Gundam Converge vol. 6

It is time to revisit and revise another old barebones review and we are moving back to classical OG Converge territory again. With all the recent flashy releases in the Converge line-up it is nice to reflect on the classic figures that were so fun to discover and collect. I'd like to say that things were easier then but that would be a lie; collecting these figures was painful already back then. :)

Anyway, Converge volume 6 appeared on the shelves in February 2012 and had a recommended sales price of ¥350. The set consists of 6 figures and the signature secret figure which was an alternate version of one of the figures hiding in the same type of box, effectively making the odd couple a bit rarer than the rest of the figures in the set. Just as with other oldie reviews there will be a certain dearth of component shots since I merrily opened up figures without any secondary thoughts of reviewing them back in those days...



33 : AGE-2 Gundam AGE-2 Normal


The set opens with an unusual face, the sprawling AGE-2 with its wings pointing in all directions (there is something 00 Gundam about it). The fact that it gets to lead the volume rather than the Strike suggests the manufacturers were hoping for a bigger hit than what AGE turned out to be. Nowadays the mobile suit line sits in the same obscure limbo as suits from G-Reco and Build Fighters. The figure itself is quite advanced for an early Converge but you will probably find that the wings on your figure aren't in perfect symmetry. The small feet benefit from some extra support by the DODS Rifle but you can also elect to use the transparent clear stand that comes with this generation of figures; it clips to the back of the legs like on older Gashapon figures.


In 2012 the Mobile Suit Gundam AGE show was still fresh and so we got three early appearances of suits from the show the AGE-1 and AGE-2 together with the very cool Genoace Custom. After that... nothing. Absolutely nothing. You'd think with even the Mobile Suit Ensemble line releasing a couple of AGE-1 variations that Converge would pick up the slack but so far, absolutely nothing has followed since 2012. Time for a relaunch?


The AGE-2 made three nearly concurrent appearances in early 2012 before it disappeared. Seen here also in Gashapon Warrior NEXT and 1:220 Joint Action size.






34 : GAT-X105 Strike Gundam


Bandai usually brings out the Aile Strike when they feel a bit of flair is needed (just like how the Nu and Freedom are also used to stir the pot from time to time) but this is a really discrete appearance in second slot, with only a beam rifle and shield to show. The paint job on the other hand is really striking; even the hand and the beam rifle are in different colours. Notice the gap on the back, this is where the Aile Striker pack is connected. "Aile Striker?" you say, yes we'll get to that in a second.


The Strike Gundam was reworked and released in the early CORE days as the Perfect Strike which is a really ambitious conversion letting you don all three striker packs at once. The sculpt of the suit itself isn't quite as elegant as the original version though. On the right we have the Sharp# reboot of the Aile Strike released in volume #20 in September 2020. To think that we are still sitting on #22 almost three years later...






35 : FX-550+AQM/E-X01 Skygrasper + Aile Striker


Back when I didn't know anything about Mobile Suit Gundam it was designs such as the Skygrasper and 0-Raiser that helped to pull me in, I've always preferred the combined arms aspect of big mecha warfare which is something we rarely get to enjoy in figure form however. This is a rare exception however with the beautiful Skygrasper fighter equipped with the Strike Gundam's Aile Striker backpack. The figure has a uniquely shaped base with a simple peg on top so the pose is very basic just like your typical Ensemble figure.


The relative size and display height of the Skygrasper is excellent and fits very well next to a Converge mobile suit figure.





34+35 : GAT-X105+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Gundam


You can of course also attach the Aile Striker pack to the mobile suit itself and the result is looking really balanced and elegant. I much prefer this sleek looking old figure compared to the recent reboot. The Skygrasper craft of course also displays just as well in its basic form. I decided to pick up two sets of these figures to keep them in the different combinations without having to mess with parts swapping back and forth.






36 : FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam


Hold up, we have even more Gundams in this set. Next up is the impossible to recognize dark green Full Armor MSV machine with a fair amount of colour apps where the unprotected limbs peek out from underneath the armor. There is a lot of detail in this sculpt, especially on the backside.


The #Sharp reboot figure from Converge #13 (released in December 2018) is of a much darker tone and is a good example of how the design philosophy in the Converge line has shifted over the years. The #Sharp-line is bulkier and tends to have longer weapon barrels etc., yet at the same time often look more stumpy and compact than the thinner first generation.






36 : FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam (secret figure)


The Full Armor Gundam is also the one with a secret variant in this set, that is to say, some (half?) of the green figure boxes will contain this version instead - effectively making both figures a bit rare. However, once you factor the rarity against popularity the prices on the secondary market are pretty similar. At the time of writing, the figures in this volume are all available at Mandarake and priced between ¥800-¥1600 with interestingly the blue Full Armor being the cheapest and the Skygrasper the most expensive.


