Gunpla #43 - HGGO GM Guard Custom Review

The first GM ever recreated in the Origin gunpla line, this kit didn't have any appearances in the OVA, but mentioned much on the Origin MSV manga (Cucuruz Doan's Island), thus many people probably don't know much about it. Thanks to the engineering marvel of HG Origin line, this mobile suit is finally released, with tremendous details than ever before.

By appearance alone, this is arguably one of the most beautiful HG kits ever released by Bandai. The color separation and details are top notch. The stickers on this kit are pleasant to the eyes and blend so well with the colors. The blue-white color theme is just well-put to match the original gundam local type of the federation. Unfortunately, the amazing color separation was not 100% perfect because of the use of foil sticker on some parts such as chest vents, knees and shins (I eventually painted them). Nevertheless, the aesthetics of this kit IMHO is on par with RG kits.

Giant shield and great waist articulation

GM Guard Custom comes with a standard beam spray gun, a pair of beam daggers and a giant guardian shield, so big it covers almost entire parts of the mobile suit. The cool thing is, beam dagger effect parts could be mounted on the arm guards or attached on their hilts, providing many posing options. The articulation and gimmicks of this kit is amazing, especially the waist. It utilizes pretty same joint system with HG revive kits (e.g. HGUC GM Ground Type), which allows the crouching movement of the torso for more natural poses. The scope on the head could also move up and down. Cool!!

Anyway, this kit has several flaws which are ironically resulted from its beautiful aesthetics. Firstly, the part separation of front skirts looks great, but it prevents much of skirts' articulation because the tips of black parts collide with the crotch. The biggest flaw however, is the hands of this kit. It only has 2 standard hands and 1 trigger right hand. Since the guardian shield is so big and heavy, the hands should be strong to handle it. The hands of this GM on the other hand, are totally lousy because they are constructed on just two parts (as comparison, HGUC kits' hands usually have three parts). This makes the hands keep falling over and over again whenever we try to put them together with the shield. With some tricks of course, you could still make the GM holding the shield in many badass poses. Another bad thing is the back part of the shield is not color accurate (it should be dark grey, instead of blue).

Cool poses time!

Due to its use of beam daggers, this GM doesn't have any beam sabers. The good thing is, the backpack still has connections/plugs similar with Gundam FSD/Local Type, hence we can put beam sabers and shoulder cannon from HG origins Gundam kits on this GM. The back skirt also has a plug should you want customization, allowing more option for kitbashing. That's pretty slick.

Equipped with Gundam FSD's beam saber and shoulder cannon

The verdict, this kit is awesome, arguably the best GM design and one of the best HG of all time. Of course, there are flaws, but they should be compromised considering it's a HG with less than 2000 yen price tag. If you are a GM fan, you should definitely get this kit.
       

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RGM-79HC GM Guard Custom

Pros:

• Aesthetically, it's one of the most beautiful HG kits ever made
• Great articulation, especially the waist, really easy to pose
• Compatible with backpack weapons of HG Origin's gundam FSD/Local type.

Cons:

• The use of foil sticker for some part separations
• Weak hands vs heavy shield
• Limited articulation of front skirts 

         

Gunpla #42 - HGUC Jegan Type-D (Escort Type) Review

I love Jegan. It's definitely one of the best, and probably the most diverse grunts in Gundam universe, alongside Zaku and GM series. Anyway, the Jegan I would like to talk about this time is the most recent variant which made cameo in MS Gundam Narrative (NT) OVA, the Jegan Type-D (or D-type?) Escort type (let's call it Escort Jegan from now). The kit was finally released as a p-bandai exclusive in January 2019, two months after the movie screening in Japan. As cool as it might look like, this mobile suit ironically didn't have much action time after got blasted by the (outdated) Dijeh in the movie. But who cares? It still the Jegan, and Jegan is always cool!!

Upper Torso

It may look obvious that HGUC Escort Jegan is basically a retooled version of HGUC Jegan ECOAS type which I've reviewed in the past, thus, I would not talk much about stuffs such as articulation because they are basically the same kit. Of course, there are new stuffs (and sadly, missing stuffs) with this kit.

With everything it brought with

To start, let's talk about the new stuffs. This Jegan gets a brand new COOL head which has never been seen in any previous Jegans. It looks very similar with Jesta, or rather Gernsback from Full Metal Panic. Another new stuffs is the new COOL chest armor. In contrast with Jegan ECOAS chest armor which was quite 'meh' IMHO, the new armor has more details with the 'rib-bones' patterns. This new armor looks like a kevlar vest and it makes Escort Jegan has more robust chest than any Jegans. Finally, this kit comes with a brand new COOL short-machine gun. These COOL new stuffs make this kit looks more militaristic than ever.

