This is a rare item! Dengeki Hobby Magazine includes special add-on kits for their prized Advance of Zeta series to go with the HGUC Hazel kits by Bandai. Currently there are only two of those upgrade kits: the G-Parts “Hrududu” for the Hazel-Rah and this set, which is really two upgrade sets: the Emergency Escape Pod [Primrose] which can make the Hazel Owsla as well as parts to make a Full Armor Hazel.
The Full Armor Parts
They finally released these dang upgrade parts! With just 4 parts from this set, you can make your Hazel fully armored! The parts themselves are molded crisply. They really look like they actually came with the kit. The torso armor is easy to put on. Simply remove the cockpit armor and attach the front torso armor to the pegs where that armor used to be. The other two pieces go on the sides of the torso. In order to attach these, you need to remove the arms (much like the MSiA TR-1 Hazel’s Full Armor). The Skirt armor needs for you to remove the two blue boxes on your Hazel II’s skirt armor. This armor attaches to those slots. The only bad side to this: even though you could apply the torso armor to any Hazel HGUC, like the Hazel Custom or Advanced Hazel, the skirt armor is specifically designed for the Hazel II’s skirt armor. If you wanted to put this skirt armor on your Custom or Advanced Hazel, you’d need to use the front skirt armor of the Hazel II. Its a slight “irk”, but nothing a decent modeler could overcome. Also, since these parts are designed to go with your Hazel II, they flawlessly apply themselves to the GM Quel as well. A GM Quel in Full Armor looks very nice! The only thing I suggest to get the FULL effect of the Torso armor is to use the torso of the Hazel. The GM Quel doesn’t have tnose white multi-launcher/handlebar parts, which really fill out the Full Armor look. Again, an easy modification. These FA Parts work flawlessly and look great on the kit! Even though they’re not the featured item in this DK Hobby release, they really look great!
The Primrose
This is the feature part of the kit. I’ll say it right now: if you want to make the Primrose by itself, you’ll be fine. If you’re getting this kit to “upgrade” your Hazel to the Hazel Owsla (or any other variant that uses the Primrose core) you’ll be left sad. The torso is tiny as it is, so theres no true transformation from pod to core. Just alot of parts swapping to get the two effects. The issues on the Primrose are reflected in the Hrududu. Both of them are molded in nothing but plastic. Without the Polycap parts that HGUC kits employ, the bare plastic-on-plastic joints just aren’t strong. However… theres more to this kit’s flaws than the lack of polycaps. Overall, the molded connections that go to the Hazel parts: the waist connection, arm connections, and the neck, are all loose. I cannot even get my Hazel II to hold his machine gun up without it falling back down. The neck is also especially loose. I don’t think its just my Hazel II kit, as I’ve tried this core out with all of my Hazels. Its just not tight enough to support the Hazel’s parts. Strangely enough, the backpacks seem to work fine on this core. Any Hazel or GM Quel backpack will work with it. Some modifications to its connections can greatly improve this kit, but if you’re looking for it to work fine OOB, good luck. Another strange note: the Primrose’s sweet looking beam cannon is still sweet (details on the inside and outside of the cannon!) but it’s assembly and sustems to hold up the cannon don’t suffer from weak joints OOB. However, since they are plastic-on-plastic connections, I expect it to get weak soon. The kit’s overall details are as crisp as always. They really look great! Some major painting is needed for it to look right, as the kit, like all of DK Hobby’s AoZ releases, is molded in all white. The biggest bummer of this isn’t so much that the connections aren’t tight, but that theres only one shoulder assembly. In order to complete any Primrose Core machine, you need two of those latch shoulder plates. This kit only comes with one of them, which means now I have to go out and find another kit. The Primrose Core is smaller than the Hazel’s core, so the small shoulderplates help the design work its way in. The Primrose core with the normal Hazel Shoulderplates looks out of place, so the second shoulderplate really needs to be there. The kit’s limited manual does not tell you how to attach the Primrose cannon to the MS Mode, nor does it tell you how to add that missile launcher armor to the shoulder armor it provided. They’re kind of easy to figure out on your own, but its still a little discouraging. In its Core form, the Primrose Cannon is too heavy for the armor piece it is connected to and the armor piece falls off. I’m seriously thinking about finding another kit, not just to get another shoulderplate, but so I can glue the Primrose in its Escape Pod Form and Torso form.
Overall This kit’s highlight to me seems to be the Full Armor parts. The Primrose by itself looks neat, but its functionality leaves something to be desired. Both upgrade parts LOOK great, but the technical flaws need to be solved to fully appreciate this kit. The real trick is FINDING this kit!
