This is about the newest Gundam Generation; where the world faces rising fuel costs, political unrest, and the Gundam war on terror. Of course, there will be Gun-Pla!

It is the end of 2007, after nearly five years of living in the Cosmic Era of Gundam SEED, the Gundam Legacy enters its new age and one of its boldest steps since its beginning. Welcome to the age of Gundam 00, a time of rising fuel costs, intercontinental unrest, and the Gundam War on War on Terror.

Since its inauguration, each Gundam has been associated with its own Calendar. The Universal Century (UC) was the first Gundam calendar which spanned across its own legacy of generations from the One Year War (UC 0079) and beyond. In later years, Gundam branched into new “Alternate Universes” (AU) to separate stories from the time line of the Universal Century. These then took place in individual calendars: such as the After Colony (AC) table of Gundam W and the more recent Cosmic Era (CE) of Gundam SEED. The year 2007 of our calendar introduced the next Alternate Universe: Gundam 00. Unlike its predecessors 00 takes place in the Anno Domini or simply the “Real Calendar” in the year AD 2307, marking the first Gundam to take place in the post modern age. With that comes a much closer look at the times in our current history. Underneath the glisten and glamour of the idea of a Better Tomorrow, Gundam 00 sets itself with a strong political undertone that takes much of its material from the current geopolitical structure and gives a harsh realization of mankind’s future in a progressive and divided manner. Additionally, Gundam 00 is the first Gundam to be broken into two seasons separated over a long break period (much like Western television series), with Season 2 coming sometime towards the end of 2008.

In the late 23rd century, mankind has finally abandoned its hopes of Ethanol and Petroleum based forms of power and begun seeking the advantage of solar energy. Through Orbital Elevators set in strategic locations to collect and distribute this abundant energy source, technology has reached a peak of proto-space colonization. However not all countries can reap the benefits, these lesser known and forgotten countries are forced to either crumble or join with one of the main national groups: The Union formed mostly by the American continents, the Human Reform League of Eastern Europe and Asia, and the Western European and African colony group AEU. Because of the fragile nature of the orbital elevators, each nation refuses to trust one another and continue to exist in a stalemate of never ending conflict. In the year 2307, a paramilitary organization has presented itself in order to eliminate war through armed intervention. They are Celestial Being, and they will end war with force through the power of Gundam!

Four is the Lucky Number

The Gundams of 00 are shrouded in mystery, from their conception to construction. Celestial Being is an even greater mystery; formed nearly 200 years ago by the enigmatic Aeolia Schenberg. The earliest mystery surrounding the Gundams is the glistening particle emitted from their cores that blocks out communications dubbed “GN Particles” which can be compared to the UC’s “Minovski Particle.” The Gundams’ power sources are called the “GN-Drive” which is powered by the “Solar Furnace,” a perpetual if not nearly limitless energy source that once powered can sustain and continuously produce energy for the mobile suit to operate and enhances the mobile suit’s basic performance. While the true functions of how the GN-Drive works remain a mystery, it is clear that these superior engines make the Gundams more powerful and adaptive than the current state of mobile suit technology.

Gundam 00 follows the unwritten rule of the AU and introduced not just one, but multiple Gundams as their lead mobile suits. Unlike the previous chapters where there were five Gundams, 00 introduced four Gundams as the lead models. While past AU series make note of these being the first Gundams known to the world, it is revealed amongst Celestial Being members that these are the third generation models. Continuing the tradition of the multiple Gundams law, the Gundams each conform to a particular combat style:

GN-01 Gundam Exia: close quarters blade combat. piloted by Setsuna F. Seiei
GN-02 Gundam Dynames: long range sniper combat. piloted by Lockon Stratos
GN-03 Gundam Kyrios: transformable, aerial combat. piloted by Allelujah Haptism
GN-04 Gundam Virtue: heavily armored assault combat. piloted by Tieria Erde

The Gundam Exia is the current poster child of the 00 generation because of its role as the lead mecha up until now. Its dynamic shape complimented both by its unique arsenal of blades and the traditional Gundam color scheme helps to make it familiar and more acceptable to long time Gundam fans hesitant to accept Gundam 00 as a whole. The Exia is a real spectacle in motion. Compared to its siblings it is the most simplistic in design and is relatively under armed by being a Close Combat machine. Still, it lives up to its purpose in the hands of Setsuna F. Seiei.

More Things Change, the Color Stays the Same

Within weeks of 00’s premiere, Bandai had already rolled out the first wave of models based on the series’ machines in Low Grade and High Grade 1/144 scale kits and slowly begun filling the ranks with 1/100 scale kits, and pushing for 1/60 scale for the primary Gundams. Naturally, selecting a kit can be narrowed to simple choices of scale and execution of the design. So what better scale to get into than 1/100? In this review, we take a look at the first 1/100 scale kit of Gundam 00, the GN-01 Gundam Exia.

In plastic, the Exia comes molded in full color: white, blue, red, yellow, gray and clear parts. The clear parts are one of the unique features of the Gundam 00 mobile suit designs, used in the Gundams at important hard points which represent reservoirs for the Solar Furnace. The second design point is the arrangement of flat cables and soft plates in the Gundams set around their joints. These cables channel the power of the Solar Furnace through the Gundams as they activate “Trans-Am” mode where the suits exceed their limiters to their full potential.

Before the build I surveyed the most of the kit’s needed paint work, and much to my surprise there is very little need to paint parts in a color that does not exist in the current color pallet. As such, the Exia’s only demand for paint is black and gray for panels and filling in around some of the model’s hard points. The solar furnace disks (clear parts) have some room for creativity, by either painting under them or painting over them with a clear coat or metallic colors. In mine, I chose to paint the under side with a clear green coat, and a coat of Gunmetal (metallic black) where each disk lays. The result is a stable contrast of green with a glistening underside.

Constructing Intervention

The torso sports a range of the innovation and execution into the Exia’s agile shape. The central body is built around its Solar furnace, which takes up the bulk of the upper torso. Had it not been built sandwiching the main chest and waist assembly, the furnace almost presents itself as a whole kit. The basic design is almost like an aircraft turbine engine, minus the fan assembly. The rear section is a cone shape built outward. The base, solar cell ring and cone tip. From there the furnace is locked by a series of clasps which locks it into the back. On the front side, there is the round cell disk enclosed by a ring and covered by the outer armor cowling and cockpit hatch. In between the halves of the body are two of the rubber parts that fit into the arm pit and lock under the armor that fits around the waist. In the bottom of the torso there is a detail plate, a simple box shaped sheet of plastic that fits under the torso armor to block in the armor.

The Waist of the Exia is built according to the design’s minimalist form. Construction is simply a central block with pegs for the legs to connect, a front block with skirts, and a rear section. There is some paint work to be done on the front skirts, but there is really not much as building that is concerned here. The rear section however is constructed with a rolling bar with hinge mounts on it, to which a set of docks for the beam sabers are attached. This is one of the Exia’s unique action features that a pair of sabers mounted on its rear skirt can roll up and fold out to the sides for it to grab them.

The arms take into consideration a method of construction that has only been used in the 1/144 scale HGUC line and rarely done for anything in 1/100 scale outside of the Master Grade line: double hinged elbows. In a 1/100 scale, the model’s elbows have been faked using polycaps and a decorative ‘elbow sock’ to cover the polycap and bicep peg. Instead of that, the Exia’s elbow is a set of plates sandwiching two hinges, one with a peg to go into the bicep and the inner hinge block that goes into the forearm. This block in the forearm is also used as the docking point for the Exia’s weaponry and shield.

The bicep and shoulder armor are linked together by the rubber strip cable in a fashion that could be considered free floating. The shoulder armor is built around a plate hinge, this fits onto the shoulder block of the torso and then held down by the actual arm, but what unites both the armor and the arm is the cable itself, one end going into a groove in the arm a while the other fits into a block of armor on the inside edge of the shoulder armor. When completed, the arms have a significant range of motion, from the nature of the double jointed elbow to the separation in the shift of the arm rotation compared to its free floating shoulder armor.

Typical of the past few years, the hands of the Exia are simple open fists constructed in three parts: the fingers, palm, and backhand. There is one additional open palm hand for the left arm. Unlike the early entries from SEED the new hands connect together at an added point in the base of the palm rather than just the thumb and fingers region. This improves the stability and grip strength for the hands and makes them less likely to separate.

