Lately I have been fortunate to come across some old Gashapon boxes of the Strategy of Gundam brand. While the figures themselves used to be fairly easy to source in the past they have become rare in recent years but to find them in their original packaging is even rarer. The rarest of all is the distributor packaging of which we have a fine example for review today. The Strategy of Gundam figures are scaled to 1:300 and feature interesting and well thought out colour schemes, often with a muted style and featuring washes on top. This particular set is the first EX wave and it first appeared in September 2006.
Here is a closer look of the distribution style 8-box which also doubles as a store display piece. As with many of the Gashapon boxes the lid of the box is intended to be folded so that it forms the backdrop of the box from which customers can pick up individual blind boxes. You can see the fold mark and perforated semi-circle of the box lid in the first photo of the review. The sides of the box are also intended to be modified by tearing off the top section of each box side to make a display piece which is easy to grab from.
This is the first time I have come across a display box with sealed individual boxes inside. Since the box comes from the secondary market I cannot be 100% sure that the contents have not been shifted around or modified, but since these sets contain no secret items, colour variations or chase pieces it seems unlikely that the contents have been tampered with. After opening up the 8 individual boxes I found the seeding in this particular box to be neatly organized as follows: The front row contained the two G-Fighters, the second row the two Gundams, third row the Goufs and the row at the back held the two Ground Type Zakus.
The individual boxes have beautiful artwork on all sides. The front artwork shows the G-Fighter variations in a landscape format while we can see the Gouf and the Zaku II on the back cover in portrait format. The Gundam itself is only visible on the sides of the figure which seems a bit odd.
Each box contains a combination of various plastic bags containing the figures in various states of assembly. I have opened quite a few of these and so far have never ended up with any packaging mistakes such as missing components or inadvertent duplicates, something that seems to be more common these days.
Here the bags are spread out so that each horizontal line represents the contents of one single box respectively. from top to bottom we have the contents of the Gundam, G-Fighter, Gouf and Zaku II respectively.
Components laid out to form the different figures. This is the semi-completed form that the figures are typically provided in - you can continue to pick them apart further which is something I tend to avoid so as not to wear out their joints.
RX-78-2 Gundam with Docking Bay
Let's start with the most boring figure in the box, the RX-78. The Gundam is of course featured also in the basic S.O.G. line-up and this EX-figure is instead intended to synergize with the G-Fighter, something we will look into a bit further down the review. It was therefore necessary to sculpt the figure in its most basic form and so Bandai livened things up a little by also providing a dock for the figure to power down in. As such this Gundam figure is a neat background scenery piece (or objective marker in a game).
The docking bay can be assembled in two different modes to allow the mobile suit to stand or lie down. The whole construction stands firmly regardless which option you decide to go for.
Here you can see the relative size of the dock compared to figures of the old Converge-era, modern Converge (#Sharp) and Mobile Suit Ensemble. If you are thinking about finding a dock for posing with other figures consider that most mobile suits with backpacks and large fins will be unsuitable for standing in the bay. Figures with flat backs such as the GM and similar builds would be the most suitable.
G-Fighter + FF-X7 Core Fighter
The main player in this set is the quirky G-Fighter mobile armor. It features an aerodynamic nose section, a large bulky main body with treads and fins and thrusters for use in space. No two G-Fighter figures look the same and the S.O.G. variant has a really short and tall profile and features some light weathering on top of its normally garish colour scheme. Being a transforming figure it suffers a bit from the Macross figure syndrome, in that it can be hard to line every component up as intended. The bendy plastic may play some tricks on you but overall the figure has many interlocking components that do a good job of keeping things together, though perhaps not entirely aligned.
The G-Fighter gets a little Core Fighter figure to assist in its transformation options. The main criticism against this figure is that the cockpit canopy is not painted differently, but you can easily amend that with a black marker pen. The big funky hole at the rear is used when combining the fighter with the G-Armor section. The S.O.G. line also has some Core Fighter figures without this peg hole as can be seen in the comparison image.
This G-Fighter has quite a few tricks up its sleeve, offering multiple alternative builds and combination features. The box contains a two-sided instruction sheet which does a reasonable job of explaining the different conversion procedures although I found myself ending up with parts flipped the wrong way here and there (some I only noticed once I began editing the photos much later). Here are the instructions for future reference:
Notice how some of these alternate builds also make use of components from the Gundam figure in this set. Overall, I needed three sets of figures to be able to build one of each combination.
