MSiA RMS-099 Rick Dias (red)

Height: 11.5cm to top of head, 13.5 to highest point of binders.

Articulation: 20 total points of articulation: Ball jointed neck; 5 points in each arm - ball jointed shoulders; hinged shoulder armor; pre-elbow swivels; single hinge elbows; ball jointed wrists; ball jointed binders; swivel waist; 3 points in each leg - ball jointed hips; single hinge knees; ball jointed ankles.

Accessories: "Flexible Binder" backpack thrusters/fuel tanks x2; Beam Pistols x2; Beam Sabre with removeable blade; Clay Bazooka; extra hands x2

Colors: Molded red, brown, light blue-grey, grey; Painted red, light blue-grey, black, brown, silver, green, olive panel line highlights.

Release Data: Released February 10th, 2003 in Japan at a price of ¥1500. Though no longer in production, this item is still relatively easy to find as of this review.

Gallery: 15 images.

Author: ExVee

The Figure

The Rick Dias holds two notable distinctions. It was the first new mobile suit to be seen in animation since the end of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and on the figure related side, it was one of the last figures to be made without the enhanced articulation and doubled joints that were becoming more common in its generation of MSiA. The Rick Dias of course comes in two colors, the red and brown coloring that would later become standard, used by AEUG pilots Quattro Bajeena, Emma Sheen, and Apolly, and the blacks and blues of the "space camo" original colors. This review covers the former, while RAC will be reviewing the later release dark colors version.

The Head

One of the most unique head designs in the whole of Gundam, and one of my favorites. Similar in basic shape to that of the Dom, all details are completely different. Though technically a mono-eye design, it lacks the "track" always associated with such a thing, and presents a large green sensor eye surrounded by armor - a development made practical by the Rick Dias having its head able to turn. The figure has a ball jointed neck, giving the head a great range of movement, though there is a physical limit imposed by the stored beam pistols. One really standout feature in the head, the Vulcan Phalanx system, is absent from the MSiA. I suspect that when this was made, it was still beyond the material limits to make such a small detail. Besides, the red bit on the head that covers the Phalanx would certainly have been easy to lose. This apparently is not an issue currently, however, as the HCM-Pro rendering of the Rick Dias has the Vulcan Phalanx.

The Arms

One of two areas that really show the age of the figure. The arms haven't the swinging shoulder joints, double elbows, or wide-range wrist ball joints of many things that came not terribly long afterward. Despite this, the only part especially lacking is the elbows. The shoulder armor is independantly hinged, so it can swing out of the way, and the shoulder joints can move nearly 90 degrees, enough to raise the arms almost straight out from the body. The wrist joints have a small amount of wiggle room, but are essentially reduced to swivel joints.

The elbows are the worst failing here, though. Between the shape of the upper arm, and the placement of the joint in the forearm, the elbow cannot bend to even 90 degrees - a restriction not seen since perhaps as far back as the Leo and Tallgeese figures from Gundam Wing. I don't necessarily expect double joints here, but it strikes me as an incredible step backward that this joint cannot perform even as well as those from a year earlier.

The Torso

Mostly standard stuff with the swivel waist. But there's other things here. The integrated backpack is something I appreciate very much, as its entire function is as an equipment rack. And if you've read my reviews before, you should know that something I'll always love is a figure that can carry most or all of its accessories. The arms that the Flexible Binders attach to also serve as the mounting point for the Clay Bazooka, which can be placed on either side to suit your preference. There's a smaller structure in the middle of the back to fit the Beam Pistols, and there's a beam sabre rack at the very bottom.

The waist joint is good, and can comfortably swivel in a range of 180 degrees, and can do around 270 with a little more push.

The Legs and Feet

This is the other place that really shows the age, and it does so much more than the arms. The skirt armor panels in front are thick, and though made of soft plastic, don't give very easily. And while this would theoretically interfere with the otherwise good range of the hips, there's little need to move the legs that far forward, because of a small detail with the knees.

That being the all of 35-40 degrees of movement the knees are capable of before the lower leg pops off. So any pose with the knee bent more than the slightest amount is pretty much just as likely to result in the leg falling off as it is to stay in pose. Part of this is because of the external cable detailing on the back of the knee joint, but even if that wasn't present, the shape of the thigh and lower leg would still result in severaly limited range of motion. See my rant on the elbows for my complete thoughts about this.

The ankles are also slightly limited by modern standards, but the loss is minimal, considering the knees.

