Ah yes, the old Converge Space Battleship line... haven't seen you on here in a while. In part because Bandai is really taking their time to slowly release new vessels and in part because I am really behind on the reviews. Anyway, here we have the third ship to join the line, and after the White Base and the Argama I think no one was surprised to see the Nahel Argama join in, although they do seem to have skipped over the Albion for some reason. I think if the series is allowed to continue I would guess that the next possible entry would be the Archangel, not counting the various re-releases of the existing three we will have to suffer through first. Right, Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam it is then.
The Nahel Argama was shipped back in October of 2023 and has unfortunately been quite expensive on the secondary market. Customers ordering from Bandai were asked for ¥4900 (plus tax) but the model is currently sitting around ¥7000 over at Mandarake. The box is as you can see a bit of a departure from the previously smaller and square-looking packaging used for the two prior releases. The new box is elongated and considerably larger. As much as this lack of consistency irked the OCD-collector part of the brain I was curious to see what could be found inside.
The thin outer box is reinforced by a thicker brown layer of cardboard inside and the bags are in turn wrapped in bubble plastic. To my relief everything arrived safe and sound. Actually the Converge Spaceships seem more fragile than they really are but there's always some delicate components, on the Nahel Argama I think especially of the wingtips and the little guns on the sides of the catapult decks.
With all the parts laid out we can see that the build isn't all that complex. Converge Spaceships tend to be fun builds (if you can really call it that) with big chunky components for the most part. You'll be done in a minute or two.
For reference, the assembly instructions can be found online at this link, as seen on the box cover. There is only one option part in use here so there won't be a lot of parts swapping back and forth which really pleases me.
Here she is full assembled and resting on top of her stand. Just like the models before her, the proportions are compacted in a way to better resemble the Converge aesthetic, and it works pretty nicely I think. The colouring and detail work is top notch on all sides as well as its belly. As usual with the Converge SB line, the ships are not pegged to the stands but simply lay on top of them. Be gentle when handling the ships and do not position them on narrow ledges far from the floor.
The only feature I do not like about the SB line is the ugly stand design. I can understand why the designers go for these flat drydock things but it would have been nice to allow for more interesting poses on a movable base. The ship has no peg holes on the underside (or any side for that matter) to offer any action base compatibility so you will have to get creative if you want to set a more interesting pose. A bit of a shame I think as the best views need a bit of a roll going.
Unlike the previous two ships in the line we only have one option part to mess with here. The ship's experimental Hyper Mega Particle Cannon (who names these things?) can be displayed in either extended or retracted mode. It would have been neat if this was actually made up of two or more components that would have allowed the gun to be pulled back and forward rather than swapping parts but the two modes aren't that different so just pick the one you like the most (once the inevitable CORE re-release with special markings comes around you can do the other one...).
Another novelty for the Nahel Argama figure is that it now comes with adorable little craft to display on its catapult deck. Converge steals the practice of small single colour figures from the MegaHouse Cosmo Fleet routine and it is a fun little gimmick. We get small versions of the Mega Rider and the ZZ Gundam's Core Fighter to be placed anywhere you like on the various flight decks. There are no pegs or supports of any kind so the slightest breeze will tip the over the edge. It is a shame there are no colour applications on these things but I bet they will look really good if you go through the trouble of painting them.
The relative size of the Nahel Argama next to a standard size Converge Full Armor ZZ Gundam is not bad, but I am still not convinced that it is a good thing to pose the two figure lines next to each other. The tiny little Mega Rider and Core Fighter mess with the perception even more and would probably do well to be left out in such a display.
Here we have the current three hull sizes in the Converge SB line; with the White Base flanking the Nahel Argama on the left and the OG Argama sitting on the right. The three display reasonably well together although I find it boring to have three similarly styled ships sitting like ducks in a row. Imagine some green or red Zeon/Neo Zeon flair breaking up the monotone a bit. As it stands; if you enjoyed the previous Converge SB offerings you will be very happy with this third release as well, but you may have to dig deeper into the pockets to acquire it than you would have wanted. The fourth Converge spaceship just landed here the other day, hopefully it won't take me half a year to put it up on the blog.
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