1. Intro:
Model: Gundam F91
Size: Mg 1 100
Pilot: Seabook Arno
Boxart:
A nice looking boxart showing off F91 with the XMA-01 Rafflesia ( yes that is the official name).
Something worth nothing is that this box is of NG 1 100 size. The exact same size as my 1 100 ng arios' box.
Sideshot:
Showing us the most unique action base ever.
Price: 3200 yen. Very cheap, considering that it comes with an action base. However, the F91 is a small gundam at 15.2m compare to the usual 18-19m for most gundams, so the model will be smaller as well.
2. Parts:
Head:
There is a gimmick for the head where u can slide up and down an inner part to change the look of the head. Very special yes, but i find it rather pointless and it causes the crown part to detach sometimes.
Torso:
Nothing special at first glance. except that it has no red.
But here comes the winner. At the back there are vernier thrusters made up of many small parts and they look awesome. No stickers or anything like that and they stay on very well.
Arms:
The red decals work nicely, there are 2 sets of F91 decals u can choose for the shoulders. I choose this set because the they stand out more. The other only had red outlines.
As for articulation, the hand can touch its own shoulders as u can see.
1 complain i have is that Bandai decided that that they try something new for this gundam: no polycaps.
Sounds good but i dunno if that is the reason but it makes the construction somewhat different and i think it makes the joints weaker as compared to normal MGs.
The hands are the trigger finger/ 3 fingers split with a peg for weapon holding. In this case they don't seem to work well as the thumb and the trigger finger are too loose and they sometimes bend the other way-looking awkward. I would have prefer the MG strike noir 's extra hands that are closed for good weapon-holding.
Waist:
Looking plain. The front skirts are independent.
But wow, the side skirts can open, the right side has a bomb hidden where seabook used in the movie.
But the bomb gimmick is well, just a gimmick. It is also a bit of a trouble when the side skirts don't close fully as they do tend to pop open.
Legs:
nice and clean design.
Good articulation.
The feet can also bend a good amount. The black triangle part on the knee is a small sticker and it appears in many parts of the gundam, like the bomb for instance. It can be tricky to get the sticker in due to its tiny size. But i guess it cannot be helped since Bandai cannot possibly make such a small plastic part.
Stickers and the F91 decal i never used.
See the amount of stickers? At least they do not bend at many points like the Ng saviour. The black triangle stickers actually come in different sizes, ranging from small to very small to WTH tiny.
The alternative F 91 decal i never used actually looks very sharp too.
Weapons and accessories.
I love the weapons that the F91 comes with. The VSBR hip mounted canons are great and they can slide out to reveal handles for the gundam to hold. The beam rifle is simple, but with some lining it looks good too. But my favourite has got to be the beam launcher. It is made up of quite a few parts and it is fantastic , though a bit tricky for the gundam to hold.
Green beam sabers are different from the usual pink ones from seed or 00.
The beam shield is great looking and locks into the arms very well. However it is not something that i will switch in and out many times and it looks like the locking mechanism is very tight and may damage the plastic shield if used too many times.
And yeah, the weirdest design for an action base i have seen.
I admit i do not like the base when i saw it from the boxart. But after building it, it is in fact a wonderful job by Bandai. It is very sturdy and do hold the gundam well. I painted the cockpit with clear green paint as it comes
clear. There is also a figure of the iron mask inside. The tentacles are wires and they do stand well and u can bend them as u please.
The angle at which the gundam is held is adjustable, but the height is not.
3. Details and articulation
All put together we get the F91, unarmed. The left arm is different from the right, it has a mounting mechanism for the beam shield.
Looking at the legs, u can see the black lines running vertically through. Those are actually panel lines done by me using grey gundam markers. Such thick lines will definitely fade with time without top coat. I feel that Bandai could have thought of a better way, like exposing a grey part underneath.
Despite it being a small MG, there is no mistaking it for a high grade.
It is definitely small for a MG though.
Up on the action base, the effect is very pleasing much to my my surprise.
Being a 2006 MG, this skimps on no details, only small complain is the tiny black stickers used. Decals are very nice, especially the VSBR ones on the VSBR.
4. Poseability
A horrible pose at an attempt with 2 beam sabers.
I think it looks out of place with 2 beam sabers.
A much cooler pose with its beam rifle and shield. The 3 pointy parts on the shoulders are slided out as another gimmick well done.
The beam shield is great.
My favourite weapon of all, the beam launcher. it can be difficult to get it in this pose due to the bad hands/fingers and that the launcher should be placed nicely on its shoulders for it to hold steadily.
From the side.
Wondering where Freedom got its idea of hip-mounted canons from?
5. Sturdiness
Parts do drop off when changing poses but they do stay there well when u fix it at a certain pose. One thing i do not like about this kit is that most of the parts are very small, smaller than other MGs. This means that it can be easy to misplace parts or even break them when building the model.
Another complain is i feel that this model feels a bit 'hollow' and light despite it having an inner frame.
6. Conclusion
I liked this gundam from the anime movie F91, and this model has a very unique build. Parts seem to come together in a different way, perhaps due to its polycap-less nature ( actually there are some parts that are basically polycaps in the plates) . Well i guess Bandai thought this was not a great idea after all and now we are still seeing polycaps.
Details: 7/10
Articulation: 8.5/10 ,many movable parts like the pointy parts on the shoulders
Sturdiness: 6/10
Poseability: 7/10
Only gundam model that fights with its own action base?
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