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REVIEW:
THE NEW G-GUNDAMS Finding new G-Gundams of
late has not been an easy endeavor. In fact to get the newest ones I
had to resort to finding them online. I honestly don't know why these
Gundams have yet to appear in the stores for the most part. I find it
profoundly disappointing for several reasons: The toys are excellent,
probably one the best action figures on the market (in my opinion) at
present; the G-Gundam animated series is probably the most "kid-friendly"
of the various Gundam series, some of which tend to be intense enough
to wind up on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" late night block
instead of the late afternoon "Toonami" block where G-Gundam
is appearing; and frankly, this is a line that I would like to see have
a long and healthy run in the toy stores, but it's not going to get
that if the toys never show up! I don't know if Bandai Even the online stores have trouble keeping this stuff in stock when it shows up. The first allotment that showed up online went so fast that I didn't even have a chance at it. When I heard another shipment had arrived, I was pointing-and-clicking so fast you would've thought I'd turned a woodpecker loose up here. And the newest entries in the G-GUNDAM line are really cool. Here's a basic review of them:
MASTER GUNDAM HYPER MODE:
A few of the Gundams in the G-Gundam concept have a "Hyper Mode"
which causes them to turn gold in color and increases their abilities.
Given that the Gundam figures are made from a flexible plastic, doing
any sort of gold chrome would not be feasible, but they do manage several
different shades of a metallic gold. The Master Gundam is one of the
prominent "bad guys" in the G-Gundam concept. His normal mode,
which comes with a robotic horse, looks extremely menacing and is predominantly
black and dark blue in color with red trim and wings. The gold version
somehow looks no less dangerous despite being more mono-chromatic. It
doesn't come with SHINING GUNDAM HYPER MODE:
Same deal here. Another gold colored version of a previously-released
figure. At least if Bandai is going to do repaints, they have the decency
to do ones that exist in these forms within the show, I'll give them
that. They put the "battle" head (for lack of a better term)
as
MUMMY GUNDAM: Representing
Neo-Egypt (duh!) and originally called the Pharaoh Gundam. This Gundam
was featured in what was one of the stranger and creepier episodes of
the series. It seems that this Gundam was actually piloted by a mummy,
who was supposedly the "spirit" of the original pilot, who
was defeated in a previous Gundam tournament by the grandfather of the
current pilot of the Dragon Gundam, Neo-China's Mobile Fighter. Given
that the present pilot for Neo-China is a kid who according to official
reports is sixteen but looks and sounds more like twelve and sometimes
acts like
SCIMITAR GUNDAM: Representing
Neo-Turkey. This here is a very cool Gundam with a predominantly light
blue color scheme and a whopping big curved sword. I've heard that the
sword has a tendency to droop, but I haven't unpacked this accessory
yet and as such I can't comment on it. I think somebody's SHADOW GUNDAM: Representing Neo-Germany. A rather slender-looking Gundam that makes one wonder how it could stand up in a fight against bulkier opponents, until you realize from the animated series that this Gundam -- and its pilot -- not only have some sort of remarkable stealth ability, but that the pilot, a masked mystery man named Schwarz Bruder, has martial arts abilities that would likely make Storm Shadow from the G.I.Joe line take one look and decide to get some reinforcements before messing with this guy. As of this writing, he's just introduced himself to the core group of Gundams, and their pilots, that are aware of the plot to take over the world or whatever on the part of the mysterious Dark Gundam and its pilot. He may prove to be an ally, but in this show, you never know. The toy isn't as richly detailed as some, but it's still very cool. It's also worth pointing out that this figure has the double-jointed articulation in its elbows and knees, a comparative rarity among Gundam toys, but appropriate, given the martial arts prowess of this particular Gundam and its pilot.
ASURA GUNDAM: Representing Neo-Singapore and definitely falling into the category of "What the heck were they thinking?!". This toy not only needs a fair amount of assembly when you get it open, but the final result has six arms! I'll give Bandai credit. Not only are all of them fully articulated, but you can switch out their hands, and all six arms and both legs have a double-jointed articulation that has not seen extensive use in the Gundam toys. The only one I can think of offhand was an advanced version of the RX-78 Gundam from the Mobile Suit Gundam line. Getting back to the Asura Gundam, the figure has a slightly smaller head then most, but that's probably so he doesn't knock his own block off flailing those fists around. If I'm reading the instructions right, it can also be transformed into a scorpion-like creature, but I think I'm going to leave well enough alone. As of this writing, the Asura Gundam has yet to appear in the series, but I look forward to seeing it, and I pity the animator who had to deal with it. ZEUS GUNDAM with MOBILE CHARIOT:
Representing Neo-Greece. Let's hear it for comedic pompousity! I haven't
yet decided if this Gundam is really cool or really silly looking. It
certainly looks like a robotic version of what most people think the
Greek "god" Zeus might look like. It has a sort of reddish
That's about it, for now.
There are some reports of a handful of other Gundams turning up. The
package back to the carded Gundams I acquired through BBTS show pictures
of three others -- the ROYAL GUNDAM, HAOW GUNDAM, and NOBLE GUNDAM.
There are also reports of a non-G-Gundam item turning up, the GOUF CUSTOM
with DO-DAI II, from GUNDAM MS 08TH TEAM. Hopefully I will be
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