Gundam Converge CORE : Operation V Set

Ahh yes, the infamous Project V figure set. A set containing the three classic machines from the original Mobile Suit Gundam show and sold only as part of the huge Converge White Base set available through the Premium Bandai program. This will without a doubt become one of the hardest to find Converge products unless Bandai are kind enough to reissue it.

The Gundam Converge White Base model (can't really call it a figure at that size...) was released as a retail product in March 2018 with a suggested price tag of ￥19500. The Premium Bandai version which also included this figure set was priced at ￥23000, giving you an idea of Bandai's price idea for it. Since then I have seen this set pop up a handful of times on the secondhand market, presumably because the shops try to split the two for more profit, or perhaps some customers are keeping only the White Base ship itself. Whatever the reason I finally secured this figure set (minus the White Base carrier) and burning ￥8000 in the process.

The Operation V Set features the Converge Reboot versions of the Gundam, Guncannon and Guntank as well as a brand new figure for the Core Fighter. At its point of release neither the new Guncannon nor the Guntank had been released and so these were the first appearances of each.

Now that we are familiar with all three rebooted figures we can see that each figure is made up of the same components as its retail version counterpart. There are no bonus weapons or gimmicks to these figures except for the base plates which are transparent instead of solid black. I've said it before that this seems like a desperate attempt to make the figures appear more unique than anything else. If you display your Converge figures on their bases these will just stand out like a sore thumb. Luckily the bases are usually not needed anyway.


RX-78-2 Gundam

The new version of the Gundam itself was first released in Converge #08 in October 2017 and features a wide-legged pose. It comes equipped with two weapon choices, either of which can fit into the right hand only.

The bazooka can be stored on the figure's back skirt when not in use but there is no similar feature for the beam rifle. The shield can either be attached to the left forearm or sit stored on the figure's back covering up the bazooka. Still no beam saber for the Gundam, what a disgrace. :)

So what differs this Operation V version of the figure from the base figure? Well basically the colours have been brightened a bit, especially the blue. We also get the typical CORE style markings on the figure in the form of some White Base and EFSF logos and a couple of red lines here and there. Interestingly FusionWorks thought it was a good idea to spend resources on a nearly invisible red line on the bazooka instead of giving us a painted gunsight on the beam rifle which has been standard on the old figure since its time of inception.

RX-78-2 Gundam as seen in Converge volume 01 (November 2011), CORE 003 (December 2015), Operation V (March 2018) and Converge #08 (October 2017).

The Gundam has of course been released as a CORE special markings version before, and we have also had some other variations with extra markings as well. In the above line-up I have placed the two CORE variations in the center, the old figure to the center left and the new Operation V figure at center right. You can then see the standard retail versions of each figure at the far left and far right. I still think the old figure has a more attractive posture although the new sculpt clearly has it beat in detail.


RX-77-2 Guncannon

The Guncannon figure is also one of the oldest appearances in Converge but the resculpted version took its time to appear in the rebooted figure line, being releases more or less in tandem with the Operation V Set.

The new Guncannon sculpt is in my opinion a very superior design compared to the original version of the figure. The large head has been sized down a bit and the shoulders are also toned down to give it a sleeker look. Overall the detail has been refreshed all over the body and I really like what they have done with this figure.

The new Guncannon figure also has a weapon swapping gimmick which allows you to switch between guns or missile pods on the shoulders which is really neat. The Operation V version of the figure adds unit markings for machine 108 and a couple of White Base stickers here and there. This is all well, but I still think that the 108 markings should have been present on the retail figure (and then they could have done 209 as a P-Bandai to really impress).

Guncannon RX-77-2 as seen in Converge voume 01 (November 2011), Convere #10 (March 2018), Operation V (also March 2018) and CORE 003 (December 2015).

When lining up a couple of Guncannon figures it is clear to see that while the new figure is a marked improvement in design we have also lost some detail in the process. I still can't believe the original figure had painted Vulcan guns and a shiny yellow gunsight when neither is present in the new figure. One step forward and two steps back...


RX-75 Guntank

Next in line for a resculpt is the Guntank. This figure premiered in this Operation V Set and would eventually be released as a standard retail figure in June 2018. The new Guntank sculpt is also a very successful design and a much more accurate representation of its appearance in the show.