You are actually able to build both the G-Sky and the G-Bull using the components from a single G-Fighter and Gundam figure pair. Notice how the Core Fighter is used to spearhead the G-Sky figure.
Next up we have the massive G-Armor combo which is an elongated variant of the G-Fighter with the Gundam's torso as part of the fuselage protected by its two shields. The G-Armor retains the G-Fighter cockpit section with the heavy mega particle cannons up front.
Below you can see the various G-Fighter configurations that you can assemble from the two E.F.S.F. figures in this set. A total of three G-Fighters and two Gundams were needed to assemble this group.
However, the story doesn't end here. If we inspect the sides of the Gashapon box a bit closer we will see even further conversion options - provided that you have access to some of the other figures in the S.O.G. line:
To complete the next figure variations you need the RX-78-2 Gundam and the Core Fighter/Mobile Suit Transporter from the first S.O.G. figure set, the "Operation V" wave released in June the same year. We are not going to discuss these in great detail, just quickly browse through them below.
The huge mobile suit flatbed transporter can transport the Gundam from the EX set (the G-Fighter figure is not involved in this particular variant) but the pose is not entirely convincing, seeing as how the Gundam rests on its backpack and heels only. Still, the illusion works better when viewed from above, and is again a suitable piece for a board game objective. You can of course transport whatever you want on said truck as long as it is fairly flat.
The Gundam figure from the first S.O.G. volume has a less static pose and is equipped with a beam rifle and shield. The Gundam can ride on the G-Fighter although you may need to fiddle a bit to get the two to line up nicely, I didn't really spend a lot of energy on it here but you get the idea.
The last combination involves taking the upper section of the volume 1 Gundam figure and combining it with the rear section of the G-Sky mode to crate the Gundam G-Parts B variant (G-Mechanical). We actually have a proper figure of the G-Mechanical variant released in S.O.G. EX volume five featuring an asteroid base, seen here on the right. If you want to you can use the base from S.O.G. Ex V together with the G-Sky or G-Mechanical from the S.O.G. Ex set.
MS-07B Gouf + HT-01B Magella Attack (green) + Cui
Moving our focus to the Principality of Zeon we don't have any fancy parts conversion going on here but Bandai compensates for it by giving us a bit of combined arms action. The Gouf seen here is a basic S.O.G. figure (which interestingly was not released in the basic retail line for some reason) but it gets teamed up with a Magella Attack Tank and a Cui infantry support vehicle. The Gouf is in the middle of striking someone with its heat rod and features a pose that is somewhat prone to falling over. While you can rotate the figures limbs a little to attempt to get it to stand up better you would probably have to give it a base of some kind if you were to use it seriously on a gaming table.
The Magella Attack Tank features a turret that can rotate or detach, but the main cannon is not intended to elevate. The tracks are also not movable. Still, it is a great looking figure and one of my favourite representations of this vehicle.
Should you use the S.O.G. Magella with your Converge display? Size-wise they aren't that different but you are not getting the compact aesthetic in the S.O.G. figure which will unfortunately mean it stands out a bit.
The Cui is a wonderfully weird Zeon vehicle, basically a moving wall behind which infantry can take cover from light weapons. The figure can be a bit difficult to ground properly unless you glue it to a base but it is a great display piece and gaming accessory.
MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type (Magella Cannon) + HT-01B Magella Attack (tan) + Cui
The Gouf set-up was so cool that Bandai decided to recycle it for the Ground Type Zaku II. We have the same ingredient list if mobile suit + tank + infantry support vehicle, it would have been cool if the Dopp fighter would have replaced one of the two extra vehicles for some added play options. The Zaku II figure itself has an interesting colour scheme and is armed with the Magella Attack cannon used in the tank and also features leg-mounted missile launchers and a large Heat Hawk for close combat action. The Heat Hawk clips into a slot at the waist and has a tendency to fall out easily, consider supergluing it to not lose it. Again the figure can be tricky to stand up without toppling over but is otherwise great.
The Magella Attack Tank in this box is similar to the one in the Gouf box except that it is painted beige. Notice how the gun barrel is slightly differently coloured, probably due to the different materials plastics used here. The tanks colours are not randomized - you will only find the green tank together with the Gouf and the beige variant with the Zaku II. The Cui in each box is identical so I didn't include repeat photos of it here.
Conclusion
The Strategy of Gundam figure series is really great, the sculpts are excellent, the figures are excellent for skirmish tabletop gaming and while they tend to be overpriced on eBay they are quite cheap if you look for them on the Japanese market. Personally I can't help myself, every time I come across a set of this series I need to purchase it.
