Gundam Converge #24

Converge 25 was released just a few weeks ago and is proving to be a bit of a hot item right now (well except maybe for the Wing Gundam and the Ball that is). Fitting then that I have just gotten around to assembling and setting up the wave 24 figures in my studio. The wave released in late February 2024 after the SEED Freedom movie premiere and features the first figures dedicated to this new chapter. As such, these two Converge figures were not named in the preorder material for quite some time, attempting to build the hype. It is always treacherous to coordinate your story premiere with a toy release, as some franchises have seen vital plot points leaked in press blurbs for the related toy releases. I don't think anyone was much surprised to learn that we were getting yet another rehash of the Freedom and Justice, it is even there in the movie name.


Anyway, there is nothing terribly out of the ordinary with this Converge release. Most Converge figures now require two plastic bags to fit all the components and I can't say I miss the sticky old plastic bags which always made your hands feel greasy when opening them up. Build instructions are also available but only highlighted on/ruining the Gundam Calibarn box cover since the rest of the figures are very straightforward in their design.



285 : STTS-909 Rising Freedom Gundam


As I just mentioned, volume 24 is all about introducing the first new SEED Freedom machines. I don't know just how many suits of this family we will get to see. The Strike Freedom just released in wave 25 but after that it is anyone's guess. It wouldn't surprise me if they will move on from Freedom in wave 26 as the designers rarely dig deeper into the new franchises like Narrative, Build or Iron Blooded Orphans. I am pleased to say that I find the new Rising Freedom figure an excellent design and I appreciate that it doesn't come with a lot of gimmicks, I like my Converge figures on the uncomplicated side of things and this fits the bill perfectly. The paint applications are crisp and clean and even includes two colours on the beam rifle. Great work!


As you can see there is not a whole lot going on with this figure. It follows the traditional mold of one basic accessory and no option parts and that's all I require from a Converge figure, basic, premium or other.


Converge figure development ranging from the X10A Freedom (from the Converge SP 07 twin-pack, released August 2016) through the X20A Strike Freedom (Converge #04, October 2016) and the new Rising Freedom figure. Looking forward to inject the Strike Freedom Gundam Type II from wave 25 into the line-up once I manage to get my hands on one. Interestingly enough, the basic ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam was never reissued in the #Sharp figure series.






286 : STTS-808 Immortal Justice Gundam


You can't say Freedom without Justice and you can't say Justice without looking towards the red and pink palette on your workspace. I already find it difficult to tell the X09A Justice and X19A Infinite Justice designs apart and the designers of the new Immortal Justice sure aren't making things easier. While all of the look great they are a bit too similar for me to fully appreciate them all. having said that, the new Converge figure looks excellent and has a really smart colour scheme with careful application for the most apart (worlds apart from the shoddy paint apps that continue to plague the Converge Plus series). Notice the small Cinderella glass-shoe which attaches to the Immortal's left heel; the feet are too small to warrant a peg hole for the base plate so this adapter helps keep the figure upright. It is a very loose fit however and the figure falls out of it very easily.


The Immortal Justice has the same type of basic loadout as the Rising Freedom. It wouldn't surprise me if we will see a really expensive CORE double pack down the line with additional weapon options and "fake" additional markings.


I am pretty upset that FusionWorks never bothered to release a figure of the ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam, a rather big oversight if you ask me. Fortunately they at least completed the Heliopolis G-project family with this imposing Aegis Gundam (Converge #21, released May 2021) and we also have a rather old X19A Infinite Justice (Converge SP 08 twin-pack, November 2016 - recently reissued in the SP 09 3-pack in January 2024...) for the new Immortal Justice to hang out with. I hope Bandai will eventually come around to plugging the Justice Gundam-shaped hole in iconic line-up.


Here is a parting shot of the Rising Freedom and the Immortal Justice duo. I have yet to watch SEED Freedom but the fact that they gave the Justice to Shinn fills me with dread about the whole thing anyway... :)






287 : X-EX01 Gundam Calibarn


Switching franchises a bit we have a new entry from the Witch of Mercury - and to no one's surprise it is the Gundam Calibarn which has been plastered all over Mobile Suit Ensemble recently. The fact that Ensemble will feature the Gundam Schwarzette in part 27 which releases this summer makes me somewhat hopeful that we may see a couple more designs from this series also in Converge before the eventual rug-pull. There is quite a lot to say about the Calibarn figure so let's get into it. To start things off I have to praise the overall look and paint applications on this figure, these are excellent all around (apart from a smudge on the chest section on my figure... oh, well). The overall machine has a nice white finish which almost looks metallic and the proportions are great.