The legs of the Exia are particularly interesting form of engineering. The hip joint is a sphere shaped component with a cover plate (which is then removed and adjusted to dock its swords), which connects to the upper leg assembly consisting of a stable blend of underlying skeletal structure and outer armor construction. The upper portion of the leg is constructed as two square halves with a rubber plate laid into the front, with a long conjoining peg that locks it into the knee. The lower leg is built into the knee through the knee’s lower subassembly which is then covered by an outer layer of armor, and a rubber strip in the front that is neatly tucked into a groove in the inner leg which floats just above the outer armor layer. Continuing the trend of the kit, the legs also have reservoirs and such they are built into the knee armor.

The base build starts with the knee, as two large circular blocks come together and joins the upper and lower leg from within as a single unit rather than individual sections. The knee itself is rather large than the typical assembly has been in the past. According to the design, the knee is integrated into the lower leg, but is not locked in place. This allows for a greater range of flexibility and makes the Exia physically impressive. At the ankles, the Exia abandons the typical style of wrap-around ankle armor, and goes for a front guard with a rolling guard on the rear. The feet are also a combination of the classic style but done with a sort of ‘floating’ block for the upper portion of the foot, so there is a distinctive gap between the sections of the feet.

In the essence of ending conflict with conflict, each of the Gundams surpasses the typical load of weaponry to compliment the specialty of each machine. As sword combat is Exia’s field of focus; it has an assortment of cutlery at its disposal. As expected for a Gundam, the Exia comes packing beam sabers: four to be exact, built from two halves for each blade. These sabers are stored in docks on the back of the shoulder armor and the waist unit. To compliment the sabers’ versatility, the Exia comes with four clear beams in different lengths, two long beams and two short dagger beams. Unlike past entries, these are not the typical tube shaped sabers of past generations instead they follow 00’s style of a squared shape with smooth round edges. The end result is they conform to the grip of the Exia’s hands much better. Also, due to the extreme range of flexability, the Exia can be posed reaching for them more naturally than any other Gundam outside of the Master Grade line.

Exia’s additional arsenal consists of two ‘GN-Swords’ which are solid blade weapons set at two different lengths; a long blade and a short sword. While different in length, both share the same volume of parts: six pieces to form the grip, scabbard, and blade (the body with a fill-in strip for one side). The GN-Swords are then stored on the Exia’s hips. However as mentioned before, the swords requires two additional canister shaped parts that fit onto the outside of the hips. These added parts makes the Exia lose some of its flexibility unfortunately.

Clearly noticeable is Exia’s primary weapon, the GN-Blade, a large folding sword that runs a full arm’s length and mounts to the shield docked onto the right forearm. According to its design, the blade folds back and shifts underneath the shield. However to simplify the design in plastic, there is no secondary shifting, and the blade simply folds back at the hilt.

In addition to its swords, the Exia comes with a short shield which docks onto the left arm. Constructed in four parts; the back side, outer shell and two flairs on the sides with an added polycap on the back side which connects it to a docking mount. According to its design there is no grip or realignment points for it to move on. This makes the shield a single point mount with some rotation via a polycap socket in the back of the shield. There is relatively no impact on the Exia’s range of motion, and the shield makes a nice contrast to the GN-Blade on the right arm.

As a small bonus to the kit, Bandai has included a docking cradle to connect the Exia to their ‘Action Base.’ This has been an increasing trend as of late, where kits come with mounts for the base rather than coming with a base of their own. The Exia’s dock is a small ‘Y’ shaped piece fits on the under side of the Exia’s waist, and locks into a small groove between its legs. Although easy to miss in the Exia’s parts, it makes for a nice addition if one has the Action Base to go with it.

OVERALL

The Gundam Exia 1/100 scale kit is a nice introduction for the new generation of the Gundam franchise. From the execution of translating the design in plastic to its engineering, the Exia sports a few new design components and makes 00’s presence known in the hobby world. It shows incredible promise for what Bandai has in store for the future of the series and their next generation of models.

With the SEED Destiny television series over, a new chapter of Side-Stories for the Cosmic Era would reintroduce the Strike. In the new micro-series, Gundam SEED CE-73 Stargazer, new incarnations of the Strike, Duel, and Buster have emerged. In this review, I look at the first, the GAT-X105E Strike Noir Gundam.

Building a Better Mobile Suit, one series at a time.

In Gundam SEED, there was one mobile suit that got things going. No I don’t mean Freedom, I mean the Strike. Like the RX-78-2, the original Gundam, the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam reset the bar for standardized mobile suits, with optional weapon packs, a sleek exterior, the introduction of Phase Shift Armor, and for laughs I’m sure it had a cup holder in the cockpit. While the RX-78 brought us the friendly Federation cannon fodder GM (Gundam Mass produced), the Strike gave birth to a generation of not so friendly forces.

When it comes to mobile suit warfare, whoever has the best wins, or rather when not going against the main characters, in which case they win. In the long run, ZAFT had the mobile suit technology, and with enhanced physical and mental capacities of the Coordinators (biologically ‘superior’ humans) were able to operate them to their fullest potential. Along with the technology came the variety of suits: ranging from the mass produced Ginns, leader type Cigues, aquatic Goohns, aerial assault type Dinns and the quadruped, animal like Bacues for terrestrial warfare. The Alliance, on the other hand, whose armed forces comprised of Naturals (normal, unaltered humans) developed Mobile Armors, enhanced armored crafts like their Mistrals and Moebius class. While ZAFT built for elegance and strength, the Earth Alliance built for shear numbers and firepower with the development of the GAT series, starting with the mobile suits Duel, Buster, Aegis, Blitz and Strike.

My Gun’s better than Your Gun…

. When ZAFT stole them and developed their new dominating machines, the Freedom, Justice, and Providence, the Alliance built their own new models, the Raider, Calamity and Forbidden. However these were your out of standardized machines. While the limited series machines were impressive in battle, not everyone had a mobile suit. With the GAT-X105 Strike as the base model, the Alliance later developed their own mass production MS series, the Daggers. Unlike ZAFT mobile suits, the Daggers were not built for looks; no trim work, no fancy crown, not even a cup holder, however in the tradition of the Strike were capable of using a wide series weapon packs for any given situation.

Going into SEED Destiny, ZAFT extended their mobile suit arsenal with the ZAKU Warrior (a new incarnation of the classic MS-06 Zaku from the Universal Century) and the GOUF-Ignited (again, based on the UC classic MS-07 Gouf), and an array of new Gundam types; the Chaos, Gaia, Abyss, Impulse, Destiny, and Legend. The Alliance seemed pretty fit with the Dagger however a new variety of weapon packs would emerge like the Doppelhorn double barreled cannon. As response to ZAFT’s new artillery, the Alliance rolled out the Windam, a more dynamic looking but equally powerful machine that was a vast improvement on the Dagger concept.

…but what about Strike Gundam?

In the final episodes of Gundam SEED, the Strike Gundam was destroyed in a blaze of glory. Also casualties of the final episodes were GAT series Buster and Duel, although reparably damaged, they were finished. Sadly because going into Destiny, neither the Duel nor the Buster made a come back and the only Strike Gundam to be seen was the ‘Rouge’, personal machine of Cagali Atha. As a fan-pop, the original Strike did make a three minute cameo when the Rouge was commandeered by Kira Yamato so he could claim the Strike Freedom. Hence, the fate of the Strike was then left to the MSV department, being the basis for future ideas and concepts.

“Starlight, Star bright. First Stargazer MS Tonight”

With the SEED Destiny television series over, a new chapter of Side-Stories for the Cosmic Era would reintroduce the Strike. In the new micro-series, Gundam SEED CE-73 Stargazer, new incarnations of the Strike, Duel, and Buster have emerged. In this review, I look at the first, the GAT-X105E Strike Noir Gundam.

“A Black Gundam?!?” “Why not!? It worked in Blazing Saddles…”

The term noir is defined as the prototypical attitude, a shadow of mystery and the color black. That translates perfectly for this design and model. The Strike Noir comes as the first model of the new SEED serial. From their work in the SEED MSV line, it’s good to see that this machine comes in a high grade form rather than the static low grade form or an action figure assortment.

While called the Strike, this kit shares very little in common with its namesake. The torso is visually identical, shoulders have some common looks and the head’s shape is almost close. Considering this is a much darker, more advanced version of the classic machine, I’m not surprised how different this kit is. Also noted, is that while it is a new Strike, it does not recycle any parts of the original Strike HG kit.

