Bandai Hybrid Mobile Suit Selection Char Aznable Special

Back around the time when this blog started the 1:220 scale was doing quite well for itself. Bandai was in the final phase of its very decorative STANDart display figures and had just kicked off the Assault Kingdom mini-action figure line. Today of course the scale is no more, the closest thing we have are the Gframe figures which resemble simplified model kits more than anything else. However, there are also some lesser known 1:220 scale figures hidden in the past. One such line is the Hybrid Mobile Suit Selection Gashapon series which existed for a short period of time between 2005 and 2007. While not technically made to scale, the figures are pretty much the same size as the later figures just mentioned. Today we will take a closer look at the last set to come out of the HMS line, which is a Char Aznable-special (because there always has to be one right?) which was released in January 2007.


I have never seen any boxed packaging for the HMS figures and I assume they were only available through capsule Gacha machines. Figures on the secondary market typically show up as full sets sold in plastic bags (or you have to go look for them in the real world like in used toy shops). They are not particularly expensive but quite rare these days. I have bought two full sets of this wave in 2020 and 2024, paying ¥2400 and ¥1000 respectively, but expect to pay a couple of thousand yen more these days.


Here is a display of the various plastic bags properly folded out. The figures are very reminiscent of the smaller Gashapon HG figure line except for the packaging which is sporting compartmentalized plastic bags where the HG figures would normally be chucked into the same compartment (in some cases separated into two bags).



1. RX-78/C.A. Casval's Gundam


As you can imagine, this being a late entry into the HMS Selection Bandai already had some figures out to repurpose and modify for this set. There are for example two RX-78-2 Gundams as well as a G-3 released previously to draw from. I won't be making any comparisons to any of these however because they represent gaps in my own HMS collection. If you are familiar with the Assault Kingdom figure line you will be surprised that the HMS figures are very similar to them when it comes to articulation and overall build. Apart from the regular ball joints at the shoulders and hips, you can also find twisting joints both at the upper thigh and the upper arm which opens up for a lot of interesting mobility. The RX-78 is of course especially flexible in this regard due to its overall slender build, a Dom for example doesn't lend itself that well to articulation. Much of the body is made of hard plastic but we have some soft PVC in places too.


While I don't have it at hand this figure seems quite similar to the RX-78-2 Gundam figure from Mobile Suit Selection IV from 2005, at least in the weapons department. You get both a beam rifle and translucent beam saber. Further accessories include a shield with a handlebar and a crude action base that lets you do flying poses. This is such a simple thing yet adds to the playability so much.


The only other 1/220-scale C.A. that I am aware of is the Bandai Museum special release from the FW Ultimate Operation line which was released in early 2003. The two figures seen here represent the two different design schools that were also present in the two late figure ranges of Assault Kingdom vs. FW STANDart. One focuses on playability and articulation while the other goes the route of realistic painting and dynamic semi-fixed poses.






2. MS-09RS Rick Dom (Char's Custom)


Char's Rick Dom is up next and it is looking really good. Notice all the different nuances of red, brown and grey. Paint separation between the Bazooka's handle and the red hand of the figure is also quite sharp. A bulky figure such as this one will of course have a bit more limited articulation but you can still pull off some interesting poses with it.


The figure comes armed with the classic Dom-family weapon; a 360mm Giant Bazooka as well as a heat saber with translucent effect. There is no optional "cold colour" version of the heat saber but you do get an optional hand which allows you to wield the weapon in place of the bazooka. As you can see, both weapons feature very soft PVC and they will be abused to no end from being stored in this crummy plastic bags. You will see this annoyance through many weapons included with the figures in this set.


While no base is provided with the Rick Dom figure it is fully compatible with the one used by the Gundam. Surely Bandai could have included a couple more of these stands in the set, this would have opened up to a more interesting display of multiple figures in flying poses either fighting each other or just looking cool on your shelf.


Size and style-comparison of some 1/220-scale Dom-family mobile suits. On the left we have a MS-09R Rick Dom from STANDart volume 11 (released October 2011) armed with a Beam Bazooka, the Hybrid Mobile Suit Selection version and on the right an Assault Kingdom MS-09R Rick Dom from volume 8 (released March 2015). Speaking of Assault Kingdom, the figure you see below is wielding a hard plastic translucent beam saber from the Assault Kingdom EX07 Qubeley-figure.






3. MS-06S Zaku II (Char's Custom)


The evergreen Zaku II is probably Char's most iconic ride and the HMS version is looking quite sharp. It has a pinkish and red two-tone style colour scheme going with black and dark grey detail. Articulation and poseability is excellent and I had a lot of fun playing around with it. Bandai released both the mass-production type Zaku II and Char's red version in the first HMS set back in 2005 but unfortunately I don't have them on hand for comparison. Actually, the only reason I ended up with two sets of this Char Special set is because the seller misidentified one of them as HMS Volume I. You can imagine my disappointment when that rare catch turned out to be completely different and a duplicate at that...