But wait... what's this? Just why are there two sprues of components included with the Calibarn? Well, the V-fin is made from two smaller components made of a sort of translucent black plastic but what is the deal with all those tiny, tiny white parts marked 3-10? Well, if you are familiar with the Converge #Sharp Nu Gundam figure you realize all too well that this are intended to plug holes for accessories not included in this box. That's right, you can probably look forward to an expensive EX version of this figure which will also include all the missing G-bit armour that either allows you to form up a shield or body armour that attaches to the arms, hips and legs. Take care when assembling your figure and study the instructions closely, these components are very small but are intended to fit into the holes in a very specific way.


Both the Gundam Aerial (Converge 10th Anniversary Selection 03, released December 2022) and the Aerial Rebuild (Sharp #23, September 2023) featured GUND-BIT components that could either form a shield or attach to the body. While the Calibarn has the same properties the Converge retail figure strips out these bits completely.






288 : RGZ-91 Re-GZ


The last leg of the set is dedicated to the Universal Century. Next up the Re-GZ is brought back to life in a new #Sharp mold which also includes an updated colour scheme to something which is more akin to the drawings we usually see of this thing. The new sculpt is also a bit larger and beefier, an overall improvement over the old figure I think, even though there wasn't really anything wrong with it. I guess some might feel that the teal colour is a bit on the cartoony side but it stays true to the anime-origins of the franchise.


The figure is armed with the standard beam rifle and shield loadout and its two antennas come on a small sprue. Be careful when attaching these components so you do not accidentally bend or break them, the peg holes aren't always fit for purpose but may require a bit of clean up.


Side-by-side with the original Re-GZ from Converge volume 14 which released in April 2014. The two Jagd Dogas also released in that wave are just out in reissued form in Converge #25 as well.






289 : RGZ-91 Re-GZ (Unicorn ver.)


Bandai decides to milk the new Re-GZ with an alternate palette in the vein of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. The overall style is definitely muted, maybe more so than in the actual series, but I kind of like it. It reminds me of how the U.S. got rid of their beautiful high-visibility colour schemes and went all muted dull and grey, even the roundels turned unreadable for crying out loud. I've been wondering, now that pixellated camouflage is all the rage, will we get to see a Gundam series that adopts this too?


The two Re-GZs figures feature the exact same gear and I think Bandai missed a beat here. The correct thing should have been to include a nice translucent beam saber with this variant, giving the two a little bit of different personalities as well as a simple trick to borrow gear from each other.


The Converge Re-GZ family consists of the OG Re-GZ figure from volume 14 mentioned above, a busted up version that came with the Alpha Azieru Option Parts Set (released February 2021), the awesome Re-GZ Custom variant armed with a Kalashnikov (Converge #21, released May 2021) and the two #Sharp versions from volume 24.






290 : MS-06V Zaku Tank


The Zaku Tank is a brand new design for Converge and follows hot on the heels of the remodelled Magella Attack Tank seen in Converge 23. This Mobile Suit Variation was coloured in a sandy light brown tone which has followed it since, although there are green versions seen too. I like the way Converge has been introducing mobile armours and vehicles in the last two waves and it will be interesting to see if the Dopp fighter is also due for an update after the Ball that comes in Wave 25.


When I first saw the official artwork for the Zaku Tank one of the images was highlighting how the claws can swivel in their sockets. This is par for the course for almost all Converge figures and I mistook it for being some kind of option part, maybe a drill of some kind? Yeah, they tricked me into buying a second figure so that I could display each type; note to self - do better research beforehand. :)


The Zaku Tank is of course based on the Magella Attack Tank from the previous wave. They both have an ancestor in the old Magella tank figure which, like the Re-GZ also hails from the Converge 14 set released in April 2014. It surely cannot be a coincidence that we are seeing reissues of four of the six figures from Converge volume 14 in Sharp waves 23 to 25. There is a terrible Barzam figure in that lot; kindly give him a much needed make-over as well (yeah right, that'll happen...).






Conclusion

To no one's surprise I find Sharp wave 24 to be a very successful and entertaining set of figures, featuring a good mix of new mobile suits as well as revisiting old designs. Volume 25 which just released continues this philosophy even if it is a bit heavy in the reissue department. What comes in volume 26 is anybody's guess, first we have to make it through the summer lull and its uninspired rehash of last years Operation Jaburo set. Bandai have also been busy reissuing some of the old SEED-themed SP box sets so now may be a good opportunity to get them before the autumn's expensive releases begin to stack up.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom Character & Mecha Model Sheets

The recent advent of the SEED Freedom movie brought along with it various sorts of promotional items, be it Ichiban Kuji lottery prizes, acrylic figures, gacha and the like. One item that piqued my interest was this cinema visitor bonus item which has been appearing all over Mandarake recently. It is a small booklet with an intriguing title that I figured was worth a closer look.


