Everybody loves Char Aznable. This shrewd and calculating young man upholds an air of reason and camradiere almost appearing compassionate, yet at the same time broods on injustices done to his family while plotting his revenge, playing out the two warring factions of the war against each other. He was so popular in fact, that his archetype has been recycled many times through the various Gundam series. I guess you can say he is the Darth Vader of Mobile Suit Gundam.
This fact has not been lost on the business world of Japan. You can find anything from credit card holders and mugs, to sneakers and cars in special Char Aznable editions. The colour? Why, red of course. A license to make Char related stuff is like a license to print money, and so Bandai also likes to make use of it from time to time. And halfway through the nasty year of 2020 two Premium Bandai Converge sets were announced, with Char at the center. I haven't seen any particular reason for why these sets were released at this time but they should add some much needed cash into the coffers of the corporation for sure.
This set, affectionately called the trail of the Red Comet, recycles four previously released Converge #Sharp figures. They have had the typical Converge CORE makeover with dubious unit markings added for the heck of it and some colour tweaking. More interesting is the fact that the figures are also getting new accessories. You can think of this box-set as a spiritual successor to the original Operation Revive Premium Set which operated on a similar premise. The trail of the Red Comet is listed as CORE 022 and began shipping in August 2020. The P-Bandai price was ¥3900 and I paid ¥4500 on the secondary market myself in October so the price hasn't gone completely wild just yet.
MS-06S Zaku II (Char's Custom)
Listed in chronological order the set starts out with the good ol' Zaku II from the U.C. 0079 Mobile Suit Gundam era. This mobile suit was ironically quite rare in the first years that Converge operated, and the original figure was quite hard to find and a bit expensive. Since then the range has been inundated with various iterations of the Zaku II to the point that it is easier to build a red Zaku II army than a green one.
This version of the MS-06S comes in bright pinkish red colours that do not necessarily improve on the original figure, having said that the colours of Char's Zaku II figures tend to be all over the place in between different figure series. This figure also has unit markings indicating it belongs to the Falmel - Char's Musai-class cruiser - which for some reason have mysteriously vanished from the mobile suit in the laundry in between
The Origin and
Mobile Suit Gundam...
The Zaku II comes with a generous selection of weapon with beautifully sculpted and painted trigger finger hands for each weapon type. The figure also retains the swiveling monoeye which I didn't bother tampering with here.
Posing with the optional equipment. The original figure came with a Zaku Bazooka and a Zaku Machine Gun so the Heat Hawk is a brand new accessory for this figure. Too bad it isn't available for the green mass production type Zaku II since it would make army building that figure type a bit more interesting. Perhaps if the upcoming League Militaire Gun-Ez army pack proves successful enough Bandai will consider something similar for the Zaku II.
Here you can compare the new incarnation of the Zaku II both with its retail counterpart from Converge #09 as well as the significantly larger Origin version Zaku II from Converge #02 (and
the limited Origin Full Weapon Spec metallic colour version). The retail version of the Zaku II is very show accurate in appearance but I really wish it was bigger.
MS-14S Gelgoog (Char's Custom)
In U.C. 0079 the Gelgoog is an unsung hero of the Principality of Zeon. Forget all useless mobile armor and Psycommu experiments, how about a fast and agile mobile suit with excellent beam weaponry? As long as you don't stick around and get hit, that is. However, it was unfortunately introduced too late in the war to make a real difference. And speaking of introductions, I am still waiting for Bandai to announce that it will finally be included in the MicroWars range - don't you dare folding this line before its arrival!
The updated Gelgoog shares the same design philosophy as the new Zaku II figure; a more intense pink and red colour scheme and a lot of bogus markings although they are more freeform here. The end result is really appealing though, especially the shield looks really great. Perhaps a little of the recolouring budget could have gone to the target designator scope on the beam rifle. Bandai is really hit and miss with this; many of the premium version RX-78 figures for example will omit this detail while other less exclusive variants will have it painted yellow.