The Zaku II is armed with the classic Zaku Machine Gun as well as a Heat Hawk option for close encounters. Notice how the figure only has a single right hand option - directly holding onto the Machine Gun. I think the designers could have included an optional open right hand to allow the figure to only use the Heat Hawk (if you look closely again at the photos above I solved this by replacing the right hand with one stolen from a different figure).


Side-by-side with the highly stylized Zaku II from STANDart volume 6 (released January 2010) and the darker red version from Assault Kingdom volume 2 (released June 2013). Each of these figures excels at what it does but I think the articulation is even better on the Assault Kingdom figure.






4. MSM-07S Z'Gok (Char's Custom)


Where did Char Aznable find the time to become such an ace pilot on all these different mobile suits. Sure he is a Newtype but I imagine you'd need a fair bit of training to become a skilled underwater pilot but somehow he managed to pull it off. As a reward he got to have this Commander Type Z'Gok painted up in red, pink and black. Both the mass-production type Z'Gok and Char's red custom were released in HMS format already back in volume II. I'm not sure if the old figure has the same accessories as we shall see here, I do have the volume II figures unopened somewhere so at some point in the future I can make some comparisons.


You normally do not expect any particular accessories for a Z'Gok figure, typically you would see an open claw option part but here the designers were playful enough to do something unusual. Yes, we do get one open claw but it also sits on a cut off arm (you can switch it to an undamaged arm as well) for some really cool diorama options. The stump that attaches to the shoulder was really difficult to attach to the torso so exercise caution so as not to damage the components.


1/220 scale Z'Goks come in all sorts of shapes and colours. Seen here is a dynamically posed mass-production type from FW Ultimate Operation Plus (released December 2006), the HMS-version, a strange looking STANDart take from volume 9 (released in March 2011) and a rather ugly looking Assault Kingdom take from volume 4 (January 2014).






5. MS-14S Gelgoog (Char's Custom)


We never got to see the mighty Gelgoog in Assault Kingdom (or Universal Unit for that matter) for, but if you want a 1/220 action figure representation of it look no further. The HMS Gelgoog sculpt is pretty much perfect and Bandai has had four previous iterations of it to practice on. Again, I might come back to the review to upload some comparison shots once I get around to working on additional HMS reviews.


This Gelgoog comes armed with a beam rifle (and an optional right hand to better wield it - the hand I used in an earlier shot to equip the Zaku II with the Heat Hawk), two translucent beam naginatas and a large sturdy shield with beautiful painting on both front- and backside.


The shield has a grip on the backside which allows the figure to wield it aggressively or use the two pegs on the backpack to store it when not in use. Notice the beam naginata handle that can be seen on the backside of the shield. Straightening the weapons is a must because they will most likely look as sorry as mine when they come out of the packaging.


A Gelgoog is slightly taller than your average 18-meter mobile suit but 1/220 figures are generally shrunk to the same height as the average figure. here again we have some representations to compare it to, on the left we have the FW Ultimate Operation Plus version (December 2006) and on the right the later STANDart representation from volume 8 (released December 2010).






6. MSN-02 Zeong


The last figure in the set is also technically the only one not painted up in his personal livery. it ia very different figure to all the others in the set, and comes on a custom stand which gives the figure a fixed forward lean. Since the figure is lacking legs its articulation is rather limited, pretty much only the arms and head can move around. The paint scheme looks alright but lacks that little extra appeal to make this figure really stand out.


While the Zeong doesn't lug around external weapons it does come with a pair of Psycommu-controlled remote hands with some rather short extension pieces. I think it would have looked better if the extensions were painted in a different colour, black being the most obvious choice.


The HMS Zeong figure sits in a peculiar spot where it is both bigger and smaller than the Gashapon HG Mobile Suit Selection figures. HGMS actually had a Char Aznable custom set of its own, and on the left here we have its Zeong representation which is nearly the same size as the HMV figure. This set contains pretty much the same figures we find in the HMS set except that it also includes a figure of the man himself. The HGMS Char Aznable set was released in April 2004. On the right we have a considerably larger Zeong released in the HGMS spin-off Mecha Selection series, volume four to be specific (released sometime in 2002).