Out of the box, the part come molded in their basic colors, black, yellow, red, gray, light gray, and dark gray. The yellow parts are almost a bright orange, nearly neon, so for sake of creativity, I painted gold (over a base coat of Yellow Zinc Chromate). There are several parts that come molded in one piece but need more than three tones, such as the shoulders front skirt, v-crest, and the face. The crest needs to be gray, yellow, and black but comes molded in the yellow plastic. An example of paint needs would include the shoulders: molded in black and needing to be red, dark gray, and yellow.

Moving onto the assembly; assembly for the head is the standard for SEED HG 1/144 kits, you have six parts; the crest, crest lock, face, chin, and helmet front and helmet back. As stated, the face needs paint and so does the crest. The face has a very deep cut to it, making the details much sharper and almost easier to paint. I explained to some friends wanting some help, that it’s smarter to work from the nose up. With the red paint done first, you can come back in and black out the eye areas with a detail pen and do a fine tipped touch up on the eyes last. The V-crest also has some touch up points such as micro tabs on the back side of the tips that you have the option of cutting off, I cut mine off and the crest looks measurably better because of that. The overall assembly of the head is much better than anything I’ve seen out of the SEE HG line in a while. The head is done in the scale without too much compression, keeping an even scale between the helmet and face.

The torso assembly is really something I could have expected from a 1/100 scale kit. The part count is well around thirteen, ten if you discount the polycaps. The part count includes the four parts for the basic body, two shoulder joints, and four more for the vent pieces and the gray frame pieces on the front. The shoulder points inside the upper chest are for the new ball socket shoulder pieces. The chest block’s cutout for the polycap neck is considerably wider than normal, giving the head a more dynamic range of motion, able to go forward or backwards much further. The vent pieces and the frame parts really surprised me about this kit, much like the other yellow parts that fit areas I had expected to need paint. Next to the chin, these vents are the smallest parts in the kit, dangerously small. Cutting them free from the runner I almost lost one in the confusion. Luckily it got stuck in my beard so no worries.

The arms of the Noir show signs of the original Strike but with some major modifications: a newly sculpted bicep, new forearm, and the extended fins on the shoulders. The forearm’s joint assembly is made for an extended flex range, making the fists nearly able to come up to the top of the shoulder at a full flex. As mentioned before, the arms connect to the torso via a ball socket, but unlike previous ball socket assemblies, the joining part for the arms and torso is a double ball stem. Having the ball socket on both ends, gives a really new feel to the arms. According to the Dalong resource site, the same assembly has been used in the ORB-01 Akatsuki model kit.

Paint is really required for the shoulder pieces. While the basic Frame points need a touch of gray, the extensions off the end need a serious paint job. The paint work is as followed: red on the underside, and yellow in these indentations on the sides. Since the part is molded in black, a base coat is needed for either work. For the red, I used the same gray I used to match the plastic was a flat coat, it made the red area easier to paint and without over coating. The yellow could work in the same fashion, but since I went with gold for the yellow areas, a splash of dull yellow worked even well.

The model comes with three pairs of hands and two sets of back guards. This comes as two closed fists, two gun hands, and two open palms. While the open hands have back guards permanently attached, the two weapon hand sets share one set of guards. It’s a short cut for part production and makes sense if you change hands for different weapons anyway. While the hands fit tight in the sockets of the forearm, they hold weapons very loosely. Considering the Strike Noir’s arsenal of pistols and sabers, this isn’t very good.

The waist is an entirely retooled idea of the original Strike and sets the standard for the new series. The skirts are sharper but identical to the Strike, but the side skirts are not compartments for folding daggers. Instead they are plates with docking crevices for the Noir’s pistols. The new waist has a swivel block for the legs to turn 30 degrees forward and backwards. This new assembly also has a detachable plate, this allows for the base stand included with the kit to hold the Noir via an insert peg.

A new stunt to kick of the Stargazer series in the Strike Noir is the front skirts. Fans of 1/144 High Grades will know that skirts come attached to one another. Normally front skirts come in single parts joined by a shaft that runs through the central block on the crotch. With some High Grade Universal Century and some of the SEED kits in 1/144 scale, Bandai has come up with a solution for advanced builders to take advantage of and make articulated skirts such as a thin wedge running along the midsection of the skirt shaft. With a skill saw and by cutting down the center, this wedge prevents the skirts from falling out and allows for articulated skirts. However none of that is here. Instead something new, already detached, ball tipped front skirts. The ball tipped neck for them to attach allows for dynamic adjustments when the legs are pushing the skirts out.

The legs of the Strike Noir show nothing in common with the Strike. With an entirely new design, the legs are sharper, more sturdy and dynamic in shape. The legs almost look identical to the legs of the Strike Dagger series. The lower legs have a good bit of assembly, the frame portions go down from the knee to the ankle and then the body armor attaches from the front, sides and rear. The amount of assembly adds weight and stability for the body. The feet are new, five part assemblies with the common three layer feet but with the new parts for detailing the ankle.

Weapons; no mobile suit or car is complete without an array of guns, blades spikes and other gadgets to make a body good. The Strike Noir’s back pack is a full arsenal pack. Almost like the Tactical Arms pack from the Astray Blue Frame Second L. The back pack is comprised of a set of wing blocks that rotate freely and can be turned up right and out to make something like the Mobile Suit Variation system called the IWSP. The IWSP was a popular concept of adding all of the Strike Gundam’s arsenal packs: Sword Striker, Launcher Striker, and Aile Striker into one. The Strike Noir’s tactical pack minimizes the features from all three into a more permanent assembly.

The first weapons in the tactical pack are the new short swords. These swords are on outer side of the pack and have rotating grips that look like little laser barrels. They detach by sliding up and popping out, also they come with short beam blades that can be attached to small ports on the edges for an activated mode. On the insides of the pack, there are two cannons. These guns swing around to the top of the wing housing for flight mode via a swing arm assembly. These cannons have remarkably small but detailed assemblies, to make its swing arms and outer casing. Like the vents on the chest, there are micro sized tabs that fit on the outside and smaller barrels that fit inside. The main bodies of each cannon unit have paint work to be done. With a red tab that needs color and a black fin. Word of caution however; while the cannon is mounted on swing arms, these swing arms are delicate and almost fragile due to the tight part on part friction.

The last bits of the Strike Noir’s arsenal include its pistols and anchor. The pistols are simple shell assemblies and make two guns. These pistols are simple but remind me of the “Lawgiver 2” from Judge Dredd. They fit into the gun hands loosely and fall out at the slightest shift, or they can dock into the hip skirts. The last part of the anchor is almost forgettable due to its size and use. It comes with a small stretch of double bound wire and fits into ports located on the open palm hands, ankles, toes, and back pack.

The last addition to the Stargazer collection is a base stand. While not fancy like the Limited Edition units sold with the SEED Destiny 1/100 scale line, these base stands are packaged with the Stargazer kits already. The stand comes with two display blocks, for high and low arrangements. Displaying the model requires you to remove the tab plate on the bottom of the waist.

OVERALL

Overall this was a breath of fresh air for the 1/144 scale high grade lineup. The Strike Noir uses some tricks and bits from the HGUC line while improving a great design from the SEED garage. With its abundance of small, almost microscopic parts the Strike Noir isn’t something for the novice, but it’s a great start to a new line up.

The model kit line for Gundam SEED Destiny brought us some reinventions of classic designs, the Zaku, the Gouf, and the Dom and upgrades to some of the SEED designs like the Freedom, and Justice. Coming in late to the series was another reinvention from the first series, the ZGMF-X666S Legend.

The model kit line for Gundam SEED Destiny brought us some reinventions of classic designs, the Zaku, the Gouf, and the Dom and upgrades to some of the SEED designs like the Freedom, and Justice. Coming in late to the series was another reinvention from the first series, the ZGMF-X666S Legend.

“Redefine Providence”

In the last episodes of Gundam SEED, the ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam stormed into the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, blowing everything that stood in its path away. At the controls was the series’ madman Rau Le Creuset, and he and his death dealing mobile suit were killed in the final battle against Kira Yamato in the ZGMF-X10A Freedom.

