Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 17

Ensemble Part 17 is the first standard set to feature six different figures (counting the generic equipment set as a figure...) which seems to be the new standard, at least in the four sets up to and including the upcoming volume 19. I have been looking forward to reviewing this set, but it took some time to get everything lined up. I have had some trouble keeping up with the storm of Ensemble sets being pumped out in 2021 and these six-part sets increase the difficulty.


As usual I have picked up these figures one by one, some from capsules and some from boxes like the above. Prices varied between ¥600 and ¥800 per figure at the time but will probably rise over time. I have yet to see a 10-figure box but I would imagine that it contains an A- and a B-set with one of the two Dogas appearing in version A and one in version B, which is usually how this is done. Considering the line-ups from part 18, 7.5 and 19 they all feature figures that would be well-suited for this system. This would then mean that for the first time, Bandai will introduce planned scarcity into the retail sets which really sucks.




103 : MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam (Core Top)


Over the last couple of retail sets Bandai have been experimenting with slightly larger capsules to accommodate for larger or more complex figures. We have also seen waves with two equipment sets where a mobile suit like the G-Self or the AGE-1 get a dedicated equipment pack of their own to solve the same issue. In Part 17 we get a new concept, with the mobile suit being literally split in half between two slots. Figure 103 contains the upper half of the ZZ Gundam, which can be assembled into its Core Top mobile armor mode. The stand you see here is of course not included but something whipped up from the old Assault Kingdom figures. Perhaps not the most interesting figure although I kind of like the look.


This pack contains only one of the traditional sprues with the "inner frame" components and a specialized mini-sprue containing the torso frame components. We also have the Gundam's head in here of course, although it is not included in the Core Top build.


104 : MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam (Core Base)


Fitting then that the next box contains the legs and skirt armor for the ZZ as well as the backpack. The Core Base also makes for a pretty interesting mobile armor build although it is a bit more flimsy. Since the body is basically the suit legs wit boosters instead of feet and the backpack attached to the backskirt. On top of the hips sits the FXA-07GB Neo Core Fighter acting as its flight control section. From some angels this really looks like a 90's era fighter bomber on steroids and looks much better than I had anticipated.


Here we have another of the common sprues with the joint sections and a different type of mini-sprue with the hip and ankle connectors.



103+104 : MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam


The real magic happens when you combine the two figures into a rather massive ZZ Gundam. The figure looks great but its articulation is a bit limited due to the bulk of especially the beam rifle. Perhaps the red fins attached to the arms should have been molded in hard plastic though.


With the ZZ Gundam assembled you still have all the parts needed to assemble the FXA-07GB Neo Core Fighter. Neat! Again, no stand available so you have to figure something out yourself.


But wait, it is not over yet! You can also take the Core Top and the Core Base mobile armors and (with a small number of modifications) combined them into G-Fortress mobile armor mode. This also frees up the Neo Core Fighter components to build it separately. I really haven't made up my mind if I would prefer to keep the two parts of the G-Fortress combined or not and have toyed with the idea of getting a third pair of ZZ figures to display all of them side by side.


Here is a nice ZZ Gundam line-up completed by purchasing two each of figure 103 and 104. Going in I was pretty sure I would only build the Core Top and Base once for purposes of review but ended up liking them so much I wanted to keep a separate pair. :)





105 : GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh


Alright, not everything this set is ZZ. Next up we have what is probably the most basic figure in the wave, a rather anemic looking Nadleeh figure. The Nadleeh figure reminds me of the AGE-1T Titus which is also a very slender frame. The Ensemble proportions do not always work that well for all mobile suit designs (but for some reason the Union Flags came out amazing looking). The light gray areas painted on the thighs are also quite hard to see. Still, I am really pleased to see the suit not being skipped over which is usually the case. The Virtue was released as an EX figure in August but I have yet to see it for sale.


The Nadleeh features that nice type of translucent green component that goes into the head and chest areas, like we have seen on older Celestial Being figures. The rest of the figure is really white and perhaps not the most exciting.


The Celestial Being line-up has been growing over the last couple of sets. The upcoming Virtue appears to be the last MSG 00 figure in Ensemble for the foreseeable future.




106 : MSN-03 Jagd Doga (Gyunei Guss use)


The other big thing in this set is the pair of Jagd Dogas. These designs have a lot of flair that can be difficult to capture in a simple Gashapon figure. The Converge Shokugan variety were a bit underwhelming too (would love to see them return under the #sharp program as EX figures). The Gyunei figure is mainly cyan and yellow with just a few extra colour apps but they really came through where it most matters - the shield. Having the dual-colour basic design and a coloured Neo Zeon logo on the shield covers the hardest parts, still you may want to go over the figure a bit with especially red detail (or black on Quess's machine).