Paint and Deco

This is one place where everything seemed to go right. Besides having good coverage on painted areas, few uneven edges or color bleeds, the colors of the painted areas were matched very well to the colors of the bare plastic, so it's realy hard to distinguish what's what just from a casual glance. This is a factor that I appreciate even over smooth edges and even coverage. Plus the olive color chosen to highlight the panel lines is a great compliment to the brown secondary color used on the figure, and it all works together to make a great appearance.

Sculpt and Deco get 9/10

Articulation gets 6/10

Accessories

-Flexible Binders

Accessories only in the broadest sense of the word. Mostly intended to stay attached to the figure and packed separated only for convenience, these are demonstrated at least once during the course of Zeta Gundam being removed and thrown as weapons of desperation. And it actually is possible to get the figure to hold one or both in this way. Coincidence, I'm sure...

-Beam Pistols

Ah, a beam gun that looks smaller and dumber than the GM's old beam spray gun. And yet, it has at least as high a power output as the RX-78's beam rifle. There's two of these, and boy are they little. They have little clips molded onto the butt end to fit into the weapon rack on the figure's back. It's worth noting that the little bits on the weapons rack they're meant to fit on are soft plastic, so you kind of need to be careful when placing them so that you don;t end up beinding the post down without realizing and ending up with it permanently warped.

Speaking of permanently warped, the barrels of these pistols are about as thick as half of a stereo wire. And made of soft plastic. Eeeee. If you're lucky enough to not get one warped straight out of the package, you have to be quite careful with them and be very aware of what's near them, since it wouldn't take hardly any weight to bend them.

Anyway, these fit just fine in the weapon hands, though with the seeming disparity between the size of the hands and the size of the gun, it looks like it could just as easily crush them without realizing. Guess it's little wonder these were used almost as secondary weapons in favor of the Clay Bazooka in the show.

-Clay Bazooka

Effectively the trademark weapon of the Rick Dias. And really given the slim shape, it looks a little more like a long rifle than a bazooka. The gimmick behind the Clay Bazooka is that it was made to fire a variety of rounds, from standard explosives, to shotgun style fragmentary rounds, to non-explosive shells containing adhesives that could be used to gum up targets, or even patch holes in colony walls. If it had its own beam option, it would have been a true all-purpose weapon, but even without it was a highly versatile armament.

Of course, since none of those functions can be reproduced in toys, let alone at this scale, all you have is a bazooka made from a single chunk of soft plastic, with a little clip glued on to mount on the backpack. The shape and size don't allow the bazooka to be fit over the shoulder, but it can squeeze very easily between the arm and torso, which seems to be a more accurate pose anyway. Just be carefule, since it is soft plastic and will warp if you pose the figure with it bent even slightly.

-Beam Sabre

Pretty simple. It's an oversized grip that clips into a spot below the equipment rack. The yellow blade is pretty large and thick, and though made of softer plastic, the thickness helps to offset it so warping isn't a critical worry here. It may be necessary to tuck the sabre grip down into the hand almost to where the beam attaches to get it to hold firmly, since the opening in the hands is a little on the big side.

-Extra Hands

The Rick Dias only includes two extra hands, made to do double duty as trigger finger hands and generic open hands. It works well enough, too. The trigger fingers are extended just slightly so that it looks right with the postols or bazooka, but not so much that it looks wrong with the beam sabre. Though really, considering there's no trigger guards on any of the hand weapons, they probably could have gotten away with not extending the trigger finger, and maybe come out with a little better fit for the beam sabre. But considering how minimal the difference would have been, it really wouldn't have been worth including another set of hands, so I can live with the compromise.

Accessories get 8/10

Closing Remarks

It could easily be considered a Gundam By Any Other Name. It was a semi-generic suit that didn't fully suffer the fate of generic suits. It was operated by actual characters, and could perform on almost equal levels with the Gundam Mk II. Despite the inadequacies of the figure, it's hard to forget that it really was one of the lasting heroes of Zeta Gundam. With a little searching, you can often find these now for under $15 shipped, which is a very fair price. Yeah, it doesn't match up well against other figures of its time, but it's a great representation of the Rick Dias, and if it became one of your favorites, this is really worth picking up.

I objectively rate the Rick Dias as Good, though you can probably consider that bumped up to Very Good if you're into the suit.

-ExVeeBrawn, The Zeta Project - 08/15/2004