The Gelgoog originally shipped with only a beam rifle although this version receives a very nice Beam Naginata with translucent blades. I wouldn't have minded seeing an optional bazooka choice either, perhaps once day Bandai will release the blue Gelgoog of the African Liberation Front with its nice bazooka option so that we can convert some of the mass production type figures. I actually had plans to do a custom Gelgoog armed with a Beam Naginata stolen from a Strategy of Gundam 1/300 figure, you can see some pictures of that idea in the original review of Converge #08
here.
The shield can also be attached to the figure's back. Notice that the peg is shaped so that the shield can only fit in this particular way (without modification).
Again the retail figure has a more restrained colour palette more in line with the mobile suit's appearance in the television series.
MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki
This gold colour mobile suit was piloted by Char during the Gryps Conflict of U.C. 0087-0088 under his strange alias Quattro Bajeena (often inadvertently funnily spelled Vageena by various toy companies by the way...). The machine was developed by the mighty Anaheim Electronics group who was secretly backing the Anti Earth Union Group and would later go on to develop the Zeta Gundam mobile suit range.
The appearance of the new Hyaku Shiki figure is very close to the retail version; the special markings aren't that prominent and the base colour is almost exactly the same. Notice how both of the fins on my figure came out bent directly from the packaging. The materal used is quite soft and perhaps the fins would have benefitted from another material choice.
The original Hyaku Shiki figure comes armed with both a Beam Rifle and a Clay Bazooka. This new version adds a beautiful Beam Saber to the armament range. A brand new hand to hold it was also required since the basic figure only has a trigger finger hand option.
Both the Beam Rifle and the Clay Bazooka can be stored on the figure's back when not in use. It is a nice touch although they will usually fall off at the slightest touch.
Apart from the revised equipment set the biggest difference between the retail and the P-Bandai Hyaku Shiki is that the mobile suit insignia visible on the shoulders is now more expressive and in line with what it should really look like. The new Beam Saber is the highlight for me.
MSN-04 Sazabi
Char's last ride was the heavy Sazabi which took the battlefield in U.C. 0093 as depicted in the trainwreck movie that is Char's Counterattack. This is one of the few mobile suits that I think Bandai and FusionWorks kind of dropped the ball on as they went through the Converge #sharp resculpting, as the Converge representation does not have that aura of might around it anymore. I think it is the oversized head that doesn't quite work. I'd be really curious to see what a Converge #Plus version of the Sazabi would look like.
Aesthetics aside this new version of the Sazabi retail figure looks great. It has a bright red metallic touch to it which is not as glaring as that old CORE metallic color version (see below). The special markings attached to this figure are not as obvious as on the other mobile suits in this set and work better in my opinion.
Besides the Long Beam Rifle and sexy Beam Saber already present in the original retail release the Sazabi has now also been equipped with its shotgun style Beam Shot Rifle which can be held by the hand designed for the Beam Saber. The previous Long Bream Rifle could only be held in a carrying position.
Both of the original two accessories do look more spectacular than the new rifle but it is good to get an additional option and since there are three different iterations of this figure on the market already we can now display them all. :)
Lined up here are the retail Sazabi from Converge #01 (from December 2015, my goodness, has it been five years since the reboot already?), the over-the-top shiny metallic color version CORE figure from April 2017 and the new figure from this year. Notice that the new figure has an enlarged Char logo on the front skirt as well as gold detail on the thrusters at the front.
This set pairs exceptionally well with the red RX-78 that was released in tandem as CORE 023. In a way I can see why Bandai would want to keep Casval's Gundam (and very rare red Core Fighter) separate from the official canonical Red Comet Trail pack. It probably makes sense also from a marketing point of view, I'd wager that many customers opted to pick up the RX-78 only, since it is the only new mobile suit of the lot (and thus priced more aggressively...).
Conclusion
The Trail of the Red Comet set is a really nice pack but if you already have these mobile suits in your collection I think it can be safely skipped on. Unless you have a craving for the new weapons choices (the beam effect parts in particular are rather nice) or just enjoy excessive markings on figures in general you will quickly find that the retail versions of these figures are not only just as competent but also more show accurate. Spend your money on something you do not already have in the collection instead.
