SD Gundam Full Color Stage 15

Stage 15 is the first of two sets dedicated solely to U.C. 0093 and Char's Counterattack. It seems to date from a slightly more customer friendly era where the marketing people thought "hey, let's just focus on this show in these two releases and then we shift focus to something else" instead of "how about we just mix everything up and spread it out evenly to encourage people to buy everything for fear of missing out?" Aaah, memories.

 

Joking aside, this set was released in March of 2000 back when Gashapons were sold at ¥100 per capsule and had I lived in Japan I would probably have spent a considerable time in the Gashapon Arcades trying to determine where to spend my pocket money. Apart from lose figures I have picked up over the years the most recent purchase is a complete set from Mandarake last year which cost ¥1200 so these figures shouldn't be terribly hard to find.

 

As usual, here is a shot of how the figures come out of their bags, not much assembly required. Normally figures from this era will feature one or two movable arms and at times maybe a removable head.

 

As a little bonus, here is the cardback from the Gashapon vending machine from when the figures were kicking around in the shops. The things I drag home...

 

 

080 : RX-93 Nu Gundam (Ver.1.0)

To no one's surprise the first figure is the Nu Gundam, one of the true evergreen designs with so many things going on around it. It also has a rather spectacular range of accessories which makes it suitable for toy production.

 

This is a very clean looking sculpt with beautiful attention to detail. As usual the colour applications are very limited outside of the head and torso, that's just how things usually go with these figures. Personally I think most of the figures in this set could have benefitted from some colour particularly in their shields, which often feature two-tone colour schemes. Amuro's logo for example was painted on the shoulder so it would have been nice to find on the shield as well. The bazooka carried on the back is not intended as optional gear since the hand is molded directly onto the beam rifle.

 

Here you can see a pair of fellow Nu Gundams from the same figure series. To the right is the version 2.0 figure with a Beam Saber and a set of Funnels from Stage 16. The figure on the left is another beam rifle holding figure (notice the painted Amuro logo on the shield) and is either the Version 3.0 figure from Stage 37 or the Nu from the enigmatic Stage 61 which looks very similar to the Version 3.0 figure on the microscopic pictures of it that I have seen. Also not shown here is the 2.5 version from Stage 50 (which is a reissue of the 2.0 figure with a special stand).

 

 

081 : RGM-89 Jegan

Next up we have one of the two mass-production type suits in this set, the other being a Geara Doga for the Neo Zeon opposition. I always look for more of these when I am browsing the used toy shops (with the recent plague going about that seems like forever ago...) because who could possibly resist this cute little green guy?

 

Another fantastic sculpt here. The super deformed proportions of the head gives the figure something of an Ancient Greek helmet look which just oozes confidence and menace. Surprising that we haven't seen that aesthetic used more in overall Gundam design. My main complaint would be the large area of the shield that should have been painted dark gray, it would have made the figure even more appealing.

 

There is only one Jegan sculpt available in this figure series but at least it is a good one. You had to wait 14 years for it to come back in Gashapon Warrior NEXT form in 2014 (together with two great ECOAS variants). Lately it has also appeared in Senshi Forte 09 in 2019 and MicroWars 04 in 2020.

 

 

082 : RGZ-91 Re-GZ

The first half of this set belongs to Londo Bell and it is rounded of by the fine Re-GZ which feels like something that should have been mass-produced. I usually try to army build these guys since it offers some variation to the very GM and Jegan-centric line-ups of the E.F.S.F.

 

Another clean design and nice looking figure here. You can of course guess at this point that I am going to whine a bit about the lack of colour application on the shield but have you ever seen Bandai skimp it on the RX-78? Exactly; all the RX-78-2 Gundams in this figure series have shields painted in red and white with a yellow cross. Surely some love could have been given to the many other half-painted figures - this is the Full Color series after all, it says so right on the booklet... :)

 

The Re-GZ returns in Stage 16 with its Back Weapon System deployed. That figure could perhaps have been a little bit larger but they still display nicely together and the colour matching between the two is near perfect.

 

 

083 : AMS-119 Geara Doga

Halfway through the set and we are switching to the Neo Zeon side. You may have been forgotten to have expected to see the Sazabi leading the charge but come on, Bandai has to keep something up the sleeve to help sales for Stage 16 (a set that the Nu Gundam got to lead as well anyway because that's how Bandai rolls).