The Guntank has no special gimmicks and is also the only rebooted figure to date to feature a base plate without a peg in it. The Operation V version of the figure again features a couple of White Base and EFSF markings and some white lines painted on its guns. It is one thing to market a figure has having special markings, another for the designers to actually come up with something original or interesting I suppose.

The RX-75 as it appears in Converge volume 01 (November 2011), Converge #11 (June 2018), Operation V (March 2018) and CORE 003 (December 2015).

Out of the three resculpts, the Guntank is the figure which I think is served best by its new design. Where the old figure had a more generic robot show feel to it the new design looks very much spot on.


FF-X7 Core Fighter

The one thing driving me to seek out and purchase this figure set (and sparing no expense in the process...) is the introduction of the Core Fighter figure. One can only hope that this fine figure will see a retail release somewhere outside of this expensive set but I wasn't prepared to wait for that to happen.

The Converge Core Fighter is quite tiny for a Converge figure, while the figure itself might feel a bit tiny it makes sense when displayed next to the Gundam. It has a fairly basic paint scheme with some nice special markings but it doesn't really need anything more. It also comes on a very nice display stand, in fact most Converge vehicles get very neat action bases although they typically do not allow any alternate poses through ball joints or similar.

FF-X7 Core Fighters as seen in Converge Operation V (March 2018), Converge G-Sky (October 2013), Banpresto Micro Collection (2002), FW Ultimate Operation (March 2005), Strategy of Gundam (June 2006) and Gashapon HG Selection (1999).

If you don't feel like spending an arm and a leg for a Core Fighter figure the good news is that you can also consider sourcing them from other Shokugan or Gashapon figure series at a much more affordable price. The figure above compares the Converge Core Fighter with some other variations out there.


Conclusion

So what is the overall conclusion of the Operation V Set? Is it a set of very premier looking Converge figures? Hell yes! Should you go out and spend a truckload of money on it? Ehm... no. Well, as usual I guess it depends. A casual collector will get as much enjoyment out of the retail figures and they can safely ignore it. Completists needn't really fret too much if they are unable to find it either as these figures are pretty much bound for a reissue one way or another in the future.

SD Gashapon Senshi Forte EX 01 : RX-104FF Penelope

August was a pretty busy month as a Gundam figure collector so now I am taking the opportunity of the September lull to look at an old figure that has been sitting around in its box eagerly awaiting some love for much too long. The Penelope is the first EX figure to come out of the Senshi Forte line and was released under the Premium Bandai program in the end of July 2017. Originally sold for ¥2268 I had to cough up ¥5000 for it on the second hand market already in October the same year. Now almost a year later the price also seems to have stabilized around ¥5000 although I've seen some for as "low" as ¥3500.

So what makes the Senshi Forte Penelope figure that special that you have to set aside funds enough to buy at least a dozen standard figures to secure it? Well, it does come in a slightly larger box than your usual figure, a box decorated with interesting non-descript patterns of grey; you can't even see what it looks like except for a blurry portrait. This is definitely one of those things you need to google before you go for a purchase, which is probably exactly what you, dear reader, might be doing right now...

Upon first inspection we find half a dozen plastic bags with a couple of parts in each. In fact, this figure has a fairly respectable number of components going for it. A small instruction sheet is included but the illustrations are really tiny and not always the easiest to follow. Even after I looked up the illustrations of the Penelope on the official Senshi Forte page I wasn't exactly sure what it is they wanted me to build.

If you have ever built a Gashapon Senshi Forte (or for that matter a Gashapon NEXT or DASH) figure before you will instantly recognize the skeletal components for not one but two figures in the box. Browsing through the parts you also find four feet and four large shoulder pieces but there is only one face. At first I wasn't even sure if this box was going to produce one modular or two separate figures. To sort it out, I got to work with help of the little booklet.

The first thing we are taught to build is the basic mobile suit. I am not familiar with the Hathaway's Flash storyline that this mobile suit has been gathered from, but as I understand it this basic mobile suit is called the RX-104 Odysseus Gundam. It turns into the RX-104FF Penelope when combined with its add-on Fixed Flight Armor Unit.

