Gundam Converge EX 21 : FA-010S Full Armor ZZ Gundam

The Full Armor ZZ Gundam is the latest in a growing range of Converge EX-figures. The EX-line premiered in December 2013 with the Kshatriya. 2014 saw a further two releases, 2015 featured four (five if you count the red and blue colour variations of the Hummingbird), 2016 deployed six and last year there were also six EX releases. 2018 thus far seems to follow this new pace with three releases during the first half of the year.

The FA ZZ Gundam will also be followed by the FA-010A FAZZ colour conversion later this May. The latter will be a Premium Bandai Converge CORE release with a price tag of ¥2300. The standard Full Armor ZZ Gundam is a regular retail item though, with a suggested sales price of ¥2300 as well. I picked mine up from Mandarake where it is currently sold at a price of ¥1800.

This slightly lower price of an EX figure can perhaps be explained by the tiny box the figure is delivered in. It is not much larger than your average Converge figure box, which is a real departure from the usual EX-products. Notice also the somewhat lazy box art where the back cover just features a couple of pictures, devoid of the usual brief mobile suit technical specification. On the front side we read that the figure is transformable, but the Converge figure features no such technology so this text might be a bit misleading.

As tiny as the box may be though, it is jam-packed with a lot of small pieces in a total of three plastic bags, as well as featuring a tiny instruction booklet and the old blue chewing gum.

If you have built the Assault Kingdom Full Armor Gundam you will be familiar with some of the design concepts here. The Converge figure feels a bit more solidly designed as it was a pain in the neck to pose the Assault Kingdom figure without uncoupling the beam cannon from either the backpack or the arm.

You can display the Full Armor ZZ in two modes. In the basic mode it is armed only with its signature double barrel beam rifle, which pegs into a slot on the right arm. It is not possible to attach it to the left arm however, and it also cannot be attached to the optional right arm with the trigger finger (used in conjunction with the heavy Beam Cannon). If you look carefully on the front cover you can see that the figure can wield both weapons since it is not using the arm not intended for holding the beam cannon which dangles in mid-air.

While putting the FA ZZ together I noticed it is liberally sprinkled with paint smudges here and there. This is not something I am used to from Converge figures and it certainly does not reinforce the use of an "EX" tag. Notice also how the feet have trouble touching the ground. Pretty poor show overall.

The main feature of the FA ZZ is of course when it is loaded with the massive Beam Cannon. This weapon is attached to the backpack as well as to the right hand, and the belt feeding uh... (power? ammunition? E-pacs?) whatever it feeds should also be plugged into the left side of the Beam Cannon and into a hole on the optional back-skirt piece included with the figure.

Let me just say that putting this figure together was very frustrating as all these connection points need to sit at very precise angles to prevent them from popping out. It doesn't help that many of the joints are very loose on the FA ZZ, the arms and backpack in particular are very prone to falling out of their sockets. I'd consider gluing the "ammo belt" into the back skirt but the other pieces you really don't want to lock into position.

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

The Converge ZZ Gundam family has certainly developed into more spectacular and imposing looking figures. While I kind of miss the simplicity of the early figures there is no question that the refined sculpts and more detailed paint applications are a significant improvement on the new figures. Now they just need to get the quality up a few notches as well.

The Full Armor ZZ is getting ready to face off against the Queen Mansa, review coming soon... : )

Overall the Full Armor ZZ Gundam is a beautiful but fiddly figure. There are however a bit too many imperfections (at least on the figure I own) which bring down the overall impression. Honestly, I don't really look forward to doing this assembly process one more time with the FA-010A FAZZ, but there is no question that these two figures will look gorgeous in your Converge collection.

Gundam Converge : GN-005 Gundam Virtue

2018 marks the ten year anniversary of the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 timeline and Bandai is marking the occasion by releasing some special figures (and no doubt model kits as well). Gundam Converge is being blessed with two releases, first we have the odd one out Gundam Virtue which is on review here, the second is a pricey CORE boxset which reissues all four Celestial Being figures that have come out during the Converge Reboot phase over the past years. Those figures carry special markings and gimmicks and will be looked at in more detail once I manage to secure a set.

On display today is the strange release that is the Gundam Virtue. The figure was sold as a Premium Bandai item priced at a whopping ¥2160, which is four times the price of your average Converge figure. And as we shall see, this is rather ludicruous. Right now the figure stands alone outside of the regular Converge series; it is not a basic figure, not a CORE refinement, not part of an SP or EX-set and kind of exists almost like a promo item.