 

A beautiful if a bit stumpy looking Geara Doga here. Notice how the paint apps on the shoulder and the spiked shield add some nice flair to the figure, this is how the Jegan and the Re-GZ could have been enhanced as well. Looking at the back side of the figure we have a very clean display of the factory stampings often found on these Gashapon figurines. We have a copyright in traditional characters followed by an S, a Made in China stamp and at the skirt the letter B followed by the typical four dot stamping. If someone has any insight into these various markings I'd be curious to learn more.

 

Rezyn Schnyder joins the fun with her custom Geara Doga in Stage 16 and these were the only variants of the Geara Doga made in the series. Of particular note also is a stumpy figure from the short lived SD Gundam Bind series from 2009 (that I should have been foreseeing enough to include here) that can also work as a decent team member, I'll see if I can remember to update this image later on. :)

 

 

084 : MSN-03 Jagd Doga (Gyunei Guss Custom)

Next up we have one of the two prototype Jagd Doga newtype mobile suits. Fitting with the general strategy here, you can find the second figure in Stage 16. Then it was quiet on the Jagd Doga front until 2016 when the pair once again made an appearance as P-Bandai figures in Gashapon Warrior DASH Premier 02. Interestingly enough they haven't made it to neither Senshi Forte nor MicroWars, figure series that have spent quite some effort on Char's Counterattack. They appear to be slated for an appearance in Mobile Suit Ensemble in the near future however and if handled correctly ( = don't go cheap on the painting) that should be great.

 

I am not entirely convinced by this figure to be honest. The sculpting is great and while the painting is quite good it is hard to spot the dark gray areas which make it a bit plain looking (especially when compared to its red sibling). Still, here two colours have been carefully applied to the shield which is a huge plus.

 

Neo Zeon's misfit newtype squadron line up for a shot. Both of Quess' machines - the Alpha Azieru and the red Jagd Doga - were released in the following Stage 16.

 

 

085 : RMS-116H Hobby Hizack

Hold on, what is this? The last slot in the set is actually not Zeon at all, but civilian. Yep, thrown in here almost a bit like a meme, is the Hobby Hizack for recreational use. It is great to see it here, especially since it has such a distinct colour scheme.

 

There is not a whole lot to say about this figure. Being a civilian machine it of course has no weaponry but instead an interesting pose with a lifted foot and held out arm. It kind of resembles a grandma doing early morning tai chi in the park. It is cute but I would have preferred if the budget would have been spent on getting the other suits' shields painted.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Overall this is of course a great themed set. If you are into Char's Counterattack this lot together with Stage 16 will set you up with everything you need. It helps that the figures are on the cheaper end of the scale but as usual, availability outside of Japan and a few other Asian countries will be limited still.

Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 14

In this first review of the year we will set the time machine for the summer of 2020; already six months have passed since this release happened but it has taken me absolutely forever to complete the set. Similarly volume 15 has been out for two months as well, and I only recently received the last figure to make up a basic set, building up that ReZEL army is going to take absolutely forever. It feels like the general availability of new retail Ensemble figures has been lacking this year and I guess this goes for many of the releases of 2020. Still struggling to army build the last MicroWars set and the year's Senshi Forte releases have been hard to find as well.

 

Three of the Gashapon capsules have the slightly larger dimensions this time.

Part 14 is your average retail Ensemble set with more use of the larger size capsules mixed in with the traditional Ensemble regulars. Here the green, white and yellow capsules are of the larger size while the red and blue capsules are the original size. You can see this exact same pattern in Ensemble Part 15 by the way, which features the exact same sizes for its capsules, perhaps ultimately the old capsules will be phased out completely. The boxed versions come in the standard size carboard boxes as before.

 

 

088 : XXXG-01W Wing Gundam

The set opens with the introduction of the first mobile suit from the After Colony timeline. No further appearances from Wing have been announced so far, although I wouldn't put it past Bandai to sneak in a Deathscythe somewhere in the future. Personally I have stopped dreaming about the possible inclusion of Leo or Aries suits a long time ago...

 

Looking pretty good there, I must say. The Wing has a beautiful sculpt and lots of nice colour applications, the two colour plastics used on the buster rifle is also a nice touch. I like how this figure does not emphasize its wings, almost reducing them to nothing, as it gives the machine a more militaristic look.