While I didn't bother to show it here the figure has a working monoeye that can be manipulated from the underside. It felt a bit flimsy and I hope it is not the type of part that will be falling out as the figure begins to age.





107 : MSN-03 Jagd Doga (Quess Paraya use)


Quess's red machine is not just a simple re-colouration, the two machines have received different heads and gear, but other than that they are pretty much the same. The fact that her suit does not feature yellow in its colour scheme makes the funnel weapons and Neo Zeon logo shine even brighter.


Notice the different weapon loadout, Gyunei's Beam Assault Rifle is replaced by the Mega Gatling Gun.


The two Jagd Dogas side by side look excellent. These figures certainly impressed me more than I had expected. I guess if I were to complain about something they are a little bit on the small side but I don't think that matters much in Ensemble (especially when you consider how tiny the Sazabi figure is...).


The Neo Zeon family is poised to continue to grow, Part 7.5 adds Rezyn Schnyder's blue Doga to the mix, looking forward to let her join the line-up soon.





108 : Equipment Set for Wave 17


The new equipment sets now have to cater for five instead of four other figures. The set for wave 17 does not contain any generic stuff and the contents are a bit ho-hum. Still, there is a little something for everyone in here.


The ZZ Gundam gets a large translucent beam saber blade, split into two parts (presumably to safely fit within a capsule). The hilt itself is not included in the box, instead you use one of the two that are included with the ZZ Core Base figure. An extra set of hands is also added, one pair of expressive hands and one set of holding hands. The holding hands feature small pegs that connect to the large beam saber to help keep it in place.


Gundam Nadleeh gets two dual-barrel GN Cannons (the ones that you would normally see on the shoulders of the Gundam Virtue). The two separate grips can be used to hold the weapons in hand (which looks a bit weird). I also toyed with storing them on the shoulders which works reasonably well and I kind of like the look of it.


The worst and of course most elaborate accessory is the six-pack of flying Funnel weapons. I generally do not care for this type of accessory and there is nothing in this execution to change my mind I'm afraid. I don't see how anyone could find these large transparent pieces attractive 8the Funnels themselves are so tiny in comparison) and the fact that all six are identical means it will be hard to come up with anything remotely good looking. I would much have preferred to see some of the Doga's beam weapons included.




Conclusion

Ensemble Part 17 continues the long line of excellent retail releases with several important mobile suit choices. I think the gimmick of splitting up the ZZ Gundam works great but it will of course present yet another hurdle for collectors who wish to obtain it. If you can get your hands on this set I think you will be really pleased with it.

SD Gundam Full Color Stage 51

The SD Full Color jubilee 50th set was an All-Gundam affair - mostly featuring lame reissues - and so it seems even Bandai were bored of Gundams at that point. Enter volume 51, a Zaku variation set! The concept alone makes this one of my favourite sets and the execution isn't half bad either with mostly new sculpts and rare mobile suit choices.


This ten-piece set was released in August 2004, that's fifty one sets released in less than seven years! It seems to me this must have been the golden era of Gashapon, the sheer number of figures produced must be staggering. This means you can still stumble on unopened figure sets even today, twenty years down the line.


At this point in time however, it seems the series must have begun its decline. While many of the figures in this set aren't that rare they are not nearly as common as the figures in the earlier stages like, say, volumes 15-30. The price on the secondhand market seems to reflect this somewhat, still at ¥1500 for the full set they remain rather cheap if you can get your hands on them. I have picked up several singles from this set in used toy markets but finding a full set like this must be considered a bit unusual.




322 : MS-06S Zaku II (Char's Custom) (transparent colour ver.)


While the set contains mostly new figures it opens up with a trio of reanimated designs that return in astral clear colour versions. First out we have Char's Zaku II wielding a bazooka. I really like how they have gone for a solid look of the weapon while the rest of the figure has this ghost-like appearance. The later clear colour version figures that came out of SD Full Color Custom don't hold a candle to these guys in my opinion.


The sculpt of this figure goes back all the way to the very first wave of SD figures, Stage 1, released in October 1997. That particular figure was also reissued (under the stage name v1.1) in the reissue set Stage 10. Interestingly, none of the more refined versions of Char's Zaku feature the bazooka, going exclusively for machine guns.




323 : MS-06F Zaku II (transparent colour ver.)


The next ancient warrior is the mass-production type Zaku, armed with a machine gun, and looking confusingly tasty like some ambitious Japanese jelly candy. I really like the two different shades of green, just like how Char's machine had two distinct types of red. As far as clear colour figures go, this is the gold standard.


This figure also hails from Stage 1 but there are plenty of modernized variants to supplant it. The original SD figures are quite large and chunky compared to the later releases which compensated for increased complexity and articulation with smaller and leaner bodyparts.




