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.

Bandai Mobility Joint Gundam Volume 5

In previous reviews I predicted the soon to be death of the Mobility Joint brand several times, but the brand just refuses to lie down. Bandai has been quite busy churning out new figure waves and among them also the dreaded SP reissues as well as premium releases. It is hard to tell if the brand is kicking into high gear or if they are just pumping out everything designed before fading into oblivion. Whatever the case I am having a hard time keeping up and so the review we are doing today is for volume five which was released back in October last year. A signum of the brand has been the unwillingness of the designers to stick to a timeline and so this time we get to dip our feet into the Anno Domini-era and Mobile Suit Gundam 00.


One of the great pains of Mobility Joint Gundam is the tired approach of separating figures and their accessories in multiple boxes. Not only does this make finding them an absolute chore but for people who enjoy building all the suit variations it can also lead to additional confusion and difficulty sourcing the exact number of boxes to accomplish this. It took me several months of hunting to gather what I required for this purpose. Sure, a basic set of 8 boxes allows you to build all the types but you must decide if you want a Gundam Exia or an Avalanche Exia, and so on.


If you want to build every major type of mobile suit in this set you will have to find three 00 Gundam figures and then doubles of the Exia, Astraea and the 0-Raiser. The 0 Raiser by the way appears to be the hardest figure to find for some reason. The GN-X also suffers from having several of its weapons stowed away in the 00 Gundam Seven Swords accessory pack. They probably end up in a lot of people's hands who have no intent of building the GN-X, effectively making its gear needlessly scarce. Sometimes I feel so sick of Bandai and their predatory business practices...

Anyway, let's get started shall we? If you want to follow along in the construction you can find the assembly instructions here, and as usual I recommend downloading the document for any future use. Man, 36 pages... they're not messing around.




01 : GN-0000 00 Gundam


At least the figures of volume five weren't that annoying to assemble. The hardest part is usually to remember to apply all the stickers and in the right order, take your time when going through the process. The figure doesn't look half bad although serious modelers will have to contend with some nasty seams on the front of the legs. The figure comes armed with its two signature GN Sword type IIs, seen here stowed on its hips. As is typical with the MJ figures there are loads of articulations present but the stocky and bulky extremities make movements quite limited. Our figure here poses like a body builder who has had a little bit too much to drink, since the swords block much of the arm movement. You can of course put them in the figure's hands if you prefer and the blades also rotate so you can alter between rifle and sword mode.


Bandai did a really good job on the 00 Gundam in the Mobile Suit Ensemble line and the figures sported some very nice translucent plastic components. Here we have to make do with stickers for the most part although there are also some nice metallic paint apps present. There are a couple of quite annoying stickers in this set - the worst belong to the 0 Raiser - but overall they weren't as painful as I had first anticipated. A word of warning though; who knows how long the figures will have before the stickers begin peeling off? If you are seriously into these figures painting is the way to go.

We will return to the 00 and its various accessories but for now we will continue down this volume in numerical order.





02 : GNX-603T GN-X


The second box contains the figure that captured my interest the most out of the set. Not only is it an unusual army builder-type figure but it also has a very unique looking colour scheme and profile. Many of the 00 suit designs are slim and full of sharp edges which don't always translate well into SD format, but I think it works alright here for the most part. I do have one problem with this figure however; its face is a sticker that is applied on top of a concave surface, this is bound to cause problems in the future.


The Jinx is armed with its standard stub beam rifle which has a really unique look to it. You can more weapons and its shield in the 00 Gundam accessory box which is both frustrating and idiotic as it would have been dead easy to chuck these small parts into the main figure's box. If they wanted to round out the set to 8 they could have done a colour swap of the GNX-X figure instead (like the darker ESF Type) but then again, the marketing department apparently despises you the paying customer. :)





03 : GN-001 Gundam Exia


Back to Celestial Being and going one generation back we find ourselves in front of the Gundam Exia, a well-known face from Gundam Converge and Ensemble. The MJ version isn't quite as fancy and makes liberal use of stickers, the torso in particular is a jumble of yellow, white and red stickers that have to be wrapped around plastic components in three dimensions. Mobility Joint (and I suppose MicroWars and Gframe for that matter) in so many ways feel like backpedaling from painted features that have suddenly become too expensive to realize. I think Gundam figure collection is in a pretty strange state of affairs right now. As for the Exia figure itself, it is neat and meets par for Mobility Joint but you have to wonder about the longevity of these stickers. I have a feeling many MJ-figures will not survive the next 10 years. Do people still hold on to their Universal Unit figures for example?