As with Jegan ECOAS type, Jegan Escort also gets Jegan beam rifle, a shield, a bazooka, 3 hands (2 standards, 1 right trigger), 2 beam saber effects (long and short) with additions of extra spare parts to make other Jegan heads (normal, Type-D and ECOAS), as well as ECOAS chest armor, waists, crotches and a 'runner handler'. With all new stuffs, this Jegan is basically an upgraded version of Jegan ECOAS type.

Now, let's talk about the bad stuff about this Jegan. Firstly, no marking stickers as the ECOAS version. I don't know why, but the latest HGUC kits I bought (Sinanju Stein, Gustav Karl and this Jegan) don't include marking stickers at all. That's pretty lame. Another bad thing is (as always) foil sticker for part separation, and there are lots of them for the chest armor, and waist section of the kit. Eventually, I chose for not using any foils and just painted the part with grey color. For the lacks of marking, I finally used custom water slide decals to add more details with the kit. The articulation of Jegan Escort is definitely same with ECOAS type. Good thing is the (left) hand could grab the gun handle for making a natural pose as seen in the movie.

The verdict, this Jegan is a nice addition to HGUC line, especially for Jegan. It's totally cool, comes with new parts, and with price lower than 2000 yen, it's well worth the money. Should you buy it? If you're a Jegan's fan, you should not miss it.

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RGM-89D-ESC Jegan Type-D (Escort Type)

Pros:

• New parts for head, chest armor and gun
• Comes with many extra parts (as Jegan ECOAS type)

Cons:

• No marking stickers
• Lots of foils. Paints needed for better end results.

Gunpla #41 - RG Tallgeese II Review

I have a bunch of P-bandai RG kits piling up on my backlog. Anyway, it is eventually the Tallgeese II  (TG2) who got the honour to be built first. Out of the three versions of Tallgeese, TG2 is my second favorite, after the Tallgeese III, of course, and I've anticipated this release soon after Bandai announced the Tallgeese Endless Waltz (TGEW) version. Many people argue that TG2 is simply a recolor of the original TGEW, and I quite agree with them. Therefore, many aspects of this review are more about the new things TG2 offers, that could not be found on the retail release.

With everything it brought

The construction was pretty much the same with TGEW, except for the head. The part separation of the head is breathtaking and annoying as well because of the tiny size of the parts (even the red "cry" under the eyes is a separate part). TG2 is equipped with an extra "hands" for its famous pose in the anime. Other new things is the decal sticker special for TG2 and the figure of Treize Khushrenada.

See the special hands? They are on the second to the left.

TG2 markings decal sticker

In contrast with the predominant white of TGEW, TG2 has blue for most of its parts. The color separation is not so clear with TG2 compared to TGEW, but I think there are two kinds of blue, the first is glossy blue, and the second is semi-glossy, slightly darker blue. As the yellow parts of TGEW, they are replaced with the white on TG2. The frame and Dobergun colors are slightly lighter than TGEW. In my opinion, while TGEW has better color separation, TG2 is better for its vibrant blue base color.

Since TG2 is basically a recolor of TGEW, the latter has the same articulations and gimmicks with the former, and due to many TGEW reviews out there, I will not tell much about it. In general, the articulation is amazing (of course) and solid for an RG kit. I have so much fun posing this guy, especially for playing with its thrusters on the backpack.

As mentioned above, TG2 has an extra-special hands for performing a pose from the anime (see below), which is probably difficult to do with the original TGEW's open hands.

The decal sticker quality is basically similar with TGEW, and because the base color of TG2 is dark blue, the decal film is more noticeable than its retail counterpart. Probably, a flat top coat is needed to conceal the film.

Now the verdict. Should you buy this p-bandai kit? Well, if you're a big fan of Tallgeese series, I recommend you to get it. By the looks only, TG2 is more badass than the original TGEW (just look at its mean gundam face). Otherwise, you should stay away from this kit since it's basically a recolor of the original with few modifications.

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OZ-00MS2 Tallgeese II

Pros:

• New head, decals, figure and special hands for posing
• Great articulation, fun to pose

Cons:

• Basically a recolor of TGEW.
• Sticker's film is more noticable than TGEW

Gunpla #40 - HGUC Gustav Karl (Unicorn Ver.) WIP and Review

Gustav Karl is one of my favorite grunts in the UC timeline. Designated as the true successor of Jegan series, this large mobile suit shortly made cameos in Unicorn and Narrative anime movie, ironically, just as a mere cannon fodder in the hands of Jesta and (the outdated) Dijeh. Nevertheless, the blocky and bulky design never cease to amaze me. Therefore, I was so happy and hyped when Bandai announced they would release it in HGUC line. Anyway, does this kit really worth the hype and expectation? 