324 : MS-05 Zaku I (transparent colour ver.)


The last of the transparent trio is a classic Zaku I brawler, destined never to get to hold a machine gun or knuckle shield. Unlike the Zaku II figures the Zaku I is all single colour green with painted on blue accents which looks quite nice I must say. The sculpt itself is not particularly exciting but it is what it is I guess.


Yep, you guessed it, the Zaku I is also from SD Gundam Full Color Stage 1. Together with the mass production-type Zaku II it was reissued as version 1.1 in the massive 12-figure Stage 17 reissue set.





325 : MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type (Black Tri-Stars Custom) (Ver.2.0)


Alright, so moving on to what is new in this wave we start with an updated variant of the High Mobility Type Zaku for the Tri-Stars team. The new figure features additional colours and gets two different weapons to play with, a bazooka or a machine gun. Shame that there isn't a third figure with a heat hawk. Interestingly the two machines in the original Full Color line are the only tri-Star representations we have in the entire line-up, so they haven't been available in super-deformed form for fifteen years at this point.


Here we have a trio with the 1.0 version figure from Stage 18 (July, 2000) in the middle. It would have been nifty if the first generation figure had featured a Commander Type antenna.




326 : MS-06F-2 Zaku II F-2 Type


On the topic of rarities, here is something as unusual as a Zaku II F-2 Type, featured in Stardust Memory. It is an incremental upgrade of the bog-standard MS-06F. The machine here appears to be modelled after Neuen Bitter's custom commander machine although the colour scheme resembles a common machine. Notice the rocket boosters and spare machine gun ammo-drum on the back.




327 : MS-11 Act Zaku


Another incredibly rare face is the Act Zaku, a mobile suit variation from the MS-X line-up. It too is an upgrade of the basic MS-06F although the changes here are more drastic and fundamentally alter how the suit operates, giving it vastly increased mobility. It is a shame that we don't get to see this mobile suit in figure form more often. As far as I am aware, ignoring model kits this is the only Act Zaku figure ever made. The suit seems like a perfect figure for series like Converge, small, compact and colourful - low-hanging fruit rather than going for obscure and outlandish Crossbone designs...




328 : AMX-011 Zaku III


Apart from its name I don't think you can classify the Zaku III as a variation of the classic machine, this is for all intents and purposes a completely new machine. Considerably larger and heavier it also makes use of advanced beam weaponry. It features briefly in Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam together with its main rival, the Döven Wolf, which bested it in trials.


Just like its buddy, the Custom AMX-011C from Stage 14 (released February 2000) the Zaku III has never been reissued in SD form.




329 : MSN-01 Psycommu Test High Mobility Type Zaku II


The MSN-01 is the intermediate step between the early MS-06Z Psycommu System Zaku and the well-known MSN-02 Zeong. While the MS-06Z was a pretty conventional looking machine its development foregoes legs and introduces the ten-finger beam cannon salute. The prototype ultimately convinced the designers that the Zaku was not up to the task and development of the much larger Zeong commenced in its place. The Psycommu Zaku type is a really unique looking design that is sadly rare in figure form. The MegaHouse Chess Piece Collection has a nice to-scale representation of it but otherwise it is slim pickings in the figure world. It seems like an obvious contender for the Converge Plus range so I haven't yet given up hope on seeing it in Converge form.




330 : MS-06V Zaku Tank


The Zaku Tank is an unholy merger of the torso of a mass-production Zaku II and the main body of a Magella Attack Tank. Not a military specification per see but rather a Frankensteinian invention at the front line the Zaku Tank saw various duties supporting the main forces with whatever tasks they could. Multiple variations exist apparently also with Zaku I torsos, although all Bandai figures you will ever come across are standardized around the Zaku II.


The SD range of course has a Magella Attack Tank of its own, although it wasn't released until Stage 41 (May 2003). The Zaku Tank figure also comes with an option part. You can remove the two cisterns from the back and replace them with what is supposedly a crane-type assembly, resembling that mounted on the MS-06V-6 Green Macaque, seen here in its Gashapon HG MS form from 2001.




331 : MS-06K Zaku Cannon


The Zaku Cannon loosely resembles the RX-77-2 Guncannon and other similar designs like the GM Cannon or the odd Gelgoog and Dom Cannon variants. Its backmounted 180mm cannon allows it to back up combat units from a distance although it also features short range weapons like the two "Big Gun" handheld dual rocket launchers.




Conclusion

This is a fantastic range of figures that offers up a wide selection of Zaku-types for the Zeon-oriented collector. It is such a shame that so many of these designs haven't been properly realized in larger scales. I do hope that Converge, Ensemble and Senshi Forte take it upon themselves to spread some love to at least a few of these suits that SD fans get to enjoy already.