MSiA AMX-004-3 Qubeley Mk II

Height: 11cm to top of head, approx. 14.5cm to top of shoulder armor.

Articulation: 39 total points of articulation: Triple-jointed neck; 10 points in each arm - double jointed shoulder, quadruple-jointed shoulder armor, pre-elbow swivel, double jointed elbow, ball-jointed wrist; ball-jointed midsection; hinged funnel rack; swivel waist; ball-jointed front skirt armor; 6 points in each leg- ball jointed hip, double-jointed knee, hinged knee armor, ball-jointed ankle, hinged foot.

Accessories: Beam Sabers x2, Funnels x10, Extra Hands x4

Colors: Molded metal-flake red, yellow, medium gray, and clear yellow plastic. Painted red, yellow, pink(eyes), medium gray, gunmetal, and black ink(panel lines).

Release Data: Released June 2003 in Japan at a price of ¥1500. This item is no longer in production as of this review (March 5th, 2005).

Gallery: 10 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

The Qubeley design is unique among Gundam's mecha designs, in my opinion. While even the most out-there designs have a certain martial quality to them, the Qubeley has a certain grace, and reminds me of nothing so much as a bird. Granted, while it may not look like a weapon, it surely is, mounting a pair of Beam Launchers that double as Beam Sabers, and a rack of the Newtype-use remote weapons known as Funnels.

The Qubeley Mark II is one of three figures to be released under the ZZ Gundam logo, and one of two that are recolors of an earlier Zeta figure. (For the record, the other recolor is another Qubeley Mark II, and the only new mold of the trio is the ZZ Gundam itself.) In the series, the Mark II is all but identical to the original Qubeley, with only a different color scheme and two additional Funnels added to the rack on its back. That second change isn't represented here, but they also ignored it for the Master Grade kit as well, so I can't hold that against the figure too much.

The Head

And right from the top, the uniqueness of the design can be seen. The head is flat, thin, and roughly the same length as the figure's legs. Naturally, this does interfere with side-to-side movement a bit. But the neck is specially designed with a double-hinge joint/ball-joint combination, so that the Qubeley Mark II can face forward when in a horizontal position. It's a neat effect, and my only qualm is that the lower hinge isn't as secure as I'd like, and tends to pull loose when you reposition the head.

The Arms

Next up, the massive shoulder armor, which consists of two large halves mounted to a smaller plate. The larger parts, which feature a nice amount of inner detail, are mounted on a small arm with a swivel/ball-joint combination that allows you to adjust for various poses. It does a pretty nice job of keeping a position, but the problem comes in with the sides of the torso, which I'll mention here since I figured them as part of the shoulder joint above.

The ball-jointed shoulders are mounted on the ball-jointed side-sections of the Qubeley's torso. This lends a lot of flexibility to the shoulders, and can allow for some pretty expressive posing. At the same time, it seems like the side panels just fit better in some poses than others, and some drooping may occur depending on how you choose to pose the Qubeley. Overall, I think they help a lot, though. Like the Master Grade kits, the back of the left shoulder has tiny markings that read "2 LMES"- which is supposed to indicate that the design is based on the Mobile Armor Elmeth (or L. Mes in this case, I guess) from the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

The arms themselves are closest to standard of the bunch. The lateral movement isn't bad- aided again by the shoulders- and the elbows have a pretty fair range of movement, considering the flared forearm. The elbow joint is a combination of a single hinge and a ball-joint, and while it's not a good as a double-hinge it offers a 90-degree bend, which is about all you could expect from this design. The ball-joint also allows you to swivel the forearm and the upper arm to whatever positions you desire, though you may end up turning the entire arm by mistake.

The Torso

Aside from the side panels(or rather in-between them), the torso features a hinged cockpit cover. The two sides don't seem to want to move evenly, though, so I tend to leave it alone. The upper part of the torso is mounted to the skinny little waist by means of a ball-joint, which gives a good range of tilt. The waist section itself swivels, and the clearance is such that you have 360 degrees of swivel with no problems at all. The Qubeley doesn't have a backpack so much as a storage rack for its Funnels, which is hinged. It has about a 90-degree range, and gets out of the figure's way without much trouble, if any.

The front center skirt plate is mounted on a ball-joint, and has a good range of movement. The ball on mine is slightly crooked though, making it tough to center. The skirt plates behind it are good and flexible, as are the rear plates, though the side panels are pretty static here. It doesn't matter much, as they barely restrict the legs at all.

