Now here is something special, for those who want a bit of extra flair to the Ensemble line-up. Are you bored of winged mobile suits with psycho-babble Newtype-theory attached to them? Do you think swords and machines are a stupid combo? I'm all aboard, give me something a little bit more grounded like say... a nuclear bazooka and a hovering artillery piece.
The GP02A/Xamel pair belongs to the recent Stardust Memory-themed releases that we have seen all across Bandai's figure lines. The duo is of course a Premium Bandai-thing only and shipped to customers in May 2022. Price of admission: ¥8800. I have only seen a handful on the secondary market so far. The box is quite large and we are getting into bigger suit territory here. A small drop however compared to the two upcoming Stardust Memory mobile armors I imagine. Both the Neue Ziel and the Dendrobium are coming in September and cost ¥14300 each on pre-order, I don't want to see the price tags on those once they hit the marketplace...
The box comes with a cardboard divider neatly separating the bags for the two mobile suits. Still, there is an awful lot of bags in there.
Oh dear, that is a lot of parts... Surprisingly, the majority of components belong to the GP02A. I would have imagined the Xamel to be quite the more spectacular build but this seems to prove me wrong. The components are "colour coded" in this image so that the parts beneath the grey components belong to the Gundam and the remaining 40% or so to the Xamel (not including the clear base that also goes with the GP02A).
RX-78GP02 Gundam GP02A "Physalis"
Speaking of grey, let's just address this thing first. For some reason, the designers have decided to give the Physalis a nice if unusual light grey base colour. While the GP02 can fluctuate somewhat between white and grey between different releases I don't remember ever seeing it this grey, even though I kind of like it. Usually when you see grey Gundams in Gashapon releases they are being re-released as "real color" or other gimmicks. Having said that, the Ultimate Operation GP03 Stamen is also real heavy with the grey colour and I like it a lot better than just flat boring white like on say the Gundam Converge version. The Physalis has quite a lot of painted areas on it though so it doesn't really need this treatment but I guess it is a bit of variation that will ultimately come down to preference.
There are a lot of interesting things going on with the GP02A build. The figure has an unusually high parts-count for its legs and feet to bring out all that nice red and black detail which nearly disappears under the bulky armor sections. The two large shoulder binders have a bit of articulation going on. Two smaller thrusters (black colour) hide inside the binders and can be folded out, but can be a bit of a pain to dig out so I didn't bother here. Yet another pair of thrusters is supposed to sit on the backside of the binders. Bandai being Bandai included those parts but made them have peg holes for kit customization purposes rather than fit the actual thrusters. Kind of lame but par for the course for Ensemble (although I did have to double check the manual when writing up this section to make sure I didn't miss something...).
We only get a singlepair of holding hands. It is rare to see expressive hands in Ensemble although Senshi Forte is still doing them regularly. There is however a really good range of accessories for the figure. Apart from the expected nuclear bazooka and fancy shield we get a different kind of bazooka, a beautiful beam saber with translucent plastic and two sets of multiple rocket launchers.
The AE/ZIM.G-BAZ-0186-A Atomic Bazooka fits either in hand or attached to the backpack-mounted frame for an over-the-shoulder pose. Can't help but think that building an enormous Gundam and giving it a single-use nuclear weapon isn't the most cost-effective approach by far, even in the Gundam universe... O.M.N.I. did it better when they swarmed the Z.A.F.T. colonies with old mobile armors carrying nukes and had the beefy Gundams on shepherding duty.
Just like its bigger brother the Physalis can store the barrel of the bazooka inside the shield (which is a convenient way of losing both in a frantic battle). Then old GP02A will have to resort to bullrushing the E.F.S.F. fleet just like Gadem tried out the Holdo Maneuver on the RX-78 in his Zaku I...
We also get this optional weapon and I must confess I have not managed to identify it at all. I suppose it may be a (much needed) beam bazooka from some Gundam console game I have never heard of? It functions much the same as the nuclear bazooka as far as accessories go.
If you want to do a handsfree approach you have two frame sockets to load up both weapons on the back.
One of the reasons that the Physalis has so many components is the MLRS system. Almost half the parts for the GP02A are just mini-sprues with these things on them. While they are quite nifty and can also be opened and closed you will have to fiddle quite a bit to get all of them properly aligned and in the end I think they are just a wee bit larger than what looks practical. I suspect most collectors will go for the bazooka... The Multiple Launch Rocket System-carrying GP02A apparently also wields a BOWA XBR-M-82-05H Beam Rifle in another Gundam-themed game where it appears. This is the same rifle that comes with the GP01 and so it would have been nice to get a spare in this box although you can always borrow it from that figure.
As always the engineers have worked out a completely unique stand for the Physalis which lets it dangle his feet in mid air but not much else. Individual supports are provided for the shoulder binders that will be a pain to line up for anyone willing, as well as a little pedestal for the hefty shield (have fun attaching the arm and lining everything up perfectly for this combo to work).
YMS-16M Xamel
The mobile suit that made me fawn all over this expensive box set was the Xamel. In part because it is a really cool design, and in part because I was curious how it would translate into an Ensemble figure. It does have some semblance of being a typical Ensemble figure but with a whole lot of custom components and added twists to fit its unique physique. While it was fun building it it really walks that edge between Gashapon and model kit. What is not so impressive is a lot of ugly nub marks front and center all over its head and face, this should have been designed a bit better methinks.
Unlike the GP02A there isn't a whole lot to this figure. The arms and legs are articulated but you will not get much posing out of its lower body. The main gimmick is how its 68 cm artillery cannon swings into place and the angle can then be adjusted. I do think they nailed its proportions even though the figure as such is a little smaller than I had expected it to be.
Here the bad guys pose with the retail average size GP01 "Zephyranthes" from Ensemble Part 21. While the two suits are certainly bulky they aren't that much larger than the basic figure. And yes, the nuclear bazooka on my figure is a little bit bendy and hence looks like it could be used to fire around corners... Underneath is a pair of 1/400 scale figures for comparison to get a feel for the suit's actual proportions and size difference.
While the Xamel is a really exotic design there are a surprising number of figures available for it. From left to right here we have the SD Full Color figure from Stage 22 (released in January 2001), the 1/400 figure (Gundam Collection DX3, 2005), the slightly larger Gashapon HG Mecha Selection version with a dirty wash from 2002 and the new Ensemble version. I must say I love the bulky style of the Ensemble figure and its little SD brother compared to the more show-accurate to-scale versions in the center. I think you could easily pose the Ensemble Xamel with your Converge figures in case Bandai hasn't got a figure planned for us there.
Conclusion
In summary this twin-pack is great and gives us two brutal-looking and not overly complex figures for the Ensemble family. The main problem here is of course the price. You had to be quite insane to spend the ¥8800 that Bandai were asking for it and I can tell you that it has sailed comfortably into the five figure-range on the secondary market since then. Mandarake are currently offering the pair for ¥13000 if you can stomach it, otherwise maybe pray for a possible and slightly cheaper Converge release.
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