2020 was a strong year for Mobile Suit Ensemble and Bandai have really cranked up the gears into overdrive milking it for all its worth. Besides volumes 13-15 we also had the Part 4.5 repaint set and two sets of variant sets of old U.C.0079 suits obtainable through the Gundam Café only. On top of that nine new EX releases plus another two old EX-sets that were also reissued. Ensemble Part 15 was the last retail set for the year and released in October and has proved to be rather tricky to find. Collecting Ensemble has gradually become more and more frustrating since I don't do the pre-order ting and as such the reviews get additional delays on top of the usual reasons of procrastination or bad luck in the online market. :)
The three mobile suits in this set utilize Bandai's enlarged capsules while the two equipment sets come in the original slightly smaller capsules that have been with Ensemble from the start.
The figures are also made available in the traditional cardboard boxes. So far I only have this one dinged up box while the rest of the figures come out of the capsules. To this day I still haven't seen a full set offered at Mandarake and so I had to put together this review set piece by piece and as such it still has some annoying gaps.
093 : GN-001 Gundam Exia
Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 02 fronted with the 00 Gundam and Part 05 had the Qan[T] and now finally the turn has come to the Exia itself. This is the first of a number of MSG 00 suits that have been added to Ensemble after a gap of over two years time.
The most striking feature bout the Exia figure is of course the two translucent beam sabers that have been chosen as its equipment. I can't help but get flashbacks to the Duel Gundam figure in Converge and wonder if one of the figure designers has inspired the other. Beyond that the basic figure as some really nice colouring detail, I especially like the grey detail on the thighs, something you wouldn't normally expect to see on a basic Ensemble figure.
The Exia figure comes with a lot of translucent components including the same greenish action bases that we saw in wave 14. I'm not really sure why Bandai thought this was a good idea. We saw the same shenanigans in recent Senshi Forte releases with their gold and white bases that stand out like sore thumbs against the otherwise black bases. Bandai did something similar even back in the days of Assault Kingdom. Not a big deal though as you will quickly drown in a surplus of bases and if you are like me you probably rarely use them anyway because of their limited functionality.
The Ensemble line-up has already spoilt us with several of the Exia's spiritual successors; nevertheless it is nice to see it finally make the cut. The top row shows the GN-0000+GNR-010 00 Gundam combo as well as the lone GNR-010 0 Raiser from Part 02, the GN-0000+GNR-010/XN 00 XN Raiser (EX 06B), the GNT-0000/FS 00 Qan[T] Full Saber (EX 06A) and another 0 Raiser in Trans-Am colours from Part 2.5 floating overhead. In front we have the GN-0000+GNR-010 combo again in Trans-Am colours (Part 2.5), the new GN-001 Exia, the base GN-0000 00 Gundam from Part 02, the GNT-0000 Qan[t] from Part 05 and another a base GN-0000 00 Gundam in Trans-Am colours (from Part 2.5).
094 : GN-002 Gundam Dynames
Next up we have the Exia's dashing buddy in green, the one and only Dynames. While not necessarily as spectacular a figure as the Exia it still has a lot of colour detail going on, as well as some interesting design for the rear thrusters.
Just like with the Exia figure you probably raised an eyebrow when you saw the chosen accessory for the figure; not its well known GN Sniper Rifle but a pair of pea-shooter GN Pistols. Well come on now, Bandai must have something nice to stick in its equipment packs, right? Besides I kind of like the pistols and the way they can be attached to the legs by having pegs that slot into the knees.
We will return to the Dynames again to correct some of the obvious shortcomings of this figure when we stumble upon the equipment pack. For now, let's carry on.
095 : RGZ-95 ReZEL
This figure was for me the absolute highlight of Part 15 and so I am more than a little salty over the fact that it is largely impossible to find. I can only assume that this has been something of a fan favourite over in Japan as well...
I guess you can call the ReZEL the ultimate evolution in the Z Gundam mass production effort. What started as the Zeta Plus has since taken on more attributes from the curious Z II design as well as shared components with the Jegan family but still retains a simplified transformation mechanism. the Ensemble figure has some really chunky armor and the shoulder-mounted sensor packages have been exquisitely modelled using translucent parts. On its back the figure has the simplified Box Unit backpack option which makes it slightly back-heavy but it still stands unaided without too much trouble.
