It has now been over two years since the Mobility Joint brand was featured on the blog. You might be forgive for thinking that I had finally given up on the line but that isn't really the case. While I hadn't built any figures since volume 5 I still did my best to keep up with purchasing figures as they came out (which can be a really frustrating experience) but they usually end up on the pile of shame because of a couple of reasons. On the outset you never really know how many boxes you need to pick up of each kind to be able to build all the official variations, then there is the question of actually finding them for sale. Once a set is fully completed months may have passed and there is something else warranting more interest. Anyway, today we'll attempt to bring them back on a semi-regular status, let's see how it goes.
Today's object of interest is the first Premium Bandai exclusive to graze the Mobility Joint line. PB01 was delivered to preorders in November 2023 back when the Side-F was all the rage. Contained within are the two ff-style suits from Char's Counterattack as they were redesigned for the Gundam Side-F brand store at Fukuoka Airport. The almost 25-meter tall Nu Gundam on display outside the shopping centre couldn't feature it's classic Fin Funnel design due to wind-related safety concerns and so a new dreamed up RX-93ff was constructed instead. Naturally, a FF-version of the Sazabi was also designed because these two suits are enormous cash cows and everyone needs to buy them again. Unfortunately, no-one has seen the need of a life-size statue of it just yet.
The box retains the usual dull colourless P-Bandai style but at least does an adequate job of featuring its contents. This review reminds me of the corresponding Mobile Suit Ensemble release from April last year. The two ff-suits were sold in pieces in five different blind boxes; one for each suit and then their various weapons spread out over another three boxes. To this day I have only managed to pick up one single box - the few times they appear for sale they are usually swiped up immediately.
The bags are your typical Mobility Joint stuff, it is not like you haven't seen the RX-93 or the Sazabi in MJ before so veterans will be very familiar with the contents inside. there are of course several new components but you are basically getting the old figures all over again. To aid in assembly (trust me, you'll need it) you have to go online to find the 15-page instruction manual, currently published by Bandai here: LINKY.
Here the parts are spread out for the respective mobile suit. There are some interesting new pieces in here and the suits themselves have been coloured in new nuances of white and red, which we will return to later in the review.
Beside my aversion for assembling figures the stickers are the things that really put me off MJ. Mobility Joint is kind of notorious for its complicated wrap-around stickers that are often thin and have to be folded around edges, something that I will often screw up. The surfaces are often small or hollow which give the adhesive little staying power and I'm pretty sure many of these will come off given time. If you enjoy painting figures this is definitely the way to go as the sculpts are detailed and stickers are often a clumsy way of covering a 3D-surface up with a flat 2D-design. But then again, if you enjoy building and painting figures - why would you select the Mobility Joint brand? Anyway, enough rambling, let's take a look at the two figures.
RX-93ff Nu Gundam
We'll begin by checking out the classic Nu Gundam design. The colour scheme is changed to reflect the ff-design but you can still put together the regular Nu with a single Fin Funnel and a weapons kit of four different hand held weapons as seen on display here. There are a couple of stickers that give it a new look (don't mind me forgetting to attach the head camera sticker there, it pops up later in the review...) but beyond that it is your bog standard MJ-Nu. The seam lines on the lower legs stand out a fair bit, I should probably glue the pieces in place. I don't know why but this particular figure is giving me a lot of grief when it comes to attaching the legs to the torso. The ball joints just don-t want to go all the way into their sockets like on previous MJ Nu Gundam figures and so the legs will come off frustratingly often.
You can see that I avoided using the wrap around blue stickers intended for the feet and used paint and pen instead, hence why the colour is a bit off. I also applied a little bit of yellow and black colour here and there to make the figure a bit more fun to look at. The actual RX-93ff is a very colourful design - much more so than a cheap Shokugan kit could do justice (which is why I think Bandai should feature simpler designs in MJ - like the GM for example).
Equipping the signature Long Range Fin Funnel weapon is simple enough, it replaces the traditional Fin Funnel kit and one shared peg is used to hold each in place. I don't particularly like how far from the body the weapon ends due to the connecting pieces taking up space. If you were really zealous about it you could make your own connector here to stick the weapon closer to the figure's back. Again, there are a couple of stickers not applied here. I had missed out on two of the yellow ones that will show up at the end of the review but I decided not to bother with stickers 29-32 which are all awkwardly thin and don't matter that much anyway. Interestingly, the manual also referred to stickers 42 and 43, of which there are none on the decal sheet. Bit of an oopsie there, Bandai.
