Gundam Converge #09

Well... better late than never. Converge volume 09 has been out now for almost three months and I only managed to get hold of a set in March myself. The Wing and the R-Jarja were the first ones to begin popping up online as people were getting rid of their duplicates (no doubt from having to purchase full boxes as well). However the full volume 09 set has been very rare to surface on the secondary market, I have only seen it two or three times on Mandarake for example and then it was gone pretty much immediately.

In the end I somewhat reluctantly picked up a box in Bangkok last March paying 2000 baht for the pleasure. Of course the box contents are just as disappointing as one would expect:

Yes, multiples of everything except the Zaku II:s of course. I wonder if all the boxes are now loaded in this fashion, effectively making the dual colour figures just as rare as the old secret items used to be. Definitely not impressed. If this is the way things are it would also effectively kill off the secondary trading market as everyone who bought a box would be sitting with the same duplicates. If your box had a different loadout I'd be curious to know...

Anyway, let's drill down to the individual figures. As you can see from the contents above, my export version of the box features no Shokugan chewing gum which is par for the course.

169 : MSZ-010S Enhanced ΖΖ Gundam

The Enhanced ZZ Gundam (or Amprified as the box unintentionally humorously puts it) is a further development of the base ZZ Gundam but it sticks pretty close to the original look. The figure itself however has been given a brand new sculpt following the Converge reboot.

What is up with the listing? Notice how my figure's torso is leaning over to the right, the issue of bendy legs and feet seems to be growing more and more common in Converge as of late.

Not much going on in the accessory department, but that is to be expected of the ZZ Gundam, which always seems to be short on goodies.

Converge ZZ Gundam family: MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam (Converge volume 12, October 2013), MSZ-010S Enhanced ZZ Gundam (Converge #09, January 2018) and the FA-010S Full Armor ZZ Gundam (EX 21, released February 2018).

The new figure is a massive improvement over the look of the old ZZ Gundam figure which now looks really dated in comparison. Still you can tell that the improvements of the enhanced ZZ sit mainly on the inside.

170 : XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero (TV Version)

Hoh boy, is it really time for the Wing Gundam again? I feel like I just reviewed it, probably because of the reissue that popped up in the December Converge Selection last year. This time however we at least have a brand new sculpt to show for it.

Looking pretty slick there I must say. The sculpt and colour applications are really quite impressive and this is easily the best looking Converge Wing Gundam thus far as far as I am concerned.

When I first laid eyes on the large shield I half expected this figure to feature some half-baked Neo Bird form transformation gimmick which it thankfully does not. I guess it is never too late to introduce this in a future CORE reissue though. And stay tuned for Converge #11 when we get a new version of the EW Wing Gundam Zero as well... Alright, let's see if we can bring some order in the Converge Wing Gundam figure history...

Close kinship: XXXG-01W Wing Gundam (TV version, Converge vol. 15, June 2014), XXXG-01W Wing Gundam (Endless Waltz version) released April 2017 and the new TV-version XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero.

Same line-up as before but with the Limited Color reissue of the TV version XXXG-01W Wing Gundam (Converge Selection, December 2017).

And here we add the Endless Waltz version XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero in original colours (Converge vol. 10, April 2013) and Real Type Color (Converge Selection, May 2017). This particular figure has also been reissued is the first version colours in the Operation Revive (Overseas Edition) but it looks identical to the far left figure so I have not added it here.

There sure are a lot of Wing Gundams out there and the thought of having to do this comparison one more time makes me grind my teeth a bit though as I am running out of space. Still, I am really happy that the Wing Gundam mobile suit line is getting some love from Bandai with a handful of new mobile suits to look forward to as well in the next two sets. Question is though; will we even get the Leo?

171 : MS-06S Zaku II (Char's Custom)

We're continuing with reissues and here comes a really classic if not legendary one. Char's red coloured Zaku II has popped up several times in Converge before but this is the first time the entire figure has been resculpted.

The new mold is much smoother and rounded in its lines, although it also feels a bit small when standing next to other Converge figures. The old Zaku II was a bit non-Zaku II looking (that can't be good, right) and the new sculpt has a much better likeness. I can't really shake the feeling that it looks a bit like a balding old man though.