I really get a kick out of seeing mass production suits getting a lot of love like this and the ReZEL figure ranks as one of the more complex retail figures. Notice the tiny red components that go into the shoulders, stuff like this would most likely have been molded as a single blue shoulder component if this figure was released in early Ensemble.
I think the E.F.S.F. pretty much hits its mobile suit apex in the Unicorn era with access to fantastic machines of both old and new. I was kind of hoping that the release of
Narrative Gundam would awake Bandai's interest in this era again but as a whole I think the event was pretty mediocre in Converge and it got completely ignored in the Gashapon range.
096 : ReZEL Wing Unit parts
The token "vehicle / support craft" slot of this set is perhaps the only real disappointment of volume 15 but I guess you have to have some duds in there to pay for the more expensive designs. Basically what you are getting here is the optional Wing Unit backpack for the ReZEL and some parts to transform the suit into the RGZ-95C Commander Type. Logically there should have been plenty of room for this in the regular equipment pack but I guess Bandai has to cut some of the production costs somewhere so I'll take it for what it is.
Yeah, not much to look at is it, but I guess you could build a little group of support craft if they weren't so damned rare. Notice the slightly different builds in the above photo. The figure on the left side is assembled based on the design you see in the booklet and on the box cover. The figure to the right follows the step-by-step build instructions made available by Bandai on the Ensemble home page. Not sure what is going on here.
Besides the Wing Unit backpack you also get two signature components to change up the RGZ-95 ReZEL into the RGZ-95C ReZEL Commander Type. The beam rifle is replaced by a meaty Mega Beam Launcher and we get green translucent optics for the Commander Type's sensor packs (shoulders as well as head cameras).
Since I have only been able to find one... ONE... ReZEL figure I didn't want to explode its shoulders and head so imagine that the red components you see in the picture are actually green. I also didn't bother two swap out the Beam Rifle with the Mega Beam Launcher which still remains attached to the backpack because I don't like messing around with components too much. Hopefully I can score a couple more ReZEL figures sometime in the COMING YEARS and then I can go back and update this review. Yeah, I told you I am still salty about this... :)
097 : Equipment Set for Wave 15
It will come as little surprise that the equipment set mostly caters to the Exia but there is a little bit of everything in here so let's dig into it.
I have to say that it is a bit of a cheeky move by Bandai to place the signature weapons of both the Exia and the Dynames in the accessory pack. Normally you would expect to find the less common parts here but sure, the money has to come from somewhere and I bet most people would want to buy the packs anyway... Notice the huge sprue with custom option parts for sticking stuff together in a more playful way; these have been around since wave one and I have never really understood if anyone actually bothers with them or if it is just pointless filler.
Here we have equipped the Gundam Exia with its signature GN Sword as well as the smaller GN Short and Long blades and finally the GN Shield on the left arm. The Short and Long Blades slot into special slots on the figure's hips when not in use.
The GN Sword has the classic 180 degrees rotating blade so that you can unfold it like a Swiss pocket knife. The smaller Short and Long Blades can of course also be equipped if required. A good range of gear for the Exia figure and those translucent beam sabers are highly useful to many other figures if you chose to leave them out.
If it seemed odd leaving out the GN Sword for the Exia it was even more so removing the GN Sniper Rifle from the Dynames figure. It reminds me of how they used to design computer games before loot boxes were invented; first you developing something, then remove it from the final release and let players get access to it through DLC product. Anyway, here it is, and you also get the GN Full Shield components which look great on the figure and help bring out its character even more.
But wait, there's more... the ReZEL gets... two pairs of blue hands. And both pairs are open hands so if you want to use a weapon holding hand you are back to using the standard black ones. Fantastic. Come on, what was the decision process here? I guess they just stole some hand sculpts from an older Ensemble figure where colour was not a concern. Lame.
Conclusion
While Ensemble Part 15 may have its little quirks and odd marketing choices there is no doubt that all the three mobile suits in this set are truly excellent. Availability remains something of a concern and I hope that we will see a couple more of them trickle out on the secondary market since I will be sitting there with a finger hovering over the [ Add to Cart ] button. You have been warned...
