MegaHouse Chess Piece Collection : Gundam Ace Magazine Promo (2003)

We recently looked at a Gundam Ace Magazine promo item from 2005 containing two special MegaHouse Chess Piece figures. Here is a similar product promoted through the very same magazine except in 2003. I believe these are the only two magazine promo-style items out there.


There is not a whole lot of information to be gathered from the box itself. Besides a pair of nice looking logos and the year 2003 we just have some basic consumer information. Unlike the later box we looked at these figures are branded as part of the Chess Piece Collection DX-line. I've seen this branding used on some of the regular Chess Piece figures containing figures from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED but this branding seems to have been discontinued shortly afterwards. To confuse things further an EX-lineup was created once the SEED Destiny figures arrived in 2005. Regardless of which Chess Piece figures you go for however their size and feel will be quite similar, the later figures being a bit nicer in finish and detail but that's about it.


The figures sit side by side in the box separated by a cardboard divider and having the arms in separate plastic bags. It doesn't look like the main figures were bagged or wrapped but since this is a second-hand item I cannot be sure.



RX-78-02 Gundam (The Origin ver.)


The Gundam from the Origin storyline is the first of our two kings. As such tey have the tallest type of bases with a little bit of felt underneath but I doubt anyone has ever attempted to actually play a game of chess with these things. The finish and panel lining is great on these things and the figure has a bit of weathering for good measure. Like every other Origin-type Gundam out there the shield is held upside down and we have a really beefy type of shoulder cannon attached. I do have some reservations about the enormous right hand however. Like the other chess piece figures by MegaHouse the figure is not easily removable from neither its scenic base nor the pedestal so if you are thinking about converting these for use with other similarly sized figures be aware that this will require quite the effort.


Posing together with the Origin version of Char's Zaku II which appeared in the second Gundam Ace Magazine promo in 2005. As mentioned above the Chess Piece DX branding was not used for that figure although they are clearly similar in design.





MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red Frame


The evergreen Astray red Frame figure comes in a very dynamic pose that will be a nightmare to pose convincingly with the other figures. Once again the colouring and detailed panel-lining is really spectacular for such a small figure. The Chess Piece range contains many beautiful figures but it is hard to make something interesting out of them due to those pedestal type bases. While not valid for the Red Frame this line contains many interesting mobile suit choices which are hard to come by in the other prepainted lines.


The Astray Red Frame appeared again in November 2004 in the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV set which contains other interesting obscurities like the Strike Rouge IWSP, Hyperion Gundam and Elijah Kiel's Custom GINN. Notice the way the colours stand out clearly on the promo figure compared to the later retail figure.




As with the other Chess Piece figures, you either like the concept or you don't. If you do, this is an obvious purchase and if you don't, you will find nothing new to convince you here. Sadly, Chess Piece figures are very hard to find on the online secondary market and if you find them in the local shops they are often incomplete. This is one of the hardest mini-figure ranges to collect in my opinion.