Once the box is opened we are treated to a fairly standard Converge figure, hardly warranting n oversize box. My guess is that the Virtue is being produced in significantly smaller numbers than the Exia, Dynames and Kyrios, and that Bandai compensates by fleecing the completist collectors out there.

As you can see from the parts count, this is hardly riveting. We don't even geta hand separated from the GN Bazooka which is a common feature on many of the new Converge figures. A rather poor show.

The figure itself looks rather nice. Once you get around the fact that it has no face (OMG, what happened to your face?) it looks pretty menacing. The detail is fine but nothing special and certainly not warranting any special release. Notice also that the action base is transparent rather than the typical opaque black which is featured by the other figures to make sure it doesn't fit in with them... how did anyone think this was a good idea?

The articulation is your bog standard Converge, the head can move but it is locked in pace by the constraints of the mobile suit's body, the arms move and are rather loose, the Bazooka arm on my figure even has a tendency to fall down due to the weight of the weapon. The two GN Cannons hanging over the shoulders can also rotate on their pegs.

The main purpose of the Converge Virtue figure is apparently to complete the line-up of the Celestial Being mobile suits. For a figure four times as pricey as your average figure it does a pretty poor job at standing out any other way, even the box art is ugly and they didn't even bother to print the mobile suit statistics on the backside which is just lazy.

The odd choice of action base means that the Virtue displays better with its brethren once the base is removed.

 All in all the Converge Gundam Virtue figure is a decent entry into the series and a good alternative if you don't feel like shelling out double for the CORE 00 box set. It is definitely overpriced and undersupplied for what it is. It is hard to shake the feeling of being ripped off as this would have made an excellent basic figure.

SD Gashapon Warrior DASH 01

Today we are doing another Gashapon review and I have selected the first set of the somewhat short SD Gashapon Warrior DASH figure series. Volume one premiered in June 2015 as random Gashapon capsule toys selling at ¥300, a mark-up of ¥100 compared to the NEXT figures they replace.

So, what are we getting for the 50% price increase? Well, I kind of think of DASH as a stepping stone or an intermediary evolutionary step between the SD Warrior NEXT and Senshi Forte figure series. The main difference between DASH and NEXT is that the DASH figures are slightly larger and feature enhanced elbow joints.

Since I purchased this set second-hand (paying 650 THB for the full set) all the figures were already assembled by the previous owner. I didn't fancy pulling the figures apart so to give an idea of the anatomy of the DASH figures the below picture of a Crossbone Vanguard Den'an Zon (from DASH vol. 06) will give you a fair idea of what to expect in your average DASH figure.

As you can seem the legs typically consist of a single piece snapped into the lower torso although the very last DASH set revised this by introducing a new skeletal T-shaped piece now found in Senshi Forte figures. The arms are typically made up of a shoulder part and a lower arm and these are connected by standardized joints that you have to snap together. Heads usually sit on a kind of ball joint. All in all, assembly can be a bit fiddly at times and figures can sometimes be plagued by loose fitting extremities and equipment.

Volume 1 contains five different figures, as shown here. Each figure is numbered within the specific set from 01 to 05. These numbers are not continuous so the first figure in DASH volume 02 will again start with number 01 and so on.

There is also an interesting discrepancy between the little Gashapon booklet included with each figure and the promotional poster stuck on the capsule vending machines; the sequence of the figures differs somewhat. On the promotional material the God Gundam and Master Gundam are clearly numbered as figures 01 and 02, while in the Gashapon booklet they are listed as numbers three and four. The reason for this is unclear.

I should also point out that this exact set is also available in translucent colours going under a "Clear Ver." moniker. Those figures were limited exclusives made available during the Art Of Gundam event which took place in Tokyo in July 2015.
   

01 : GF13-017NJII God Gundam

So, the honors of opening the DASH series appears to go to the God Gundam even when the RX-78 Gundam is featured in the very same set (I am still not convinced this is how it is intended but whatever). The figure features no optional parts or features, the field emitters are fully extended although we don't get any fancy energy ring to go with them. The right hand has a nice shiny colour (not sure which of the many fighting techniques it represents) and an interesting sculpt. The lack of interesting accessories is a common thing with the G Gundam figures and makes the figure slightly less interesting in my opinion.
   

02 : GF13-001NHII Master Gundam

It is fitting that the next figures is the rival Master Gundam with its immediately recognizable and attractive black, red and blue colour scheme. Again the figure features no accessories and comes with the same type of shiny burning hand as the God Gundam which does seem a bit lazy.

