FIELD Mobile Suit Gundam UC Marida Cruz

Time to break up the monotony of the constant EX reviews here on the blog. Today's item is decidedly different and little bit unique in its own way. We are going to look at a resin kit of Marida Cruz in Unicorn 02 Banshee pilot gear. While there have been a couple of really successful figures of Marida released by MegaHouse the only time she appears in Unicorn Banshee gear is as a deformed miniature in the Banpresto WCF Gundam Series from 2013.

This kit comes from FIELD, a brand/company that I do not really know a whole lot about. They are or were based in Koriyama City, Fukushima Province, and I am aware of about ten or so kits of various Gundam girls of varying scales and styles but I bet they did loads more. Going from the sparse information included with this item we can also learn the following:

Designer: Yoshito Sato
Item Number: 254-08
Original price: 5000 yen
Distribution: Unknown

The kit consists of fourteen components including a very fragile looking ponytail and stands about 13 centimeters tall when fully assembled. No base is included with the figure. The kit is not designated to any particular scale and I couldn't find any specific mention of Marida's height but if we assume that she is about 170 centimeters tall this figure should be somewhere around 1:13 scale or so. Kits of this type tend to be very rare and I have only ever seen it for sale at one time and that was back in 2017. I had to pay ¥5000 for it and since then it has been patiently awaiting its time to shine. Well, now that time has arrived.

This figure is a painted commission done by my reliable friend Marcin who went all-in on this project. The flight suit has been painted and highlighted using airbrush and then worked over with brush for the detail work. One of the feet is magnetized and while the figure can stand upright without support it certainly isn't recommended as the gentlest breeze will topple her over.

Once geared up and ready for combat Marida had the misfortune of getting stuck in the international postal system for an extended period of time until finally finding her way back to base. I guess cyber newtypes need better psyco shard support. Still, even though she endured several weeks in transit I was amazed to see that the ponytail hadn't broken off, something I've seen happen much too frequently on similarly delicate plastic figures even when they come in their original packaging.

Marida really gets some of the best flightsuits of any Gundam series, both when she is sporting Neo Zeon purple or Vist Foundation navy blue. Below you can see the figure side by side with a Banpresto/Craneking DXF figure from 2013 and the awesome Banpresto-Ichiban Kuji metallic colour Neo Zeon flight suit figure from 2014. Notice how the DXF figure has already begun destabilizing even though it has been kept in its box and it is now secreting part of its chemical composition as a sticky residue. : (

All in all a really beautiful sculpt and unlike far too many resin figures it is realistically proportioned and posed. I also like that it isn't just a simple recycled pose of a figure concept we have seen over and over again but something fresh. The main disadvantage beyond price and availability is of course the difficult case of storing it safely. Likeness could perhaps have been a bit better and there also aren't a whole lot of suitable figures to pose it with as it is sort of its own scale but overall I am very pleased with it.

Gundam Converge : II Neo Zeong Option Parts Set

There has been an unusual amount of EX figures on the review pile lately and I'm afraid this review will be more of the same. I dunno, I think that an EX figure should be something a little extra, made with special love and care for the collectors. This magic has all but disappeared as every other figure seems to be a colour swap, marking plus or similar these days. The II Neo Zeon Option Parts Set kind of sits in this camp - we've seen it before, and only a fool would pay the price of admission. Well, you are looking at one such fool right here... :)

This option parts set is a companion item to the Gundam Converge EX 27 II Neo Zeong. Unlike the mobile armor itself, which was made available as a retail item this item had limited distribution. And of course, where you can pick up the mobile armor itself at a price near half of the option parts set you can see what a pain it is to acquire. I grabbed the II Neo Zeong itself for ¥3500 last September but it wasn't until June 2020, nine months later, that I was able to source the option parts set, spending no less than ¥5500 to obtain it. I guess I can now put it on a pedestal in the P-Bandai - You really don't get what you pay for hall of fame.

Just like the II Neo Zeong figure is very similar to the original Neo Zeong figure, the option parts set is equally similar to the set will be very similar to the parts set which was developed for the original figure. I guess technically they give you a couple additional pieces here but the gist of it remains the same.