The new Zaku figure comes with two optional weapon choices, the classic Zaku Machine Gun or the equally classic Zaku Bazooka. Sadly each weapon has a hand molded directly on to it, so that it is not possible to unequip either choice or to store the spare weapon on the figures back, kind of a letdown.

The new figure could also have benefitted from the Heat Hawk axe. I can't help but think about how FusionWorks spent a lot of energy (and resources) on getting the Geara Doga geared up with all sorts of crazy accessories. With the Zaku II being one of the most numerously produced mobile suits in all of Gundam lore this figure is a staple for modding so it could have done with as many extras as possible. Here's hoping we will get a couple more MSV designs out of it with some additional gear as well.

The resculpted Zaku II retains a movable monoeye gimmick. The head opens up in half and then the monoeye sits on a round disc that can be spun around from left to right to give the impression of the eye looking in another direction.

From left to right: Machine Gun wielding Zaku (Dengeki Hobby Magazine supplement, September 2011), Bazooka Zaku (Converge vol. 5, November 2011), Overseas Only limited metallic paint ("Converge Limited" twin-pack, March 2014), Converge Revive version from vol. 16 with extra Heat Hawk (September 2014), Gundam Front Tokyo clear colour version (Converge Ver. GFT, April 2016) and the new sculpt from Converge #09 (January 2018).

We sure have a lot of Char's Custom Zaku II in Converge by now. Add to the line-up above also the three Origin version MS-06S figures and the count gets even higher.

172 : MS-06F Zaku II

I can't believe how long we have had to wait for a Zaku II reissue. The original figure appeared in January 2011 and apart from a couple of really rare box set variations this is the first time we get our hands on a mass production type Zaku II again.

Due to the odd manufacturing and packaging choices that Bandai and FusionWorks do, the mass production type Zaku II, produced in thousands during the UC 0079 war appears to be the rarest figure of this bunch. If you were hoping to pick up a couple extras for repurposing or army-building you can expect to be disappointed, this is one rare figure already.

While 95% of the two Zakus in this set are identical the primary difference is that the F-type Zaku comes with a clean head devoid of a commander antenna. Kind of a missed opportunity I think, it would have been great to get an optional head sculpt with the antenna as well. As I mentioned earlier a lot of effort was spent on doing four different Geara Doga headsculpts so I can't see why a little time and energy couldn't have been invested here.

The mass production type Zaku II can of course also wield the Zaku Bazooka just like the Char figure. At least we got two weapon choices to improve on our little desktop armies. I'd pose two different figures if I could, but the green Zaku II is nigh on impossible to source at the moment.

Converge mass-production Zaku II history: MS-06 Zaku II (Converge vol. 2, January 2011), MS-06 in alternate colours (Operation Jaburo multipack, December 2012), Real Type Color Zaku II (SP Realtype twin-pack, July 2014) and the new sculpt from Converge #09 (January 2018).

While the old Zaku II figure is a cool model it doesn't really capture the feel of the Zaku II design that well. The new sculpt does a much better job I think.

173 : AMX-104 R-Jarja

Although we've been looking at several new sculpts in volume nine so far here we finally get the first of two new mobile suit types. And it is a pretty impressive piece at that. The R-Jarja is a Neo Zeon commander type mobile suit featured in the ZZ Gundam series which makes it a bit obscure so I am really happy that it got a chance to be included in Converge.

The suit supposedly draws its inspiration from the old YMS-15 Gyan, although superficially it reminds mainly of the Bawoo. It is really a very unique beast all in itself. I think that the Converge figure is a true masterpiece with many interesting sculpt details which makes it really stand out.

Although the figure comes with both a heavy rifle and a large beam saber the latter is stuck in its sheath. It is interesting that we got a weapon separated from the hand here, but not for the Zaku II which really needed it. These kinds of design choices really make me scratch my head sometimes.

Sticking a custom saber in the R-Jarja's open hand is a perfect fit. Here it poses together with the Gyan and a Bawoo.

Easy to miss: The menacing monoeye is hidden well under the R-Jarja's brow.

While I wish that the R-Jarja would have been given some extra accessories to enable it unsheathing and wielding its blade this is still a really eye-catching figure. The beam saber that comes with the Converge #01 Exia is a perfect fit in the hand, too bad the colour isn't yellow. It shouldn't really be that hard to cut up the R-Jarja's own saber hilt and attach to a beam saber from another figure, a project I will consider for the future.