Nothing wrong with the cover, that's for sure. In a best case scenario, this would be a neat little full-colour booklet with quick technical profiles of the most hyped mobile suits as well as mini-biographies of the most prominent of main characters. At its worst, it would be a throaway pointless sketchbook. Well, let's open her up.


Ah yes... it is the sketchbook variety. We have nine pages of portrait line drawings such as the one you see here; covering all in all 21 characted. Some characters are presented with full body drawings as well as close-ups, others are reduced to a single portrait. While there is a lot of focus on new characters old acquaintances like Yzak and Dearka still get four images each; Athrun and Cagalli are reduced to a single portrait each.


The second half of the booklet contains the mobile suits. There are three spreads with four mobile suits each for a total of 12, but you get no technical data or even alignment information for context. The last page consists of the usual corporate disclaimers and exclamations about how we cannot assist you the paying customer in any other way. All in all, a useless booklet that you can safely ignore, we'll have to wait for better publications covering the latest wave of Cosmic Era machinery.

Gundam Converge CORE 039 : The White Wolf of Solomon

The Matsunaga-themed White Wolf set follows on similar CORE sets centred on other ace pilots like Char, the Black Tri-Stars and most recently Anavel Gato. Unit markings aren't really a thing in Gundam Converge but they have become more common in the last years, a trend that I really approve of. The Gundam Collection 1:400 figure series was a pioneer in this regard and I would think there must be many more collectors out there interested in seeing re-releases of existing figures in colours and markings from famous units and theatres.


The CORE 039 box set is a Premium Bandai exclusive and shipped in February 2024. It features five different rides of Shin Matsunaga in his signature white colour. I'll have to state upfront that while Matsunaga is my favourite character in all of Gundam lore (and I keep waiting for MegaHouse to create an outrageously expensive figure of him) there is not a great deal of lore surrounding his persona and he has to be considered a minor character. Thus, I can imagine Bandai struggled a bit to come up with five mobile suits to stick in the box, perhaps a better idea would have been to create a mixed aces box similar to the recent Johnny Ridden Gelgoog 3-pack.


Five standard size Converge figures have been squeezed into the box and they come in the typical single pack plastic bags we are used to. There are a couple of sculpting news here but most of the content is recycled and repainted.


Each figure comes with one or more accessories, with some clearly getting more love than others. And with "some" I mean everyone except the Gelgoog which always seems to get the least love among the Zeon suits for some reason.



MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type (Shin Matsunaga Custom)


Whenever you see a Matsunaga Custom figure it is usually the High Mobility Type Zaku so that is where we are starting off. This is the baseline retail HMT enhanced with a couple of weapon options and some interesting White Wolf special markings. Although many of these weapon options have been around in the Converge line for a while we finally get access to weapons with painted white hands. My main problem with this type of figure is to decide which weapon to display it with. :)


Matsunaga's High Mobility Type Zaku has already been released as a retail figure in the Converge #14 set five years ago in February 2019. The basic figure remains pretty much unchanged except for the printed markings on the left shoulder, left knee and that tiny triangle on the torso. In fact, one of the main issues I have with this set is that two of the five figures have already been released although this is clearly an improvement, rendering the old figure pretty much obsolete.






MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type "Phantom" (Shin Matsunaga Custom)


Wait a minute... another High Mobility Type Zaku II? Yes, apparently, although this one is a little bit more exotic. Named "Phantom" on the box cover blurb this machine has a creamy vanilla base colour and swaps out the right shoulder shield for another spiked pauldron. Notice also the barely visible unit number 23 on the chest plate, I really like the overall style this figure has going for it.


Although unit 23 ships with four basic Zaku II weapons it is the Large Heat Hawk that is the main eye-catcher of this thing. This weapon is usually seen paired with Dozle Zabi's custom Zaku II, I don't know if the canon also supports Shin wielding it although he is considered to be a melee weapon specialist. I have a sneaky feeling that the figure we see here is an afterthought and that FusionWorks have already prepared a Dozle Zabi custom Zaku II for the Converge line-up to be released in the future. It makes me really excited. :)






MS-06FS Zaku II (Shin Matsunaga Custom)


What the... another Zaku II? When I first saw the announcement of this set I was immediately a bit sceptical to the line-up. Although they are all slightly different, three white Zaku IIs just seem a bit much. To be fair though, this is not a High Mobility Type Zaku II but the evolved main F-type. This variant has additional Vulcan self-defense guns in the head as can be seen clearly here. There are also many other subtle sculpt changes but nothing you would really think about unless you were to place it directly next to another Zaku II figure.


