Wing Gundam Zero
Review by ArshadAA
To say that Bandai has a very bipolar nature when it comes to deciding which incarnation of the Gundam Wing mecha represent the series is an understatement. While Hajime Katoki’s streamlined but somewhat bizarrely themed redesigns almost always took center stage in merchandise and game appearances, recent years have proved that there’s still a place for Kunio Okawara’s more toyetic and cartoony versions. I for one will always prefer the TV version of Wing Zero over the ridiculous extreme makeover version from the OVA.
Within the context of the After Colony universe of Gundam Wing, Wing Zero is hailed as the most powerful mobile suit in existence. It became a healthy competitor in schoolyard and internet forum discussions about who would win in a fight by virtue of packing a gun that could instantly level mountains with an almost comedic level of effectiveness. After releasing the Endless Waltz version, the Robot Spirits line was blessed with its red, white, blue, and yellow incarnation.
Wing Zero comes in a wide box housing a single plastic tray.
The base figure stands about 12.5 cm tall to the top of its wing binders. Its bright colors are recreated beautifully with a few bits of light gray added to the white parts and some minor panel lining on the faceplate. Unfortunately, the sweet double v-fin on my figure was slightly crooked and didn’t come with a soft PVC alternative.
Articulation is the same as what you’ve come to expect from the excellent Robot Spirits line. While the arm and shoulder joints are nice and tight, everything below the waist is a bit loose, which spells disaster for a back heavy design like this. It’ll still take a bit of fidgeting to get the figure to stand upright, which of course will come to naturally if you’ve owned any previous version of the Wing Zero.
The figure retains opening shoulder armor with a moving thruster gimmick, but unfortunately the white panel housing the beam saber recharge rack doesn’t open, which currently leaves the 1/60 kit as the undisputed king of having this gimmick fully intact.
Wing Zero’s distinctive wing binders return with a few new tricks. They can still open up and move on a double jointed connector, but now there’s an extra joint at the top that allows them to swivel up even further. This, however, resulted in the loss of the wing vulcans that were normally placed on top of the booster units as they’ve been replaced by the relocated binder hinges.
The feet can bend and have a decent range of motion. The lower leg armor can move up and down, but the front ones have a very narrow angle of movement and tend to pop off if you go over their limits. Note that the two halves of the feet are separated by a double joint. If the bottom parts of the feet aren’t in line with each other then the figure will have trouble standing upright.
The right foot on my figure had a nasty little seam. Hooray for first production wave defects.
Moving on to accessories, Wing Zero comes with the standard three pairs of closed fist, open palm, and holding hands. There’s also an extra right hand for more dynamic beam saber poses and a joined hand piece for holding the Twin Buster rifle directly in front of the figure.
Two green bladed beam sabers with round handles fit snugly in the holding hands.
The white collar pieces can be popped off and replaced with a pair of sweet looking mini-gatling guns.
Wing Zero’s shield of course needs no introduction. I like the aircraft nosecone look it has and the purely cosmetic yellow canopy. I also like the fact that it can still attach to the arm without an ugly clip piece. Its piledriver gimmick is also intact.
Finally, you can’t have Wing Zero without its iconic boom stick: The Twin Buster rifle. This and the shield were always the counter weight to balance out Wing Zero’s heavy wing binders. While previous versions of the Wing Zero struggled to hold the combined rifle in anything but a vertical direction without support due to weak arm joints, the RS figure’s superior engineering finally allows the design to live up to its potential.
The individual rifle handles can fold inside for when you combine the rifles or attach them to the shield in Neo-Bird mode.
The figure comes with two adapters for Tamashii Stage act stands. One attaches to its back in mobile suite mode and the other pegs into the rear skirt armor in Neo-Bird mode. Unfortunately, the peg is too shallow to hold the sprawling form of the transformation and is generally useless, so stick with whatever pincer-type holder you have.
The original Wing Gundam’s transformation was a very simple affair that involved little more than rotating the torso, folding down the shoulders and attaching the shield to the back to act as a nosecone. Wing Zero’s transformation is nearly identical save for one bizarre difference: Instead of bending downwards, the feet rotate and swing into the legs, then the foot mounted thruster pivots backwards through the heel. I have no idea why Okawara did this, as it cursed basically every model kit and figure version of this design with weak ankle joints and hollow lower legs.
The RS figure bypasses this issue completely with the no-frills method of part swapping. There are an alternate red torso piece and two alternate lower legs that allow you to transform the figure to Neo-Bird mode in all its barely aerodynamic glory. Unfortunately, there’s no way to lock the legs together so any time you handle this mode expect to constantly have to readjust the legs.
