1/100 Duel Assault Shroud Part 1

Extra value pack?
Back to Gunpla a bit ^^

The next kit to go from my list is this one: 1/100 Duel Gundam Assault Shroud from "Gundam SEED".




One of the five Gundams at the beginning stage of the anime, Duel Gundam only receives its armor and weapon upgrade after it was damaged by Strike Gundam in one episode. For the kit itself, all the armors are detachable, so it can revert between the "plain form" and Assault Shroud armored type. ^^ That would be its special selling point as compared to Buster Gundam's combo cannons, Aegis Gundam's transformation and Blitz Gundam's unique weapon sets. The ability to attach/detach the armors is something I like very much about this kit. It's sort of this perceived extra value that you're building two Gundams in one kit. ^^ For a 2,200-Yen kit, that's a very good deal. ^^

On the other hand, I don't believe a "plain" Duel Gundam would do well in terms of sales. ^^; Apart from not being the protagonist mecha, its design is too similar to that of the actual protagonist Gundam, Strike Gundam but with even simpler design and lesser parts. Without the armors, the weapons it has are pretty much limited to a shield, beam rifle and two beam sabers. It would definitely be losing out in terms of attractiveness. The price may be lower by 500 Yen because of the excluded armors, but everyone would probably just wait for the Assault Shroud version anyway.

As it turned out, only the initial 1/144 scale Collection kit and the Quick Gundam Model version were released in "plain form". Other incarnations of Duel Gundam's Gunpla releases apart from this 1/100 scale version, namely the HG and BB Senshi versions were released with the Assault Shroud add-ons.

For Duel Gundam from the anime, piloted by Domon Kasshu Yzak Jule, it's not my favorite Gundam of the show (my favorite is Providence Gundam), but its performance is pretty awesome. Despite being an older mecha by specs at the end of the series, it still manages to down two newer enemy Gundams. And by the end of everything, it survives as the only Gundam from O.M.N.I.'s initial GAT-X series that remains intact (and of all the Gundams in "Gundam SEED" too). That's pretty good. ^^

A look at the content of the kit:



Runner A - Multi-color runner featuring white, blue, yellow and clear parts.
Looking at how all the yellow verniers on the extra armors are molded on this runner, I suppose the Assault Shroud add-ons were never intended to be released as a separate kit right from the beginning.


Runner B - Contains all white parts.


Runner C - Contains all the gray parts mainly for the joints, plus a few thrusters on the extra armors.


Runner D - Contains all the light blue parts for the Assault Shroud add-ons.


Most of the parts are pretty big. ^^


Runner E - Contains all the black parts, mainly for the weapons.


Runner F - Contains all blue parts for Duel Gundam.


Standard polycap set PC-116, standard beam sabers and figure of Yzak Jule.


Pretty accurate sculpt details on the figures.
Awaiting then start of work in the next posting. ^^