The base figure is shipped with its large GN Sword which also has a folding mechanism without any parts swapping. The Exia's signature shield has been hidden away in the EX Parts set of course, together with the GN Long and Short Blade.





04 : GNY-001F Gundam Astraea Type F


The last mobile suit in this set is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. Selected for inclusion no doubt because of the many shared parts with the Exia the Type F is a novel machine not seen before in Gashapon or Shokugan form. The base GNY-001 does exist as a normally proportioned Gashapon in the HG CORE 1/285 family but that is a much more traditionally coloured design. I love obscure machines like this, especially when they come in standout colour schemes. You would be forgiven to think Char made it over to the Anno Domini, but no.


The Astraea figure only comes armed with a tiny GN Bea, Rifle, I assume this is why Bandai felt generous enough to also include the very same type of GN Shield that was hidden away in the Exia's EX Parts set. It appears Bandai has no specific policy or thought behind what constitutes an EX Part beyond the obvious "will they pay for it" mentality. Notice the subtle darker red stickers that go on top of the GN Shield, giving it a really nice appearance. I hope it lasts.





05 : EX Parts for 00 Gundam (0-Raiser)


Onto the EX Parts sets then. You know the ones - the ones with the boxes of the same size as those for the main figure but with half the contents. Case in point would be the 0 Raiser. It may be the hardest to find but it certainly isn't due to the parts count; pitiful. These could easily have fit together with the Seven Swords parts set but come one now, got to milk that 00 for all its worth!


After having assembled the full count of MJ boxes for volume 5 I was finally ready to start assembling them. I began with the 0 Raiser, figuring it would be a quick way to ease my way back into the process again, and making some quick process. Alas, the assembly is not difficult but it has the worst stickers in the entire set. See those thin blue V-shaped stripes there? Yeah, they will go on top of the rear section and wrap around and continue to the underside. So why make them V-shaped? GLHF.


Not counting the Rozen Zulu equipment pack, this is the first Mobility Joint figure to come with a makeshift stand of sorts, which is really plain and featureless. If you want to create a more interesting pose you will have to improvise again.


Here is a size comparison with the companion mobile suit. The 0 Raiser does look better when you are handling it in person than how it comes off in these statis front and side view shots and I kind of like it, I still think this package needed more stuff.


You can of course create the GN-0000+GNR-010 00 Raiser by pairing up the two figures. Only a few steps are needed to complete the task and it looks fine I guess. The 0 Raiser can also double as an extra support since it reaches all the way down to the floor.





06 : EX Parts for GN-X and 00 Gundam


The next EX pack is for the GN-... wait, this one is also for the 00 Gundam. Really? Yeah, they chucked the Seven Swords option parts into a separate box and instead of bundling them with the 0 Raiser they victimized my poor GN-X by throwing in its few weapon accessories here. Not amused.


There are a total of three accessories for the GN-X here. A traditional GN Beam Saber and GN Shield plus an option part for its puny weapon to create a GN Long Barrel Beam Rifle. these are all nice and essential gear that should have been shipped together with the parent figure. Have fun finding a set of EX-boxes for your squad.


Highlight of the review for me right here. The GN-X figures sold like crazy in the beginning but are now much easier to find. The option parts set is still unusual. I was considering picking up a few more but realized that if MJ survives a bit longer Bandai are destined to recycle this set into a Trans-Am Color variant and that you might net me an opportunity to pick up another gang; you know in "Special Marking ver." with a slightly different shade of grey or the like.


Anyway, I figure that the main attraction of this box for most people will be the conversion parts that let you transform the 00 Gundam into the GN-0000/7S 00 Gundam Seven Sword variant. This variant goes heavy on the short-range combat with two massive blade weapons - seen attached to the shoulders here - as well as two smaller GN Katar blades attached to the knees. Those nice green effect parts you see there are not effect-parts at all, just stickers. It looks great but again, the longevity of this set-up is questionable.


