SD Gundam Full Color Stage 63 "Battle Selection"

Stage 63 is the last of the numbered Full Color series and marks the end of an impressive line of over 400 figures. However, fans wouldn't have to wait long for the series to reappear, in invigorated form. With volume 63 releasing February 2006 the first of the Full Color Custom sets was only two months away. Still, the writing must have already been on the wall for everyone to see at this point. While the Full Color series held out for some twenty releases what followed was an ever morphing chain of figure series where the figures would grow in size and get more and more complex joints, while at the same time thinning the mobile suit selection considerably. As such, this set marks the end of an era of cheap and endearing figures. I'd be first in line for a 2.0 series myself.


Two of the figures in this set feature the (rather pointless) little Mechanic File collectible cards bringing the total range to 17. I seem to have mislaid (or perhaps I forgot to snap) a parts photo but nothing particularly unique is under the hood in this release anyway. You know what to expect by now.


Close-ups of the two Mechanical File collectible cards that come with the GP02A and the Rick Dom, as well as the mini-flyer that came bundled with each booklet in this set, promoting the first wave of the upcoming SD Gundam Full Color Custom series, which emphasized modularity rather than proportions, making the figures much more compatible with each other at the expense of style (at least in my opinion).



425 : RX-78GP01Fb Gundam GP01 "Zephyranthes" Full Burnern


The theme for this figure set - Battle Selection - sees ten figures set up in duelling pairs. We've seen this concept done here and there and in general I'm not a huge fan because it will usually exclude all mass-production type suits. The first pair is the GP01 versus the GP02 and so the Full Burnern makes a return, this time with beam saber in hand and a darker blue colour applied to its torso.


The Full Color series featured the basic GP01 in Stage 22 (released in January 2001) quickly followed by the Full Burnern upgrade in Stage 23 the following month. Notice the different weapon options and colour changes between the two GP01-Fb figures. The beam rifle-wielding Full Burnern also features in the Stage 50 jubilee set, I didn't include it here since it is pretty much the same as the Stage 23 figure.






426 : RX-78GP02A Gundam GP02A "Physalis" (includes SD Mechanic File Card 016)


The Physalis is ready to give the Full Burnern a bad time but due to the limitations of the Gashapon capsule size it appears to have shrunk a bit in the laundry. There's a lot of beautiful detail on display here and I can imagine a custom painted figure would look really nice.


There are several versions of the GP02A available in the SD Full Color line. Seen here is the first version figure also equipped with a beam saber but with lowered shoulder binders. It was released in Stage 22 in January 2001. On the right we have the Physalis equipped with the characteristic nuclear bazooka, which was released multiple times through Stage 23 (February 2001), Stage 50 (July 2004) and in the promotional box set for the SD Gundam G Generation game, one of which can be seen here on the right.


Finally the two ace pilots from Stardust Memory can go head to head in a proper sword fight, the poses aren't the most exciting though. With so many variants of the Physalis available I am a little bit disappointed that there is no MLRS Type variant out there. I cannot fault Bandai for that however; it made its first appearance in Harmony of Gundam in late 2006 well after the SD Full Color series had folded, at least there is one available now in the Mobile Suit Ensemble line.





427 : RX-78-3 Gundam G-3


The next combat pair is a real classic duo, the military grey G-3 Gundam versus a red-painted Rick Dom piloted by Char. Still, for some reason most G-3 figures tend to very brightly painted - often bordering on white - which goes against the original concept of the mobile suit being painted in a low-visibility scheme (not that grey would be terribly low-visibility in space anyway but it seems to have followed contemporary trends in military aviation). Unlike the Stardust Memory duo this figure is all about the dynamic pose; Amuro even mislaid his shield which deprives the figure of some of its most interesting colours. We have seen dual-handed saber-wielding Gundam figures in the SD figure line before and if I had to moan about something regarding this figure... well it would have been nice to see a translucent effect part used for the blade.


