I have to confess that I thought Mobility Joint was down for the count but it appears to have found a new lease on life. With volume 5 announced just a few weeks ago volume four stormed out on the shelves in April. The set is the first (and so far only) to add to an existing era; up until this point Bandai have thrown in smatterings of figures from various series - a trend set to continue with volume five. Volume 4 however has a strong line-up of machines to go up against the ones released back in wave 3.
Ok, so we are back to doing the odd 7-box set again. As usual there are four mobile suits in this set and most of their accessories have been chucked into three different "EX" packs which are typically mostly filled with air and don't seem particularly EX at all. Getting the boxes you need to build the line-up you want can be a bit of a chore and I always tend to end up with one or two I don't need so I guess the Bandai sales strategy works...
The concept of assembly instructions inside the box is now but a memory and Bandai instead upload the build instructions to the web which will no doubt be survived by unsold figures. Potential future customers can enjoy trying to build and properly sticker these freehand at that time. I always advocate downloading the instructions for future use and you can get a good idea of the features in the designs as well.
01 : RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 02 Banshee (Destroy Mode)
Right, on to the models then. First out we have the second Unicorn and its basic configuration with the Newtype Destroyer system. I wasn't sure Bandai would actually bring it to Mobility Joint and so was pleasantly surprised when it was announced. The figure is almost entirely in a single colour and so you can look forward to getting to work with that deal sheet. As much as I loathe stickers these work surprisingly easy to deal with in spite of their delicate nature and wrap around-designs but I have a nagging feeling they will be far from permanent. I am already seeing some worrying tendencies on the shoulders of the ReZEL figures and they aren't even half a year old. If you are really into the MJ series painting them is the way to go as the detail of the sculpts is excellent.
Our Banshee comes with its peculiar Psycho Frame weapons in the form of a folding Beam Smartgun on the right arm and a gripping Vibro Nail claw for the left. Interestingly a basic shield is also provided although it is completely omitted in the build instructions.
02 : YAMS-132 Rozen Zulu
Mobility Joint sure doesn't shy away from introducing new mobile suits. In an age where figures tend to be recycled among multiple series this is a brave thing to do for a cheap Gashapon design. This set contains a rarely seen figure in the Rozen Zulu - you know that purple Space Z'Gok. The look of this figure turned out fantastic and the 3D-stickers worked well but again we shall see how permanent they are. The Zulu does have some minor issues with its feet however, the articulation is very limited due to a tight fit and I found it difficult to even get it to stand in a simple straight up pose with the soles of its feet resting completely on the ground. It features opening and closing claws and a monoeye that can be positioned in a limited arc, but you will have to remove the head to adjust it.
Lots of components as you can see but nothing really in the form of accessories. These have been hidden away in the EX pack that we will get back to shortly.
03 : AMS-129 Geara Zulu
The Zulu is our Unicorn-era Zaku II mass-production unit look-alike. The aesthetics are basically an evolution of the Geara Doga and Zaku II that came before it, but the colours are more muted and the styling very heavily influenced by the German army of World War II - down to the beam machine gun with its Stg.44 flavour. This figure is not so sticker heavy and the instructions are very helpful in pointing out exactly how to position the sleeve decals.
When I first took this figure out of the packaging I thought I was missing the right shoulder component on the inner frame but all is well, it sits on sprue 3-D. Notice the bottom section of the helmet in the top right corner, this should give you an idea of the max rotation of the monoeye.
04 : AMS-129 Geara Zulu (Angelo Sauper Custom)
The last mobile suit is another novelty item. While mainly a colour variation on the base Geara Zulu it also features different Guards Type shoulder armor, a helmet commander antenna, different weaponry and a backpack belonging to the old Geara Doga. The beam tomahawk looks a bit drab without any beam effect and I don't think it would have hurt Bandai's bottom line if they threw in a spare axe for the basic Geara Zulu figure as well, there isn't even one in any of the equipment packs.
There are obviously a lot of similarities with the base Geara Zulu figure - notice how the inner frame of Angelo's machine comes with the part missing on the regular Zulu, since this figure doesn't make use of a shoulder shield it has a symmetrical set-up.
05 : EX Parts for Unicorn 02 Banshee and Rozen Zulu
Right, on to the three EX sets, which contain a lot of the meat needed to get the most out of your figures. Box number five in particular is servicing both the Banshee and the Rozen Zulu effectively posing a problem with mismatched availability. I have never seen exactly how Bandai ships the Mobility Joint figures but I presume they come in 10-pack boxes and perhaps the three extra slots are geared towards extra equipment packs? Curious if anyone has some additional info on the typical distribution of the figures in this set.