The box was quite big and heavy, don't ask me why. The box art is pretty badass, well ... at least it shows Gustav Karl is ready for action before Jesta grabbed it on the face and sliced its arm from the back lol. The zeta plus in the background though .. One side of the box shows some poses of Gustav Karl, while another one tells a brief history about the mobile suit.

One of the runners. Now, that's a big chunk of plastic we have here. And hey, that's the foil sticker. Not many, which is a good sign. Let's open the package.

The contents are: two identical E plates (black), one D plate (black), one A plate (white, grey, red and pink visor), one polycap runner, one B1 plate (grey), one C1 plate (dark blue), B2 and C2 plates, which contain some pair parts from B1 and C1 plates, beam sabers and foil sticker. Unfortunately, no marking sticker which made me a little bit dissapointed (why Bandai?). And finally, a manual. Based on the name plates on the runners, this is completely a new kit. No rehashed or retooled from previous ones (like Jegans, GM etc.) which made me could not resist the urge to build it as soon as possible.

Main body construction. I've built many feddies grunts in the past like Jegans, Jesta, GM etc, and I can tell that this one is totally different from them. There is something new.

The main body completed. Finally I figured it out. This kit does not use policaps for neck, waist and shoulder joints. It uses parts from PS runners D and E as joints. Interesting.

Three sexy thrusters on the back.

Big shield. Now, the joint on it is not a polycap either.

The shield is then connected to the main body. So all joints on the torso don't use policaps at all.

The head construction was pretty standard. There are 3 foils for the forehead sensor, back head sensor and tip of antenna. I discarded the foils on the antenna because I prefer painting it later.

Upper limbs, which were constructed individually. Only the left arm contains grenade launcher. This time, polycaps were used for the hand joints.

The grenade launcher pod could be open and close. No parts swapping here. This is a really good detail and gimmick rarely found on a HG kit.

The head and upper limbs are connected to the torso. He looks badass.

The shoulder joints could move in and out for wider range of movement. They also could move upward pretty far. Nice.

The biggest plastics of this kit go for the legs. There are 4 thrusters on each of them. There's also something interesting about these legs.

A completed leg. So thicc! Foil stickers also used for panel sides of each calves which I discarded for painting.

Another interesting thing of this kit: the legs could be extended by moving the thigs upward, while back of the calves move downward. This makes the legs could bend even further. See the difference from previous images?

The lower torso and a bigass back skirt.

Completed waist and lower torso. There are 2 beam saber racks on the side skirts which could be opened. Nice.

The completed body and size comparison with recently release HGUC Sinanju Stein and P-Bandai Jegan D-type escort. It is so obvious that Gustav Karl is so big compared to a typical HG kit.

The main weapon of Gustav Karl is a standard Jegan beam rifle, which is in my opinion, really 'lame' compared to the bulkiness of the mobile suit. Therefore, I planned giving him a much bigger gun to suit the mobile suit. The choice then went to Dom's Raketen Baz of Builder Parts System Weapon 006.

There are two types of Bazooka that could be chosen, and I went to longer one. The parts should be assembled first and as expected, Gustav Karl's hand is perfectly suited with the handle.

Now, he looks much more badass with that bazooka. I also added some custom water decals for more detailed looks. Next, posing time!!

The kit has 2 standard hands for holding beam sabers, and 1 trigger right hand for beam rifle. Unfortunately, the trigger hand could not hold the rifle tightly, makes it quite wobbly. Another accessories is a long shield joint for enabling the shield to be positioned forward and beside the body. 

The color separation of this kit is great. The articulation is also nice. It only lacks accessories, but I don't complain much because it is a HG kit. Another good thing is the price. I got it for less than 2000 yen at Biccamera. That is a really good price for a giant kit like this.

One of the interesting things of this kit is the lack of polycaps used for the joints of the torso. This might be good ... or bad. Good thing is, the PE plastic parts are stronger than polycaps, thus the former could withstand the weakening through time as usually suffered by latter. However, the polycaps are well-known for its elasticity and durability to withstand pressure, and that's why they are commonly used as joints in the first place. I notice the joints were starting to become loose after posing the kit several times, probably due to the weight of the bulky plastics. Anyway, this should be easy to fix later.

The conclusion is, despite the lack of accessories this is a really great kit. Good articulation, gimmicks, color separation and nice price. Really recommended.

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FD-03 Gustav Karl (Unicorn Version)

Pros:

• Beautiful aesthetics, nice color separation
• Nice articulation, even though with the absence of polycaps for the torso 
• Interesting gimmicks for legs, shoulder and grenade launcher
• Good price

Cons:

• Lack of accessories and marking sticker
• Lack of polycaps makes the joints loose after extensive posings