The design of the Providence introduced a few new things in the SEED universe such as the DRAGOON system, made popular again with the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom. Considering the Providence’s complete destruction, it couldn’t get upgraded however a new model based on it would arrive somewhere into the sequel series Gundam SEED Destiny. Enter the ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam. Like its not too distant siblings the Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice, the Legend is a revamped upgrade to the Providence: stronger weapons, new abilities, but some of the same darker influence.

The introduction of the Legend follows the destruction of the SEED classic ZGMF-X10A Freedom, and the succession of ZAFT’s foothold in the war front. As a gift to the ZAFT ship Minerva along with the ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam, given to Shinn Asuka. While ZAFT chairman Durandal intended it to be Athrun Zala’s new mobile suit, the Legend ends up in the hands of Rey Za Burrel, the clone ‘son’ to Rau Le Creuset. In his hands, it lives up to its predecessor’s talents but surpasses the Providence by lasting more than three episodes.

“Bigger, Better, Faster, BEE-CRAFT”

The Legend Gundam follows the late coming 1/100 scale ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice in the trend of making up for lost time and mobile suits. Also like the Infinite Justice, the Legend is produced under the BEE-CRAFT banner of Gundam models. As a form of quality assurance and detail value, this means that details are captured in sculpt and scale to its full “HIGH GRADE” value. As for character value, the Legend is the second model kit based on a Rey Za Burrel machine. His first machine, a white and purple Blaze Zaku Warrior had already been produced earlier in the line.

The vast improvements as of late really make me wonder if this is some sort of quest for redemption after the first set of models released for Destiny. With the Bee-Craft works, the Legend has the best proportions out of all the kits from Destiny I’ve built so far. The head, accurately proportionate, the legs, the arms and the torso all of proportional size and shape. Also, the backpack and its weapon system are equally less likely to get in its own way.

“Legends aren’t born, they’re built”

The usual pre-build inspection shows that the Legend comes molded in its full colors. A dull light gray for the body, dark gray for the joints, white, red, navy blue and a darker gray that is used for high friction points. The darker gray’s purpose as said is for the areas where there is heavy part on part friction such as in the backpack where the Dragoon plates attach and in the shoulders.

Starting with the head we get some of the standard and a little something extra for a change. This in the form of cheek plates in the face. While the face has the standard of two parts: nose/chin/eye piece and the face plate. The cheeks have been something reserved for painting in the past like on the Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice. Instead they come as two separate plates that fit onto the sides of the face and rests firmly against the front of the helmet. As usual, the head comes with its own fair share of paint work, such as the gun points over the vents on the side of the head and the eyes.

Taking an extra five minutes to dry, I tried a simple application of silver enamel on the eyes. While this follows with a coat of Clear Green, the enamel actually helps more than usual by high lighting the protrusion for the eyes themselves so I can come underneath them with a detailer to fill in around them before painting the area black.

The torso takes a few lessons learned with past kits and improves on them greatly. The shoulder joints are polycap swing arms, but unlike the others have a Master Grade quality of articulation allowing the arm at full rotation close to 100 degrees. While the arm itself can come up 90 degrees to the side, the added 10 degrees is to provide clearance so the Dragoon pack can direct its plates forward.

With the addition of parts to the collar and top of the chest block, the Legend squeezes some more detail work in its assembly without the need of more paint work. There is some paint work, such as the vents on the front of the chest which are molded in the red plastic and the ever present panel marks. One streamlined point from the Providence is the short cables that run under the armpits, instead of being long curving hoses. This reiterates the idea that this isn’t an upgraded Providence, but a new model based on it.

The arms show signs of good ideas and also the bad with the shoulder shortcut. The shoulder armor is a lot less lengthy than its predecessor and is instead more squared, detailed and fits snug. There are vent points which are nicely housed around the extension. When I mention a bad idea with the shoulders, I refer to the fact that the Legend goes back to the standard shoulder armor on shoulder. While the arms have a tight feel to them, the feel is too tight and there is no real way to prevent the shoulder armor from rotating down with the arm.

The arms of the Legend are solid. Compared to other kits from Destiny there is a large amount of detail crammed into the forearms with raised panels and hard points. The bicep is simple but through a combined polycap assembly, the arms have a good range of flexibility in the elbow. The good news is that the assembly can hold the weight of the Legend’s long rifle.

The hands are where the beam shield points are located, in the same style as the Destiny Gundam. However, the Legend doesn’t have the fancy palm cannon like its sibling. Construction is the norm, palm, knuckles/thumb but with this additional plate for the backhand that the shield gauntlet connects to. The Legend also makes use of a few changes done with the Infinite Justice such as the extension of the palm attached to the thumb block and also the square peg in the fingers. These changes insure the tensile strength for the Legend to hold weapons much tighter and easier. Compared to the Providence, this eliminates the falling gun problem.

The lower body starts with the waist, using some simple work but adding part detail to ease on paint work. The front block has a vent point, what I would have expected to need painting, instead molded in a smaller cube that goes into the main block. Also on the skirt armor, there are red strip-ports that I thought would have needed paint, instead proved me wrong. The Dragoon system of the Legend extends into the waist, but unlike the Providence whose skirts held six Dragoons, the Legend only carries two: one on each hip. The Dragoon attachment blocks on the sides are simple, two shell pieces and an extension arm in the center.

The legs are the first real test of paint work, with what else, Vents. Every Gundam out of the SEED and SEED Destiny line always have red thruster vents and the Legend is no exception. Its vents are molded in the navy blue plastic that then attach inside the back of the leg and to the side of the ankle area. Considering the fickle nature of using certain paints, especially red, it’s wise to use a thin base coat of either a gray primer or a neutral white or gray paint. Add in the fact that you are painting into a surface than onto one, a single red coat over the primer coat prevents you from losing detail to pooling with recoating an unprimed paint job.

“Please fold all Dragoon packs into their locked upright position”

The Dragoon pack for the Legend shows a few cosmetic changes from its predecessor, in the fact that its Dragoon pack is larger and also features the ability to fold back and/or rotate upwards. The pack itself is connected to the back of the torso in a more permanent fashion compared to its elder by an extension arm and into a central block where there are two sleeve pieces that go into the two larger Dragoon pack halves. The larger units have three extension arms, polycap points and a large thruster vent block. The Vent block is done in solid blue plastic, so that follows the legs with the need for red paint.

The Dragoon weapons themselves are eight solid strips and two cone drone units. The drone units are about five parts, base, neck, body, and tip. In the proper distribution, there are six short strips which connect to the backpack and two longer strips which are on the hip blocks. The two cone units are connected to the top o the backpack units. In the original Providence, there were almost 43 painted gun points in its Dragoon units. The Legend makes a nice change of having its gun points as small cone tips that run laterally, making them easier to notice. Another change from the former is that they are painted red. So combined and painted there are 34 gun points on the Dragoon units to be detailed. Whew…thank Zodd for toothpicks.

With all the Dragoon plates attached, the Legend is very impressive to look at. The plates almost feel like radiator fins because of how they articulate back and forth. With the main backpack folded back, it really makes a difference and shows what I mean. One of the ‘fun features’ in the design of the dragoon pack was the ability for the strips to swing forward and fire around the arms of the Legend. The one thing I wish Bandai could have done to improve the Dragoon weapons in the 1/100 scale Legend would be like their “High Action” parts as seen in the 1/144 HG version to have them detached from the body.

The last bits of the Legend’s weapon set are its long rifle, beam sabers, and shield. The shield is of course a sheet beam. The shield connects as standard to the bottom of a jewel cube on the top of the gauntlet on the back of the hand. The beam sabers are a nice bit. While you have two separate sabers, there is a third saber unit which is both individual beam sabers joined together. Like the Infinite Justice the combined saber comes in one rod with an end cap. Unlike the Infinite Justice however, the Legend’s individual beam sabers are able to join together. This is pretty cool if you have extra beam saber blades and have the Legend running with dual double ended sabers.

The Legend’s rifle is the only area of the kit that needs paint regardless of everything else I’ve mentioned. The rifle is supposed to be four colors; body gray, darker gray in the barrel, white across the rail, and for kicks red just behind the sight piece. Now the assembly of the rifle is six parts, two halves for the trigger, the gun body in two halves with a guard end for the tip of the barrel and a sight point. All of which are molded in a single color, the lighter joint gray. One last bit is that the trigger can fold forward and the gun can be held on the back of the central block of the backpack for storage.

