It has been a while since I examined a new CORE-figure on the blog - the last one was that broken last shooting set (CORE 043) from 2024. Bandai does keep releasing them but there has been a whole lot of old hat lately. CORE 044 was a second reissue of the Neue Ziel and Dendrobium mobile armours from Stardust Memory - two excellent Converge figures (especially the Neue Ziel) - but I already have two versions of each and didn't fancy paying another ¥10000 for a couple of new markings or subtle sculpt changes. CORE 042 reissued the Byg Zam which was a pretty disappointing the first time around and again quite expensive at around ¥6000.
CORE 045 is the #Sharp-version of the Strike Gundam with all the Striker packs and while it is a little bit tempting it is pretty similar to the old Converge SP-era figures and so paying ¥5000 feels a bit steep. I would have loved it if they released it in the same fashion as the Impulse Gundam with three basic figures in the box to allow you to build one of each variant. If I were to buy the current figure I'd feel annoyed that I would have to choose which mode to display. Then there is of course CORE 046, that peculiar solar panel Renewable Energy-version Gundam which is a new figure I suppose, it is just really hard to find on the secondary market right now.
Anyway, today we are looking at CORE 047, that peculiar Evangelion-styled Gundam stolen by Zeon (and since that is such a common trope in Gundam lore it was ripe for reuse by the repurposing-factory that is GQuuuuuuX). This is a Premium Bandai release that shipped to customers in November last year and came with a pricetag of ¥4345 including tax. We have the typical elongated CORE box although this one is really thin. There is no additional padding inside the box and not really that much to look at on the outside either. The contents are carefully packed so as not to waste space and it would be an absolute chore to try and repackage this thing without ending up with bulging sides.
The figure comes in a total of four plastic bags all neatly tucked into a larger bubble-wrap bag. You might wonder if there was no chewing gum inside the box? Well, it got stuck inside the box and so it missed out on the photo-shoot but rest assured, that same old white gum is indeed included - at least if you are buying it in Japan... :)
We have a couple of mini-sprues here but nothing too taxing. One sprue holds a pair of beam saber hilts for the backpack for a nice bit of colour separation and the larger one has six hardpoint pegs to plug the holes on the shoulders, elbows and legs when not in use by other gear.
Let's start with the clean, unarmed look. All six peg holes are plugged with the black pieces from the sprue we saw above. The right hand is replaced with an optional right hand which is tightly clenched to match the left hand. I really like this clean look and could easily decide to go for it but there are so many other bits and pieces in the box that we have to dig into it a bit deeper. Talking about the overall look of the figure it has one of the creepiest mobile suit faces ever; those intense insect-like compound eyes and mask-like appearance is chillingly good. You will no doubt have noticed the intense strong red colour in these photographs and let me tell you, this thing is very brightly red also in natural light, although the two different red tones are easier to tell apart from each other with the naked eye.
A lot of the budget for this figure has obviously gone into designing its four remote psycommu-controlled Bit weapons. Each Bit is identical and has no special features apart from a transparently coloured peg that can insert into the two accompanying clear plastic stands that are also included. Due to their heavy weight it is not possible to attach an uneven amount of bits to the same base since its footprint is too small to stand upright so you really don't have a lot of options for display here.
It looks alright, doesn't it? Sure, the pose is a bit static and you can't pull off any interesting fight scenes unless you start tinkering with your own type of bases for the bit weapons. Something I tend to moan about from time to time is the jarring mix of black and transparent bases. I would prefer if all Converge figures used a standardized approach for their bases. If it really bugs you, you can always remove the base from the Red Gundam or even place the Bit weapon bases atop a couple of spare black bases to bring them up to the same level.
The coolest aspect of the figure is how you can remove the plugs from the figure's shoulders and elbows and plug the bit weapons into the suit itself for storage; looking pretty hardcore there, sir! Again, the weight of these accessories can challenge an unsupported figure (or one with slightly warped legs as is sometimes the case with Converge figures) but I had no issues with my figure this time.
For the more traditional gear we have three basic weapon options; all going into the right hand unfortunately. I think this premium set could have included a holding hand also for the left side, it would have opened up for some interesting dual-wield combinations. We have two different variants of its non-specific beam rifle (the same weapon used by the White Gundam). I couldn't find any details about the two variants other than the obvious part that one version has an extra grip added to the front at a rather awkward angle but I'm not sure what extends from it underneath the main barrel. The grip-less variant of the weapon is unique to this figure while the Converge White Gundam figure only has the grip-mounted variant. The Gundam Hammer ball and chain is also unique to this figure and has a third hand option molded directly onto it. I will talk a bit more about this weapon further down.
The figure is also equipped with two nicely painted shields in red and grey with a dark red Zeon [GQ] insignia on the front. The shields can be attached to the same elbow joints where the lower bit weapons attach, actually since all the six hardpoints are similar the will technically fit anywhere. I am missing some point about the shields; the build instructions number them differently but the two are identical and the schematic shows how they attach to the same spot on the right arm. At first I thought maybe they are meant to stack on top of each other but each has a large peg protruding from its underside and so I don't get it. Here at least you can see them worn on each arm in Thunderbolt Sector-esque fashion.
I didn't go over each figure with a microscope but the retail White Gundam figure from #Sharp 28 is mostly the same although I can see some differences on the sides of its head where I guess the Vulcan guns are presumably attached. The White Gundam figure has the same six hardpoints as the Red Gundam so you can play around with the gear between the two if you like. I have to say I kind of wish there was also a cheaper retail version of the Red Gundam figure because then I could display one of them with out all these bit weapons as a nice contrast and I'm not paying 4500 yen for that pleasure.
Before we wrap up let's also take a look at the recently released Red Gundam from the Capsule Index Gashapon figure series. The cheaper figure also released in November and I have to say it gas got the premium Converge figure beat on a couple of things. While it lacks some of the painted detail present on the Converge figure it does sport a much more realistic and attractive colour tone and its Hyper Hammer has a looooooong chain made from soft PVC-plastic which lets you bend it around a bit to create an interesting pose. I am guessing that the blue spikes are supposed to be thrusts from its onboard verniers (a motorized weapon with advanced moving parts that you slam into an enemy... who came up with this idea?) which is also a leg up on the Converge representation of the weapon. On the other hand, I do appreciate that the Converge hammer is compact rather than reaching out a lot from the figure, Converge figures work best when they stand around doing nothing after all.
The Red Gundam is currently selling for around ¥4000 over at the Mandarake secondary market. While this makes it one of the cheaper CORE-figures you also aren't getting a whole lot of figure when you compare it to e.g. the White Gundam from the retail series. The colour choice is a bit toy-like and I think it would have been nice if Bandai had tossed in a second weapon-holding hand and also a pair of beam sabers with transparent effect parts. I guess it is not impossible that this figure will be reissued in a different format in the future, perhaps in metallic colour, but I wouldn't wait around for that to happen seeing as it is fairly easily available right now.
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