Recycling an old picture of some different G-3s, from left to right: Stage 20 (October 2000), the Stage 0 Comic BomBom promo, this Stage 63 (February 2006) and a more articulated version from the Full Color Custom series (Volume 14, November 2007). There aren't a whole lot of G3s in the SD figure line, and as you can see many are really brightly painted bordering on white a lot of the time.





428 : MS-09RS Rick Dom (Char's Custom) (includes SD Mechanic File Card 017)


Char's great looking sports-car coloured Rick Dom gets a large Beam Bazooka (which barely fits in its hand due to the cramped space available in front of the shoulder), a heat sword on the back and the ubiquitous SD-type flight-stand. The feet have been molded in a dangling pose which makes display without the stand rather awkward. This is the only SD-type Gashapon figure ever made of this fantastic design which makes me a bit sullen, it didn't even manage to make an appearance as a colour variant in Senshi Forte. I don't know why this mobile suit isn't more popular, we are drowning in Char's Z'Goks and Char's Zaku this and that but this is in my opinion the ultimate red machine.


This duel is even more awkward than the Stardust Memory pair. Amuro, you cannot bring a sword to a Bazooka fight... However, you will likely have many other interesting Zeon figures in your collection that will match better with the G-3.






429 : PMX-003 The-O


Focus now shifts to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and it is time for the dashing Paptimus Scirocco to teach that whiny Kamille Bidan a lesson. To this end he brought both his terribly large beam rifle, a beam saber and deployed the suit's two sub-arms to make obscene gestures perhaps. The arms attach to the lower torso using a T-shaped connecting piece and if you happened to have more beam sabers around you could carry additional weapons with these hands as well. This third version of the figure has a rather ugly yellow colour and a finish which feels less polished than the previous iterations, it simply looks more very much like a toy.


Flanked by the original The-O figure from Stage 8 on the left (released in April 1999) and another fully equipped version from Stage 37 released in November 2002. Both of the previous figures have beautiful paint jobs which makes the latest incarnation feel a bit like a downgrade.





430 : MSZ-006 Z Gundam (Waverider Mode)


Here Stage 63 goes all-in on recreating a scene from the television series where the Z Gundam crashes into the... uh, how do you say it, "the The-O", "the O"... while in its transformed Waverider fighter-esque form. We have seen the Wave Rider in the SD series before but not like this. The new figure replaces the Hyper Mega Launcher with the beam rifle mounted on top of the fuselage and sports a neat translucent base that plugs into the bottom of the Waverider. This highly versatile piece can of course be used together with other SD Gundam figures (with varying success) to create interesting re-entry mini-dioramas reminiscent of that rather iconic Ballute Deployment scene from Zeta.


Side by side with the original Waverider equipped with a Hyper Mega Launcher, released in Stage 12 back in December 1999. The old figure suffers a bit from not being compatible with the standard SD clear base, since the weapon carried underneath the fuselage has no compatibility with a base unless you drill a hole in it. The new Waverider seen here without its clear effect part can mount most of the clear bases released in the SD Full Color line.


The tip of the flaming action base of the Waverider can attach to the peg-hole used by the sub arms on the... here we go again - on the The-O - to freeze an epic moment in time. The figure is also fairly well compatible with the 2.0 version of Paptimus' ride as can be seen in the lower photo.


As alluded to earlier, here Kacricon Cacooler is having a really bad day on his descent towards Jaburo. He would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling kid... The figure seen here are the version 2.0 Marasai from Stage 46 (released January 2004) and a pair of Ballute-equipped Galbaldy Betas from Stage 57 (released May 2005).





431 : Concept-X 6-1-2 Turn-X Gundam


The fourth pair introduces another exclusive for this set; the minty green Turn-X which would normally be a formidably large mobile suit but looking even smaller than the Turn-A here. A lot of effort has been spent on the detail sculpt of its peculiar Carapace Weapons Platform and it also has a nice translucent effect part for what I assume to be its Shining Finger attack.