The blue FA-78 is often attributed to the Plamo-Kyoshiro manga but FusionWorks always had a penchant for the blue E.F.S.F. machine seen here with the Burstliner weapons platform (that appears to have been intended to be sold in the 1:220 scale. Man, what an awesome figure that would have been...). So far, this variant has not been reissued in the #Sharp series which seems like a neglected opportunity.






37 : MS-06R-2 Zaku II (Johnny Ridden Custom)


This is the first High Mobility Zaku II to make it to Converge, predating even the R-1A type of the Black Tristars. The early generation Zaku figures have something Gouf-like about their appearance but I tend to prefer them over the later figures that came out of the Sharp reboot. This is a particularly striking figure with several strong colours and it can liven up any Converge display.


You can see some of the sculpt differences here between Ridden's R-2 and the Tristar R-1A machine. Notice also the plugged up hole where the commander antenna would go on the Tristar machine.


I think the Converge #Sharp relaunch of the High-Mobility Zaku II (Converge #14, released in February 2019) was a real dud. As discussed many times before on this blog I am not a fan of the now smaller sculpts of Principality of Zeon machines. It makes little sense considering that Converge is not a to-scale series to begin with, and even if it were, well then the many figures from the F91 and Victory-eras which are all shorter than the Zaku II should be smaller still which is not the case. But, whatever...






38 : MSM-04 Acguy


Lastly we have everyone's cuddly favourite the little Acguy, something that shows in the pricing on the secondary market. Well, it is either that or the marketplace simply creating a meta around this aspect pushing prices up in anticipation of collectors coming running with open arms, it can be hard to tell. The figure itself is a simple but elegant two-colour sculpt with a large and shiny monoeye which is of course fixed in place.


The figure was brought back in the later summer of August and given the metallic treatment as a promo item for the Thunderbolt Bandit Flower cinema opening. With all the interesting variations brought into the Acguy through Thunderbolt it still bugs me that Bandai never wanted to realize some of them in Converge form.


The Acguy also secured the ninth place in the revival vote for the recent Converge 10th Anniversary and was brought back in a larger and more cartoonish style, with optional armaments. I think the original figure has a more balanced look to it and I tend to prefer it over the new also overall darker looking figure.






Conclusion

Volume 6 is a nice cross-section of differently coloured and completely different machines from various eras and alternate timelines, just like how I enjoy my Converge the most. In spite of their age, all figures should be readily available on the Japanese secondary market especially. Compare prices before you go overspending on eBay as they shouldn't really cost you that much to obtain.

Bandai Spirits / Banpresto Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Four Murasame

This will be a short piece where we examine a recent prize item figure released through Bandai Namco's somnolent Banpresto brand. We have the JAIA claw machine logo on the box top as well indicating this item is primarily designed as an arcade prize. The box itself lacks any indentions for a claw machine to grab on to, so just exactly how these venues work these days I don't know.


This mini-set contains two different variants of Four Murasame in a classic (and often reproduced) pose from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The figure hit the arcades sometime in March 2023 and is currently easily obtainable in both variants on the secondary market priced around ¥1200. Since the "Sparkle Image version" variant is basically a very simple variation of the colours I didn't bother picking up the B-variant, only the standard colour figure will be displayed here.


There is something bizarre about how Four's head sticks out of the side of the cardboard wrapping. Thankfully it is not a problem to fit the figure back in the box again without having to fiddle with this very specific storage model.


The basic figure is made up of two parts with a square peg to connect them. The left foot has a peg that slots into the large white base and a support is provided for the right knee. You can often get away with posing the figures without using these extra supports but in this case it will be necessary; the leg was under a lot of pressure from the massive body even while I was taking these shots so I do not recommend skipping out on its use.


As you can see this is a very well made sculpt and the likeness is spot on. The pose is completely static of course and looks great although I have never been a fan of dynamic poses like these - they generally do not interact well with other figures if you were to set up a scene. Interestingly, there is a similarly posed but much more extravagant figure released through the MegaHouse GGG brand in 2021. That one will cost you roughly ten times as much and I still think this figure is more true to its origin. If you are looking for an affordable Four figure this new outing fits the bill quite nicely.

SD Gundam Full Color Stage 25 "Operation V"

The aptly titled Operation V set feels like a little mini-jubilee of sorts with a strongly themed set of figures plucked directly from U.C. 0079. The early history of the SD Full Color lone is very focused on the original Mobile Suit Gundam show and they retain a decent footprint until around Stage 50 where they drop of a cliff and the line becomes very Cosmic Era-centric. Stage 25 was released in May 2001 in the good old times when figures were priced at ¥100.


Everything comes good to go straight out of the packaging. Some of the figures have a bit of articulation, most commonly it is the shoulders or head that will rotate.