BONUS! LIMITED EDITION

Like the Destiny, Strike Freedom, and the Infinite Justice, the Legend has its own bonus for first release copies. While the others are clear plastic bases, the Legend comes with a full display assembly. This assembly is a fully mechanized crane arm with a ratcheting lock pin to adjust height and an adjustable arm for stability and angle. The base itself is two parts, a main octagonal block detailed as a hangar floor and a secondary cube for the stabilizer arm. There are tabs on each side of the cube and ports on each side of the main block for setting the arm in different positions. The cube has four different panel marks on each side so connecting it to the main base has a unique look to expand the hangar floor look.

The Legend connects to the base in the same style as the Infinite Justice does through a vent point on the back of the body where the weight is evenly distributed. Because of how ‘special’ this special base is, it comes with duplicates of the Strike Freedom and Destiny Gundam display hooks to allow buyers of the standard editions to display the others on this one.

OVERALL

While this kit lacks all the over toyetics components of other Destiny kits, the Legend is really good and shares the same value in its simple assortment. It stands sturdy, holds its weight and weapons without sag. Even if you’re unfortunate to get the Limited Version with the display base, it’s still a worth while kit and it completes the ‘High Powered’ collection from the end of Gundam SEED Destiny.

When Gundam SEED Destiny came to a close earlier this year, there were a few loose ends, namely in the model kit department. To me it was a matter of quality control, but there was a serious degree of absentee MS. While virtually every machine to gracefully blow up in the show was developed in a 1/144 scale form, there were some that never made it to 1/100 scale.

When Gundam SEED Destiny came to a close earlier this year, there were a few loose ends, namely in the model kit department. To me it was a matter of quality control, but there was a serious degree of absentee MS. While virtually every machine to gracefully blow up in the show was developed in a 1/144 scale form, there were some that never made it to 1/100 scale. Of course neither the 1/144 scale nor the 1/100 scale saw any incarnation of the giant sized Destroy Gundam.

While fans could easily live without starters as the Blast Impulse, the Gaia or the Abyss, fans could not do without what could be called ‘The Athrun Zala collection.’ In short these are the MS that SEED-fan favorite Athrun Zala piloted. An early attempt at getting an ‘Athrun’ MS into the line was a cannon-fodder Zaku Warrior with a 1/20 Athrun character card. However that was just his picture but where was HIS mobile suit? Although Destiny is off the air, the series still has plenty to offer in a model kit collection and also to fill the void for main character machines. Notably, Athrun Zala’s ZGMF-X23S Saviour and future machine the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice.

“The Path of Justice”

In the end of Gundam SEED Athrun Zala piloted a mobile suit called the ZGMF-X09A the Justice Gundam, given to him in order to pursuit and capture (or destroy) the stolen ZGMF-X10A Freedom. While his mission led him to Freedom and its pilot Kira Yamato (Athrun’s friend from childhood), Athrun changed his perspective to one of neutrality and used it help end the war between the ZAFT forces and the Earth forces. In a gamble to destroy the GENESIS space cannon, Athrun self destructed the Justice and the mobile suit was destroyed forever. Going into Destiny Athrun’s role shifted to something of a side character. He followed along, helped out every now and then and sulked about the way things were.

When it came down to actual mobile suit piloting, he was short sheeted. Commandeering a Zaku Warrior in the first five episodes, he later received the ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam and used it in only a few battles along side the newcomer Shinn Asuka and the ZGMF-X56S Impulse. However Athrun’s new position forced him at odds with his friends and the Saviour met its untimely destruction at the hands of a pissed off Kira Yamato in the Freedom. With the Saviour a scrap pile, Athrun was later offered the ZGMF-X666 Legend, but Athrun wanted to redeem himself and fled from ZAFT once more to find his friends. After nearly being killed by Shinn and his new ZGMF-X42S Destiny, Athrun returned to the Archangel and received the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice.

“Great kit, but… Pink.”

Before I get started, let’s take a look at the colors. The Infinite Justice comes in full color in two gray types (light and dull), white, near black, purple and…. Pink. Yes. Pink. This is the only complaint for out of the box building that goes with the plastic colors. Animated, the Infinite Justice is a rouge, a dull red color. The Infinite Justice in plastic is pink, dull pink. Also its joint color is supposed to be silver, in plastic, it comes in a light dull gray. I don’t mind these colors personally and I understand the production costs for metallic colors are higher than normal plastics. On the other hand, if they could do the gold injection ABS for the Strike Freedom then a silver injection shouldn’t be too hard to do. However, this is why man developed paint and the skills to use them.

Getting started, it’s no question that this is yet another upgraded version of a past MS seen in the SEED universe. However it really shows how much more can be done to make it better. In my honest opinion, this kit has a lot more to offer in an upgrade compared to the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom. With its gimmicks quadrupled, and a sleeker form, the Infinite Justice really deserved its 1/100 scale treatment.

The one factor of the 1/100 scale line from SEED Destiny that drove me nuts was the sheer lack of true 1/100 scale quality. For example, I had seen images of the earlier produced Chaos, and how out of scale its head was compared to the rest of its body. Then came the over abundance of Zaku Warriors before any Gundams (except for the Impulse) were produced. While this is forgivable from a Universal Century line, it doesn’t help for this series. While I liked the Strike Freedom I was disappointed by its short comings, and the kit itself didn’t do the justice of reflecting its animated form.

When they announced that an Infinite Justice was finally coming, I had my doubts of its quality. What changed my opinion was when they revealed that BEE-CRAFT would be handling it. For those not in the know, BEE-CRAFT is a design team based on Hajime Katoki’s style for making models and figures, notably the majority of the Master Grade and HGUC collections. Their method of design really shines through from page to plastic.

Building

The construction is sleek and angular, while using the optimum number of parts without getting too scarce or too many. This formula works very well and makes up for what has been missing. In my opinion it makes more sense to build more than less. While the prior Gundams in the Destiny assortment have shown awkward scale proportions in the heads and feet, the BEE-CRAFT style shows an almost opposite version; smaller head and narrow torsos compared to lengthy body parts. The dynamic of this however allows for posing without interference. The first notable difference for the Infinite Justice compared to other kits is that the thruster vents are neon green compared to the typical red. These areas are divided through out the body in the numerous thruster regions except for the Lifter pack.

The head of the Infinite Justice is tight. A nine part construct, but with points that require paint detail such as the cheeks of the face, gun points, and eye points. Like other kits as of late, the eyes are not molded in clear plastic. Instead they are molded into the plastic used to make the chin. This works to cut down on the amount of assembly work and cut back on the amount of small parts used in the kit.

The Torso has more parts to its assembly to add bulk and at the same time show accuracy. The assembly adds for articulation, such as the swivel in the neck and the polycap points for the arms to attach. Also it helps for holding the weight of the Lifter pack. A unique detail for the Infinite Justice that needs paint work is the green trim on upper torso. With the parts being molded in a near black plastic, a need for a base coat is required if you paint. However there are decals for these areas included if you so choose to avoid painting.

The lower waist area uses the same formula of more and less. More in the side skirt assembly for the storage points for the beam sabers and less as in detail points that need paint. The skirts all have a decent amount of paint work such as thruster vents, and the side skirts have a white tip on their ends that needs painting. While the hips are somewhat broad compared to the narrow stomach of the torso, there is almost no interference in the range of motion.

The arms make up in a lot of ways for how the Strike Freedom was lacking. While square, the arms rotate up in the shoulder area of the bicep. The elbow is a double jointed assembly thanks to polycaps in the forearm and lower bicep allowing for almost 180 degrees of motion. They also went with another idea for assembly by having a double pegged plate for where the arm connects to the torso. This plate is part of the main shoulder armor assembly and the arm attaches from its shoulder swivel. This works out on a near MG scale for the fact that the arm has a wider range of motion without letting the shoulder armor swinging with the arm. On the side of the forearm there are small indentation slots, these allow for the shield to attach on either limb.

The Infinite Justice also comes with three hands, two fists and one open palm for the left hand. The style is the typical SEED type: palm, fingers, and back guard. While decent, they are far from perfect. However one distinct change in these hands from previous incarnations is the square pegs in the fingers. This preserves them from wear and tear with interchanging weapons. Also, unlike previous SEED hands, the thumb base (on the finger piece) has an extension of the palm to it. This helps to prevent it from splitting apart and helps to stiffen the grip on the weapons.