174 : GF13-001NHII Master Gundam

The second and last new mobile suit featured in this volume is a fighter from the G Gundam arena; the Master Gundam of Neo Hong Kong fame.

The Master Gundam has a really unique look, with its black and red colours. The Converge figure feels more navy blue than black though, which isn't a bad colour choice at all.

Accessory-wise there isn't a whole lot going on here. The Assault Kingdom figure featured both an optional red hand and that weird beam towel thing; here we have to make do with the variable wing binders. At least we don't have to deal with Master Asia's horrible white robot horse, the Fuunsaiki either...

The wings can be move up and down to create some different poses. Also notice the unusual shape of the figure's hands (well, unusual for Converge figures that normally clench their fists when not holding a weapon of some sort). I guess if you want to you could purchase a second figure and repaint a hand in purplish red, still I think it would have been a fair accessory to include here.

The line-up for G Gundam will be completed with the God Gundam's predecessor, the Shining Gundam (which is actually already out at the time of this review). I have a feeling we won't be seeing much in the shape of G Gundam in Converge after that.

175 : GF13-001NHII Master Gundam (Hyper Mode)

The last figure in this set is again a colour swap, this time for the Master Gundam. It is simply an all gold "Hyper Mode" version of the figure.

Strictly speaking it isn't all gold but I have a hard time working up any excitement over this thing. At least they didn't make it a horribly overpriced P-Bandai item like the Hyper Mode God Gundam.

Again, not a whole lot going on in the shape of accessories here. Just a couple of variable wings again...

While it is fun to play around with the figure's wings for a couple of seconds there isn't all that much exciting going on with the Hyper Mode figure. I wish they would have spent this recolouring budget in the Zaku II instead.

Conclusion

Converge volume 9 delivers another really strong line-up of mobile suits which in its entirety will be of interest primarily to newer collectors. Although the four resculpted figures are really great I feel like there are a bit too many resissues going on for the more experienced Converge collectors these days. And considering the trouble I had locating these figures I imagine it will be quite hard to cherry pick the ones that you would really want without having to spend for an entire box.

Banpresto Ichiban Kuji Figure Collection : Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt - RGM-79 GM

After covering the mobile armors and spaceships in the Ichiban Kuji Thunderbolt collection and feeling overall quite satisfied with them I (of course) began glancing at the remaining figures in this series. We've already looked at the Earth Federation Ball and Saberfish as well as the Zeonic Gattle in previous reviews. Today we will look at one of the four mobile suits also released in this one-off figure set.

This Thunderbolt Sector version GM is as far as I know the only figure ever produced of this mobile suit (save for the HG model kit of course). It belongs to a series of prize items made by Banpresto for the Ichiban Kuji lottery. As such these figures are not available through regular retail although they pop up on the second hand market from time to time. This figure isn't particularly pricy, in fact being one of the cheaper ones in the set. I think I paid 800 yen for mine.

I was a bit surprised when opening the large box only to find a cardboard insert almost half the size. I had expected this figure to come with a piece of a space colony cylinder like some of the other large box figures in this series do but now I realize this is reserved for the two spacecraft figures only.

Apart from the figure itself we do get an enormously oversized stand (four times the footprint of the smaller vehicles) and the same old instruction sheet that is included with all the figures in the set (you can for example see prize items A through C in the picture above).

With all the pieces laid out you can see this is a fairly simple design made of the harder type of plastic that Banpresto often uses. The material is somewhere in between the soft plastic used for Converge and the hard plastic used in model kits. The figure appears to be very sturdy and not so easy to break.

Above you can see the GM as it is intended to pose. The figure sits on its peculiar base which attaches to the crotch and also allows for the backpack to connect through a hole in the back. This makes the figure very balanced and helps keeping the backpack in place, but of course also means you cannot change the pose even a little.

The Thunderbolt GM has some decent articulation in its arms and the head sits on a ball joint. The shields can also be attached to the backpack on attachments which use ball joints as well, allowing them to swivel from side to side. Overall I found the articulation points very weak; these joints will wear out very quickly if you are not careful.

