I keep digging into the old super deformed gacha and today we have reached volume 36, released in October 2002. It has a fairly typical composition of figures, mixing and matching from various franchises. Overall, I guess you can say the set is centred around three duellists, Amuro vs. Garma, Kira vs. Yzak and then whoever piloted those old Origin suits in a free-for-all at the end.
As usual, most of the figures come readily assembled out of the packaging. When searching for figures on the secondary market, be extra mindful of small missing components such as the various pieces that make up the Dopp Fighter flying base for example.
211 : GAT-X105 Strike Gundam (Ver.1.0)
This set is notable in that it marks the entry of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED into the SD line. The release of the Strike and the Duel here also coincides with the premiere of the television series in Japan. Thus we get a basic Strike armed with a beam rifle and shield, more advanced variants would be released as the series carried on. Overall the paint detail is alright but I do miss one of the most striking features, namely the dark inner frame of the shoulder, but for 100 yen this is an excellent figure.
The Strike has a really broad release history in the SD Full Color series, there's even a variant armed only with the close-combat Armor Schneider knives.
212 : GAT-X102 Duel Gundam
The Duel is a generic and well balanced machine and well suited to the SD treatment, the result looks the part. Sharp and menacing with a distinct colour scheme and that sexy high energy beam rifle. I'm not the greatest fan of the figure making use of the Strike Gundam's shield however, but considering that the two are of similar type you can attack it with some blue paint.
It has been a while since I watched SEED (and let's face it, whenever I do I tend to start from the assault on JOSH-A which is when the series kicks into high gear...) so I can't recall the circumstance of the Duel using the Strike Gundam's red shield rather than its own. Here is an image from the end phase of the series where it is indeed using gear from the Archangel but was there also a similar scenario in the initial phase? Answers on a postcard, please.
I find it a bit surprising that there is only a single SD Duel Gundam figure, the latter ones are variants such as the Assault Shroud or Blu Duel. Senshi Forte finally came out with a proper variant donning the blue shield in 2019.
213 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver.17.0)
Geeze, the Gundam returns again for the seventeenth time. What's left to do at this point? Well, we get a swinging action pose with the beam saber cutting through the air and the left arm held out as counter balance. It is a neat pose I guess although there is a better one out there, with both hands on the hilt.
Even if limiting ourselves to SD figures wielding a beam saber we still have several variants to choose from. Some of the newer ones forego the old painted blades with spiffy translucent plastic which is a big plus.
214 : DFA-03 Dopp (Standard + Garma's Custom)
The young and dashing Garma Zabi - who lent his name to this set - has climbed into his Dopp fighter craft and goes on a hunt together with a wingman. The two small fighters share a rectangular base which attaches to the standard SD Full Color action base and offers a bit of articulation to create various poses. Dopp fighters in general are quite rare in Gashapon form but Garma's steed is even more unusual. Interestingly, or should I say disappointingly however, Garma's Fs-type Zaku never made it into SD form which seems like a colossal oversight, but you could always touch up one of the many MS-06S that have been pumped out for Char Aznable. On a completely different note, at the time of writing this review Bandai revealed that the MS-06Fs is coming to Converge CORE painted in Shin Matsunaga's colours. I wonder if this will pave the way for Garma's unit as well. Fingers crossed.
215 : MS-05 Zaku I (The Origin Ver.)
Next up we have a trio of suits belonging to the Origin alternative timeline (or whatever it should be called). As with everything that revisits the past the suits from the Origin can afford to deep dive into technical specifics and minor detail glossed over in the original series which mostly tells suits apart based on their colour. There are several interesting variations to deep dive into here including special colour custom variations. Such detail usually remains out of scope for cheap Gashapon figures but at least here we have a Zaku I with some neat black and yellow hazard stripes on its shoulder. Not bad I guess.
I don't want to knock the Zaku I too hard but I seriously don't understand why Bandai have to be so cheap on accessories for it. Where is your anti-ship rifle or bazooka? Forgot to attach the shoulder shield in the depot? The Full Color Custom line finally did the U.C.0079 version justice by giving it both a poison gas launcher and a machine gun but good luck finding one.
216 : RX-77-1 Guncannon (The Origin ver.)
Now this figure is a bit of a can of worms. Labelled RX-77-1 on the Gashapon card I am not sure if this is an official designation. I am not well-versed in the intricacies of Guncannon Origin lore but I do know that the base Guncannon is referred to as the RX-77. The figure we see here has the origin style beam rifle but hands that belong to the pre-war RCX-76-02 "Guncannon First Type". Whatever the case may be, it is a neat looking figure and I would like to see more of the various Guncannon types released as mini-figures, at least we have a White Dingo variant up soon in Converge.
217 : RX-75 Guntank (The Origin ver.)
At least this Guntank is easy to tell apart from the one we saw in U.C.0079. As far as I understand it, this design replaces the RX-75/RX-75-4 we know from the original television series rather than being an earlier generation. I find all this retconning and retelling a bit confusing to be honest. It looks cool though, not as meek as the classic design.
The original Guntank design looks like something you build out of random coloured Lego blocks. The Origin variants, represented here by the two-engine RX-75 and the one-engine RTX-65 Guntank Early Type from Converge seem more suitable for actual combat.
Conclusion
Volume 36 is kind of an average SD set, a good source for Origin army builder figures but nothing that stands out that much. I'd rate these figures among the easier ones to find but with each year added to the calendar the SD figures are becoming quite scarce in places where I used to find plenty. The sources are slowly beginning to dry up (unless you are in Japan perhaps, but I have a feeling that SD figures are quite high in demand over there as well).
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