The legs combine a good bit of subassembly and over-assembly work in order to accomplish construction. The knee being the first assembly, two pieces with polycap points that connect the thigh to the calve areas. Also factor in the ankle assembly which requests assembly prior building so that it is attached before the leg is armored. Due to the style of the Infinite Justice’s legs, there are additional parts to the sides and front of the leg below the knee. The side vents are four parts (two that go around the back and the two vents) and then there are the front armor pieces that go on after that. Over that comes a knee guard with a beam point. It is almost confusing in the order of assembly but the manual lists what goes in first and there is good reason why.

On a slightly humorous bit, you know what they say about Gundams with big feet don’t you? They’ve got beam points on them. All seriousness, the feet of the Infinite Justice are rather big. Assembly is a fair bit, top and bottom, the ankle siding, a polycap, the beam point in the toe and the outer covers. In proportional scale to the legs of course, but a 5 and ½ centimeter foot from toe to heel is rather odd.

“Never bring a beam rifle to a beam saber fight”

The weapons assortment with Infinite Justice almost matches its name; infinite. The weapons array from the Infinite Justice dwarfs the Strike Freedom’s just for the sheer volume alone. The Strike Freedom has its eight DRAGOONs, hip mounted rail cannons and the double buster gun assortment aside from its beam sabers and shield generators and not to mention the two gun points in the head. The Infinite Justice however has its single beam rifle, four gun points in the head, four in the chest, two beam sabers (that combine into a double ended beam weapon), a shield (with a beam shield generator), a grappling claw, a beam boomerang (that attaches to the shield and becomes an anti-ship beam saber), two beam cutters in the legs, and the Lifter pack with its dual beam cannons and anti-ship beam blades in the wings. Also factor in the Lifter’s ability to separate and act as an individual weapon itself.

The beam rifle comes in a six part assembly, the gun halves, a sight piece, barrel tip and two outer shell pieces. There is a major need for paint in the outer portion, while molded in white plastic, the sides need to be the Infinite Justice’s pink on the sides and a touch of gray on the upper rail. For out of the box building, this color can be matched with a simple mixture of light gray, flat white, and red. It’s a two for two for two mix and the use of gray neutralizes the bright tone. When finished the gun really is nicely done. Also note there is a very thin tab on the right side of the outer cover piece that allows you to attach the gun to the back skirt. On the positive, it doesn’t interfere with the Lifter pack when it is in the down position.

The abundant beam weapon points are in the primary assembly like the two points in the knee guards and the two points in the toe of the feet. The two beam sabers however are separate and also for the first time one solid rod. While the separate sabers are for a attaching to the hips and normal single saber action, the dual linked rod is for how the weapon was used more often enough by the Justice. This does have some assembly work of an end cap ala beam point, but due to how loose it sits can spared to be glued and put into the hand the same way you would attach the gun.

The weapons array in the shield makes for a small kit’s worth of work, the shield’s body itself plus the grip point has your fair amount of assembling, then factor in the weapons. The beam boomerang is a simple half and half body shell with a wide beam point at one end. The beam point swings on itself and sets forward on the tip of the shield so it can extend its blade while attached to the shield. The grappling claw is held in place underneath the beam shield point (a flat bottomed piece) that detaches and allows you to remove the claw and attach a wire cup to the back end of it. The wire cup is a good five inch wire that needs to be tied off on both ends, one end a catch plate to attach where the claw docks and the other to the cup end which connects to the back of the claw itself. On the claw piece, it’s a geared assembly, opening both claw blades by just turning one on a fixed axis. Lastly, the beam point is as said, a flat piece that can be removed, have its shield beam attached underneath and replaced on the shield body.

There are a couple of drawbacks in the shield however, such as the addition of a grip to where the shield connects to the forearm. It almost wants to work; there’s no conflict for the hands to fit behind the shield, but the weight of the shield prevents it from staying in place. Also the grappling claw almost seems like one of those “we did it because it looked cool” ideas. Not that I don’t mind it, but the claw is recessed so deeply that you need a pick to pry it out, and the removal of the shield plate is a bit of an annoyance.

The Lifter pack is the final and largest component of the kit. Its size alone makes it worthy of being an entirely separate model kit all together. While the original Justice’s wing pack was bulbous this one is more streamlined and less clunky. The central body of the Lifter pack is flat and narrow, which doesn’t interfere with the Infinite Justice’s body. Images I had seen of the 1/100 scale Justice showed that the Lifter’s bulk got in the way of the head, the Infinite Justice’s pack almost fits flat against the torso, with almost no interference. The only interference I can say is that the cannon barrels on top of the Lifter have to be raised more than 30 degrees to stay out of the head crest’s path.

The fact that the wings are now a part of the pack itself and not attached via swing arms is even better. What’s also cool is that these are canard wings that swing out when in full flight, giving the Lifter an impressive 13 inch wingspan. Also factor in the assembly of the wing pack portion of the Lifter are polycap mounted rods that allow a some 10 degrees of vertical swing.

The Lifter has several paint points to it, some that can be cheated with decals, some not. The central horn, mounted in the center body that folds down to the front for its stand alone mode, has to be painted white and yellow. While decals are included, these parts really need paint to look good. Also the striping along the back of the thruster covers need work and the main body of the wings need to be painted as well. The whole area of work that needs painting is almost too much for your common, out of the box, paint work to do.

The Lifter pack connects to the torso via two tabs on the inside of the body to two extended ports on the back of the torso. While the only points, these two ports hold the weight well and don’t bring any stress on the overall assembly in its down position. When in full flight, be prepared to have something for it to rest on. The Lifter also has two additional positions, standing and hanging, both dependant on the Infinite Justice’s position. Standing, the Lifter is in its open mode, with the central horn extended and the Justice riding on it. This mode doesn’t work like the original Justice on the account that the Lifter is designed more like a backpack flight unit. The hanging mode is simple but easily done because there are in fact mounted handle grips on the underside that swing down 90 degrees for accessibility. What makes this fail to work is that the Lifter has nothing to keep it elevated above the Infinite Justice.

“LIMITED EDITION”

The trend of the main Gundams with the Destiny line has been the addition of a stand base with the first release editions. Considering their popularity, the only way to secure this bonus would require preordering the kit before its due date. This trend continues with the Infinite Justice as well. While the Destiny Gundam and the Strike Freedom came with additional parts for the hips and a mounting bracket to hold them, the Infinite Justice doesn’t. No additional parts for the body which eases up on the amount of extra bits floating around. Instead the base stand makes use of the Infinite Justice’s design and connects to a thruster port on the back of the mobile suit’s torso. The port can hold the weight, however if you opt not to use glue, there will be some sag, but if you glue this thruster in place it will hold. On a side note, it does help for the Hanging pose with the Lifter, but not by that much.

OVERALL

Overall this kit was worth the wait since the Infinite Justice’s debut. There are a lot of ways that this one kit makes up for how lacking the rest of the Destiny 1/100 scale line has been up until now and gives us a sign of what else is coming like the Legend and the Saviour.

After Bandai's successful release of the MBF-P02 Red Frame in the 1/100
scale, they decided it was time that its sibling unit, the Blue Frame got the
same treatment. However unlike its simplistic sibling, they went with the upgraded
form; The Second L.

After Bandai's successful release of the MBF-P02 Red Frame in the 1/100 scale, they decided it was time that its sibling unit, the Blue Frame got the same treatment. However unlike its simplistic sibling, they went with the upgraded form; The Second L.

The standard of Gundam mechanics is the upgrade. This ranged from scrapping the main mobile suit for a better one; ala Shining Gundam for God Gundam (Mobile Fighter G Gundam) to upgrading the existing mobile suit such as the case of the Blue Frame. In the story of the comics, the Astray Blue Frame was taken by Serpents Tail mercenary Gai Murakumo shortly after its discovery by Lowe Gear (pilot of the Red Frame). Along the course of the story, he outfitted it with an array of weapons of his choice which were vital to his missions. This included a series of weapon units like its artillery packs (seen in volume 1 of the comic and released in 1/144 scale by B-Club) and its 'Scale system' for underwater combat (used in volume 3). While the events that caused it go unseen or read in the domestic ASTRAY comics, the Blue Frame received its 'SECOND' upgrade in its own chapter in the SEED MSV universe. While its previous weapon packs were temporary modifications, the weapon units of the Second were more permanent, interchangeable modules, hence this model's name 'Second L' which comes from the Tactical Arms weapon pack designed by Lowe Gear (L).