 

It is funny how the Wing Gundam comes in one of the oversized capsules, features on the box cover, yet it is still the least interesting figure in this set. The other two mobile suits have much more options associated with them as we shall see. Notice that this figure comes with a unique joint piece for connecting the legs to the torso. This component is larger than the average one and features a peg for the front skirt to attach to. This means you get end up with a regular joint connector piece with this figure which is great if you are in need of a spare.

 

 

 

089 : AGE-1 Gundam AGE-1 Normal

The Gundam AGE-1 might not be the most spectacular suit to carry the Gundam name and often seems to be a bit overlooked when it comes to toys and model kits. Looking into the various Gashapon and Shokugan sets we cover on this blog you will only find a handful of appearances. Sure, the television series is quite new, so it missed out on the golden era of SD Gashapon for instance but so far what do we have; one 1:220 AGE-1 in STANDart, three different mobile suits in Converge and a handful from obscure figure sets with limited runs. The only good option is Gashapon Warrior NEXT which coincided with the show and so saw a total of about a dozen figures which is decent but still only super deformed.

 

Spectacular appearance or not, the AGE-1 is a really clean design and features the recognizable Gundam colours with some extra flair in the chest area. In the anime it has a quite a large development line-up and is accompanied by several nice grunt type suits so I wouldn't mind seeing more of them show up in Ensemble but I have a fair suspicion that we have seen most of what Bandai plans to do with this figure for now already.

 

Quite the basic Ensemble figure composition here. I couldn't quite work out what I am supposed to do with one of the tiny white pieces seen here in the upper left corner. I assume that it is supposed to close the AGE System section in the center of the chest but since I have yet to watch the show I don't know if this is some kind of in-battle transformation or if it is intended to be used for any of the different modes of the figure. Having said that, I did take a few glimpses of the series when doing the review and it seems to be quite promising.

 

 

 

090 : MSZ-006A1 Zeta Plus A1

The last basic mobile suit in this set is a familiar face that has been fortunate to have many recent Gashapon and Shokugan appearances, usually paired up with its C1-type companion variant. Recently we had it in Universal Unit in 2016, Converge in 2017, Senshi Forte in 2019 and it now makes its way into Ensemble as well.

 

The Zeta Plus is a really clean looking mass production type Zeta Gundam tuned down a couple of notches for easy manufacture. The A1 version is intended for atmospheric flight only and so has space-related equipment removed. I really like its flat gray look which is a bit reminiscent of how the U.S. Navy went all gray after a long history of brightly painted jets. However, you will want to spend some time on adding and highlighting detail on a figure like this since it will be very gray without it.

 

The Zeta Plus comes with its custom Beam Rifle and oddly shaped shield. The latter also doubles like the nose section for the Zeta Plus when it transforms into its Waverider Mode, although this figure has no such capability. By the way, notice how all the stands in this volume have been changed from transparent clear to transparent green. While that might seem like a cool thing I don't think it is very practical. Luckily you will probably have a pile of unused stands in your Ensemble collection already so it is probably not a concern. :)

 

 

091 : AGE-1 G-Wear Titus/Spallow

 

With the last two items in this set we are going into figure customization. Bandai have usually placed some sort of support vehicle in this fourth slot and optional equipment for all the figures in the wave in the fifth and last equipment set. Part 14 does not contain such a vehicle or support craft yet instead comes with transformation components intended for the Gundam AGE-1 figure, something we would normally expect to see in an EX figure set. I guess Bandai decided the AGE-1 might not do that well as an EX figure and so decided to mix things up in the retail line instead.

The parts contained in this box are used to convert the basic AGE-1 Normal figure into either its Titus or Spallow mode. Think of these as the G-Armor components for the RX-78 or the various Striker Packs for the Strike Gundam. To make conversion easier, Bandai throws in an extra set of sprues with the connector pieces so that you can build a full set of replacement legs and arms without having to disassemble the AGE-1's arms and legs completely and just replace them at the shoulder or torso. This is a nice touch even though you would probably have wanted two sets of sprues and not just one since you will be one set short anyway.

 

AGE-1T Gundam AGE-1 Titus

The Titus mode for the AGE-1 Normal converts the mobile suit into some kind of close combat brawler that would not look out of place in the G Gundam television series. It seems pretty pointless to invent a close combat weapon suite for a mobile suit though. If you are allowing an enemy to close in beneath your ballistic umbrella you are clearly doing something wrong...

 

The Titus mode retains the torso and the head, but you replace the complete set of arms and legs complete with new skirt armor and a pair of oversized hands. It looks kind of great in its over the top red and white armor (I think the Earth Federation could probably have thrown in a shield for some additional protection there).

