Full Armor Gundam

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Boy, Bandai sure loves our money, don’t they? In the past few years, mostly through video games, Bandai has been having totally-awesome mecha designer Hajime Katoki redesign some of Kunio Ookawara’s M-MSV designs. And for the most part, they’ve been pretty awesome-like the Gundam G04 and G05 from the manga “From Place Beyond the Blaze” (quite the Engrish title there) and the video game “Encounters in Space” were based on Ookawara’s RX-78-4 and RX-78-5 designs, and the Gundam Mudrock from the” Zeonic Front” game was based on his RX-78-6.

But now we’ve got yet another Gundam game for the PS3, and unlike the first one, I hear this one doesn’t suck. The designs also come from Ookawara’s “M-MSV” design series with a Hajime Katoki touch, and of course, they’re pretty awesome. Only one of them has a kit so far (and, unfortunately, will probably be the only one)-the Full Armor Gundam ...
... 7th.

Unlike the G04 and G05 which only received Master Grades and Fix Figuration figures, this one got released as an HGUC. Strange that they picked the Full Armor version to release over the regular one. I mean you’d think they’d pick just regular Gundam to release, but oh well, it is Bandai we’re talking about. It is a pretty unique design, though.

Right off the bad you can see all of the intricate details Katoki loves so much, and those hilariously huge boosters on the butt. Painting this thing was a hell of a chore, but it was so worth it in the end.

Also, before you ask about the colors-no, those aren’t the suit’s default colors. I thought the classic Gundam color scheme just looked tacky on this design and didn’t suit it. So, I had a friend of mine photoshop it in Heavy Gundam colors, and I took it to the next level.

While constructing this kit I noticed that it used the same polycaps as the 30th Anniversary Gundam. In fact, pretty much all of this kit’s poseability and engineering is the same as the 30th Gundam. I’d say this is a good thing because the base of that kit is really nice to work off of, and we’ll probably see some huge improvements in the future.

The head comes with the little double-joined polycap, but it isn’t able to move to its full potential, probably due to the girth of the design. I’m not too bothered, since a design like this doesn’t really need to look up.

Again, like the 30th Gundam, there’s a lot of poseability in the upper legs, with a nice double-joint in the ankles. The thigh armor pieces are just one piece that settles between the ankle and hip joints. While a simple design, it’s really nice to see how far Bandai has come in the engineering department, allowing for one-piece armor units on a larger scale.

Like the 30th Gundam, it has a double-jointed torso, but this one actually works a LOT better. I guess it’s sort of a compromise for the weakened neck joint. It’s good to see not only the 30th Gundam’s joint system progressing, but also to see such poseability on such a bulky design.

The arms are a touch disappointing, however. They come sooo close to having a full double joint but stop kind of short. Despite not having the full joint they end up looking more natural than most regular arm joints do, however.

Weapon-wise, this kit is pretty well-equipped. The BFG on the shoulder is connected by a polycap join and is pretty nicely-detailed. The gun and shield are unique to this design and look pretty neat-especially the Federation cross on the shield. Strangely, this kit has no trigger finger hand, so the gun just sits in the fists the beam sabers use.

AND SPEAKING OF BEAM SABERS, what the hell, Bandai? Remember how I complained about the 30th Gundam having a solid plastic saber blade? Well, this thing comes with NO BLADES WHATSOEVER. Come on, really?

The kit does come with some open hands, though, a bit of a luxury on kits these days. They look pretty nice and allow for some more dynamic posing.

The final verdict? It’s cool. While it has some minor improvements over the 30th Gundam’s joint system, I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone that isn’t gung-ho about the design. It’s a shame that this is the only design from that game to get a kit-I personally think the Efreet Nacht is much more deserving since there aren’t any Efreet kits out there. But that would make sense, and we are talking about Bandai here.

Either way, I like the design here, and I plan on doing a really wild GM Striker to serve as a wingman in the future, so stay tuned.