Ah, yes ¥5500. Please remind me again why I submit myself to this? I guess I am just stupid. Four additional arms, a psycho shard ring and some replacement parts to place the Narrative Gundam at the centre of the armor instead of the Sinanju Stein. Full disclosure here, I have only seen the promotional 20-minute or so beginning of the Narrative Gundam movie so I have no idea exactly how the RX-9 will fit together with the rest of the mobile armor as far as using Psycho Shards or extra arms so the review will be a bit lacking in that regard.

First things first. To the left we have the Converge EX 27 second Neo Zeong in its standard configuration with its four extra arms stowed on its back. To the right these are replaced with the active ones that come out of the option parts set. This is really neat but like I always say, Bandai and FusionWorks could have done so much more here. My favourite complaint is that they could have made at least one or two option hands with psycommu fingers launching, just like how they did it on the Assault Kingdom or the HG UC figures. Anyway, I have moaned about that through all three Neo Zeong figure reviews already and I'm sure I'll repeat myself one more time once an inevitable CORE metallic color second Neo Zeong is announced.

Next up the ring of Psycho Shards is fully deployed. Apart from the pseudo-scientific newtype mumbo jumbo about this thingamajig actualizing the pilot's thoughts I can just say that yes, it is a decorative framing for the figure but that it can also interfer a bit with the extra arms on the back (not that you are going to get a whole lot of articulation out of them to begin with anyway).

The most interesting aspect of the option parts set from a technical perspective is how the RX-9 Narrative Gundam can take the place of the Sinanju Stein at the center of the mobile armor's torso. This is fairly complicated and I had some issues getting the front armor in place over the lower torso, the arms also felt like they didn't really belong in the cramped space provided for them.

I have no idea how or why the Narrative Gundam sits inside the II Neo Zeong but it looks cool and is a nice break from the Sinanjus I have operating the two older Neo Zeong figures. I will keep the RX-9 in the mobile armor as I am sure there will be an even pricier silver metallic second Neo Zeong figure released through CORE before too long and I will give the Sinanju Stein the honours of piloting that one. So if you are having thoughts about getting two of these suckers just so you can let both the Sinanju Stein and the Narrative deploy in MA Form, keep in mind that there is a fairly high chance we will see an ultimate version of this figure released through CORE later on.

Here the Narrative Gundam pilots the II Neo Zeong next to the original EX 15 Neo Zeong figure with the MSN-06S Sinanju at its core. The two figures are so similar that it gets boring but at least you cannot fault the FW designers for this creative bankruptcy; that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the writers of Narrative Gundam.

Here we have the Sinanju Stein at the core of the II Neo Zeong parading next to the Converge CORE metallic color version Neo Zeong. That figure was sold with the option parts set included and cost ¥7000 through the P-Bandai program back then. Brace yourself for something close to five figures once a CORE II Neo Zeong is announced.

The most fun I got out of this set was updating my little RX-9 Narrative Gundam family. I don't really know if there is a designation for the RX-9 when equipping the II Neo Zeong mobile armor form. Perhaps it was something that happened in a spur of the moment of the movie...

Anyway, I feel that most of what I needed to say about this option parts set has already been said in the previous Neo Zeong reviews and this one is just parroting the same views all over again. I would also guess that most readers that are interested in the II Neo Zeong already have hands-on experience with the first Converge Neo Zeong figure and so know exactly what to expect from this one. If I were to give a recommendation to someone on the fence I'd say "hell, no!" but having said that, the Neo Zeong is still one of the best realized mobile armor figures released in the Converge line and that must count for something. Whether it is enough to convince someone to spend ¥8000-¥9000 is of course an entirely different question.

The latest Gashapon news...

We have received some more news from the Bandai Gashapon development team. First up we have this nice promotional shot what appears to be the figures coming in the Gashapon Senshi Forte part 12 line-up which is slated for release in August. This has me a bit confused because the last time I put some Senshi Forte news on here we were receiving promo pictures of the Deathscythe Hell and the Serpent but perhaps those are supposed to come later down the road (or the set is going to be six figures... I have no clue). While I must admit to not exactly being super excited to get yet another line-up of UC 0079 figures (we have them in MicroWars right now) but they will definitely go nicely with the GM and the Z'Gok slotted for Senshi Forte volume 11.