This is the cardback from the Gashapon machine and it looks absolutely fantastic. If you want a real challenge for your Gashapon collection, try getting your hands on these.



134 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver.8.0)


In the beginning, Bandai really pumped out different RX-78s but the pace began to slow down and at Stage 25 they were down to one new sculpt every three sets... The eighth incarnation is an attractive beam saber + shield combo which is not as common as you would think at first. The beam saber is made out of opaque pink plastic which is also a bit unusual for the Gundam itself at least.


Many of the beam saber-wielding RX-78s have different action poses. By contrast, the Stage 25 figure has a more traditional at the ready look. Notice the constantly changing blue colour.






135 : RX-77-2 Guncannon (Ver.4.0)


The Guncannon is looking pretty good from the front although the sculpt is a bit funky. Due to the limitations of the Super Deformed sculpts there just aren't any shoulders to attach the cannons to so instead they simply join up with the head. Great for taking potshots at enemies to the sides if not entirely accurate to how the mobile suit is designed to work. The greys are a bit on the dark side too but I still think it looks fine.


The early Guncannon figure was a statue but the proportions and colouring is more screen-accurate. Then we have crazy ears over on the right which introduces Y-axis tilt on the cannons which might be taking it a bit far.






136 : RX-75 Guntank (Ver.2.0)


How do you liven up the Guntank figure? Why not have its arms stretched out to the sides in a weird kind of way? I don't think this pose works at all and the articulated shoulders are also kind of wasted since you won't really be setting up any interesting poses with this guy.


The version 1 Guntank seems superior in pretty much every way. Over on the right we have the Origin style RTX-65 Early Type Guntank which is an interesting re-take on the design.


The Operation V team is assembled and good to go. But hold on, we also have some additional fire support coming up.






137 : SCV-70 White Base


You can't have Operation V without a base of operations and isn't she just the cutest thing? There were a couple of Mobile Armors in SD Full Color already but this is the first instance of a spaceship. The Musai follows in Stage 29 and we also have three of the most recognizable vessels from SEED/SEED destiny further down the line. Too bad Bandai didn't choose to do more of these because they would have been an excellent source of cheap space ship tokens for your favourite custom strategy game. The figure itself is a bit bendier than the typical SD figure due to the spaceship having much thinner features than the typical mobile suit.


Unlike the later Musai-figure, the White Base does not have built-in support for the typical SD Full Color action base which is a little bit unfortunate.






138 : G-Fighter


The last entry for the Op-V team is the G-Fighter. The figure overall has really nice colouring but I would have preferred to see gray treads and engine nozzles but that would likely have meant further parts separation to achieve so for a 100 yen figure I'll gladly accept it for what it is.


There are actually SD figures that go the way of parts separation as can be seen in the G-Bull from Stage 30 (left) and companion G-Sky from Stage 31 (right). The two can combine into the G-ARMOR but our G-Fighter is content to stay just the way it is. It does however have a gimmick of its own.


That's right; the large flat beam cannons are intended for the RX-78 figure to stand upon. It is not a terribly convincing display and many SD mobile suit figures should be able to do the job just as well.






139 : RX-79[G] Gundam Ground Type (Ver.1.0)


The last two slots in the set have been reserved for a rival pair out of the 08th MS Team series, which premieres here in Stage 25. The limited production Ground Type Gundam is up first and comes armed with the snub YHI YF-MG100 Machine Gun, additional gear in its large backpack and of course with the legendary spiked shield. You can see the nice molding of "08" in the plastic but unfortunately it was too expensive to have it painted up at the factory. Adding that extra bit of paint will make the figure stand out clearly when on display.


There are a couple of different Ground Type Gundams to choose from in the SD Full Color and Full Color Custom lines, as well as several specialized GM types and the red-eyed Ez8. No Mass Production Type Guntank however, which is a bit unfortunate.






140 : Apsalus (Apsaras II)


The last slot belongs to the enormous Apsalus/Apsaras mobile armor or rather its second variant with installed Mega Particle Cannon. The SD figure does a great job of capturing its characteristic shape even though the Zaku II head has been upsized plenty for effect. I have a feeling the opinion on these baby-size mobile armors and spaceships might be a bit divided but personally I think they are great, even though they don't really do well side by side with your average SD mobile suit figure.






Conclusion

Overall, I think Stage 25 is a fine set with several exotic introductions into the SD Full Color family. As with many of these older SD figures your best bet to find them is in random collection lots on eBay or in used Gashapon shops in Southeast Asia. Places like Mandarake will get sets in from time to time and while they are usually very cheap they also sell out very fast. On my last trip to Bangkok I didn't see very many SD figures at all, availability used to be much better just a few years ago.