The Legs and Feet

The hip joint has fair movement front-to-back, but could probably do with a bit more side-to-side movement. This is due to the shape of the leg, though, and not so much the rigid side skirt panels. The knees are technically triple-jointed, since the knee armor is mounted on a third hinge. The double-joint that makes up the main knee does less than some single-joints I've seen, due to the shape of the legs. It's enough to allow for some decent posing, however.

The feet are odd in both design and execution. The ankle joint is a rounded "block" that the pointed toe attaches to by means of a hinge. The problem here is that one foot has fair ankle clearance and a nearly-immobile toe hinge, while the other has the opposite. One joint on each side seem to have been set in too deep. It doesn't hurt the figure too much- the flared leg design doesn't allow for a lot of flexibility anyway- but it is an error, and irritating at that, and I have no idea why it happened.

Paint and Decoration

Overall the decoration on the Qubeley Mark II is excellent, with some nice gunmetal on gray mechanical detailing inside the shoulder armor and under the flared armor plates. Once again with a recolor, we have painted hands here, but it's not quite as jarring, since there are other painted-yellow areas on the figure, like the various stripes and (for some reason) the midsection. I would still have preferred all molded yellow or all painted yellow for consistency, but there's a pretty good balance here. The panel lines are pretty nice, but slightly uneven, as with many earlier releases.

This seems like the best place to mention that the red plastic on the Mark II is a metal-flake red. It's not too metallic-looking, but it does make the figure look very bright, and very attractive.

Articulation gets 7/10

Sculpt and Deco get 8/10

Accessories

-Beam Sabers

This MS just can't bring itself to do anything normally. While the figure itself is fairly large, and the hands are of an above-average size, the Beam Sabers are the tiniest I've ever seen. They fit into the hands relatively well when inserted properly, though it's far too easy to angle the small grip incorrectly, and have it too loose in the hand. Despite the size of the handgrips, the blades are good and long, and thick enough that bending shouldn't be an issue as long as you're cautious with them.

The Beam Sabers also double as Beam Launchers, and slide into sockets in the forearms. It's a good, tight fit, and should stay in place without any trouble.

-Funnels

This is the Qubeley's distinguishing trait- the use of remote Beam weapons which can attack from any direction and range. At this scale, it means you get 10 tiny cones with bumps on them. They're smaller than the Beam Sabers by quite a margin. I feel special instructions on handling the Funnels are called for here:

1: Slowly, carefully, peel back one of the strips of tape covering 5 of the Funnels. They should stick to the tape.

2: Carefully remove a single Funnel and plug it into the rack on the Qubeley Mark II's back. They have to be at a pretty specific angle to be attached correctly, but once attached, they'll stay attached.

3: Whatever you do, don't sneeze. Or even inhale too sharply.

4: Repeat Steps 1-3 for the other 5 Funnels.

5: Never think about them ever again.

They're a nice feature, but it's going to take some small-scale ingenuity to display them with the Qubeley anywhere but the storage rack. And in my opinion, unless you have a specific effect in mind and a way to acheive it, they're just too easy to lose to take a chance on. At this stage, I'm almost glad they left two out. As with some other Gundam accessories and effects, it's hard to represent them properly since they were intended for use in a weightless environment and you and your figure are earthbound.

-Extra Hands

Fists, Open Hands, and Saber-gripping hands. They are painted, as I said, but due to the shape of the hands and the nature of the Qubeley's only handheld accessory, it's not as big a risk for damage as Garma's Zaku's hands were. They're very difficult to get on- but just as difficult to get back off, at least. I especially like the open hands- the fingers are long and slender, and the pose is nice.

Accessories get 8/10

Closing Remarks:

The Qubeley Mark II is an attractive figure with a standout appearance and decent poseability, some of it wholly unique to the Qubeley design. It doesn't really have a lot of accessories, but short of two extra Funnels, it has everything it should have. The Funnels are good for what they are, but unless you've got a diorama planned they're not adding much to the toy. Still, they are removeable in the case you do have something like that in mind, so bonus points for attention to detail here.

I paid roughly $18 for mine, and despite some quirky feet, I'm pretty happy with it. I think it's a Good figure, and it's worth your while to own your favorite version of the mold.

-RAC 3/6/2005