We saw the Exia hinted at for Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 15 and here we have a prototype shot together with the Dynames, both of which will apparently be released in the same set. I don't know why there is also beautiful this shot of the TR-6 [Inle] mobile armor, which was originally a component of the massive 15000 yen EX 09 RX-124 figure. Are they planning to reissue this gargantuan set in pieces?

In other news Mobile Suit Ensemble Part 14 is now released in Japan. It is a set very heavily slanted towards alternate timeline Gundams but there is that sexy Zeta Plus figure in the mix. Hoping to land a couple of these before long.

Mobile Suit Gundam MicroWars SP

The MicroWars figure line was introduced a little bit over a year ago with its first set out in March 2019. A couple of sets followed but then it was quiet for a while and I wondered if that was going to be the end of it. Then Bandai revealed another three sets as the year was coming to an end. Since then a total of four regular sets have been released as well as the lot we are going to look today, which marks the first special ever for MicroWars.

At the time of writing MicroWars volume 5 which was supposed to be out this March has been pushed back to August due to the market disruptions everyone have suffered through. I guess this means the figures were not manufactured before the close down unlike some other Gashapon released that were successfully released during the market upheaval.

MicroWars SP repurposes four already released figures and gives them some new colour schemes, mostly of the Real Type variety which is perhaps not that interesting as say a custom suit would be but let's see how it all turned out. The set is currently fairly easy to find and not as expensive as you may have expected, currently sitting around ¥1500 on the market.
  

01 : RX-78-2 Gundam (Real Type Color Ver.)

The first figure in the set is the first ever Gundam figure of the line and it comes in spiffy real-type colours. This translates to a semi-military looking garb in olive and black with enough coloured detail to make it a bit more appealing.

If you have been following the MicroWars figure line this set will not hold any surprises for you. There are no new sculpt details, gimmicks or even gear choices. The articulation points look more interesting than they really are, but if you are fine with this you will find much to enjoy about this fine figure.

While the figure may be the same as before, I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the components come pre-separated in plastic bags. Compare this to the old figure which came with sprues from which you would have to grab the arms and legs. You still have to deal with sprues when it comes to the other figures in this set but hey, at least it is something. Notice also the horrible wrap-around stickers intended for the feet. I just ignore them and paint the area with a marker pen since these decals are nothing but a pain.

Since this SP set consists of four mobile suits instead of a the typical MicroWars line-up of three mobile suits and two support craft we also get the corresponding pilot figure directly with the MS which is a nice gesture. For me personally I really did not mind that there are three pilot figures lumped together with a tank or similar as this is great for army building... ;)

A quick comparison of the original Gundam figure and the new real type color version. I think this new figure is a worthy addition to the MicroWars line-up, a bit more than the GM and Zaku II as we shall see.
   

02 : RGM-79 GM (Real Type Color Ver.)

The Real Type Color GM was seen fairly recently in the Mobile Suit Ensemble 2.5 alternate color set and it felt really forced already back then. Basically this is your average GM with a few really discrete colour swaps but the MicroWars figure features even less of these than the Mobile Suit Ensemble figure did so I can't say I am very impressed with it even though I didn't expect anything from it to be honest.

I don't really know why, but I somehow expected the SP figures to come with preprinted markings directly on the plastic. Instead we get these cheap Universal Unit style decal sheets but at least the colour accuracy isn't fairly decent here, the marking 24 doesn't look completely out of place like on some of the UU figures. You will notice that I painted the feet with my regular marker pen so they are of the classic bright red variety rather than the more muted colour of the real Type GM but I honestly couldn't care less as far as this figure is concerned.

It would have been nice if Bandai had produced some new accessories for this SP set like a couple of Beam Sabers for the Feddies and the (already existing) Zaku Bazooka for the Zeonic forces. This would have given you more opportunity to mix and match gear with the regular figures (which you no doubt already own if you were interested in grabbing the SP figures in the first place).

