Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 15.5

Love them or hate them, it has been quite a while now since we saw one of the Ensemble repaint-sets. Bandai used to churn these out steadily in the initial years of Ensemble, all the first four waves got a .5 set of its own, then there was a lull before 7.5 dropped in the summer of 2021 and since then it has been dead quiet. While I am strongly in favour of repurposed figures being released in repaint colours (it saves the hassle of doing a custom) the way Bandai has been releasing full waves as repaints means you tend to get a lot of useless filler in each wave of the "Marking Plus" variety. This time however, we have a set filled with proper canonical suit re-colours so my hopes were really high going in.


Wave 15.5 released in February 2023 taking the spot of a regular retail wave, in between Parts 23 and 24. The set features the classic three suits plus one vehicle/mobile armor line-up and is available both in capsule and cardboard box form.



148 : GN-001 Gundam Exia (Trans-Am)


Yes, Ensemble has finally come back to its 00 line for a bit of Trans-Am treatment. This was a gimmick started off early in the Ensemble history, Part 2.5 saw the re-appearance of the 00 Gundam and its 0-Raiser companion in Trans-Am style already in 2017 (it looks like the Qan[T] from 2018 will be overlooked however). Basically what you see here is the original Gundam Exia from Part 15 with a colour switcharoo, using a nice metallic coating effect. What is not to like?


The Exia and all other figures in this set belong to the "second generation" of Ensemble figures with the updated slightly smaller rectangular sprues for the joint components. The structure of the figure retains the original anatomy so you won't get the updated shoulders like on current era figures introduced with Part 20. The figure comes armed with two translucent red beam sabers which are always a godsend even if you don't end up using it on the Exia itself.


Side-by-side with the original standard colours Exia from Ensemble Part 15, released in October 2020. The original figure can be really hard to come by these days but if Ensemble keeps going will probably be reissued at some point.






149 : GN-002 Gundam Dynames (Trans-Am)


Next up is the Dynames which also gets the same pink and purple treatment. It bet it is no coincidence that Gundam Converge just so happens to be reissuing its own 00 figures in Trans-Am colours in May through the pricey P-Bandai Converge CORE brand. Considering the similarities between these two brands the Ensemble figures are a much better buy as the Converge figures are already priced through the roof and will go way beyond that once they hit the secondary market. The Converge 10th Anniversary 00 set is one of the most expensive things out there.


If you want to levy some criticism against this figure it is the fact that you only get a pair of GN Beam Pistols in the box, the iconic gear is held off in the equipment pack because Bandai hates its paying customers.


The Dynames next to its Part 15 ancestor. Whoever came up with the Trans-Am gimmick is a genius - these differently coloured toys look great together.






150 : RGZ-95 ReZEL (General Revil Deployment colours)


The biggest star in this wave for me still has to be the ReZEL. Although it doesn't get any fancy metallic paint like the 00 profiles it has a unique colour scheme of its own for the squadrons deployed to the General Revil battleship (oh, how I want a CosmoFleet figure of that vessel...). Now technically, the ReZELs stationed onboard the Revil are of the Type-C Commander variety which as far as I know do not use the box-type backpack included with this figure, so think of it as a slight anomaly. That's what you get when figures are re-purposed and repainted but not tweaked further.


Another gimmick of the Part 15.5 release is that all the clear action bases have been molded in a pale yellow colour (suspiciously resembling a certain liquid), presumably because of the need to redo the ReZEL's sensor suite in yellow rather than the purplish-red of the original figure.


Now, this is just sad. My first precious ReZEL figure came without a key component, grinding assembly to a halt. I had to cannibalize another un-built blue ReZEL to get the part that I needed for this review and so ended up ordering yet another figure to make up for that loss. Fortunately I found a cheap G-Self backpack which also comes with this particular sprue. Now, I can't say with certainty whether this was a manufacturing issue because the box was not sealed and the sprues are not packaged in plastic bags. It does happen from time to time however that Ensemble figures arrive with a missing part, usually a piece of the elbow/knee joint.


Two of the greatest Ensemble figures side by side. It took me two years to finally get four ReZELs so I am looking forward to fielding a full General Revil squad sometime in 2024.