432 : System A99 Turn-A Gundam (Moonlight Butterfly)


The Turn-A (or Moustache Gundam as it would probably have been known if it was featured in the G Gundam series...) steals the show in this combat pairing, sporting a cool outstretched left hand, a translucent beam saber and those large effect parts of its Moonlight Butterfly special attack. Seriously, whenever angelic wings are added to mobile suits I begin to mentally check out but I have to say that the figure is looking really excellent.


The Turn-A Gundam is actually featured in an exclusive wave of SD Full Color figures, Stage 11 to be exact. That set has a great selection of six different suits (of which the Turn-X is not one) including this beam rifle wielding Turn-A which is also a fair bit larger.


This is easily the best duelling pair seen in this set so far; each figure has an interesting pose indicating it is engaged with the other, and the two are of similar size and even look as if they are locking eyes with one another. Well done!






433 : OZ-13MS Gundam Epyon


The last duo hails from Gundam Wing, and features the Epyon as its bad guy. This is a weird looking figure. The designers went for a kneeling strike pose with both arms stretched forward wielding the large beam sword in its right hand and the whip-like Heat Rod of its shield in the left, it seems like an attack that will be difficult to control and easy to parry. I cannot remember if this is actually something that takes place in the television series or not but I think they could have gone for a more conservative pose here. Other than that it is an attractive figure and I especially like the toned down dark red colour. Again, a translucent effect part would have been cool for the beam sword, this set is a bit hit and miss in that regard. You'd think they would allow the series to gout with a real bang.


Well, would you look at that; the old Epyon figure from Stage 31 - released four years earlier - did have a translucent beam sword! It also has a more traditional pose that I prefer but I find its bright red colour not as nice as the matte finish of the new Stage 63 figure.






434 : XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero


The Epyon of course gets to fight the Wing Zero, a Zero in the exact same weird pose as the Epyon. One knee forward, wings folded backwards and the beam saber in the middle of a failed stab. I do admire that they went with dynamic poses for these figures I just don't find them that interesting as the traditional "basic" standing poses.


There are plenty of different Wing Gundam variants in the SD Full Color series, here I chose a couple that look fairly similar, on the left the XXXG-01W Wing Gundam carrying a single buster rifle from Stage 29 (released November 2001) and in the centre another 00W0 Wing Zero in a more traditional standing pose wielding two rifles (released in Stage 31, February 2002). I find it odd how the middle figure has better paint apps on its chest and hips while the Stage 63 figure has better detail on its shoulders instead.


It occurs to me now that the above scene is not what the designers had in mind. Looking at the artwork in the mini-booklet this was probably supposed to be one of those edgy frozen moment in time-shots of the two combatants having just dodged edge other's lunging attacks and now standing there back to back. Perhaps it would look cooler than whatever it is I pictured above, I am too lazy to go back and dig out the figures and try it out right now... :)





Conclusion

So there you have them, ladies and gentlemen, the very last of the basic SD Full Color sets. Like many of the other late outings of the series the figures in this set can be difficult to locate, even as singles on the secondary market. The Full Color-era appears to have had its widest distribution somewhere around stages 20-30 since I find these to be the easiest to come across but the supply has definitely started to dry up. You don't see full sets of Gashapon at Mandarake that often and the toy markets in Thailand where I usually like to hunt for second-hand figures are mostly about other stuff these days. The prices in Japan also appear to have risen a bit lately but that is probably due to the weak Yen more than anything else.

I am curious if Bandai ever considered to bring back the classic SD figures again, letting go of the overly complex (and clearly financially unviable) trend that has left Senshi Forte in a hole. I mean, there seems to be an endless supply of keyring trinkets and printed acrylic sheets of every character under the sun so it is not like everything has to be a technical marvel. That's what the model kits are for in my opinion.