I pulled something from the really old pile of shame for this review. Or to be frank, I did it specifically in conjunction with reviewing one of the recent Crossbone sets for Gundam Converge, as I had to do some comparisons. Poor old F90II got himself some back-up from Converge there. :)
Back when I used to chase down every single Ensemble review (the days before the overpriced EX figures kicked in to overdrive...) there was a string of interesting and unique mobile suit choices in the line-up. These days it seems most suits make it to most figure lines, often in parallel but in the early days Ensemble had a very distinct leg up on Converge in terms of Advance of Zeta and F91/Crossbone Gundam. That leverage persists in the large EX sets but Converge has been doing a fair bit of catching up over the past couple of years.
The Ensemble F90II set came together with a string of Gundam F90 (Not F90 Type II...) variation sets and allows you to construct one of three variations. The kit released all the way back in September 2020 as a P-Bandai exclusive with a price tag of ¥4620.
The kit is centred around a basic early generation Ensemble figure (sans the articulated shoulders) with a set of components to alter it into different modes. The instruction sheet makes a thing out of numbering each part but the build guide rarely makes use of the numbers when it comes to actually telling you which part goes where. I couldn't even find a reference to some of the parts included in the kit, they just seemed superfluous in the first place.
I recall staking out the Mandarake webshop hard back when the kit released into the wild. I managed to land three figures priced at between ¥4500 and ¥6000 back then, last I saw it in their store the price had climbed to ¥9000 and it will be a bit of a pain to source it if you are late to the party. Note that you can only build one figure out of the components in the box, but you are free to parts-swap between the different modes if you feel like it. In general, I would advice against disassembly as each action will place wear on the joints and they tend to loosen up quickly if played around with a great deal.
F90II Gundam F90II
Let's start with the vanilla F90II to begin with. This could well have been a retail figure in one of the ordinary figure sets much like the F91 but it is exclusive to this Premium release only. It is too bad really, as this is a really nice looking figure that will now be missing from many collections (and I would only have had to buy to premium kits instead of three... perhaps that was the Bandai way of thinking?). The main complaint I have against it is the same as for the other F90 premium kits; the shield is made out of soft plastic and bends very easily. Many of the components in the kit are made from hard ABS-style plastic and so why this piece was not is a bit of a mystery to me.
Here are all the leftover option-components for the Types L and I after you have assembled the basic figure. I think all these "3-type" kits should have been a bit more expensive and included enough components to build all three variations instead of just one.
On the left we have the basic Gundam F90 which you can assemble from either of thre three Gundam F90 premium kits; EX10 which is the type F90D/H, EX24 which includes F90 types A and P or EX25 that included the F90 Types V and M. You can see many subtle differences between the basic F90 and the Type II such as slightly different colours on the torso, different knees and V-fin to name a few.
F90II-I Gundam F90II Intercept Type
The Type I equipment set is a mobility kit for the F90 or F90 Type II that gives it enhanced mobility and atmospheric re-entry and flight capacity, much like the wing we see deployed by the Gundam Mk-II. You get a different set of lower legs for this figure which has multiple boosters reminiscent of the Zaku II High Mobility Type and so if you are parts swapping this becomes a bit of a pain having to pull the legs apart. The figure is dominated by its large Flight Shield which comes with two red stub wings that can be extended (you can see them deployed on the last photo of this section).
The Intercept Type kit also includes a Beam Lancer which sports a cone-shaped beam-blade (I'd take a beam rifle over it any day...). You get two option components to display the weapon in activated or deactivated mode. There is actually a thin clear plastic piece underneath the green cone which makes the blade look like there is a crack down its centre.
Gundam Converge featured the basic Gundam F90 Intercept Type through one of its Steel 7 Team figure sets earlier this year which forced me to finally dig out my old Ensemble boxes. The two figures look quite different from one another when it comes to artistic expression and parts dimensions. The Converge figure has an option part that can extend the length of the Flight Shield (you can see the review of that figure here) which is not present in the Ensemble design.
F90II-L Gundam F90II Long Range Type
The Long Range Type kit is a much more basic-looking figure, basically it is your average Ensemble Gundam figure with a lot of components slapped on all over it. It has a gigantic "Long Rifle" that attaches to three spots on the figure (so you know it will be a pain to align properly) and then has some additional wings, beam sabers and sights spread on top of its shoulders. Each wrist also has a little launcher for two unspecified missiles. The whole thing looks like someone's garage-build if I'm being honest.
The Long Rifle attaches has some resemblance to the Smart Gun used by the Colonial Marines in the old Aliens movie and it attaches to points on the back skirt, right leg and right hand. The weapon has an articulated joint in the middle so that you can bend it a little to help it fit but I didn't manage to do that perfect line-up needed and frankly I think it looks better by having it resting at the figure's side which is how I am going to pose it.
Gundam F90/F90II Family
Here we have all the eight types of Gundam F90/F90II that came out of the P-Bandai Ensemble series. While I really like the idea of producing so many of the various Gundam F90 designs a lot of them do look kind of silly. The basic figures are probably the best looking in my opinion.
Back row: Gundam F90II Type L, Gundam F90P Plunge Type, F90A Assault Type and F90V VSBR Type.
Front row: F90 Gundam F90, F90II Gundam F90II, F90M Marine Type and F90II Intercept Type.
Conclusion
So, is it worth seeking out this kit all these years later? Probably not. While this is the only way you can (at least currently) get your hands on the F90 Type II in Ensemble format the price on the secondary market means you will have to be really in the mood for one. While the Intercept Type is really neat looking I think the Long Range type misses its mark and so you probably wouldn't need more than one box at least. On the other hand, kit bashers could find a potential lot of useful items in here, I imagine you could build a fairly convincing Type L based on this kit's leftover parts and a stock F91 figure for example.
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