By a peculiar coincidence the General Revil-colours ReZEL recently appeared for the first time in figure form in the third wave of Mobility Joint line last November. The two figures have a lot in common with the main difference that the Mobility Joint figure is overloaded with wrappin 3D-style stickers which can be frustrating to apply and leave a big question mark regarding their longevity.






151 : ReZEL Expansion Set


It may not look like much but the gear pack for the ReZEL makes all the difference. It is basically a replacement backpack with attached Mega Beam Cannon for use by the standard RGZ-95C ReZEL Commander Type, which is also the baseline for the RGZ-95C(GR) standard type deployed onboard the General Revil. On its own as a boxed random figure for 550 yen it doesn't hold any particular value however.


Not only is the content a bit on the light side, but check out the last of these three images that shows the contents of the original wave 15 ReZEL equipment set. Notice that the clear green parts have been omitted this time around since they are not needed for the General Revil variant. Why not take this opportunity to include the alternate winglets to create the ReZEL Defenser-B Unit? Yeah, we all know why...






150 + 151 : RGZ-95C ReZEL Type-C(GR)


Alright, finally we are getting somewhere. This is where the magic happens and we get a properly executed Revil-style ReZEL. The Mega Beam Cannon can be held as a regular rifle and that might be preferable seeing as how it dominates the figure's profile when mounted on the backpack. The added weight also makes the figure very back heavy but you can amend that by repositioning the weapon to a more forward facing profile. Overall an excellent figure just like the ReZEL Commander Type was in the Ensemble Part 15 era. Buy it while you still can.






152 : Equipment Set for Wave 15.5


Lastly we have the traditional equipment pack for the entire wave, which contains most of the good stuff for the Celestial Being figures and not so much fun for the ReZEL which, let's face it, had an entire equipment pack to itself. We also get a sprue with generic building blocks for customization something that used to be more common with the older Ensemble packs, not that I ever bothered with them.


Most of the gear in the equipment pack is actually aimed at the Exia. First up we have a GN Long and Short Blade, which can be held in hands or attached to the hips using small rectangular pegs that are of the easy-to-fall off variety.


We of course also find the signature GN Sword hidden away in this pack. The sword has a 180 degree-rotating blade so that you choose to display it in stowed or deployed mode.


Finally we have a GN Shield which attaches to the figure's elbow joint. The Exia looks really great when kitted with all this extra gear; the beautiful beam sabers that come with the basic figure are just too much. They are however perfect accessories for other figures in your collection such as the RX-78 or the GM for example.


The accessories in this pack are the same as the ones that come with the original Part 15 Exia.


The Dynames gets its missing GN Sniper Rifle as well as its heavy GN Full Shield Armor. The GN Pistols can still be carried by attaching them to the Knee joints.


Side-by-side with the original Dynames figure. If you were hoping to do a prone sniping-style pose with this figure you have your work cut out for you, I am not even going to try.


The most puzzling thing about this whole package is the sprue of four white hands included for the ReZEL. Specifically, it is strange and frustrating that the designers though it a good idea to include four open hands rather than two holding hands and two expressive hands. if you want your ReZEL to hold on to a rifle it makes little sense to give it a white open hand on the other side. This was just as dumb with the original blue figure.


While not a part of the Equipment Pack I just wanted to show a ReZEL armed with dual Mega Beam Rifles attached to its backpack, inspired by the loadout of the Mobility Joint figure. You only get one Mega Beam Rifle per ReZEL Expansion pack and so need to cannibalize a second pack for this purpose, but those should be the least difficult to find of the lot.




Conclusion

All in all, Part 15.5 is a real banger of a set. Every figure in this wave has a meaningful colour-conversion and each mobile suit included sits in the popular range of designs. Expect these to fly off the shelves as soon as they make it to the stores. Bandai also has Part 16.5 on the near horizon slated for a release in May. That set will be a bit hit-and-miss but does contain the Trans-Am GN-003 Kyrios. Lastly, the Virtue will also re-appear in Trans-Am colours in an EX-set this June. Bandai sure are milking the Trans-Ams through all relevant figure lines like there is no tomorrow (I don't think that Celestial Being has made it to GFrame however so you won't have to put up with them there as well...).