The parts come molded in the final colors: white, cobalt blue, orange, dark grey and (thick ABS) 'joint' gray. Construction of the kit I can say is made up 70% of the Red Frame and 30% upgrades. The major changes for the kit include: the head, shoulders, feet and back unit (which is a whole kit unto itself). The head is very open cut, plate siding with a flat top and broad 'V-crest'. There's more assembly work here than in the first Astray. Since this head has a different form, its eye piece is molded separately; sonar eye up top is molded in the white plastic with the Gundam eyes molded in a strip of clear plastic. It was a lot easier than in the long run, but the test of the head was the painting. The nose are needs to be orange and the top of the head needs pin striping on the under side. For me it wasn't about how to paint but getting the right colors. The Testors paints I use are malleable enough that mixing was no problem: some 2 parts cobalt blue with flat white will match up with the blue plastic and some insignia yellow with a light drop or two of orange (label got pealed off the last time I floated the bottle) will get the right color needed for the face.

The limbs and torso are the same exact construction as the Red Frame, with the only difference being the color scheme of the torso from the dark grey to a solid white chest. Also noted are the changes in the design for the back's support arm: two pieces with a half-polycap-half construction that is static for the purpose of holding the Tactical Arms pack. Additional constructions in the limbs for the Blue Frame specifically are the shoulder armor and feet. Unlike the first Astray, the Second sports flared shoulders which have a fair amount of work to be done; construction and painting. Paint wise they need the cobalt treatment and assembling has three stages: the bicep armor, the outer shell and top piece (the orange plates) and the back plate. The finished pieces are solid, but since they just fit over the shoulder peg, they have a rotation weakness. This means if you try to rotate the arms in a specific way you have a chance of popping off the armor. Breakage is not a problem if you're careful. The legs also come sporting some additional changes, such as new feet, an ankle cuff and two knives with sheaths that are clipped onto the upper thighs. The feet are high heeled, bigger than the original Astray and other SEED related Gundams which are notoriously flat footed. Inside the toes are extending blades, which sad to say aren't as impressive in plastic as it is in print. The ankle cuffs added in do not add any real height to the model but instead mask the ankle joint which is open on the previous Red Frame. The legs and arms still retain their greatness from the Red Frame but also sport some feint modifications. This is primarily to reduce friction and breakage in the joints.

The Tactical Arms is the real gem of the kit. It functions as a flight unit, a gatling gun, and a massive anti-ship sword! I can say that the only amount of painting I had to do here was detail work but every major piece of the TA was done in its final colors. Construction is beautiful with its gatling gun barrels being a series of pieces as compared to one solid 'chunk' barrel piece to make a very open gun. In flight mode, the pack is docked on the bay unit which takes the place of the Astray's original backpack. The sword blades are folded down so that they don't scrape the ground and the thrusters are rested into sleeves that match seamlessly with the dock unit. The one problem here is that this causes a weight problem and makes the model off balance, back heavy in a straight stance. Posing it will reduce this problem slightly. With the pack off in Gatling mode, the two pods that hang off the back skirt are docked on the top and bottom of the unit. The blade arms fold down and work as a bipod. Since it doesn't stand on its own, the Blue Frame is needed to hold it. It's very solid and it compliments the model perfectly. In sword form, the TA is massive, towering over the kit and with the amount of inner assembly, very difficult to pose with. It's a weight issue more than anything, but it still can be held, posing it with both hands is tough but it can be done.

Overall, the Blue Frame Second is a nice build. As a fan of the Astrays and SEED MSVs, I had a lot of fun working on this one and intend to do so again when I get the Red edition (limited edition C3 version).

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sorry it's been a while but I figured I'd try to finish something big by the end of '04. It was one of those years for everyone and especially on a more personal level for yours truly. Before I started my Gold Frame project, I was working on the second largest piece for my shop. It's a little something I've been kicking around since the end of September, and in some cases it's been kicking me around. From the Gundam SEED 1/144 High Grade collection is the Mobile Suit Embedded Tactical EnfORcer!

History:
As Gundam SEED came to its final episodes, fans were introduced to another piece of mobile artillery. It was specifically designed to be docked with either the ZGMF-X10 Freedom Gundam or the ZGMF-X09 Justice Gundam and was to further enhance their unique and impressive arsenal. It was called the METEOR. While its name has more meaning than its T.M. Revolution sung counterpart, it merely complimented the weapons of the Freedom and Justice with its array of missile tubes and beam cannons. Using them both at once, the Freedom and Justice were able to defend the PLANT colonies from a drastic volley of nuclear warheads launched by the Earth Forces.

Building:
The Meteor model kit comes in roughly two parts: the mobile artillery system (METEOR unit) and the Freedom Gundam. According to the release notes, the Freedom was modified from the original 1/144 scale version. As far as I can tell (from using Hobby Search, http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/) the only difference is the color of the plastic, changed from a solid white to a grayish, off white color. Building the 1/144 Freedom was a simple enough task thanks to multi-color system injection. Painting on the other hand became the top priority. Just about every piece on the Freedom spanning from head crest to the bottom of the feet needed to be painted, especially all the 'Red Points.'

Red points are those places on every Gundam model that occasionally need red paint, this includes: face detail, shield work, missile tubes, panel lines and sometimes wing components.

While most of the model was done in its final colors, the gray pieces needed some serious work. This includes the parts for joints and the hands which were molded in a teal colored gray which I then painted with Engine gray. As for its accessories, the Freedom needs its cannons painted and the beam rifle comes molded in the 'gunship' white/gray plastic as the hip mounted laser cannons and needs to be done in its proper colors. On the overall, construction of the Freedom is tight, and while miniscule in size, the mobile suit captures the details like it should.

Now for the main event: As you probably know from SEED (and more recently seen in SEED's sequel series GUNDAM SEED DESTINY) most of the specialty weapons have more to their names, like how GUNDAM translates into:

• General Unilateral Neuro-link Dispersive Autonomic Manuever: (Strike)
• Generation Unsubdued Nuclear Drive Assault Module: (Freedom and Justice)
• Generation Unrestricted Network Drive Assault Module: (Impulse)

In that fashion, METEOR translates into: Mobile Suit Embedded Tactical EnfORcer.

When I first saw the Meteor, I thought of it as SEED's equivalent of the Dendrobium, the massive mobile armor from Gundam 0083 and the largest High Grade model Bandai's ever made.

For the record, I want to say there is a good difference between something as the Meteor and a Mobile Armor. The Meteor merely compliments the existing mobile suit with an array of weapons while the Mobile Armor has its own artillery system and can act as a stand alone weapon. This is just something I've figured from reading Mark Simmons' notes about Gundam mechanics on the web.

When I began building the Meteor, I almost hoped it would be like the Dendrobium. Sad to say the construction of the Meteor was on par with the rest of the SEED HG collection in 1/144 scale. This requires a lot of painting to make up for the lack of 'Grade' detail. Out of the box, I'd say that you'd be building a solid chunk of gray plastic with purple trim if you didn't have any paints.

This is just an observation that I know everyone has, but what was Ohkawara smoking when he designed the SEED series: I mean: purple:!? I ran out of Red Vs Blue 'Donut' jokes with the Aegis but seriously dude! If I were fighting and losing to something that was purple like this, I'd self destruct myself!

There are five points with missile tubes that seriously need painting (77 individual red tipped missiles, nuff said). And the turbines and vents in the main body need a good coat of paint. On the upside, most of the parts have some new kind of surface detail (micro thin scaling patterns) that helps to establish the grandness of this piece. For those of you that might airbrush your kits, these could be points that will show up if done right.