Just like with the large heat hawk above the Zaku II Type FS is commonly associated with Garma Zabi. Are we indeed able to look forward to not only a custom Zaku II for Dozle but also a custom FS Type for Garma later down the line? It sure looks promising. To date, one of the early MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type Converge figures was offered in the colours of Garma Zabi (with an alternative heat hawk option at the time), are we finally going to see a properly released version of this mobile suit? Seen here are the two Zaku IIs from Converge volume 5 (released in November 2011) in the colours of Char and Garma respectively.


I also want to mention that new Zaku Bazooka. When the Converge #Sharp reissue of the High Mobility Type was introduced in volume #14 it drew some ire because the new bazooka was rather tiny. The old accessory is still bundled with the two High Mobility Type figures in this set, but notice how the new FS Type figure struts the exact same weapon except it has been resized (and the sculpt is completely different with a hand attached to it). I don't think we have ever seen the same weapon depicted in two different ways in the same package. No idea why they didn't go ahead and correct the issue for the other two figures at the same time...






MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaeger (Shin Matsunaga Custom)


Now, this next figure is where I start to become a little bit annoyed with this set. First of all, the Jaeger is a majestic and awesome looking mobile suit and the Converge figure does it perfect justice. The figure is imposing in size and has very crisp detail but it comes with two built-in issues. The first issue is that we already have a better looking representation of this thing in the Converge retail assortment. The second problem is that there is no optional gear in this set. Every figure in the White Wolf box gets multiple different gear options, including a couple never before seen weapons but when it comes to the Gelgoog; nothing! The Jaeger sports that cool ling-range beam rifle but we already saw it on the old figures. Here was the chance to include a Giant Bazooka and beam saber and shield combo. Maybe if Converge had already released Cima Garahau's custom Gelgoog Marine we could have got that shield but come on, at least design a beam saber for this figure. This is actually quite disappointing.


Now, for the first issue I mentioned; take a look at the two Jaeger from Sharp #22 (released November 2021); Matsunaga's custom figure has a bigger and better placed White Wolf insignia than the CORE figure; what is up with that? To further differentiate the two, the designers put a WW marking on the new figure's right shoulder and a generic Zeon insignia on the front skirt. I still think the old figure looks better. I'm sorry, but they fumbled this poor figure.






MS-06R Rick Dom (Shin Matsunaga Custom)


The last figure in this set is also a bit of a downer. It is basically a generic Rick Dom figure with the White Wolf emblem on the shoulder. It makes perfect sense since Matsunaga didn't coast around in a white machine but I can see why some people wouldn't think of it as terribly interesting. My main gripe with it however is the shoddy paint job on my figure; there red paint spills out on the head and the right hand has a rather big fray smudge on it. Not impressive for a CORE figure, you know the ones that are supposed to be of a higher and more exclusive finish? This is probably bad luck for me because the Rick Doms in the Anavel Gato pack (see image further down) do not have this problem. Bandai just can't seem to nail the quality control for its premium product and it is getting really boring.


While the Rick Dom figure sports the traditional Heat Sword and Giant Bazooka combo we also get a Heat Sword accessory for it in this pack. I have no idea if Matsunaga has been seen wielding it in any media but it is listed on the Gundam wiki so it seems perfectly legit. I also think it is cool to see a crossover weapon that you would normally associate with the Gouf. If only they would have shown that same love to the Gelgoog Jaeger...


Side-by-side with another pair of Rick Dom figures from the 302nd Patrol Set, armed with the other option gear included also with the White Wolf. I realize differently numbered figures might be a bit esoteric to some collectors but I really love this deep rabbit-hole stuff and would gladly buy the same figures all over again if they sported other unit insignias such as the Mobile Assault Force, Black Aces or Chimera Corps emblems.


Just before we go, here is a quick comparison of the different shoulder-side emblems on the four figures thar carry them in this pack; the Rick Dom only wearing a White Wolf on the front side.






Conclusion

So, what to think about the White Wolf set? Well, Bandai have been killing it recently with the White Dingo and 302nd Patrol force packs but I think the White Wolf set comes off as a little anaemic in comparison. Technically, it does feature five different machines flown by the White Wolf but with three Zaku II variants and two of the five figures basically being reissues of retail figures I can well see why some people would choose to skip on this set. As a Matsunaga-freak myself I also feel that this set has a couple of disappointments in the accessory department and I can't really recommend this set to anyone who hasn't already bought it; especially when you factor in the hefty price on the secondary market. It was bad enough that Bandai wanted ¥4750 (plus tax) for it - at the time of writing the set sits around ¥7500 over at Mandarake which is a rather tough sell.