This figure has all the usual traits of your average Senshi Forte figure. it features the same type of components and number of articulated joints that you would have come to expect. However, apart from the usual soft and bendy plastic used for Senshi Forte figures the Penelope also includes many parts of harder and more brittle plastic which has been painted up. These pieces do not have the same "stay together" properties as the softer plastic parts and tend to fall off rather easy. Case in point on this figure; those weird thrustery things sticking out from its feet.

The Penelope figure comes with two open and two closed fists. Each fist can wield any of the standard Senshi Forte weapons such as the beam rifle included with the figure. The figure also comes with two optional shields that attach to the forearms. Each shield can emit a beam saber and we get two beautiful translucent beam effect parts for this purpose. Sugoi!

In the pictures above the Odysseus Gundam teams up with a pair of E.F.S.F. Gustav Karl mass-produced mobile suits as well as going toe to toe with its rival and successor, the RX-105 Xi Gundam, operated by the terrorist group Mufti. The Xi Gundam was a basic ¥300 figure and it clearly shows in this comparison.

Here is where things take a weirder turn. From the leftover parts in the box we are instructed to piece together the Fixed Flight Armor Unit. It basically looks like a knight's armoured suit hung on a coat rack. The components for the FF unit are mostly made from the harder and more rigid plastic, and they are rather extravagantly painted when compared to other Senshi Forte figures. These pieces are also more prone to fall off; you can even see the right foot ready to fall out of its socket in the pictures above. It looks the part, but is rather flimsy in comparison.

Here the Odysseus poses with its Fixed Flight unit. It looks more like the Gundam is an accessory to the Flight Unit than the other way around. It is not easy to engineer these types of compact figures to transform, and the Gashapon designers have done a commendable job here, although the structure as a whole is prone to fall apart rather easily.

That which cannot be unseen: The Space Chicken head...

Finally we can assemble the RX-104FF Penelope proper. This is where those extra skeletal pieces I mentioned earlier come into play. Thankfully you do not need to tear apart the limbs of the basic Odysseus figure. You can simply assemble a separate pair of arms and legs and then replace the entire limbs. Only the hands and shields need to be transferred over. The Armor Unit parts lock in place around the Gundam figure although the pegs on the front and back armor on my figure did not line up as perfectly as we have come to expect from Bandai. As a result, the armor plates aren't locked in place as well as they should.

When fully assembled the Penelope will tower over the Xi Gundam which now looks very intimidated. Although I am not really a huge fan of the Penelope or Xi I kind of wish they would have beefed up the Xi Gundam a bit; it is almost 50% taller than the average mobile suit after all.

E.F.S.F. versus Mufti -, something only Gashapon Senshi Forte can deliver.

Overall the Senshi Forte Penelope figure is pretty cool and well engineered. The paint job is really nice and even the weapons are painted up. Whether you are prepared to spend ¥5000 on a Gashapon figure is of course an entirely different matter. Considering the range of Senshi Forte figures of mobile suits from the Hathaway's Flash timeline you may well want to complete that line-up but otherwise unless you are a huge fan you could spend this money on some nice army builder units instead methinks.

SD Gashapon Senshi Forte EX 04 : MSN-04II Nightingale

The Nightingale has to be one of the most bizarre looking mobile suits in the U.C.timeline. And the fact that it also steals the spotlight from the instant classic Sazabi design is even more weird. And while the Sazabi can be seen as a figure or model kit in just about any scale the Nightingale has to make do with much less exposure. We actually had a compact version released in Gundam Converge about a year and half ago and it also featured in the brief Mini Kit Collection series in 2016 but these are the only appearances as far as I am aware of. Now Gashapon Senshi Forte joins in on the fun with its own ultra-compact take on the design.

The Senshi Forte Nightingale is a Premium Bandai figure and was released tis May with a price tag of ¥3000 or ten times the price of your average Senshi Forte figure. While it may seem strange that Bandai are doing the Nightingale rather than the evergreen Sazabi this can be explained by the already strong line-up of mobile suits from the Beltorchika's Children/Hathaway's Flash alternative timeline. The Nightingale joins a pair of Geara Dogas and also sees opponents from the E.F.S.F. like the Gustav Karl, Hi-Nu Gundam and Penelope and Mufti terrorist suits like the Xi Gundam and Messer.