Gimmick wise the Meteor retains its transformation ability to go from its fully opened (Mobile Suit docked) attack mode to the closed down transport mode. While not as impressive or mind boggling, it does take down some of the size for displaying. It also features movable laser cannons and the missile pods open and close. The main arms are built on ball socket polycaps and track arms which can flex to meet the hands of the docked MS. Other than that, it's a pretty stiff shelf piece. For those worrying about its girth, the Meteor measures out to 13 inches wide and 24 inches long when docked with a mobile suit (Freedom, Justice or any other 1/144 SEED HG). Add on its accessory saber beams (15 inches long) and you've got a lengthy piece of ABS on your hands. The sabers are done to fit snug but one problem I've noticed is that they weigh down the arms, so dynamic posing is difficult at best. While it is impressive in its 1/144 scale, the Meteor is still dwarfed in comparison to its Mobile Armor predecessor. Even though its size is impressive, there isn't much weight to it. Because the Dendrobium used steel plates in its main body as a support structure, it weighed nearly 3 to 5 pounds. As for the Meteor with its solid plastic and polycap construction, it's lighter than a fully armed 1/60 scale Perfect Grade. I mean seriously, I've used more rolls of duct tape that are heavier than this thing! Another downer is how the mobile suit docks, unlike the GP-03 and its resting position inside the Dendrobium, the corresponding MS for the Meteor just hangs by two tab pieces. No peg, no bracket, just hanging by its armpits. Another little quip is the grips for the arm units, just two pegs that grip onto the top and bottom of the standard MS kit's fists and even they fall loose sometimes.

On the overall, I really think the Meteor is something Bandai needed more time on. It was something I wanted to build ever since they announced it, but after building most of it, I started to get bored and working on it felt more like a chore than a build. So for anybody looking to build the Meteor in any way shape or form you've got two choices: the 1/144 scale kit shown here or with the Gundam Collections 1/400 scale (paper weight sized) version. Either way you will still have some work to do.

"This mistake caves in and comes to an end, and my final dream continues on 'T.M. Revolutions "METEOR"

BUILDER's NOTES: Other things I did incase anyone wants to know or try to do, if something you want to know isn't here, feel free to contact me at extroden@hotmail.com!

Tools I used:

Standard, ultra fine tipped cutters
X-Acto knife w/ #11 blades (Always be sure to change your blades before and during a project, a clean blade makes for a clean build!)
Rotring Rapidoliner calligraphy pen with .25mm tipped ink refills
Gundam Markers: GM-01 (black ultra fine tip) and GM-10 (black, chisel tip)
Paints: -Testors Model Masters Acryl- Engine Gray [or Blue], Gunship Gray, Chevy Engine Red, Aircraft Interior Black, Light Gray, Flat White, and Napoleonic Violet.

From the Freedom:
A little trick I learned in the 1/144 HG Strike Gundam thanks to a complimentary Hobby Japan tip booklet is to trim down the head crests and split the skirt piece. As any of you have seen on the 1/144 collection, there is an excess 'tab' at the tip of each crest that can easily be cut off with caution using a pair of cutters and your X-Acto blade. Done right you can have a picture perfect Gundam head. As for the skirts, the recent outcropping of 1/144 kits have a sort of fat 'T' in the center of the part. Normally instructions just show them as one solid component but with some careful saw work, you can cut the part in half down the middle of the 'T' and make two skirt pieces separate.

From the Meteor:
Painting the missile tubes became my biggest peeve with this model, especially when the two larger ones were molded in glossy grade ABS (which are notorious for refusing paint, primed or unprimed). My little trick for this was to wash (thin coats of paint to fill in holes) the pieces with aircraft interior black and then come back and paint the surface with the right color. With the missile tubes pre painted in black, it takes no time to coat the tops with red paint. After this I came back and painted over the main body of the missile bay with my standard Engine Gray. This worked especially well on the front missile tubes.

Some of the surface panel lines on the kit were a combination of etched in lines and some raised panels, while some of the grooved in pieces can easily be done with a line marker, some were a pain to get right. Enter the Gundam Marker! Simply just ink in around the raised piece and wipe away the excess ink with a tissue and you've got an accented panel line.

At summer's end I sit back in my shop and reflect on my accomplishments between spring and fall semesters. Things left undone such as the Perfect Grade RX-178 (Gundam Mk 2 Titans) and the Master Grade MSA-0011EXT (Ex-S Gundam) that have been staring at me since this time last year and the things I did finish, such as summer semester science class, the Astray Red Frame, and killing the 6 foot 3 inch alligator that terrorized my grandfather's fish pond. However, while things were done, something was missing: a good old fashioned DAY BUILD! That's right, no phone, no interruptions, just me, the model and the day. So through the power of plastic and UPS, I got my hands on another SEED kit for my last days of summer, the Duel Gundam Assault Shroud.

History:

The GAT-X102 Duel Gundam is one of the first five Gundams from the SEED TV series. In the show's first episode it was stolen by ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty) pilot Yzak Jule along with the Buster, Blitz, and Aegis Gundams. Although its design is the most simplistic, within four episodes it became one of the more vicious MS in the series. After an unexpected defeat to the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, the Duel was outfitted with modified ZAFT armor and weapons, the assault shroud.

The Duel comes out of the box in its final colors and honestly could look very good if just built straight up without paints. For the first time in Primus knows how long I didn't bother to change the yellow parts' color. Not only that but because the parts were made to be more of a cream orange/yellow tone, they didn't need the change. The only painting I could suggest is on the back of the shield as always, sensor eyes (mecha, weapons, etc) and the insides of the vernier thrusters. A few paint apps exclusive to this kit that I suggest are small areas to the shroud armor that come as decals in the kit and the assault shroud's missile pod which comes molded in the armor's exterior color. Construction of the Duel is relatively the same as its design, simple. At times, construction is somewhat comparable to the Strike and the Buster. This includes the legs, arms, and feet. The head of the kit has a nice bit of work to be done, more assembly and some good detail painting to do. The back side of the clear piece used for the eyes has no obscurities to get in the way so painting on this side really improves the visuals. The Duel however has more work than the Strike seeing how the Strike lacks a permanent back unit. Also unlike the Strike or Buster (or the rest of the GAT series: the Blitz and Aegis), the Duel lacks skirt armor except for two hip guards making the lower waist into a solid section and allow the legs to have a good range of motion. The torso is a solid block with subassembly construction and a set of polycap jointed shoulder parts inside the upper torso block that allow an added 45 degrees of motion (forward) to the arms.

Accessories:

The Duel Gundam comes with two beam sabers that fit snug in both the hands of the kit and in their storage sockets on the Duel's backpack. Their beams however are the standard "bulb" tubes of clear pink plastic that are the standard of most if not all 1/100 scale Gundams. The rifle that comes in this kit is a combination beam rifle and grenade launcher. While the rifle is a three part assembly: side A, side B, and the barrel, the grenade is a separate half/half piece that fits onto the bottom of the rifle via a socket and flat peg. The shield on the Duel at first glance is identical to the Strike (and later Astray Red Frame), but it is the first SEED shield with the modified back: the flat sitting grip piece and the open polycap socket. These changes were done in order for the model to hold the shield properly while the Assault shroud is attached. While it might make up a piece of the model itself, the assault shroud is more of an accessory construction. Historically, this isn't the first Gundam to receive a series of armor, such as the NT-1 Alex from Gundam 0080 with its (IMO) nightmare-to-build CHOBAM armor. The shroud armor of the Duel is not as complex but it works well with multi-color runner construction. The detail is crisp and fits tight against the Duel thanks to a series of hard points to hold the armor in place. While the added skirt armor inhibits most of the legs' articulation, the armor doesn't deny the Duel from its unarmored level of articulation. Its arsenal includes the polycap jointed rail gun on the right shoulder and the hinged missile pod on the left. Also note that for connecting the shield to the armored forearm, there is an alternate mounting bracket that slides into a slot on the back of the armor. For the record, the armor can be easily removed and put back on.

Overall:

The Duel Gundam is another nice addition to the SEED 1/100 scale roster. If you're looking for a well armored MS or if you're into the SEED series, it's a must. Or if you want a good way to end a mild summer, this model's worth the 12 hours start to finish.

The latest addition to my growing collection of Gundam models is the main mecha of the Gundam SEED side story, 'Astray' which gets its name from this wayward mobile suit. As the first 1/100 scale installment of the popular Gundam SEED MSV (Mobile Suit Variations), the MBF-P02 Gundam Astray Red frame is a sensational design.

To the novice fans, while the events of the Gundam SEED TV series went on, another story was following along at the same time, and this is what makes it a "Side Story." The story of the Astray series picks up only hours (or days, I'm not sure) after the destruction of the Heliopolis colony. The first part of the story follows Junk Guild member Lowe Gule and the Red Frame while the second half follows Serpent's Tail mercenary Gai Murakumo and the Blue Frame. Long story short, in the rubble of the colony, Lowe discovers the Astrays, Red Frame and Blue Frame and th