SD Gundam Full Color Stage 7

Full Color Stage 7 is the middle of thee sets focusing exclusively on Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and appeared in February 1999. The figures are characterized by being relatively large as many of the early SD figures and are also very light on the articulation. I wouldn't classify these figures as rare as far as the FC collection goes but considering it is almost 25 years since release you may have to dig in multiple places to find them, used lots are probably the best place to start.


Here are the figures as they come out of their packaging. Most have an arm or two to attach, some arms swivel at the shoulder while others are attached differently which means the poses you get out of them are fairly predetermined.



038 : RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (A.E.U.G.)


Second showing for the Mk-II which debuted in Stage 6 in Titans colours armed with a beam rifle and shield. The A.E.U.G. version instead gets the Hyper Bazooka option. I find it a bit strange that there is no early A.E.U.G. Mk-II with a beam rifle, the first one doesn't show up until Stage 27 (see below). If you are into re-painting the figures on the other hand you have a good opportunity to take both the Stage 6 Titans figure and the AEUG Stage 7 counterpart and colour swap them.


There are a lot of different loadouts for the Mk-II figures in the SD line-up. Top row left to right: The Super Gundam variant from Stage 12, the very green-eyed Mk-II from Stage 27 (also compatible with the G-Defenser figure from that same wave) and a Gundam riding on Flying Armor from Stage 45. The bottom row has an awkwardly posed saber-wielder from Stage 48, another beam saber from Stage 20 figure and the Mk-II carrying a bazooka from this stage.






039 : MRX-009 Psyco Gundam


The Psyco Gundam is a behemoth but the figure in this set is no bigger than the average SD figure. It comes in a rather stiff pose with one of its arms extended to give you a five-finger beam cannon surprise. Black mobile suits always look great and I'm surprised we don't seem them more often. The shield is really dull on the other hand, I've debated giving it a red trim but so far resisted tampering with it. Perhaps I'll sacrifice a duplicate in the future.


Here is a little family get-together with the mark one Psycos from Stage 7 (centre left) and what I believe to be the "Dice Gundam" variant from the rare Stage 61 set from 2005 (far left). On the right we have the Mk-II in its Mobile Suit mode (Stage 13) and Mobile Armor mode from the completely different (and non-deformed) Banpresto Micro Collection. There is a similar MA mode figure for the Mk-I here somewhere which I still haven't dug up (I made that remark when I used this very same image in a previous review...).






040 : NRX-055 Baund-Doc


Ohh... bit of a surprise to see a Baund Doc in SD-format. Its normally complex design is no problem for a compact SD figure though and I think the designers did a good job of maintaining its proportions even for such a small and stocky format. The colouring is also quite good but I am not really a fan of the outstretched right arm. Notice the leaning ears on one of the figures in the image. There is not gray (or yellow for that matter) variant of this figure, neither any mobile armor mode version.






041 : MSN-00100 Hyaku-Shiki


The golden suit must have looked really spectacular back in 1999. It is still a really attractive figure in the range, it even sports the Hyaku Shiki characters sculpted into its shoulder armour, you may want to take a really thin pen and fill it in, I know I have been considering it, again maybe I will sacrifice a duplicate. :)


This image gives an idea of how the SD figure line evolved over time. The early figures are larger yet sport less moving parts. Seen here is the Stage 7 Hyaku-Shiki (left) next to its counterparts from Stage 60 and a tiny version that appeared together with the Mega Bazooka Launcher in Stage 33 (right).






042 : MSK-008 Dijeh


The Dijeh is another pleasant surprise for the early SD range. This is a complex design that is all over the place but the designers really captured its feel spot on. You will have to forget the occasional bent wing or antenna on a capsule figure such as this. The only thing I think it is missing is a Dodai Kai to ride on, none were ever released in the old SD figure ranges, too bad since it would have been useful for many of the Zeta era figures to ride on. The Converge and Senshi Forte are a bit large, there might be some obscure Gashapon figure out there that I am not thinking of at the moment, maybe someone has a 3D-printed idea?






043 : MSA-003 Nemo


This stage is really full of rare mobile suit choices. Not that the Nemo was a rare sight in the television series itself but it can be quite hard to find in figure form. This figure comes in a very specific pose turned to one side which I find a bit unfortunate for an army builder type figure, it looks pretty odd to have a handful of them all staring to the side. Other than that it is an attractive figure and I love the sculpt of its rifle, all the weapons in this set look really good.






Conclusion

If you are busying yourself with building up an SD Zeta collection Stage 7 contains several no-brainers. Beyond the three sets mentioned in the introduction you can find some more Zeta era types in Stage 12 where the Full Color series starts blending into Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam. After Stage 14 release become much more sporadic but there are additional suits scattered among the later sets even if they are often variations of the early figures.