Conclusion

So there you have it, the full Char Aznable collection. While you can find many of these figures in the earlier HMS Selection sets none of these sets are easy to find these days so if you are interested in them take what you can get. The HMS series is a perfect companion to the Assault Kingdom series and they tend to display quite well together. If you have no figures in thr 1/220 scale already and this interests you I may as well discourage you from trying to collect the whole series because this will be a real challenge in 2025.

Gundam Gsight Spektrum II

Today we will take a look at an obscure item from this long dead 1:350-scale figure series that has been something of a holy grail of mine. Most of the Gsight figures are pretty rare these days but not completely gone. The first three retail sets are usually the easiest to come across, then the latter three, volumes IV to VI becomes increasingly difficult to stumble upon. Then we had some oversized one-offs that are also very rare and then as an afterthought perhaps, the two "Spektrum" sets, one for Zeon and one for the E.F.F. The Feddie set tat we will examine here is one of the last signs of life from the Gsight brand and was released back in October 2004.


The figures are hidden away in these bodybag type bags within Gacha capsules. While I don't have any examples of the capsules themselves I would expect them to be the same type of opaque coloured plastic capsules used by earlier incarnations of the Gsight series.


Each black bag contains further plastic bags and/or loose parts. The figures seen here were pre-opened to some extent by a previous owner so there may be some minor differences to how they were originally shipped, the GP02A Physalis for example was missing any inner bag completely.


Here we see the twelve figures laid out next to their accessories as they come out of the box. As ususal, this is not a complete breakdown of each figure's components but an idea of how they figures will look when they come out of the original packaging. Unlike the common Gsight figure series the Spektrum sets do not contain alternate colour figures, there is only one variant of each figure to collect.


For a basic understanding of the Gsight Spektrum anatomy we can look closer at this Blue Destiny Unit 02. Articulation is a bit limited and differs from figure to figure, sometimes the pegs are round and sometimes they are shaped to go only one way.



RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam


Following the order of the booklet we start things off with the unmistakeable black and white Protoype Gundam. It comes in a somewhat unusual pose with both hands grabbing a peculiar looking weapon that I assume is the XBR-M79-04G Beam Rifle although the likeness is pretty poor so it may well be another weapon I am not familiar with. You can see that the legs on my figure are really bent but the clear stand that clips to the right ankle really helps and isn't too intrusive to look at. The shield is worn on the back and is not intended to be attached to the arm.


The Gundam comes with a tracked vehicle that has two extended arm options to pick from. One looks like an elevator to the cockpit section while the other resembles a target practice marker of some type. I'm sure this thing has featured in a manga or TV-series somewhere but I don't recognize it myself. It is a highly useful accessory for all sorts of Gsight-dioramas.






RX-78-2 Gundam


Next up we have the real Gundam in a very classic and static display, that lets it show off a variety of weaponry. There is no shortage of RX-78-2 Gundams in the Gsight series (including various exotic non-canon colour variations) but this is a very good looking example.


The figure comes with the V-project transport trailer and while it doesn't really lie down flat on the trailer you can remove the shield and rotate the arms and legs to a slightly flatter looking mode. When viewed from above it looks much more convincing than from the side. Notice how the trailer even has a little clear plastic piece in place of the crew cabin which is a really nice touch.






RX-78-3 Gundam G3


Half of the figures in this set are grounded while the other half is flying (through space). The G-3 Gundam here comes in a forward-leaning pose armed with dual Hyper Bazookas as well as two beam rifles, one attached to each hip. I have never seen this configuration before and I think I prefer the variant you see more commonly with a single beam rifle stored on the back of the skirt armour. The pose is a bit awkward because the suit really wants to lean forward horizontally and so the face will be staring downwards to the side. One of the least convincing poses from this set in my opinion.






FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam


Indeed every figure in this set is a Gundam. Here we have the Full Armor variant in a very greyish looking olive green, the FA-78-1 is usually portrayed in more vivid greens than this but I think it looks pretty realistic. I much prefer this "standing while freefloating" pose than the dynamic flight mode of the G-3 since it lets the figure interact better with others when setting up a little display scene.






FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam (blue)


While there are no hidden colour variations of the figures in Spektrum, two of the figures are pretty much clones in different colour schemes. The blue-coloured FA-78-1 sometimes shows up as an official E.F.S.F. variant and sometimes refers back to the old Plamo-Kyoshiro manga. This figure has a muted grey colour option for sections that we are used to see painted white but it does give it a more realistic feel.


Here are the two FA-78s next to each other and except for the paint scheme the two are identical. By the way, I should point out that the figure's bases that resemble asteroid surfaces also come with a smaller asteroid rock that is intended to be thread on to the same clear peg to resemble a rock floating between the larger asteroid and the figure's feet. The smaller rocks can all be seen on the parts photos at the start of the review and each floating figure has the exact same set-up. This looks pretty silly in my opinion and the fit is really tight and so I decided I didn't want to mess with it.






