Today we will power through another of the legacy Gashapon HG figure sets, this one from December 2004, nearly 20 years ago on the dot. The set was coming out on the very late tail end of the Gashapon HG saga and is noteworthy in that it only contains mobile suits picked from the SEED Destiny show which was running at the time. The current episode would likely be somewhere around 10 which is also when the Saviour made its first appearance in the television series.
Being late era Gashapon figures the attention to detail here is pretty meticulous and you can get an idea of the figure complexity from the above parts breakdown. As usual, the figures can be picked apart even further, this is how they appeared when they came out of their original plastic bags for the first time.
ZGMF-X56S/α Force Impulse Gundam
I am not a huge fan of the derivative Force Impulse design in general but this figure is absolutely killing it. The attention to detail is excellent and the pose is superb. As usual with finned type mobile suits you can expect to have to deal with a bit of plastic warping here and there, some figures will be better off than others, it is all pretty random.
The figure has a couple of gimmicks to it. The first is that the Force Silhouette backpack is removable and in its place you get this small blue backpack that attaches in its place, effectively converting the figure to the basic Impulse Gundam form. We also get this all-white colour Force Silhouette Flyer which is screaming for some colour apps and a peg hole to make it compatible with the standard Gashapon HG action base. I guess they tried.
The Force Impulse had a really random re-appearance in the single set of figures known as "Ultimate Solid", released in November 2008. The new figure has a fairly advanced, weathered paintjob and also sports a new exclusive accessory, an enormous Excalibur sword (full review here).
ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam
Next up we have the trio of Z.A.F.T. experimental suits that just so happens to look very similar to the second generation Earth Alliance machines from SEED, all down to being piloted by a similar troika of deranged pilots. The first challenger is the black Gaia which is highly reminiscent of the original Raider Gundam but this time it transforms into a black panther instead of a bird of prey. This figure of course has no transformational features about it and there also isn't any mobile armor mode variant available in this Gashapon series. The closest match you can find is an old 2006 SEED Styling-S figure of its four-legged mode. I was going to post up a comparison photo of it here but I couldn't figure out where I kept it so it may come up later. :) All-in-all this figure looks really crisp but its features include several thing and long parts that may require straightening out.
ZGMF-X24S Chaos Gundam
The Chaos is next with its beautiful green, black and white colour profile. Its aesthetics are vaguely similar to the old Calamity Gundam but it now sports a new backpack with two remote weapon pods of the same type as seen on the Moebius Zero piloted by Mu La Flaga. I have never seen a figure that can transform into its weird looking mobile armor form - which is somewhat similar to the Aegis Gundam - you may have to grab an actual model kit to access that mode.
ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam
The Abyss finally is your big-shouldered submersible Destiny look-alike of the Forbidden Gundam, replacing the Forbidden's large angled shoulder pads with sleeker rounded Qubeley-like shoulder binders. The close-combat aspect of the Nidhoggr Scythe is similarly replaced by a large Beam Lance. Like its brethren the Abyss can transform into an Asshimar-like mobile armor but and again I am not aware of any figure that represents this mode.
The full Phantom Pain-piloted trio side by side. Seen here without their large plastic supports that clip to the back of the legs these figures don't always cooperate willingly but you should be able to display them without supports for the most part.
ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam
Finally we have the fifth of the Z.A.F.T Second Stage mobile suits, the Saviour in a somewhat leaning pose. The colour feels a bit too pink compared to the original but the colour apps are on point for the most part with just enough whites and blacks to break up the red. Crazy spread out poses like these mean these Gashapon figures can be a bit of a pain to store unless you want to disassemble them, at least partially.
ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior (Lunamaria Custom)
The last two slots in this set are given to a couple of variants of the ZAKU Warrior, the Cosmic-era rip-off of the Zaku II. While this is overall a really cool design I'll never be able to come to terms with how they just lifted in the Zaku II, Dom and Gouf into Destiny. SEED Freedom continues this creative bankruptcy with variants of the Gelgoog, Gyan and Z'Gok. I mean what the hell..? Anyway, the figure has a couple of neat posing tricks available to it. The figure comes with two optional right arms, one with the elbow bent at a sharper angle. This makes more sense when we compare Luna's machine to the mass-production type below.
ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior
The mass-production type figure is a simple colour swap of the red version but it also replaces the Beam Tomahawk-equipped right-hand with that of a Beam Assault Rifle-holding one. While you need to get both figures to access both weapons this opens up some interesting posing variations. Notice by the way the two peg holes on the flipside of the shoulder shield. These are intended for storing spare ammunition-drums for the machine gun, although no such accessories are included. I don't know why these are not present, maybe a late change to cut on production costs?
Here we can see a trio of ZAKU Warriors utilizing the different weapon options and also right-arm variations. One of the more interesting design choices in this Gashapon-line I think and I wish more figures had synergies like these.
Conclusion
Overall, this set is an auto-include for any Cosmic Era collectors but most Universal Century-aficionados will probably just want to focus their resources somewhere else. Gashapon HG figures are not that easy to come by these days but from a price point of view this set shouldn't set you back that much. Last time I bought a set was in 2021 and it cost only ¥800 so maybe around ¥1500 or so today (provided you can find it of course).
No comments:
Post a Comment