The wing binders on the Master Gundam attach to the back with circular pegs so it is possible to extend the wings to create some variations in the look of the figure.
   

03 : RX-78-2 Gundam

Next up is the granddaddy Gundam figure which comes armed with a beam saber and a shield. As you can see from the images the saber is made from soft and bendy plastic (like the rest of the figure) so you are bound to get warped components like these from time to time. The Gundam figure comes with two hands able to hold any standard type weapon which also tends to be the norm for this type of figures. It is a solid design and the RX-78's slender body type always makes it one of the more poseable mobile suits.
   

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

It comes as no surprise of course that the Gundam is followed by Char's Zaku II. The DASH version of this mobile suit comes armed with a bazooka only, and just like the RX-78 they avoided the machine gun, perhaps to spice things up a little. It is a little bit sad that they never made a green army builder type figure which could for example have benefitted from said machine gun.

The DASH version of the Zaku II also features decent articulation as it is not too bulky in its design. And like some other versions of this mobile suit the DASH Zaku II figure also has a movable monoeye.
   

05 : FA-178 Full Armor Gundam Mk-II

The really big novelty in this set is the last figure; the -to me- previously unheard of Full Armor Mark 2. Featured as one of the Z Gundam MSV designs this is a really unusual mobile suit and I absolutely love getting rare figures such as this one into the collection. It would be great to see it in Converge also although it isn't really that different from the Thunderbolt FA-78. As a figure though, this one doesn't do that much, like many Full Armor Gundam figures it carries nothing in its hands which means it becomes a bit static.
   

Conclusion

Overall DASH volume 01 is a really good set and a nice starting point for the DASH collection. The G Gundam universe was also expanded by one of the limited (and expensive) DASH Premiere sets which add the Devil Gundam with a Gundam Head and also Nobel Gundam and Fuunsaiki into the mix. However, there are no further mobile suits from the UC 0079 timeline in the DASH series which is a bit of a disappointment the closest figure would be the Zudah from MS IGLOO. With the DASH series featuring only eight regular sets and mobile suit choices coming from all over the place this is a general thing to keep in mind if you want to collect these miniatures.

Gundam Converge Selection [Limited Color]

From time to time Bandai likes to recycle their older sculpts. This is nothing that has stopped since the Converge reboot which is why we will still see generation one figures being sold shoulder to shoulder with the revised and generally more advanced figures following 2016's reboot (can't believe it has been two years already).

The somewhat awkwardly named Gundam Converge Selection [Limited Color] set is just one such release; five older figures brought back to life with some updated paint applications. It follows last year's Gundam Converge Selection [Realtype Color] set and kind of proves just how confused the marketing team must be themselves.

The Limited Color set contains five different figures with no alternate versions or secret items. The set was released on December 19 2017 and the figures had a recommended price of ¥500, like your standard Converge reboot figure.

XXXG-01W Wing Gundam (Limited Color)

The first figure in the unnumbered set is the XXXG-01W Wing Gundam as it appeared in the original television series. I don't know about you but I am starting to feel a bit of Wing Gundam fatigue by now. This mobile suit has now been released four times in the past nine months and the mobile suit has even been lucky enough to be part of the Converge reboot so why Bandai thinks a new generation one figure is needed is beyond me.

This "new old" Wing Gundam has had a colour upgrade but is otherwise similar to past releases. The yellow has been upgraded to gold, and the overall dark blue color of its torso and skirts has been brightened a bit.

There are no new accessories or major sculpt changes for this figure, you can clearly recognize this as a generation one figure from the transparent support piece that clips to the figure's heels, as well as the right hand being molded straight onto the weapon (although this does occur also in the new generation of figures).

XXXG-01W Wing Gundam as released in Converge vol. 15 (left) and the new Limited Color version (right).

As you can see there are not a whole lot of differences when compared to the original XXXG-01W Wing Gundam which was released in Converge volume 15 back in June 2014. Sure the new gold colour is nice but not necessarily an improvement and certainly not more accurate.

GX-9900 Gundam X (Limited Color)

Next up is a rather unusual face from the After War Gundam X television series. Gundam X never took off in Converge. We had a couple of UNE mobile suits in the late generation one but nothing has been heard from them since early 2015. Here the GX-9900 Gundam X makes its first come back after being first released in September 2014.

The new figure shares the same features as the Wing Gundam we just looked at. Yellow colour applications have been swapped out for gold and we have a brighter shade of blue on the body as well as some other minor differences.

