Mobile Suit Gundam: Your Desk Becomes the One Year War?!

Everyone has toys that they think of as grails. Toys that they have lusted over for years, and would go to any length to obtain. Things that, when acquired, could never be sold (or so one tells themselves).
The opposite of the grail might then be the ‘impulse buy’; something acquired on the spur of the moment after a brief initial meeting. Each provides a sense of fulfillment for the buyer, though on different levels.

The only reason I’m opening with this weird bit of toy ontology is because of a recent experience where I realized the existence of a type of toy that fits somewhere between grail and impulse. A toy that you have no prior knowledge of, but upon observation triggers a deep emotional response within you on the same level as a grail. You never thought of this toy before, but you know instantly that you need it, recognizing it as no ordinary impulse.

The toy that I connected with so strongly comes eight to a bag, and can be purchased for about six dollars.

The full name of this product is something along the lines of “Line Up BEST SHOW Mobile Suit Gundam: The Top of the Desk Becomes the One Year War?!”, but let’s not mince words here: These are Gundam army men.

The current line up consists of two Federation varieties and two Zeon varieties. Each bag contains eight figures in two poses, as well as an extra piece.

The chase figures in this line are the Gundam and Char’s custom Zaku. I assume the odds of getting one of the rare figures is 1 in 6, since that’s how many come shipped in a retail display box. There’s a small window on the back of each package allowing you to try and see if you found one, but the bags are packed pretty tightly, so you can’t really move the contents around.

The figure height varies depending on pose, but the standing figures are about 2 inches tall. They’re army men size. The Zeons come in green because of course they do, while the Federation units are more of a light minty color.

Zeon Pack 01 consists of 4 machine gun Zakus, 4 bazooka Zakus and a piece of rubble.

Zeon Pack 02 has 4 heat hawk Zakus, 4 prone Zakus and a sandbag barrier.

Federation Pack 01 is made up of 4 beam spray gun GMs, 4 docked GMs and a tochka pillbox. The docked GMs are probably the weakest of any of the figures. They’re hefty, but unless you’re doing some sort of base diorama there’s not a whole lot you can do with them.

And finally, Federation Pack 02 contains 4 bazooka GMs, 4 beam saber GMs and a missile buggy.

The plastic in these is tough and solid. Compared to the other army men that I was surprised to find I still had, these figures have a lot less flex. Furthermore, the sculpting and manufacture is excellent, with no flash and nearly invisible seam lines.

The only real negative is the price. Although the pricing is as expected for trading figures and the quality is really good, the most impressive thing about the army men format is usually the quantity they come in. If I just wanted army men, I could get a couple hundred off of Amazon for just a few dollars more than the price of one of these bags.
If you want to build a mobile suit army, it’ll be a little more expensive. The product name suggests that instead of large scale warfare these figures are best used to fight small skirmishes in your workplace, but the lack of overwhelming force seems almost counter to the army men spirit. After all, these toys were never about subtlety.

Finally, let’s look at my luck with the rare figures. I bought 3 bags of each variety and I got….

Well, you win some, you lose some.

I really hope there are future packs to come out in this line. It’s a wonderful take on an iconic toy.

Alright, enough words, let’s go out and play.