As mentioned earlier here is the Wings of Light effects part set for the two signature mobile suits of Gundam SEED Destiny. There is not really a whole lot of detail to go into here so it will be a quick review.
The WoL set is a P-Bandai extension kit so you know it is going to be expensive, but I must say I didn't expect it to be THIS pricey. The set shipped in January 2022 and the P-Bandai price for it was ¥1650. Well, lo and behold, the secondary price doubled already in February, the last price tag I saw was now ¥3500 which is, frankly, insane.
This kit is an extension to the EX31 ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam (shipped in September 2021) and the EX33 ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam which was also shipped in January 2022. Did you notice that there is no display of the pieces on the back of the box, which is normally what you would expect from a P-Bandai Ensemble kit. I'm sure this is not a bad sign, right?
Ah, ok, I see... this is how we are playing it. I mean yes, you really do get what is promised but there sure aren't any extras in this box.
Assembly for the Destiny is a quick affair. You simply unfold its wings and then plug the effect parts into the upper section of the wing and by aligning everything correctly the parts gain additional support from the red skeletal structure of the wingframe. The result is very clean and completes the look of the Destiny wings which didn't look very good without the effect parts to be honest. if you look closely you can see ugly circular mold details on the outer sections of the wings which doesn't detract from the look but are hard to unsee.
In the Destiny Gundam review I moaned about the extra pair of hands showing off the Hand Beam Cannons. The hands even come with peg holes but no accessory was included. So you mean to tell me that Bandai spent time designing two different blue sprues with effect parts for the Strike Freedom but couldn't sacrifice a corner on each to place a blue cannon effect part there? Lousy effort. Here I just tested out a yellow beam saber part I happened to have lying around. Bandai did half the work but stumbled on the finish line. Not impressed.
As a reminder here is the old Gundam Converge Destiny Gundam (SP08, released in November 2016) with its effect parts applied. The size and angle of the wings is clearly more spectacular. Apologies for not setting them up in a comparison shot but the Converge wings are packed away somewhere... :)
Next up is the Strike Freedom. Assembly here is a bit more tedious in that you have to remove the Dragoon weapon pods from the wings but as a plus this now enables you to do a full-on display with the figure on its base with glowing wings and all the Dragoon units in flight in front of it. Sorry but I couldn't be bothered to dig those parts out to showcase it but you get the idea. Notice again the ugly circular mold details in the wings, much more visible on the blue wings. I am surprised this was a necessity but have to assume it has something to do with cost cutting. And speaking of cutting corners, the blue sprues would have been suitable for blue beam saber effect parts for the Strike Freedom as well, don't you think?
The Converge Strike Freedom (SP 07 released in August 2016) pose is almost the same as that of the Ensemble figure. I guess in conclusion I can say that the Ensemble Wings of Light set is great to enhance the look of both Ensemble figures - the Destiny Gundam in particular - but I think the implementation was a bit sloppy and completely missed the opportunity to take the figures to the next level.
No comments:
Post a Comment