Seika Sharpener Collection EX : RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (Chara-Hobby 2004 Limited)

I recently had the good fortune to stumble on a set of Seika figures that I didn't even know existed. The Seika Sharpener line (EX to be precise) has been featured here once before and they are some of the more difficult to find Gashapon-size figures out there. These figures are soft plastic fully-painted statues glued on top of hexagonal bases with a little pencil sharpener underneath. I believe Seika has also produced sharpener figure sets based on other franchise licenses but I haven't really bothered to investigate further.


Seika began producing much smaller Gundam-themed pencil sharpener figures around 2002 and soon followed them up with the larger figures around 2004. To my knowledge there is only a single set of EX Sharpener figures themed on different Zeta Gundam mobile suits, released in 2004. One of those figures was the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II in A.E.U.G. colours and this Chara-Hobby limited edition from the same year features the same figure repainted in Titans colours. I don't know what the figure cost back then but I bet they weren't particularly pricey. As you can see the figures come in generic boxes with a sticker identifying the unit number variant housed inside.


Each figure is further protected in a plastic bag with the right arm held in a separate smaller bag. The arm is designed to go on the shoulder in a specific way and so you have no posing options at all unless you want to modify the figure.


Whenever I see these old fully painted Gashapon figures it saddens my heart to look at the current era excuses we have for Gashapon and Shokugan figures. Just look at all this detail. The only modification I would consider is painting the leg thruster exhausts black but I decided against messing with them right now. Sadly, i don't own the white A.E.U.G. figure to compare the painting detail level but from what I have seen online they appear to be at the same level of detail.


Here is the full trio side by side. Only the unit number differs between the figures. It sure would have been cool if Seika had created optional arms with a beam saber and a bazooka but I can well imagine that such extravaganza was way out of the budget for a gimmicky figure series such as this. If you really wanted to it should be possible to dig up a suitably sized bazooka from the Gashapon HG figure line if you fancy a bit of modification.


The EX sharpener line is rated at roughly 1:280 although individual differences exist, considering the standardized sizes of packaging and bases that should come as little surprise. This line-up features a 1:300 Ground Type Gundam from Strategy of Gundam and the RMS-154 Barzam from the 1:400 Gundam Collection Gashapon series. The sharpener figures are unfortunately a bit of an anomaly outside of most of the common figure scales (not to mention the bases they come on) but are great miniature statues that will naturally appeal to anyone with an eye for lovingly detailed Gashapon figures.

Mobile Suit Ensemble EX 29 : GN-005 Gundam Virtue Set

Now that the Trans-Am color-versions of most of the 00 Gundam figures are in the process of being delivered I figured I should get my act together and finally get a review out on the old Virtue set which has been sitting unbuilt for ages now. It did take me quite a bit of effort to secure a copy I recall. The figure first appeared at the end of summer 2021 but it took me a full year before finally securing a copy on the secondary market. During that time the price had gone up from the P-Bandai ¥4950 to ¥7000 which is a nasty price to pay for an Ensemble figure and now in 2023 it is almost the standard for an EX figure, just look at the recent God Gundam and Master Gundam for example.


The box is of the smaller and lighter end as far as EX figures go. I noticed that there is no good clear image of what the Virtue figure will actually look like when it is fully assembled which I found rather odd.


At first glance it doesn't look to be very complicated. The bag count is only twice that of a normal retail figure and there are no real stand-out fancy looking components that immediately grab your attention.


One reason I had been holding off on actually building this figure is the overwhelming amount of components and the fact that there are not components for one but two different figures in here. I started out the other way around this time, building the accessories and option parts first, to cut down on the number of components to get a better idea of what I was actually supposed to be doing. One of the big questions I had going in was if there would be enough components to build both the Nadleeh and the Virtue, to give some bang for the buck spent on it. Well, let's follow the assembly instructions in order. First, Bandai wants you to construct the Nadleeh:


GN-004 Gundam Nadleeh


Ok, I admit I glanced ahead in the instructions and the first thing I saw was that to continue with the Virtue you had to immediately start pulling the Nadleeh figure apart again. I wasn't having any of that so here are some photos of the identical figure from the retail figure line, the GN-004 figure from Ensemble Part 17, released in March 2021. You'll notice that the figure has not been revised to match the new frame but is still using the version one connector pieces with slightly less movable shoulders.