Again nothing new in the accessory or parts department. Although I forgot to picture it here, the Beam Rifle and the Satellite Cannon are actually loose and interchangeable so that the Gundam can hold either one.

Gundam X as it appeared originally in Converge volume 16 (left), released in September 2014, and the new Limited Color version (right).

Overall the new Gundam X figure is not that different from the older version and is a convenient replacement if you missed out on the old one. The gold parts do stand out but it remains a matter of taste which figure is the better looking I suppose.

MS-07B-3 Gouf Custom (Limited Color)

This is the figure I was most interested in for the rather diverse crowd that makes up Converge Selection Limited Color. The Gouf Custom hasn't been around since its release in December 2012 so it was more than high time that new collectors get a chance to own this amazing figure.

Not only is it great to see this rare old figure brought back to life again, but this is actually the only figure that has been improved on from its predecessor. More specifically, the Gouf Custom was originally released in two different versions, the standard figure armed with a Heat Sword and a "secret item" variation armed with the Gatling Shield.

The new Converge Selection Gouf Custom actually sports all the accessories from both prior versions, which is something I would like to see more of if other older figures are considered for reissue. Not to mention that both the Gouf and the Gouf Custom ought to be due for a reboot upgrade soon, Bandai and FusionWorks have already done the Zaku II and the Gelgoog, so why not also the Gouf?

Another built in gimmick for the Gouf is the removable "helmet" which reveals the monoeye on a circular piece which can be rotated to give the impression of the mobile suit looking sideways.

The Converge Selection Color contains both unique accessories for the standard Gouf Custom release.

The full Converge Gouf family

Whether or not you like the new somewhat green-tinted colour of the Gouf Custom reissue it is still an awesome figure for any collection. Now I am hoping to see more One Year War mobile suits upgraded in the Converge reboot series.

G-P.A.R.T.S. G-Bull (Limited Color)

Somewhat surprising, FW and Bandai have chosen two vehicles for the last slots of the Limited Color set. This is something they did also in the Converge Selection V reissue set, which was a 7-Eleven exclusive released in October 2014.

I have never got the impression that the G-P.A.R.T.S. figures have been that popular with Converge collectors, as I tend to see them easily available on the secondary market quite often.

The G-Bull is a tank-like vehicle featuring both a forward and a backward facing cockpit. The larger cockpit is intended for the G-Armor combined figure.

G-Bull as it appears in Converge vol. 11 (left), Converge Selection V (center) and Selection Limited Color (right).

Although the G-Bull received a small but welcome facelift already in the Selection V set it is now getting a much improved paint job on its canopy and even some markings on the sides. The base red and white colours are toned down a bit towards orange and light grey. The new version is the only figure where I can clearly say it is superior to its predecessors.

G-P.A.R.T.S. G-Sky (Limited Color)

The second half of the G-P.A.R.T.S. set is the spacecraft-like G-Sky which can also come apart to create a tiny and not particularly good looking Core Fighter (especially not when you compare it to the just released Core Fighter that comes with the White Base set).

The G-Sky fighter does not come with any action base, this stand is borrowed from an Assault Kingdom figure.

Not a whole lot going on in this box as you can see. The optional part on the right is used as a fuselage centerpiece when constructing the G-Armor combined figure.

The updated G-Sky from Converge Selection Limited Color has toned down white and reds, and unlike the Wing Gundam and Gundam X, its blue colour has been darkened on the Core Fighter.

The G-Sky from Converge vol. 12 (left), Selection V (center) and Selection Limited Color (right).

As you can see in the above pictures the major difference between the figures can be seen in the rear. Unlike the G-Bull, the updated G-Sky doesn't differ a great deal from the Selection V figure.

G-P.A.R.T.S. G-Armor (Limited Color)

And to round things off here is a view of the G-Armor figure which is assembled from the G-Bull and the G-Sky.

I am always confused by the terms "G-Sky", "G-Fighter" and "G-Armor", and the terms seem to be used a bit loosely also for official figures. Normally, I would expect the G-Sky to feature the torso of the RX-78-2 Gundam figure rather than a Core Fighter for example.

Notice also how the Mobile Suit Ensemble representation of the G-Fighter compares to the Converge figures in both size and composition. I'll make a new comparison shot with the Build Model Gundam G-Fighter as well when I get around to finding it.

Conclusion

The Converge Selection (Limited Color) figures are quite nice and while not breaking any new ground they are a good way to pick up some old figures that you may have missed out on. Not really a great deal for veteran collectors here although I will personally be picking up a second set of G-P.A.R.T.S. figures to display all three vehicles in their updated colours.