It only took 17 years, but Wing Zero finally receives a figure that mostly does justice to its design and reinforces the Robot Spirits line’s position as one of the best things that happened to mecha figures.
Comments
10 comments postedGreat review and great pictures to go with it. I especially like the last photo of all your G-Wings together.
Good review, and I too like the comparison picture at the end.
. . .
IMO, the Wing and Wing Zero are no better transformers than the ReGZ B.W.S. was in "Char's Counterattack"... and that one didn't transform at all; it used a disposable backpack which was completely discarded in order to reveal the robot within and then couldn't be reused again. (Disposable fuel tanks and rockets getting you out to the front lines, that's fine with me, but not an entire support unit which completely hinders performance of the MS! S Gundam "Deep Striker"... bad ass.) Aside from the oddly ZZ Gundam-inspired feet on the Wing Zero, transformable mobile suits in the AC multi-verses have been seriously lacking in complexity or anything interesting since "Wing" came out. Gundams Kyrios, Arios, and Harute from "OO" were obviously inspired by the Zeta Gundam, but lacked the presence and solidity of the Z's Waverider Mode. (And don't even get me started on the Hellion, Flag, and Enact grunt MSs from "OO".)
That being said, the Wing Zero was too over-powered and hippie for my tastes even back in 1995 when I first saw it. I actually liked the glamorous redesigns Katoki envisioned for "...Endless Waltz" much more than their TV counterparts (the sole exception being the Heavyarms, which is one of my favorite MS ever).
I'm still waiting for the day when Bandai and Sunrise put a multi-MS combining robot into the show. It's really the only place left for them to go gimmicks-wise, aside from maybe steampunk or magic. (And do NOT talk to me about "G Gundam's" Grand Master Gundam, which was nothing more than a badly-scaled kit-bash.)
O_o
/rant
I disagree. Overly complex transformation like Zeta, Ex-S, or Gabthley may look interesting from technical standpoint, but it is totally unnecessary, universe-wise. The complicated transformation mechanism requires complex design and various specialized components that none of them should fail during transformation. And admit it, the end result is still as unaerodynamic as the one with simpler transformation (remember, transformable MS aren't like Macross VFs). Why bother? If one can achieve the same result with less parts and less chance to jam, then simple transformation is the way to go.
Remember that Gundam is a franchise that tries to ground in realism ('try' is the keyword here, don't start debate whether Gundam is super or real robot genre). Making the transformation believable is actually adding more charm to some machines. I love how they put limitation on Union Flag in Gundam 00; that it wasn't meant to transform in mid-air. And when someone do that, all the sparks flying from the joints show how much stress the frame received. It's just so cool.
If you want Sunrise to make combining robot shows again, it should be for Brave series not Gundam.
Thanks. I'm glad people liked my money shot. I had to practically rearrange my closet just to pull out all the old Wing Zero's.
Is that the old MSIA or the transformable 2.0 one in the last photo?
Greetings ArshadAA,
I've been enjoying reading your reviews especially this one. Honestly, I was never an admirer of this particular Gundam design as far as it's bird mode is concerned, but I can appreciate it's appeal to fans.
I do have a humble question though. I'm a little bit confused about what you've described on Picture 17 in the article.
When you said that the right sabaton/foot's {got a nasty little 'seem'} in your action figure, were you referring to 'seem' as in "It seems that way.", or 'seam' as in a fissure between the white armor plate & the red armor plate of the sabaton(foot) ?
With your humble permission, I was wondering if you could clarify the information.
Have a great weekend.
EVA, I'd say the orange Gundams from 00 are an improvement over what we got in Seed and Destiny at least. Shame they never released the Rafael in the HCM Pro line before it went belly up.
The MSIA is the 2.0 version, VZ.
Sorry Diakron, I meant "seam". I'll get it fixed as soon as I get home.
No sweat ArshadAA, these things happen to all of us...including me... I wasn't sure about Picture 17 at first, so I thought I should ask.
I'm very grateful for your contributions in this website as well as your passion for this hobby. 1st thing in the afternoon I'm gonna make me a light tent inspired by your trade. I really don't want to pay a lot of cash to buy one from a camera shop. : )
I'm glad they made this one! I'm getting tired of the angelic Wing Zero Custom from the movie; they just spray that sucker all over the place in terms of toylines. You can always expect one. This, however, is a treat! It's nice to know they aren't completely ignoring that the designs on the TV show happened. Especially with the Leo! I'm still shocked that they actually paid attention to the poor Leo, FINALLY.
The photos are awesome and by the way, I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for 2 Wing Gundam Zero sets incase I decide to keep one set in Bird form and the other in robot form for a glass display I'm setting up soon (as long as the price is afordable)
Kep it up and all the best from Optimus Convoy 1984