to all of them is that they are great mobile suit representations well worth seeking out to fill any annoying gaps in your suit line-up. Let's hope that Bandai returns to the Advanced Generation for a second look at the Federal and Vagan forces.