About ten years ago Bandai put out a short-lived and somewhat gimmicky series of Shokugan figures focusing both on the Mobile Suit Gundam AGE television series that opened in October of 2011, as well as the recently introduced Gundam Try Age arcade game which had premiered in the summer of the same year. The first set of figures mainly featured variations of the Gundam AGE-1 with this follow-up from early 2012 centered around the AGE-2. While we haven't seen many 1/220 figures on the page as of late they are still my go-to scale for accurately scaled figures and it is a shame that the scale has been completely buried by Bandai for several years now. Anyway...
While Shokugan figure ranges tend to have goofy names more often than not you at least cannot deny that this name is rather apt at describing what we are dealing with here, jointed action figurines from the Mobile Suit Gundam AGE era. You can clearly see a lot of similarities with the Assault Kingdom figure line which is predated by Joint Action for roughly a year or so (The Assault Kingdom line launched in the spring of 2013).
Besides being action figures in their own right, the figures also come bundled with fixed promo-cards for the Try Age arcade machine game. The cards in this mini-set correspond to the respective mobile suit and come in Attacker (red) or Gunner/Support (blue) flavours. I have not yet decided if I will branch out into covering Gundam-themed collectible card games on the page, as it is hard to keep up with the figures in general but card-themed posts might appear in the future. On the topic of the Try Age game itself the game was finally killed off last year after having soldiered on for almost ten years but its successor Arsenal Base is supposed to premiere in February this year which is going to be interesting to follow. :)
The Joint Action figures are made from soft and bendy plastic for the most part and have rather garish colours. Their articulation really shines however, if not yet as capable as the Assault Kingdom line. You can see here some of the examples of the mobility you can get out of them. The main difference is found in the arms and hands which are not yet as maneuverable as the AK-figures. The legs with swivel thighs, bending knees, feet on ball joints are very similar.
While we get no action bases or supports with the figures they do feature suitable peg holes which are a close but not perfect match with the bases from the Assault Kingdom line. However, you only get one peg hole at the groin. I don't know exactly which bases the designers had in mind when coming up with these.
05 : AGE-2 Gundam AGE-2 Normal
The AGE-2 is probably the best looking figure in this set simply because it has a good mix of white and blue colour. Still, the shoulder-mounted wing binders look really cheap compared to the "real" design in white and blue but this is what you get in a simple figure. The paintjob for the AGE-system on the other hand looks great and it helps that some of its inner frame components are black. Just like Assault Kingdom figures however I am sure that these can be made to look really stunning if someone wanted to spend a little time on painting them.
Besides the figure in its numbered bag we also have an instance of the classic Converge-style chewing gum as well as the assigned Try Age promo card. Gear-wise we have the Hyper DODS Rifle which is actually hard to distinguish from the shoulder-mounted wing binders since they are the same colour and shape. As you can imagine, those slim feet generally don't take well to action poses unless you have some sort of base at hand.
Here we have the AGE-2 Normal as seen in SD Gashapon Warrior NEXT 06, the Converge version from volume 6 and the Joint Action figure. Interestingly all three figures are released around the same time in early 2012, never to be seen again.
06 : AGE-2DB Gundam AGE-2 Double Bullet
The revised AGE-2DB is of course at first glance very similar to the previous figure but it contains a number of modified and updated sculpt details as well as redesigned shoulders with only two wing binders. Just like with the AGE-2 Normal the wings suffer the most from the simple paintjob since the two large Hyper DODS Rifles attached to them disappear into what looks like plain wing features. You can also see bulkier lower legs which now carry smaller missiles.
With most of its weapons internalized the AE-2DB figure feels a little Spartan, I think Bandai could at least have included a simple single-colour toothpick beam saber for some more interesting play options.
While I do not yet own the first Joint Action wave (these sets are rather hard to find) I do have a 1:220 AGE-1 Normal from the good ol' FW STANDart figure line. The size and style match each other quite well. It must be noted however that the STANDart AGE-1 is a standout subpar specimen that does not do the rest of this incredible figure line justice. Perhaps that is a bit unfair, the AGE art-direction is rather stylized and slick after all.
The Double Bullet was also available in the Gashapon Warrior NEXT series in wave 07. Notice the multi-coloured wing binders that clearly show off the figure's weapons.
07 : WMS-GB5 G-Bouncer
Next we have the atrociously named G-Bouncer which looks a bit like a Hyaku-Shiki or maybe Delta Plus. The AGE-series actually features many interesting designs that I would like to see in figure form but they are unfortunately extremely few and far between. The Bouncer design is rather white in its anime form too and while the figure ends up looking a bit bland some touching up could make it look much better. That blue DODS rifle looks really out of place too but this figure is otherwise my favourite from the set.
This is the only figure in the set that carries a traditional shield. It also features a pair of back-mounted thrusters that can be articulated on ball joints for some interesting poses.
08 : xvm-zgc Zeydra
The Vagan forces have a really unique style going for their suits, one unmatched in all of Gundam lore. They really carry the "evil aliens from outer space" theme in Spades and come in sexy black, dark blue, red or even yellow colour schemes. The SD Gashapon Warrior NEXT line actually has a decent selection of Vagan mobile suits but if you are looking for something with proper proportions this is to my knowledge the only one you will find in Gashapon or Shokugan form. You will have to sink your teeth into the 1:144 model kits for more. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE seems to be treated very poorly overall, the series turned ten last year and I don't recall anything in the way of its celebration (although we did get that cool AGE/Spallow/Titus-set in Ensemble).
The Zeydra comes with two weapon options, a stub looking "Zeydra Gun" that appears to be rather unspecified and and equally nonspecific (and very bendy) "Zeydra Sword" (real imagination with the naming, guys).
The sword also doubles as the mobile suit's tail - you can clip it into a slot on the backskirt - which is just awesome and stupid at the same time. My figure tends to use it as a cane for most of the time because those feet are tiny. :)
Conclusion
While my primary interest was set on the Try Age promo-cards I am always interested in exploring figures from the 1:220 scale. While these particular figures are mainly novelty items I still find them quite neat and also serve as a reminder of how good the Assault Kingdom line was before it was ruined by Universal Unit and replaced by Gframe. Bah...
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