Home News
Reviews The List
NYTS Links
Ramblin' Man Gallery
This 5" Gundam figure is designed to go from the F-91, VSBR-equipted mode to the traditional F-90 mode. The F-91 form is mostly white and blue with red trim, whereas the F-90 has the more traditional red and yellow colors thrown in. Either mode has a LOT of articulation.
The figures come with more stuff then a Super Walmart; weapons, hands, even a stand. Wow!
Meat and Potatoes; 4.5
Perks; 5.0
Homer Factor; 4.5
Bandai is the benchmark for top-end toys. Their Soul of Chogokin line has been around for a number of years, pumping out a number of amazing DIE-CAST pieces. Then there's the Fix Figuration line that pays homage to Gundam. I've reviewed the Nu Gundam piece and the figure from Sentinel. Both are pretty dang cool... ok, in the case of the Nu Gundam it's outstanding. And they better be for $40.00 + apiece. Yeah, that's pretty ugly. Fortunately Diamond is making arrangements to get these figures more consistently into the US for HOPEFULLY a lower price, minus some annoying tariffs. Well, along comes the latest version, figure #21, from 'Gundam F-91'. So, what is this piece like? How mind-blowing is it? Is it PVC perfection? OH, THE AGONY!
Meat and potatoes... actually, this is where the problem is. But first, the GOOD news. Like the other Fix Figuration pieces, the sculpting and painting on this piece are as good as it gets. Whether in F-91 or F-90 mode, this figure is brimming with details; vents, stencils, it's astounding what you can slam on to a 5" figure. Yeah, FIVE INCHES. Wow! And actually, even the articulation is awesome as usual.
The problem is the way things fit together. The figure is designed so this can be transformed into the F-91 AND F-90 forms. This means unplugging the limbs and other chunks o' stuff, re-attaching other things, and then you have it! Sounds neat, sounds fun... and leads to the joints in the shoulders being really loose so they tend to pop off easily. Doh! There's another problem; the VSBR. (Variable-speed beam rifles.) These are massive cannons mounted on the back of the piece that swing forward for firing, and designed to be removable like everything else. Unfortunately, the slots to move the cannons back and forth are pretty tight, which leads to the arms popping off. Doh! Is anything broken? No. Hard to put back? No. If you just want to display the piece, it's not a hassle. However, considering how well the Nu Gundam holds up, and even the EXS piece holds up, I expected similar durability on this one. No such luck. Doh!
Perks are over-the-top as always. LOTS of guns, hands, rifles, the extra pieces to go for both modes, it's just incredible. AND everything is amazingly well crafted. Case in point is a MASSIVE cannon that's about 10" LONG when fully extended. The cannon is sculpted with tons of panel lines and covered in stencils, giving it the look of something the Pentagon might actually want to build. Oh, and get this... it's got a removable clip. Wow! And as I mentioned, the figure is designed to switch from the F-90 form to the F-91 mode. The directions are in black-and-white, but are pretty clear, so you can do the change pretty easily. There's even a large stand with the figure's name and some statistics on it so you can place the figure on a great stand.
Homer factor. Oh boy... look, the figure is unquestionably well done, and looks SWEET, but... well...
So, what's the final verdict? Well, GOOD news is this figure isn't as annoying as the Neo piece from McFarlane. This figure DOES move, and it does have a great range of motion... assuming the pieces don't fly off. In the end, it comes down to what you want. If you want a display piece with a lot of posing options, this is PERFECT; you can change the poses, LOTS of accessories, a fan-boys/girls dream. BUT... if you're looking for an ACTION-FIGURE... well, you are going to be VERY frustrated. Doh!