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.