April 19th, 2007 at 11:47 am
This is a rare item! Dengeki Hobby Magazine includes special add-on kits for their prized Advance of Zeta series to go with the HGUC Hazel kits by Bandai. Currently there are only two of those upgrade kits: the G-Parts “Hrududu” for the Hazel-Rah and this set, which is really two upgrade sets: the Emergency Escape Pod [Primrose] which can make the Hazel Owsla as well as parts to make a Full Armor Hazel.
The Full Armor Parts
They finally released these dang upgrade parts! With just 4 parts from this set, you can make your Hazel fully armored! The parts themselves are molded crisply. They really look like they actually came with the kit. The torso armor is easy to put on. Simply remove the cockpit armor and attach the front torso armor to the pegs where that armor used to be. The other two pieces go on the sides of the torso. In order to attach these, you need to remove the arms (much like the MSiA TR-1 Hazel’s Full Armor). The Skirt armor needs for you to remove the two blue boxes on your Hazel II’s skirt armor. This armor attaches to those slots. The only bad side to this: even though you could apply the torso armor to any Hazel HGUC, like the Hazel Custom or Advanced Hazel, the skirt armor is specifically designed for the Hazel II’s skirt armor. If you wanted to put this skirt armor on your Custom or Advanced Hazel, you’d need to use the front skirt armor of the Hazel II. Its a slight “irk”, but nothing a decent modeler could overcome. Also, since these parts are designed to go with your Hazel II, they flawlessly apply themselves to the GM Quel as well. A GM Quel in Full Armor looks very nice! The only thing I suggest to get the FULL effect of the Torso armor is to use the torso of the Hazel. The GM Quel doesn’t have tnose white multi-launcher/handlebar parts, which really fill out the Full Armor look. Again, an easy modification. These FA Parts work flawlessly and look great on the kit! Even though they’re not the featured item in this DK Hobby release, they really look great!
The Primrose
This is the feature part of the kit. I’ll say it right now: if you want to make the Primrose by itself, you’ll be fine. If you’re getting this kit to “upgrade” your Hazel to the Hazel Owsla (or any other variant that uses the Primrose core) you’ll be left sad. The torso is tiny as it is, so theres no true transformation from pod to core. Just alot of parts swapping to get the two effects. The issues on the Primrose are reflected in the Hrududu. Both of them are molded in nothing but plastic. Without the Polycap parts that HGUC kits employ, the bare plastic-on-plastic joints just aren’t strong. However… theres more to this kit’s flaws than the lack of polycaps. Overall, the molded connections that go to the Hazel parts: the waist connection, arm connections, and the neck, are all loose. I cannot even get my Hazel II to hold his machine gun up without it falling back down. The neck is also especially loose. I don’t think its just my Hazel II kit, as I’ve tried this core out with all of my Hazels. Its just not tight enough to support the Hazel’s parts. Strangely enough, the backpacks seem to work fine on this core. Any Hazel or GM Quel backpack will work with it. Some modifications to its connections can greatly improve this kit, but if you’re looking for it to work fine OOB, good luck. Another strange note: the Primrose’s sweet looking beam cannon is still sweet (details on the inside and outside of the cannon!) but it’s assembly and sustems to hold up the cannon don’t suffer from weak joints OOB. However, since they are plastic-on-plastic connections, I expect it to get weak soon. The kit’s overall details are as crisp as always. They really look great! Some major painting is needed for it to look right, as the kit, like all of DK Hobby’s AoZ releases, is molded in all white. The biggest bummer of this isn’t so much that the connections aren’t tight, but that theres only one shoulder assembly. In order to complete any Primrose Core machine, you need two of those latch shoulder plates. This kit only comes with one of them, which means now I have to go out and find another kit. The Primrose Core is smaller than the Hazel’s core, so the small shoulderplates help the design work its way in. The Primrose core with the normal Hazel Shoulderplates looks out of place, so the second shoulderplate really needs to be there. The kit’s limited manual does not tell you how to attach the Primrose cannon to the MS Mode, nor does it tell you how to add that missile launcher armor to the shoulder armor it provided. They’re kind of easy to figure out on your own, but its still a little discouraging. In its Core form, the Primrose Cannon is too heavy for the armor piece it is connected to and the armor piece falls off. I’m seriously thinking about finding another kit, not just to get another shoulderplate, but so I can glue the Primrose in its Escape Pod Form and Torso form.
Overall This kit’s highlight to me seems to be the Full Armor parts. The Primrose by itself looks neat, but its functionality leaves something to be desired. Both upgrade parts LOOK great, but the technical flaws need to be solved to fully appreciate this kit. The real trick is FINDING this kit!