The Nadleeh comes armed with plain looking GN Beam Rifle and a very narrow GN Shield. It can also utilize the two GN Beam Cannons normally attached to the Virtue's backpack, either handheld or attached to its shoulders. The Beam Cannons were not included with the retail figure but where found in that wave's Equipment Pack, so keep that in mind if this is something you would like to go seek out.


There is not a whole lot to say about this figure which hasn't already been covered before. It is a nice if slightly boring looking figure but it is a very unusual figure choice and I am delighted to have one but the figure from Part 17 will not be getting a sibling out of the EX29 set unless you skip on building the Virtue entirely, so you are better off hunting for the retail Nadleeh figure instead. Here you can see the leftover parts belonging to the Nadleeh after you have put the Virtue together. In my opinion Bandai may as well have skipped including these parts entirely if they couldn't bear the cost of including the missing parts from the retail figure - why not have the retail Nadleeh figure reissued and chucked it inside the box?





GN-002 Dynames and GN-003 Kyrios Option Parts


Before we look at the Virtue proper let's just quickly cover the option parts included for the rest of the Celestial being crew. There are two main accessories to be found here. One is the container-like Tail Unit which you can attach to the rear end of either the Kyrios or Dynames - using the corresponding connector pieces also included. The pack can be loaded up with various ordnance for use primarily against ground targets. It gives the Kyrios figure a kind of Wasp-like appearance and the Dynames just looks odd with it sticking out of its rear. The enormous Super Substratospheric Altitude Gun on the other hand is much cooler and comes with a bendy plastic connector to a large GN Condenser unit. Apologies for making this part of the review a bit bare bones but I didn't want to go through the trouble of trying to line everything up but you should be getting a good idea of how you can customize the two mobile suits further.




GN-005 Gundam Virtue


Alright, so time for the main event. The Virtue figure is actually a heavily parts-swapped Nadleeh figure featuring clip on armor that attaches over the Nadleeh's arms, legs and skirt armor. We have seen attachable leg armor in Ensemble before, but not like this with armor parts that connect to each other and dangle freely around the lower legs of the figure. I feel really uncomfortable about this approach and would much have preferred a completely unique figure without parts swapping but I know there will be different strokes for different folks.


The GN Bazooka can be displayed in a deployed mode by switching around the L-shaped connector piece that attaches the lower barrel to the main body of the gun and then extending the gold shaped pieces forward. I don't think it looks particularly attractive or convincing to be honest. The second picture shows the GN Beam Cannons still attached to the backpack assembly but rotated forward.


The clear base comes with two different supports for the GN Bazooka, one suitable for supporting the weapon when the figure is floating above the base attached to the typical Ensemble groin-connector piece and one for when the figure stands directly on top of the base. Simple but effective. Once again, sorry for not going through the motions of trying to whip up a cool pose for the figure here, I don't display my figures on bases if I can avoid it. My inner eye just saw a lot of pieces flying off left, right and center if I were to try to align those bulky arms to both hold on to the weapon...


Comparison photo with the Converge Virtue from 2018. As mentioned before I would have preferred if the Ensemble Virtue don't use clip-on leg armor and featured solid legs like the Converge figure.


Bandai are currently busy re-releasing the 00 suits in Trans-Am colours with the Exia and Dynames out already and the Kyrios up next in May. I haven't seen any indication that the Nadleeh will be given this treatment (it was released in a separate wave together with the Double Zeta and the two Jagd Dogas) but you can look forward to it and the Virtue popping up in a new Trans-Am colour Virtue set in June.



Conclusion

All in all I am not hugely impressed with the Virtue Set, considering value for money. Frankly I think the Nadleeh and the Virtue would have done fine as two regular figures in a retail wave supported by a third box with equipment like the GN Bazooka and maybe a few pieces tossed in to the regular wave equipment pack. Premium Ensemble fatigue is definitely becoming a thing.