The parts in this box allows you to upgrade the Banshee to its RX-0[N] Banshee Norn form which is a more conventional looking mobile suit with a Beam Magnum rifle and a heavily stickered shield reminiscent of the Unicorn Gundam. The lion's mane style Armed Armor Xeno-Connect attaches to the backpack. You also get two additional underarms so you can leave the Psycho Frame gear attached to those but you still need to pull a lot of components off to complete the switch. While doing this review I realized that I should pick up an additional Banshee figure allowing me to keep on of each form easily on hand.
What a beast! The Banshee owns the Unicorn Gundam any day of the week. I know I repeat myself endlessly about the stickers but I really do hope that they will not fail me - I would be really annoyed if end up having to discard all the Mobility Joint figures due to peeling stickers.
The Banshee Norn hanging out with the Full Armor Unicorn of Mobility Joint volume 3, released in November last year.
Comparative size and detail lever of the Banshee Norn as it appears in Gundam Converge #Sharp, Mobile Suit Ensemble and Mobility Joint form. The Ensemble figure is of course also available with a traditional golden psycho frame, I just happen not to have it assembled and on hand (I realize I should get a second MSE figure as well to keep the Banshee and the Norn side by side...).
The gear for the Rozen Zulu isn't nearly as interesting I think. The main additional component is a large shield with multiple annoying stickers to attach. The shield goes on the back of the arm where it isn't readily visible which is a shame for all the effort that went into lining up those decals properly. :) Although not pictured here (because I didn't feel like disassembling my figure for the purpose of the review) you also get a secondary smaller shield form which attaches to the end of the right arm through a black adapter that replaces the hand/manipulator, simulating the lost limb of the suit. We also get a really long wire-extension of the shield arm with a dedicated display stand to prop it up. Personally not a fan, but it is there if you would like to use it.
06 : EX Parts 1 for Geara Zulu
The Zulu gets two parts-sets where one should have been enough, the Bandai less is more approach in full swing I guess. This pack contains the heavy weapons backpack and the upgraded Bruno Plus beam gun which first appeared on the Geara Doga. We also get a commander antenna option and a set of extra beam machine gun energy clips that attach to the front skirt. I really think Bandai could have provided two sets of clips in the box; it is not that it was lacking any room or breaking anyone's budget.
The Bruno Gun was a real shocker when it first appeared for the Ensemble version Geara Doga but now it is starting to feel a bit stale. Still, it is a novel accessory that is a bit of pain to align with the figure's arm. Ideally, the right hand is supposed to hold on to the gun using the outside grip but I just went for the easy option of using the top handlebar - good enough. As for the other two accessories you will see them featured in the section covering the second EX pack, I forgot to take specific pictures of the base figure using those accessories only and there is already a lot of photo bloat here... :)
Comparison of the OG Bruno Gun-wielding Geara Doga from MJ2 and the Zulu. There are several tweaks in the sculpts but the two guns basically behave in the same way.
07 : EX Parts 2 for Geara Zulu
Now if the first Zulu equipment pack felt a bit lightweight this borders on ridiculous. We all know there was no reason to put these accessories in the previous EX pack but Bandai likes to let you go wild goose-hunting to fully kit out your figure. Just raise the base figure price and include all accessories already.
There are five accessories in this box, two of which can be seen here - a Beam Sniper Rifle in hand and a one-shot Sturmfaust disposable missile launcher attached to the backpack. You can also see the commander antenna option and the extra E-pacs for the beam machine gun from the previous EX pack. The shoulder shield has two square peg holes that are compatible with both the missile launcher and the beam machine gun but it is tricky to squeeze more than one accessory in there. Again, was it really too much work for Bandai to include a second Sturmfaust launcher in this box? Lame.
Comparison with a kitted Ensemble Geara Zulu from wave 10 (released in August 2019). Notice the painted sleeves on the Ensemble figure and the painted tubes the Mobility Joint figure, one step forward and one step back... Overall though I am quite pleased with all the options for the Mobility Joint Zulu, perhaps the Guards Type Zulu left shoulder could have been included as they already sculpted it for Angelo's machine anyway.
Angelo Sauper then, gets the remaining three accessories in the box. We have a jointed shield for the left arm similar to those used by the Geara Dogas, the proper Zulu-style backpack and a two-handed Beam Shot Rifle which looks sublime. You can of course also use any of the other Zulu-accessories like the Bruno Gun Plus with Angelo's machine.
The backpack has a stowage option for the Beam Shot Rifle. The massive size of the weapon makes it look a bit awkward though.
There should be a Bandai policy to always include at least one mass production type machine in every Gashapon/Shokugan set, preferably loaded with accessories. :)
Conclusion
Mobility Joint just keeps getting better and better. I was convinced this set would have been its swansong but we can at least look forward to a fifth volume releasing in October, taking the adventure into the 00 Anno Domini-era. The set will feature three different Celestial Being machines (no, not the ones you think of...) and the mass production-type GN-X of the U.N. which I will definitely want to army build.