The differences between the regular and the Real Type GM are as you can see not much to write home about. As an alternative Bandai may well have opted for the classic cyan rather than white coloured fuselage that we see on some of the old GMs. Just imagine if they would have gone bonkers with a black and white White Dingo version instead, I'd have bent over backwards to grab those. :)

Both the Real Type Color Gundam and GM come with the standard orange mobile suit pilot figure we have seen before in the series and I really appreciate that. Some may have preferred Amuro Ray's white colour figure with the Gundam but personally I have enough of those and would prefer regular pilots any day of the week. Still, white figures are easy to find a use for but what to do with all those red Char Aznables... :)

Real Type Color or not, a GM is always a GM and can you really have too many of those? I just formed a second platoon.
   

03 : MS-06F Zaku II (Real Type Color Ver.)

The second figure in this set that I also think misses the mark here is the Real Type Color Zaku II. And when I say miss the mark I mean that there are so many things you can do with a Zaku II that a Real Type version almost feels like a waste of resources.

While there is nothing wrong with the Real Type Zaku II it is perhaps even less exciting than the GM when it comes to colour variation compare to the original. The main standouts are some brown colour apps where the regular figure is dark green and then you have two stickers to apply. The large one goes on the shoulder shield and since that is a big flat surface it has some chance to survive on there. When it came to the "06" marking for the left knee I painted the knee with a black marker and then cut out the immediate area around the number to avoid having to deal with a wrap around decal that I just know will cause problems down the road.

The Bandai Zaku II figure is generously including optional heads with and without commander antenna as well as both a Zaku Machine Gun and the Heat Hawk close combat weapon. Still, to get your hands on the Zaku Bazooka you need Char's Custom Zaku II figure which was released in comparatively small numbers as part of MicroWars volume 1, making it the rarest of all the MicroWars figures ever released.

As I said before, I don't know why Bandai enjoy the Real Type Color figures as much as they do. We've recently seen it both in Gundam Converge and Mobile Suit Ensemble, I guess it is one of those figures that are somewhat cheaper to produce to offset against pricier figures like the Gundams.

The Zaku II and the Z'Gok figure in this set recycle the bog standard Zeonic mobile suit pilot figure in dark green. These are great and always in short supply.

While I may not be super-invested in the Real Type Color GM and Zaku II figure they are both great for building a second platoon, the Zaku II even more so because of its few but appreciated option parts.
   

04 : MSM-07 Z'Gok (Mass Production Type)

Now, the figure that really had me salivating when this set was first announced is the seemingly unspectacular mass production type Z'Gok. When MicroWars volume 3 was revealed I was a bit sad that it contained Char's red Z'Gok since we already have him cropping up in a Zaku II and a Sazabi as well. There is no incentive to army build such a figure and I think it would have been a better candidate for this SP set but hey, at least now we have both versions available. I guess I can repaint my superfluous red Z'Goks in Zeon Remnant green sometime down the line (but I'll wait until the figure line is done just in case Bandai decides to do another SP version of the Z'Gok...).

Unlike the other figures here this is just a simple colour-swap. This is also the only mobile suit in this set to come straight out of the original anime and so is immediately recognizable and good to go. I still don't know why the designers have made the MicroWars Z'Gok so small, I feel it could have benefitted from a couple more millimeters to better intimidate the GM.

The Z'Gok comes without any accessories but in return it has the most annoying decal sheet. Just do yourself a favour and work it over with a black pen instead of trying to fiddle around with the tiny decals. If you are the sort of person to have the patience to build a proper model kit you should go straight for a HG kit instead anyway. :)

Alright, now we're cooking. This line-up is really making me happy and when the Z'Goks are joined by Acguys in MicroWars 5 this aquatic army is going to be formidable indeed.

The Z'Gok has the easiest access to the cockpit but in return it also comes without an articulated head. Actually, some of the MicroWars figures can be a bit finicky when it comes to you placing the pilot figurine inside. Available space can be really cramped in some of the mobile suits such as the GM for example.

   
Conclusion

While the MicroWars SP set might not be the most awe-inspiring of the MicroWars releases out there it does a good job of bringing some variety to your collection, especially if you like me aren't too excited with the Unicorn and Char's Counterattack-era figures and prefer the U.C. 0079 period. The main reason to get the set is in my opinion the Mass Production Type Z'Gok but I have so far not seen any of these figures sold one by one so buying a full set now while they are still readily available is probably the way to go.