We haven't done one of these in a while so today we look back on Stage 37 which was released all those years ago in November 2002. It is a set of seven (I guess technically eight) figures all pulled from and promoting the SD Gundam G Generation video game series. I know absolutely nothing about the games or which of them it is technically associated with but according to wikipedia the SD Gundam G Generation NEO released on the PS2 in November 28 and so is probably it.
As usual, here are the figures in the state they rolled out of the bags. Most figures usually require some simple assembly (at least when the pegs made of soft PVC don't bend and twist instead of sliding into their intended compartments) while others are good to go.
218 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver.18.0)
Bandai kept coming up with new ideas for the RX-78 here appearing in its 18th different form since the Full Color series started. What could you possibly need another Gundam figure to do? At least this one comes fully kitted with both a beam rifle and a hyper bazooka. The bazooka can either be stored on the backskirt or held in hand (the rifle does not have this ability). Be careful when swapping out weapons on your SD figures, soft PVC does not always cooperate in the same way a rigid plastic figure would, the pegs are bendy but can be broken off if you are not careful.
Rather than attempting to line up all the previous instances of the RX-78 I thought we'd just compare it to one of its look-alikes from Stage 19. Both figures come with double weapons, both can store the bazooka on the backskirt, but the older figure also has a left hand which can hold the secondary weapon.
219 : MSN-02 Zeong (Ver.2.0)
Stage 37 is all about pairing up rivals and letting them beat each other up. The Gundam of course goes up against this flying Zeon which has one of the standardized Full Color figure bases that pegs into its crotch. The idea is of course to have it hover menacingly above another figure. The figure has a really crisp colour scheme and I really like the green underside with all the thrusters.
It seems I can never manage to get all Zeong figures in one picture, there is always someone missing from the line-up. This one is pretty close though, only the little Char Aznable mini-figure is missing from the largest figure (no idea where I put the characters figures, in a little bag somewhere for sure). There are a total of three flying Zeong figures in the Full Color line, this is the basic version and it was later joined by a Zeong launching its Psycommu hands (Stage 61, released November 2005) and the rare High Mobility Form from Stage 48 (April 2004). We also see a couple of the earlier non-flying versions of the Zeong and Perfect Zeong as well as the large Full Color DX figure.
220 : MSZ-006 Z Gundam (Ver.4.0)
The next pairing comes from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and to no one's surprise the Z Gundam itself is one of the combatants. This is the fourth version of the MSZ-006 and it look positively strange with its arms wildly stretched out to the sides. Not exactly a favourite figure but at least easy to recognize...
There are plenty of different Z Gundams released in the SD Full Color family and I find that several of them look a bit goofy (and the worst of them is the very white figure from SD Full Color Custom at the back there).
221 : PMX-003 The-O (Ver.2.0)
Kamille gets to go up against the might of Paptimus in his awkwardly named The-O (I always have to be careful about not typing "the the-o"...). This figure is equipped with both the signature beam rifle and one beam sword. The sword can be held either in hand or by one of the two subarms that extend out in front of its feet (and here being a bit warped also unbalances the figure). You can remove the rather large sub-arms if you like but there will be a noticeable peg hole right in front of the machine.
Three O-figures were made. On the left we have the first version from Stage 8 (released in April 1999) and in the centre a very yellow from Stage 63 (the very last numbered sed from February 2006) which has equipment similar to the version two variant. I don't know what caused Bandai to switch up the colour scheme that hard on the last version and while it may pass inspection on its own it looks rather silly next to the two former releases.
222 + 223 : Haro x HARO-86-2 Psyco Haro
Perhaps the most interesting (and ill-fitting?) members of Stage 37 is a set of two Haro mascots. We get the OG green Haro from the original series as well as the black Psyco Haro that I know nothing about but it looks suitable menacing so I guess they are rivals in the game. Rather than flattening the bottom surface of Green Haro the figure gets to sit on a little pedestal to prevent it from rolling away from your display. Personally, I would have preferred if the base was in a different colour than Haro itself but I can see opinions might be split on this.
There are a couple of Haros in the SD Full Color line to collect, below you can see Lacus' Pink Haro and the version two Haro with arms and legs, both from Stage 41 (released in May 2003). There is also an orange Haro belonging to Celestial Being in Full Color Custom Stage 18 that comes with a Karel-type maintenance robot.
224 : MSN-04 Sazabi (Ver.2.0)
Bandai is seemingly always looking for excuses to throw in the Nu Gundam and the Sazabi to trigger more sales but in 2002 they were apparently a bit more laid back in making their choices because in a total of 37 waves there have only been two releases of the Sazabi and it did not return in Full Color Custom either. Just like the Z Gundam we looked at earlier this figure also has a bit of a crazy arm pose going, just not as extreme. I expected that the head was to be turned to face the right but if you look at the booklet illustration it is rather intended to stare to the left. I'm not really understanding what they are going for and so the figure could have been more interesting I think.
Here are the two Full Color Sazabis next to each other, the figure on the left is the version 1.0 with a greenish beam saber and was released in Stage 16 in April of 2000. The 2.0 figure is larger and has large shoulders and a little bit more colour even though both do a poor job when it comes to the iconic shield which needed the yellow flair the most. I'm not a huge fan of either if I am being completely honest.
225 : RX-93 Nu Gundam (Ver.3.0)
It isn't often that you see the Nu Gundam at the trailing end of a figure set, it is used to proudly lead from the front. I guess in such an all-star set it just happened to be plonked in at the chronological end of the U.C. timeline. This figure has pretty much everything I would expect from an SD Nu Gundam figurine. Enough paint applications to make it look interesting (if I could ask for one thing it would be the black top on the beam rifle). Amuro gets his insignia both on the shoulder and on the shield, so I think Bandai are a bit cheap to skip it on the Sazabi.
Look at these three figures; they look like triplets! It is quite unusual to see such a uniform look between different versions of the same mobile suit. Normally proportions, height and width, eye shape and size or colour choices tend to vary quite a bit between figures but these look like they were just given different gear when leaving the assembly line. From left to right we have the Stage 37 figure with beam rifle, fin funnels and shield followed by a beam rifle and fin funnel equipped figure from Stage 16. On the right is another beam rifle and shield equipped figure lacking the fin funnels, released in Stage 15. Stages 15 and 16 were dedicated entirely to Char's Counterattack and were released in March and April of 2000 respectively and they were clearly designed at the same time. We've seen other tandem releases of Nu Gundams with different weapon options both in Gundam Converge and the STANDart 1/220 line.
Conclusion
As far as the Full Color series goes, I have to say this is pretty far from what I am looking for in a figure set. Sure, there are a number of new sculpts here but it is mostly a cavalcade of retakes on some of the most commonly seen faces around the Gundam fandom and you'll have to forgive me for being a bit jaded. Other than that, the figures are great and are of course popular icons. As always, the Full Color figures are starting to become rather scarce on the secondary market so it pays to keep an ear to the ground if you hope to find them in the wild.
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