Apart from being an obscure rival to the Sazabi the fact that we rarely see the Nightingale is likely related to the outlandish and over the top visual style of the design itself. This mobile suit simply bulges and points in every direction at once. Taking such a messy design and then compacting it further into Super Deformed format is a real challenge for the engineers.

As you can see the box is loaded with weird looking and very detailed parts mostly molded in soft and bendy plastic which gives the figure good survivability. An easy to follow instruction leaflet in the box greatly aids in assembling the machine.

The pictures speak for themselves. This mobile suit looks like none other. While it has several common traits with the Sazabi the concept is just sooo outlandish and weird looking. It is not an unattractive figure, but I can't really say that I am a big fan of the design. Even the Sazabi itself suddenly seems functional and economical design in comparison.

Armament options for the Nightingale.

The figure retains the standard Senshi Forte articulation which amounts to legs and arms attached to ball joints as well as a couple of extra elbow joints for the arms. The head also has a ball joint of its own and the torso and hands can twist. Due to the very cumbersome SD format though, there is not much articulation to be had, there is just huge armor parts getting in the way for much of the moment. No action base is provided with the figure but it features a standard peg hole which is compatible with the stands that come with the regular Senshi Forte figures.

Gashapon Senshi Forte Nightingale (left) together with the Gundam Converge Nightingale (EX14, released February 2017).

The figure comes with two sets of hands; one open and one holding hand for each arm respectively. The weapons can be wielded in either hand but the shield can only be pegged onto the right arm. The booster fuel tanks can be removed as well as the eight tiny little funnel weapons that are pegged into the over dimensioned shoulder pads. The figure also sports two tiny sub arms that are attached just beneath the front skirt where each can wiggle to the left and right.

The Nightingale duelling with the Hi-Nu Gundam which is a regular size Senshi Forte capsule figure.

From an anesthetic point of view I think the Senshi Forte design is miles better than the recent Gundam Converge figure. The SF figure looks more balanced and deadly compared to the Converge figure which was just a big bloated mess.

The Nightingale posing with the Senshi Forte Psyco Gundam (left) and Senshi Forte Queen Mansa (right),

The Nightingale follows two larger Senshi Forte EX figures but does a good job of looking awesome nonetheless. If you are a hardcore Senshi Forte collector you'll want to get this figure simply because it is a real eye catcher although the price and difficulty in obtaining it makes it something easily passable for the more casual SD figure fans out there.

The latest MS Ensemble news...

Mobile Suit Ensemble has been on a roll as of late and through the Gashapon Blog we have now received prototype mock-up photos for the Advance of Zeta Inle Mobile Armor in some of its various configurations. To give you an idea of its size this beast will have a wingspan of half a meter, I'd like to see Bandai try to squeeze this one into a Gashapon capsule. As reported earlier we can expect this beast to come in at 15 000 yen and preorders will open very soon. Lead Designer Kawa explains that once committed this monster will consume the entire factory production line and thus production will be run as soon as enough preorders have been gathered for a complete run. We should probably expect the Inle to be available sometime in early 2019.

Kawa has written a lot about the project of bringing the Inle to life and the blog features a three-parter which is an interesting read if that is your thing.

The Inle will also be accompanied by an additional two Titans Test Team units appearing in volume 08 of the regular figure series. The RX-124 Gundam TR-6 (Hyzenthlay II) and its (Fiver II) add-on will join the Gundam F91 and RGM-109 Heavygun in this set which is scheduled for mid- to late December.

Lastly the tenth MS Ensemble EX figure has also been decided. This will be the Gundam F90 with add-on components to create its F90D Gundam F90 Destroid Type and F90H Gundam F90 Hover Type variations respectively.

Gundam Gsight is here...

Continuing to work through the smaller Gashapon figure ranges we've now added a new check list for the Gundam Gsight range. These are small 1/350 figures which saw a fairly limited two year run. The series contains many familiar U.C. designs as well as scenery and vehicles which also makes the series popular with gamers and diorama builders. Gsight figures are ranging from somewhat common to very rare on the second hand market today.