You can also pose the GM without its backpack for a more classic look. Sadly the legs are stuck in the floating position, so it is not possible to have the figure standing around on the ground (or on a flight deck).

An interesting feature is how the two arms are basically the same piece, except they have holes drilled into them on opposite sides. This allows for the GM to use its shields in the old fashioned way, and when you place the shields elsewhere you can swap the arms around to have the holes hidden on the side facing the torso. A neat trick. And, if you manage to get hold of a second figure it would be possible to attach a total of four shields to the figure which would be more in line with Thunderbolt style.

Below you can see the Thunderbolt GM together with the Ball and the Saberfish vehicles also included in this figure range. I don't think either of these figures matches the others in style or size very well.

To get a better feel for its size, here the GM poses with a GM II from STANDart (1/220 scale) and a Converge GM:

The Thunderbolt GM does share some of the deformed style of the Converge figures but is much too large to be able to pose with them. I'm still hoping FW will make some more Thunderbolt figures for the Converge line.

All in all, the Banpresto Thunderbolt GM is a fine figure although it doesn't really share size and style with many others, making it ill-suited for any organized display.

SD Gashapon Senshi Forte EX 03 : NZ-000 Queen Mansa

Ahhh, the good ol' Queen Mansa... If you also happen to feel a sense of Déjà vu it is most likely due to the fact that a similar figure was released in Gundam Converge in January, only a month before the Senshi Forte counterpart. This is the second EX figure pulled straight from the recent Converge line-up and it doesn't help that the MSN-04II Nightingale is planned as Senshi Forte EX04. I dare say I feel a certain lack of imagination at Bandai Gashapon HQ.

The Senshi Forte Queen Mansa is a Premium Bandai item only, released in February 2018 at a price of ¥3500 which makes it not only 1000 yen pricier than the previous EX figure, the Psyco Gundam, but it also manages to outprice the Converge Queen Mansa by 200 yen which is no small feat for a Gashapon. So let's take a closer look at this expensive little thing, with a price tag equivalent of 7 standard Converge figures or a whopping 11 regular Senshi Forte figures.

The box might be small but it is loaded to the brim with bags of components. A considerable amount of these parts are attached to sprues like model kits, so there is a little bit of assembly required but nothing too complicated. It is however a bit fiddly to assemble these tiny figures and it can be hard to apply enough force when the pieces are sometimes hard to grasp. Building several of these miniatures in a row is asking for aching fingers...

Unlike the Penelope and Psyco Gundam that preceded the Queen Mansa in the EX series this figure does not transform and so only has one straightforward build. Although it resembles a regular Senshi Forte figure at first glance it has a lot of minor anatomical differences.

The most obvious differences are the shoulder joints which are specialized to hold both the arms and the majestic wing binders. The feet are also attached on ball joints using the same type of design as you can find in the larger Mobile Suit Gundam Ensemble figure line. Bandai now has so many Gundam Gashapon and Shokugan toys under its belt that the newer figures often becomes an amalgamation of things we have seen in the past.

The design is quite advances in especially the shoulders and it and a lot of thought has clearly got into creating articulated wing binders. These were stiff on the larger Converge figure but here they allow for tilting of arms and binders more or less independently

The only optional accessories for the Queen Mansa are two pairs of hands, one open type (which has very unsightly holes all over its palms) and one clenched fist type which also serves as weapon hands for the two beam sabers that come with the figure. The saber hilts can be stored one under each wing binder when not in use.

A transparent action base shaped like a Zeonic emblem is also included with this figure which gives it some more posing options and allows it to become a bit more intimidating. The base is attached with a simple plug and does not allow for any interesting leaning movements or poses.

If you read the review of the Senshi Forte Psyco Gundam you might recall that I moaned about no action base being included with the figure, which especially hurt its Mobile Armor flying mode. While the Psyco Gundam does contain an attachment point for a base though, it is much too tiny for the larger stand that comes with the Queen Mansa. I can't believe they messed this up.

Size comparison between the Xi Gundam (a standard Senshi Forte figure), the Senshi Forte EX02 Psyco Gundam and the EX03 Queen Mansa.

The Senshi Forte Queen Mansa next to its Gundam Converge counterpart.