RX-79[G]Ez-8 Gundam Ez8


The ground-based Ez8 with its designation reminiscent of the Sherman Easy Eight main battle tank is up next in one of the best poses from the entire Gsight series. Some of the figures in the Spektrum II set come with multiple weapons and I wouldn't have minded seeing an optional arm holding a 100mm machine gun too.


Now, here is something I have never seen in a figure before; how about I'll just take my left arm and beat you silly with it? Also included is an all-black torso of a Zaku that has seen better days.






RX-79BD-1 Blue Destiny Unit 01


The Blue Destiny Gundam family is very well represented here with one figure each for the three main units. Unit 01 has a similar feel to it like the Ez8, except it is armed with a machine gun and looks more confused than aggressive. The colour scheme is a bit muted (and more realistic) the only thing I am missing is the "01" designation on its left shoulder. it is a quick fix with a pen if you have a steady aim of course.


Unit 01 also mimics the Ez8 by being the second of only two figures in this set to come with downed Zeon mobile suits. This time we have the all-black torso of a Gouf. If you put a little bit of effort into painting some detail on these I bet they could look really convincing, as it stands they are a bit flat.






RX-79BD-3 Blue Destiny Unit 03


For Unit 03 we go back into space and a pose that would be difficult to repurpose into any landbased diorama. The figure has a nicely painted shield although the beam rifle could have used a little bit of additional colour too. Such detail is generally reserved to celebrity suits only such as the Freedom Gundam. There are by the way only Universal Century suits in the Gsight line-up so we won't be seeing any Freedom here. Again, the iconic unit designation "03" is missing from the left shoulder. Although tempting I don't think I dare dabble with these rare figures, perhaps if I come across a second copy in the future though...






RX-79BD-2 Blue Destiny Unit 02 (Nimbus Schterzen Custom)


The Unit 02 figure comes painted in its Zeon-repurposed colour scheme and that makes it one of two figures in this set that are not Earth Federation use but it feels natural to include it here anyway (the other one is the GP02A Physalis). The painting standard of this figure is great and shows that additional detail is not an impossible feat even for these smaller type of Gashapon figures. Look closer at its face for example. From a sculpt-point of view this figure is pretty much identical to the Unit 03 figure.






RX-78NT-1 Gundam NT-1 "Alex"


Next up in this set of derivative Gundams we come across the NT-1 better known as the Alex. This is actually the fourth RX-78 family member which messes with my perception when it comes to the RX-78-4 Gundam Unit G04. The Alex has two very distinctive 90mm Gatling Guns hidden inside its arms (an engineering feat to be sure) and we get option parts to represent both of them, the figure has been sculpted around the Gatling but other weapons look really good when in use too.


The figure comes with an optional right arm wielding a beam saber and an optional backpack with only one beam saber hilt in place. This is neat but I would have preferred an additional beam rifle option in its place and the lack of the iconic shield is also a bit disappointing. We also get this neat little truck, I can't remember exactly but I do believe it belongs to the Side 6 colony militia.






RX-78GP01 Gundam GP01 "Zephyrantes"


The last battle-pair in this set are the main rivals from Stardust Memory. The GP01 appears caught in a defensive action as it staggers backwards looking for a chance to regain the initiative. Again we have a very nice paint scheme with a lot of colour applications such as the tiny red lines on the knees or the two V-insignias on the front armour.


The basic pose of the GP01 is a bit underwhelming but if you switch out the accessories it suddenly looks much more dangerous. The beautiful shield has excellent painting detail and even the beam rifle has some optics painted onto it.






RX-78GP02A Gundam GP02 "Physalis"


The Physalis is a massive hulk with oversized arms, feet, shoulder boosters and of course the unique shield. The shield usually brings some concerns for figure designers as it is typically rather heavy and often times figure poses see it being held forward so that it can rest on the ground. Unlike the dynamic pose of the GP01, the Physalis looks clumsy and barely able to move. No option part is provided for its nuclear bazooka and so you have to make do with its rear half attached to the shoulder (you can see the front section of the weapon attached to the back side of the shield). Once again, stellar paint scheme with lots of finely applied markings, the shield does steal the show here.


Bring the pain, gentlemen! While I do prefer the look of equipping a beam rifle in general, at least this pair of duelling figures works quite well.






Conclusion

All in all, the Spektrum series adds a lot of flair to your Gsight collection and rounds out the mobile suit rosters very well. To me, Gsight has always been about ground combat (and mass-production types fighting each other) so the flying units feel a bit out of place to me but other than that the list of unique suits on offer here is pretty much essential.