Now this much looks much better! You can deploy the funnel weapon across the left shoulder but it will require some disassembly and parts swapping to get there. The weapon ends up sitting on a ball joint which allows for some wiggling around but as always with MJ-figures the wiggling space is rather limited because there is always something else in the way. One major issue with this weapon is that it makes the figure rather back heavy. When the weapon is stowed it reaches the floor and so acts as a support but in this mode you will have to fiddle with the angles of the legs and hips to prevent it from falling over. I have extended the weapon and shield forward to help balance the figure.
Lastly, the LR Funnel can also be used as a handheld weapon. This looks pretty cool and if you wanted to go all out you could attach the Nu Gundam's bazooka and Fin Funnels on the back to really flesh it out but all things considered I prefer the over-the-shoulder-mode the best.
The original Nu figure dates back all the way to Mobility Joint Volume 2 released in August of 2022. The figure came with two EX-parts sets to transform it into the FA-93HWS Heavy Weapons Type (there were actually two EX Parts sets in the wave, of which one is shared with the Sazabi figure of that wave). As you can see the original figures have an attractive greyish off-white colour while the P-Bandai figure looks much more like the Alex with its bright white and blue livery. There is also an third version of the Nu Gundam in Mobility Joint, basically a reissue of the figures from wave two but in a bright white colour more close to the RX-93ff. I haven't assembled those figures yet but I'll post a comparison photo once I do.
MSN-04FF Sazabi
Over the Sazabi, then. Again, this figure also has all the necessary parts to assemble a bog standard MSN-04, seen here with all its four main weapon options. The only thing missing in these photos are the six remote funnel weapons that normally go into the launchers on the back. The parts are still included (and also require a different set of launch containers that are slightly smaller than the ones needed for the new weaponry) but the components involved are really tight and so I didn't want to go through the hassle of assembling and disassembling these. It would have been nice if Bandai had included a second pair of bottom components of the two launchers, then you could simply have changed the entire assemblies since they are attached by a simple peg.
The sticker set is of course also different, you will not get the classic Char Aznable "G-clef" but a couple of different insignia instead. Just like with the Nu Gundam I have forgone using a number of the yellow stickers included with the kit. Instead I applied some acrylic yellow and black marker pen around those areas, mainly the various exhausts on the shoulders and front skirt, as well as some detail on the sides and back of the figure.
Just like with the Nu Gundam the Sazabi was originally included in the second wave of Mobility Joint figures. The OG figure has a nice dark red finish which is perhaps a bit more exotic than it needed to be but I quite like it. Again, there is a third version of the Sazabi also in bright red for those who prefer its more typical colour scheme. Notice the different funnel assemblies on the two figures backs - the P-Bandai figure's launchers are opened up to the sides a bit and nobody is home. Again, the standard launchers as seen on the dark red figure are also included with this kit.
The FF-Sazabi's signature weapons are the two enormous Double Horn Funnels that replace the usual six-piece funnel kit. When not in use they are plugged into the funnel assembly for recharging and can also swing forward over the shoulders similar to the LR Funnel on the Nu-Gundam. I didn't plug the funnels all the way into the launcher because it is a bit of a pain to get them out of there again, I recommend selecting one pose and then sticking with it because as soon as you start handling Mobility Joint figures they tend to have parts come off them left and right.
Each funnel also has a handlebar that allows them to be handled like large beam cannons. You have to do a bit of parts swapping to transform the funnels into activated mode. First you remove several components at the back to open up the rear compartment and then you have to remove the handles and attach them in a different position. I don't really appreciate fiddly parts conversion such as this and much prefer a pre-sculpted figure in a pre-selected pose. The latter also removes the need for delicate joints and ugly connector pieces but hey, this is what Mobility Joint is all about.
There are a total of three different Sazabi figures in the line, I'll come back and update this family photo once I cover the review of the Mobility Joint Gundam SP set which is basically a re-colour set of various figures that were previously released.
Conclusion
So, should you seek out the Side-F figures to add to your own Mobility Joint collection? If you are only interested in canon-type mobile suits there is no need to look into this box, the weapons are cool but kind of outlandish and you likely already have these two mobile suits since before anyway. If you are thinking that hey, I like these colours better than those used on the figures from volume two, you are better off seeking out the SP-figure set. This P-Bandai set is one of the easier to find on the Mobility Joint after market but the price remains around the ¥6000-mark so if you have no particular interest in Side-F you can safely skip this set.
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