This mobile suit is primarily featured in the Zeta Gundam series (of over 20 years ago, WOW). A transformable mobile suit developed by the August Research institute and used (tested) primarily by the Titans (the forerunner of the gapalant -the fiver- was as well). Indeed this mobile weapon was meant to be an extremely high performance mobile suit, with operational needs so demanding that only the very toughest of pilots could bring out its potential. Besides it’s speed, its main hallmark was its transformability.
The 1/144HG kit does well in reproducing the mobile suit from the series. The biggest deals besides transformation for this kit are the inclusion of the tail booster and 2 display stands, one for the Gaplant’s body and the other (smaller display) is for use when the tail booster is connected to the mobile armor.
The Head:
Basic in build, it has no moving eye components out of the box. The eye sensor is a clear plastic orb which uses a pink sticker in place of the eye-light. The head can rotate slightly.
The Body:
Segments of moving parts, but well done. Though it’s an HG kit, there is enough detail to satisfy those who may be used to MG kits with the inclusion of some under armor metal (underneath the chest and under the head). The shoulder plastic is molded to give the illusion of mechanical detail as well. Unlike what the instruction manual shows, the shoulder mechancs are modelled in gray, not green and gray. The body is segmented so that it can fold into MA mode.
The Arms:
Sort of remind me of the Rick Dias a (little bit). Nothing incredibly special here except for the rather large gun/shields that mount off of the forarm. These are fully rotatable for MA mode. The tubing shown is already present in the plastic parts from the sprues. A nice touch to give it the proper detail.
The Waist:
Has small terminals for locking together the legs/body/waist in MA mode and for attaching the model to the display stand as well as the tail booster (in either MA or MS configuration)
The Legs:
Very articulate. The feet are foldable like the zeta gundam for MA mode. Tons of booster cones here.
The kit does well in duplicating the Gaplant of the old Z days. It also includes beam sabers and the plastic beams for them. While the kit does extremely well by itself, the stands are a nice extra component. They help to illustrate the sheer length of the Gaplant, especially in mobile armor mode, as the Mobile Suit and the tail booster make for quite a lengthy sized High Grade kit. The model also very easily folds in and out of Mobile Armor/Mobile suit configurations. Very few if any seam lines to repair. Very nice out of the box.
My only gripe is also one of the things that impresses me about this: the weight. After awhile the weight of the mobile suit/mobile armor begins to wear on the joints, especially after only a couple of transformations. While obiously it’s not a toy, it would have been nice for the makers to have tightened up the joints a bit. Still, the model is fully capable of standing on it’s feet or attaching to the display stand. The model is basically “hollow” and has no real “solid” body, as it’s very segmented in order to facilitate the transformation feature. Most of the weight is in it’s legs however(if you don’t include the booster).
Overall: The height falls between the height of “THE O” and 1/144 zeta. This model comes with pretty much everything that the mobile suit did in the series, especially that tail booster — which incidentally DOES connect to the HRUDUDU fighter for the Hazel Gundam. This is a very good plastic model kit with decent scale to show it’s true length. Very nice for an HG kit and a must for any Zeta Gundam fan!
August 11th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
This mobile suit is primarily featured in the Zeta Gundam series (of over 20 years ago, WOW). A transformable mobile suit developed by the August Research institute and used (tested) primarily by the Titans (the forerunner of the gapalant -the fiver- was as well). Indeed this mobile weapon was meant to be an extremely high performance mobile suit, with operational needs so demanding that only the very toughest of pilots could bring out its potential. Besides it’s speed, its main hallmark was its transformability.
The 1/144HG kit does well in reproducing the mobile suit from the series. The biggest deals besides transformation for this kit are the inclusion of the tail booster and 2 display stands, one for the Gaplant’s body and the other (smaller display) is for use when the tail booster is connected to the mobile armor.
The Head:
Basic in build, it has no moving eye components out of the box. The eye sensor is a clear plastic orb which uses a pink sticker in place of the eye-light. The head can rotate slightly.
The Body:
Segments of moving parts, but well done. Though it’s an HG kit, there is enough detail to satisfy those who may be used to MG kits with the inclusion of some under armor metal (underneath the chest and under the head). The shoulder plastic is molded to give the illusion of mechanical detail as well. Unlike what the instruction manual shows, the shoulder mechancs are modelled in gray, not green and gray. The body is segmented so that it can fold into MA mode.
The Arms:
Sort of remind me of the Rick Dias a (little bit). Nothing incredibly special here except for the rather large gun/shields that mount off of the forarm. These are fully rotatable for MA mode. The tubing shown is already present in the plastic parts from the sprues. A nice touch to give it the proper detail.
The Waist:
Has small terminals for locking together the legs/body/waist in MA mode and for attaching the model to the display stand as well as the tail booster (in either MA or MS configuration)
The Legs:
Very articulate. The feet are foldable like the zeta gundam for MA mode. Tons of booster cones here.
The kit does well in duplicating the Gaplant of the old Z days. It also includes beam sabers and the plastic beams for them. While the kit does extremely well by itself, the stands are a nice extra component. They help to illustrate the sheer length of the Gaplant, especially in mobile armor mode, as the Mobile Suit and the tail booster make for quite a lengthy sized High Grade kit. The model also very easily folds in and out of Mobile Armor/Mobile suit configurations. Very few if any seam lines to repair. Very nice out of the box.
My only gripe is also one of the things that impresses me about this: the weight. After awhile the weight of the mobile suit/mobile armor begins to wear on the joints, especially after only a couple of transformations. While obiously it’s not a toy, it would have been nice for the makers to have tightened up the joints a bit. Still, the model is fully capable of standing on it’s feet or attaching to the display stand. The model is basically “hollow” and has no real “solid” body, as it’s very segmented in order to facilitate the transformation feature. Most of the weight is in it’s legs however(if you don’t include the booster).
Overall: The height falls between the height of “THE O” and 1/144 zeta. This model comes with pretty much everything that the mobile suit did in the series, especially that tail booster — which incidentally DOES connect to the HRUDUDU fighter for the Hazel Gundam. This is a very good plastic model kit with decent scale to show it’s true length. Very nice for an HG kit and a must for any Zeta Gundam fan!