 

 

AGE-1S Gundam AGE-1 Spallow

The Spallow mode (cue endless discussions whether the name was really supposed to be Sparrow...) is a completely different take on close combat. This particular armor suite sheds off excess weight and instead focuses on speed and maneuverability. The mobile suit is armed with a measly blade and apparently this is a tailor-made approach to dealing with a certain pesky mobile suit type from the Vagan forces; the Zedas.

 

I don't know man... the result of this parts conversion just looks... wrong. The arms and legs are certainly slim in Spallow mode but I don't feel that this carries over that well to the Ensemble AGE-1 figure. The shoulders and especially the head appear enormous compared to the rest of the body. Perhaps this is why we rarely see sleek and beautiful mobile suits in the Converge, Ensemble and various Gashapon line-ups. Note that this particular figure carries two blades rather than the one included in the box, since I had a spare one and wanted to give the figure some extra flair.

 

Here you can see the AGE-1 Normal after transforming mid-battle into the AGE-1S Spallow. The original design is really beautiful but of course a real challenge to replicate in SD figure mode.

 

 

092 : Equipment Set for Wave 14

Finally we have the traditional equipment set for the entire volume. And believe it or not, we are getting even more stuff for the AGE-1 figure.

 

This set contains pieces in gray and black for the Zeta Plus, red effect parts for the AGE-1 and exactly nothing for the Wing Gundam. Come on, not even a regular clear beam saber? Now that we have those spiffy green action bases I expect Bandai to start releasing nice translucent green beam sabers as well. :)   But hold on a second, what is that thing to the far right..?

 

Yeah, that's right. I don't know what went through the designers' minds here but somehow they landed on the idea that "Hey, you know what this set really needs rather than cool beam weapon effect parts? How about a really nice gold colour-statue of Flit Asuno, just like in the series!?". And then they just ran with it... I don't know what to say; let's just move on shall we.

 

We do get, however, some nice red beam effect parts for the AGE-1T Titus. The colour of the effect parts could perhaps be a bit more distinct since it can be hard to distinguish from the mobile suit itself. I am just going to quote the Gundam Wiki here; we get disc-shaped "Beam Lariat" parts that attach to the forearms, four "Beam Spikes" per shoulder for tackle attacks and triple "Beam Spikes" on the knees for some swift knee kicking. Be careful when handling these parts, as the plastic used is very brittle. I actually managed to break one of the knee spike sets when I tried to remove it. Luckily I used up my spare set and decided not to mess with them again, if I want a Titus figure without effect parts it would be better to just buy another AGE-1 figure and convert into a second Titus figure.

 

So here we have the AGE-1 line-up which is in my opinion the center highlight of  Ensemble Part 14. Even though we may never get any more mobile suits from this series I really do enjoy this trio. Finding a couple of extra AGE-1 figures took forever though. Well worth it though, as I recommend refraining from assembling and reassembling Ensemble figures, their joints do wear out very quickly.

 

 

MSZ-006C1 Zeta Plus C1

 

Finally we have the conversion parts to reshape the Zeta Plus A1 into its C1 space flight mode. After having stripped the Zeta Gundam of its space kit the mass production A1 type was so successful that it was modified to allow it to reach beyond the atmosphere and back into space again. For this purpose it received powerful boosters and also features some other minor changes.

 

Apart from the boosters and extra fuel tanks on the back the major difference here is of course the heavy Beam Smart Gun revealing the suit's kinship with the S Gundam and other E.F.S.F. counterparts from the Gundam Sentinel storyline. You can see in the above shots that I have taken a leftover open hand from another figure and attempted to have the figure stand with the weapon in a more relaxed position but it doesn't really work that well.

 

I am still in the market for another Zeta Plus figures but I assume it is going to take quite some time to find it. And by the way, if someone from Bandai wants a suggestion for a cool set of EX figures; how about a repainted Zeta Plus A1 in Amuro's Karaba colours? Bundle it together with the white and purple Strike Zeta and we can all be happy. :)

 

 

Conclusion

Volume 14 is another phenomenal set in the now four year old Ensemble figure series. I feel like the series just continues to expand in both ambition and scope and yes, I will be prepared to endure some more expensive EX figures to keep the retail line going. 2021 promises some real killer figures down the line as well, personally I am really excited for the Over Flag and the Jagd Dogas that have been hinted at.