I've been wondering if this line is worth getting into? I've been tempted to pick up Wing Zero and God Gundam from BBTS and possibly putting a preorder in for Sandrock.
If you have robot damashi versions or can build mg's no. If you want a cheap substandard Gundam with not to much posing possibilities or accessories then yes
To me, no. I bought 1 to test out thinking I’d be safe since it’s the RX-78 but I ended up returning it. Even if you cut plastic away from the lower arms/legs, it won’t free up the hindered elbow/knee motion due to the way their joints are designed. There’s stuff like drop down joints and double joints but they’re made redundant due to being hindered substantially. The best joints were the ankles. Paint is used for key areas but some look cheap in person due to a lot of bare plastic. Not helped that some come with the bare minimum of weapons. Relative scaling was out the window from wave 1 with Unicorn Gundam being the same size as the rest when it should be bigger overall. The fact that Tallgeese and Nu Gundam might be the same size is weird. Best thing about these is that you’d need to try to actually break them. Unless the sharp edges run into a wall you’re pretty much safe. The price is appropriate. Ultimately this is a line that sounded better on paper but was botched by redundant articulation, disregard for relative scaling and kind of throwing away any lesson learned from 20+ years of Gundam figure making prior even for domestic Gundam lines. It’s an odd duck for sure. Sad thing is it really has potential that was wasted.
It'll really depend on how taken you are by the concept of 6 inch Gundam figures. If you want super articulation and gimmicks, this line will not deliver. If you want Gundams that can scale with stuff like TF Generations you'll be fine. I don't want to sell the line as short as many have, but if it's the best version of an MS in toy form get the Robot Damashii if available. If you just want representation in your collection, go for these.
I got hooked on 12th-ish scale figures after the 3.75" Joe line was done in 18'. I went into this line with zero baggage as I know nothing about the fiction and I have no clue on scaling, good guy - bad guy, ect. The articulation is limited but getting better, it's somewhat improved from wave 1 to wave 3. I have the Goose and Burning figures from wave 4 but haven't opened them yet so I can't speak on their articulation. I can say that they are very well built, plastic is dense and durable, and the sculpt is great which is an overall design thing I know. They are fun to mess with and look great on a shelf. I wanted a representation of Gundam, and for me, these fit the bill perfectly. This is like many of the lines I collect (Gundam, Marvel, DC, TMNT, Thundercats, MOTU) where I don't know much if anything about the franchise, but I want a shelf of action figures that represents it.
To put our discussion in perspective: Last week, my local Target had 12 figures from wave 3 and 6 Strike Rouge. Last night, they were down to 3 Strike Rouge and 2 Shining. That's a lot of figures sold in a week! My jaw dropped when is saw that.
I guess the best way to describe this line is that it’s a line of 6” tall(not scaled) $24.99 Gundam figures with the bare minimum of weapons and articulation not exceeding that of a 2010 HG/NG Gunpla kit nor that of later MSiA figures. Even early Robot Damashii Gundam figures(when they were in the $30+ range over 10 years ago) move substantially better than these figures.
The main thing it has going for it is that it's basically the only line on domestic shelves, and they are relatively cheap (though not MSIA cheap). I mean I want to support them but man.
Yeah, after reading what everyone is posting and taking into account that I'm used to Robot Damashii these probably wouldn't do anything for me. I didn't think they'd be close to RD but figured they'd at least be on par with previous domestic released lines. Unfortunately, my Robot Damashii Gundam Wing figures were "lost" by movers when we moved back in 2017, and replacing them would get costly. I'll probably just have to bite the bullet.
I'm not sure how hard the Wing RDs are to get right now, but you might want to just try one of the Universe toys (whatever your favorite design is). If all you want are the main Wing gundams, that's the one series I think they'd eventually do all of especially since that's the one that had the biggest success here (no guarantees but that seems likely if it lasts that long). If, like me, you'd rather have a cheaper line that went deeper like MSIA did, especially with enemy mechs, I'd be more cautious.
If I were to give it a try I'd get Wing Zero, but... I've never actually seen a copy in any store. If I saw one in a store I'd pick it up just to try the line out because if it sucked I could just pack it back up and return it to Target/Wal-Mart, but since my only option seems to be online ordering returns are usually out unless there's an actual QC issue. And, just checked, and just rebuying Wing Zero would run me about $100 off of eBay from what I'm seeing.
Yeah, "lost" with a bunch of other expensive imports the movers claim they "couldn't find the boxes for". Word of advice to everyone... never use a small mom-and-pop moving company that's owned by your parent's "church friends" that hire convicted felons on probation to give them a second chance. Yeah, sorry, I'm still pretty damned bitter about that.
Yeah, when I said it was available domestically I meant mainly on Amazon, Target (presumably) and Walgreens/CVS. That's part of the dilemma I have with this line, if I saw it on the shelf at Target I might impulse buy it, but on Amazon where I can also buy RDs or dozens of other robot toys, probably not. Though I see the Ez-8 is slightly discounted and I'm tempted...
Damn thanks for the heads up, I’ll keep that in mind. There is a Metal Robot Damashii Wing Zero on the way. It’ll smoke GU figures in articulation and transform.
But also be super expensive and maybe impossible to get (depending on how they distribute it or is it a normal release)...
While true(and those prices aren’t pretty), ultimately it would be a more enjoyable release compared to GU. Thing is, I was all for a $25 Wing Gundam 1 until I realized it couldn’t transform and couldn’t pose well due to questionable design decisions. Especially since Wing 1 has an extremely simple transformation going to Neo Bird mode.
Never support something out of obligation to keeping it on the domestic market. Marketing needs to understand we don't want sub-par crap.
Oh no they definitely don’t understand that lol. This is definitely a misfire from Bandai marketing. Someone probably read the bullet point highlights on a presentation and thought it would be awesome while the rest were probably like deer in the headlights. If this was a newer company that hadn’t made Gundams it’d be a different story but this is Bandai...they’re no stranger to Gundam. I honestly think the only fans that this line would appeal to most are fans who grew up watching Gundam on Toonami(and/or played with MSiA! figures back in the day) and now want something new...BUT haven’t built a Gunpla nor bought any modern Gundam figure within the last 20 years. That way, expectations wouldn’t be too high. However, these are the exact same fans that may end up saying, “man the originals(in their eyes MSiA) were better”. For example, MSiA! RX-78-2 2.0(the deluxe that came with the core shuttle), smokes GU RX-78 in articulation without even needing drop down hip joints. To build on that: Double jointed elbows/knees! Wait those joints are hindered Drop down hips! Wait the drop down isn’t that helpful Sharp points! Ok good there $25! Good there too 6” height! Awesome! .....but not 6” scale what...... Sturdy construction! Can’t argue that
I still feel the line makes sense if you compsre it to Marvel Legends, Transformers RED, Lightning Collection, etc. These aren't meant to be the be all and end all of Gundam toys. They're designed to be moderately friendly to collectors and a way to make Gundam known to newbies who find this in the toy aisle and think "Cool robots!" This is a huge part of what we're seeing now with legacy franchises, attempts to make the history inviting to new fans rather than overwhelming. The Build spinoffs do similar by saying "Ok, so you don't want to watch a 20 year old 50 episode anime. But these robots still look cool, right? You could even buy a few you like and mash em together for a custom!" Even the scale factor doesn't bother me, and that's coming from a guy so anal I have tins full of unused Gunpla option parts just in case years from now a sequel makes the loadout I don't use the definitive one. I'm not saying none of the complaints have merit but I am largely at peace with what this line is aiming for. I don't need stuff like removable ammo clips I'd just lose anyway.