When comparing the Senshi Forte and Converge Queen Mansas you can clearly see that they do not have very much in common. While the Converge figure is more of a statue with focus on subdued and attractive painting and sculpting, the Senshi Forte figure focuses on articulation and playability. They are both fine figures and liven up each respective figure series. The only major drawbacks with the Senshi Forte figure are its high price and expected difficulty in finding it down the line.

Gundam Build Divers introduces new Shokugan and Gashapon figure lines

The latest Gundam television show Gundam Build Divers builds on the momentum of the various popular Gundam Build Fighters outings that preceeded it. These series are all about heavily customized mobile suits pitted against each others in arenas. Somewhat surprisingly, these suits haven't featured much or at all in the Shokugan and Gashapon figure lines. We had a couple of the Gundams in Assault Kingdom and a handful in Converge but that was pretty much it.

With the introduction of Build Divers Bandai have now decided to go all-in and introduces new Shokugan and Gashapon figure lines as well as the usual model kit ranges.

The new Shokugan MiniPla series will release in July and will feature five super deformed mobile suits which can be parts-combined into the Super Shock Gundam monstrosity, kind of same concept as we saw in the old SD Gundam Bind figures but more thematic this time around. The first set releases in July and the figures will have a price of 480 each. The mobile suits featured are mainly a rather overused lot if you ask me.

Notice how the figures have expressive eyes like the old SD television figures, I guess this could be a signum of the series. Considering the name MiniPla I would guess that these figures will be miniature model kits made of hard plastic similar to the Universal Unit range as opposed to your usual soft and bendy Shokugan toys from Converge and the like.

The Gashapon series, GashaPla SD Gundam is a similar super deformed series with figures that can supposedly also parts-combine with components from regular 1/144 scale HG model kits. I'd be a bit surprised if people who like to collect and build model kits will also want to go into Gashapons and vice versa, I guess we will soon find out.

Banpresto Ichiban Kuji Figure Collection : Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt - RB-79 Ball

It is time to revisit the Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt figure line made for the Ichiban Kuji lottery. I've been picking up some of these figures here and there and today's item is a prize item of class E, which is just above the two F-class items we've looked at previously, the Gattle and the Saberfish. The figures in this set are all a bit compact and deformed not entirely unlike the Converge figures.

The E.F.S.F. Ball type improvised mobile armor stands out from the other figures in this line by coming in a much smaller box. As you can see on the photo below the other Thunderbolt items in this line typically come in quite large boxes since they also contain a huge part of a Space Colony cylinder.

I find it a bit confusing that a figure of class E would be smaller than a class F item not that it really matters. Inside the box you'll find a plastic bag with a couple of compartments similar to a Converge figure. There is also a common assembly instruction which describes assembly of all the figures in this set.

While not containing a section of the Space Colony diorama we instead get a little mascot style item intended for a keychain; what looks like an old transistor radio with a Zeonic emblem on it. There is actually a different version of this box set where the radio mascot is replaced by something that looks like a walkie-talkie, although I have only seen pictures of the thing on the web and not actually for sale somewhere yet.

There's not a whole lot of complexity to this figure, there are only four parts out of which two are the stand. The stand is similar to the ones used by the Gattle and the Saberfish although the stand for the ball is only of half height compared to those. This is a also a somewhat unexpected decision since those stands featured a total of three pieces and I don't see why this figure couldn't have used a similar one.

Anyway, the Thunderbolt version of the Ball looks quite different to the classic style Ball from Mobile Suit Gundam. I don't know the exact reason for this and also haven't seen any of the anime but the Banpresto figure appears to be quite faithful if perhaps a bit heavy on the colour saturation.

The figure doesn't have much in the way of articulation. You can rotate the top-mounted cannon and you can use the figure with or without the stand (it is also compatible with the stands used by the Gattle and Saberfish spacecrafts). There's not a whole lot to say about this figure, it mainly works as a display item.

The Ball figure is actually quite detailed compared to the other two spaceships of this line, containing many more coloured parts and paint applications. Still, the three look great together and I mean to pick up a couple of extras since they aren't particularly expensive although they are somewhat tricky to find.

Unlike the Gattle and the Saberfish I don't think this Ball poses very well with the Converge figures, it is just a bit too large for that purpose. Still, it is a really nice item and as far as I know this is the only figure representation of it.