For all the moaning in this review I have to admit that the 00 Gundam is really getting to flex with all its gear options. Stay tuned for Mobility Joint Volume 6 by the way, it sports the Strike Gundam with six possible official variations, you are welcome back to this page in 2027 when I have managed to find them all. Still doing better progress than I had anticipated, currently awaiting delivery of four units from four different places...






07 : EX Parts for Gundam Exia


These last two EX Parts sets are easily the most involved out of this lot. They contain replacement parts that require you to disassemble your finished Exia figure. You have to take off the lower arms, remove the armour plating on the shoulders, strip away the chest section and remove the armoured skirt. Attaching arms and legs to the articulated ball joints is one of the riskiest moves you can with a figure like this, apply too much force from the wrong angle and you risk damaging or tearing off the joint completely. I recommend not swapping between modes but deciding beforehand exactly which model you prefer to build, and get an extra figure rather than switching back and forth.

The sticker sheet is also quite formidable so work slowly and scrutinize those instructions in detail. There are some thin nasty stickers here that wrap around components in 3D but I found them much easier to work with than the ones on the 0 Raiser.


The basic Exia figure finally gets hold of its GN Shield again, as well as the GN Short and Long blades. You can store the blades on the skirt armour sides or hold them in hands. You don't see them on the photos here because I only had one EX Parts set and I was lazy to move them from the Avalanche Exia figure but you get the idea, it is the same concept as with the 00 Gundam figure. :)


The majority of the components here are intended for construction of the GN-001/hs-A01 Gundam Avalanche Exia variant, which sports bulky armour on the upper arms and lower legs, sturdy front skirt armour plating and the back skirt even changes colour from white to blue. Notice the large armour plates on the back of the legs; these can also be worn underneath the soles of the feet as a set of skies. There is also a new storage option for the GN Short and Long blades; they can attach to the sides of the new backpack. The overall bulkiness of the armour suite makes the figure's articulation extremely limited.


The Avalanche suite is very close to a total conversion of the Exia figure. The Avalanche Exia also premieres in Converge Plus around the same time; I haven't got around to building it yet, but it will be interesting to compare the paintwork of the Converge figure with the sticker loadout on this thing.




08 : EX Parts for Gundam Astraea Type F


Bandai are enough that the Astraea also sports an Avalanche mode, so a lot of the EX Parts for the Exia can be reused here again. However, they did skimp on extra weapons. If Bandai would have thrown in the GN Launcher, NGN Bazooka and leg-mounted GN Pistols I would gladly have bought a third figure to build the Full Weapon-variant Astraea. This comes off as a bit uninspired.


We do get one new weapon in the box at least, the Proto GN Sword which is held kind of like a baton. Due to the plastic being molded with a hollowed-out section a sticker is provided to cover up the hole. I always wonder what drives Bandai to create these hollowed-out components. I assume it is either to reduce the cost of plastic or more likely, something to do with limitations and optimization of the molds used in the manufacturing process itself. It would be interesting to learn more about these things.


The major feature of this EX Parts set is of course to allow the Type F to convert into the GNY-001F/hs-A01D Gundam Avalanche Astraea Type F (that's a mouthful). The two parts sets are very similar to each other although there are some small differences. Yes, this also means you get to go busy with the stickers again. I keep going on about it but if you want to be sure to have a beautiful representation of this exotic mobile suit in your collection for years to come; paint it instead.


Side-by-side view of the Avalanche Astraea and Exia. I really like the look of these two figures but as mentioned already, don't expect to get a whole lot of articulation from them. These things are veritable bricks. When reading up about the Avalanche Astraea I learnt that it uses the Exia's GN Sword. Would have been nice to see also these parts recycled from the Exia figure, all that was needed was a colour change.





Conclusion

So, what to make out of MJ number five? While I do find it a bit jarring that the individual line-ups don't go together in the same universe, I have been quite happy to see most of the offerings from the series thus far. I guess if Mobility Joint can survive as a brand the previous timelines could always be revisited and fleshed out again. As long as there are new sets coming out, I will be hanging on to the series.