Back to Gunpla-ing with the assembly of a High Grade kit I have been wanting to complete since getting it last month: HG 1/144 G-Exes Jackedge from "MS Gundam Age". ^^
Most of my Gunpla assembly reviews in the past started off with the weapons and accessories, since the arms to be assembled after that can be shown holding those weapons and accessories. For this kit however, I think the weapons are the unique attractions of this kit, so they will come much later.
The head with the skull face is very interesting as well, but since I always keep the head's assembly till the very end, that "tradition" doesn't make the head anymore special that it already is as compared to the weapons. ^^
Parts of the arms.
(Left) The round protruding area on the gray forearm part is really just meant to house the wrist joint's polycap part behind it rather than signifying any sort of special mechanical design, as the entire round area is to be covered up by the dark blue part.
(Right) The two elbow joint parts that connect and slot into the upper arm's armor part is quite a special assembly design (to me ^^;).
Separable components of the arms before the final assembly.
Both arms completed.
Very normal 90-degree bend at elbow level.
The shoulder armors' side panels can be lifted upward for a limited degree.
Due to G-Exes Jackedge's special shoulder armor design, the original "shoulder pad" on G-Exes had to be omitted, but on this kit itself, the joint is still there.
The wrist armor's position can be changed to have the shield mounted on the back or beside the forearm.
Parts of the legs.
Small as they are, the thigh joint incorporates two polycap parts: one for the thigh, another for the hip.
The knee joint's assembly is pretty interesting as well. The design of having the lower polycap part sandwiched vertically between the knee parts is a rather unconventional design. ^^
Foil stickers for the vents (?) on the sides.
Separable components of the legs before the final assembly.
Done for the two legs.
If not for the protruding bit behind the thighs and knees, it would be a perfect 180-degree bend for the knees.
The ankle's ball-type joint allows the legs to bend forward and rearward for a very wide degree.
(Left) Bending the ankle joint inward (or outward) while sliding the foot to the side is possible. The joint works very similarly to the same component on HG 1/144 00 Gundam, but not as flexible (or crazy ^^) unfortunately.
Parts of the waist
Separable components of the waist before the final assembly.
The painted missiles are predictably hard to see inside the completed side skirt armors.
Done for the waist.
No details whatsoever beneath all the skirt armor pieces. ^^;
The more standard rotation for the hip joint is possible.
Using the same polycap part that enables the rotation shown above, the hip joint can also "swing" from side to side.
HG 1/144 Cherudim Gundam has the exact same design for its hip joint.
A clip-on part on the rear skirt armor can be slide downward to expose a slot to mount the beam rifle.
Combined with the legs done earlier on, the entire lower body is completed.
Kneeling is very easy for G-Exes Jackedge. ^^
Then again, as you can see, the waist is not leveled in this kneeling pose. ^^;
The forward bending leg can be adjusted outward at ankle level to give the waist a more leveled position, but the look becomes very unnatural to me. ^^;
Discarding the overall look of G-Exes Jackedge for a moment - since I have yet to complete the whole kit, the assembly felt really ordinary to me. There are a few components that seem to be quite interesting, as highlighted earlier on, but overall, it feels like a very normal High Grade kit to me. ^^; Not that there's anything wrong about that, since the completed components follow the MS's mechanical design and the articulation seen so far is great. But for someone who weights the assembly process more that the outcome (looks, articulation and playability), there's really nothing too special about this kit that made me go, "Wow, that's some brilliant engineering there, Bandai." ^^;
It (the assembly design) works, that's it. ^^;
At 1,200 Yen (exclusive of tax), and just looking at the assembly design alone, this kit is not at all outstanding as compared to HG 1/144 Tieren Ground Type, Gundam Exia or Cherudim Gundam in my opinion, just to name a few that I did assembled in the past and compare. The comparison is especially true for Tieren Ground Type that has very few molded colors. While using an "older type" polycap set for High Grade standard (PC-123, which was used by most High Grade kits from "Gundam Double O" Season 1, as compared to PC-001 put into HG releases of Season 2), various parts on that kit that work together to hide seam lines while giving the completed model a lot of articulation is just genius. It's very enjoyable to assemble because of those engineering creativity. For this kit however, everything is just normal. ^^;
Gafran from the same anime and Gunpla series is also priced at 1,200 Yen (exclusive of tax), but given its transformation gimmick, the part design and assembly had to be unique to begin with, so it isn't exactly fair to be used as a comparison with all the kits mentioned above I suppose.
Again, there's nothing wrong with this kit being normal, since everything works. For those who didn't assemble the three kits mentioned earlier on, this kit would probably be very exciting because of its very impressive articulation design. For me however, I'm not interested to get the first HG 1/144 G-Exes anymore even though I do like the White Wolf very much. ^^;
Moving on to the weapons, body and head of G-Exes Jackedge next. ^^
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