MSiA MRX-009 Psyco Gundam

MSiA MRX-009 Psyco Gundam

Height: 26.5cm to top of head (Mobile Suit Mode);

Articulation: 19 points total: 6 points in each arm - Double jointed shoulder, hinge elbow, swivel + hinge wrist; Ball jointed neck; 3 points in each leg - Ball jointed hip, hinge knee, ball jointed ankle. Plus 5 points each per extra hand, and additional various joints for transformation.

Colors: Molded black, purple, red, grey, yellow; Painted yellow, red, grey, pink.

Accessories: Extra hands x2; Two piece shield; Four Murasame figurine (approx. 1/20 scale)

Release Data: Originally released in Japan on December 27th, 2001 at a cost of ¥6800; This has been rereleased as of the end of October, 2005 at the same price.

Gallery: 14 images.

Author: ExVee


The Figure

Back in 2001, MSiA was still relatively young. Although there was a US line at the time rivaling the release rates of its Japanese counterpart, things in both places were still rather basic. Single hinge joints, softer detailing, and absolutely no transforming. But toward the end of 2001, these things would begin to change. The Gundam Second Version released August that year introduced a series of advanced articulation that would come to entirely change the mechanics of MSiA. At the end of that year, the very first transforming MSiA would arrive on the market, in the form of the huge Psyco Gundam.

The Psyco (short for Psycommu, itself an abbreviation for Psychic Communicator) Gundam was not, however, the biggest MSiA at the time. Just three months earlier was released the Dendrobium, the largest and most expensive MSiA set even to this date. It did bring firsts besides transformation, though. It was the first MSiA constructed entirely of the hard ABS plastic, and it was the first, and so far only MSiA to come with a figure of its pilot.


The Head

The most noteable aspect here is that the exterior armor plate covering the cockpit hatch is hinged and can open to reveal the hatch itself. The V antenna is hinged, in order to accomodate transformation with minimum parts removal. The result however, is that any thoughtless movement in the vicinity of the figure's head will knock one siode or the other out of place, if not knock part of the antenna off altogether. They're easily reattached, being ball jointed, but it's still irritating. The range of articulation is not especially good, but actually manages to be roughly equal with its contemporaries; Obviously the expanded range of articulation in the neck joints as time went by has just spoiled us.


Arms And Torso

The torso probably suffers most for transformation, and yet it also ends up being more stable than would otherwise be expected at this size. There is no waist joint because of the way the Mobile Fortress mode is formed. But off the top of my head, I can't remember the Psyco Gundam ever turning at the waist in the animation, and I think if the toy did so it would just lead to balance issues, so I'm perfectly okay with this.

The "scattering" or diffuse Mega Particle Cannons along the torso are attached by ball joint, and so are slightly moveable, though almost so little that you can't tel anyway. Parts of the chest, back, and shoulders are all moveable, since they come together during transformation to close in the head. They all stay well in place, with exception of the chest bit, which never seems to be sitting in the right place no matter what you do.

The arms are essentially standard to the time this was assembled, albeit with more mechanically complicated joints working to the same effect - a welcome consideration of the size they'd be used in. Ball joints are not favorable for something this large and heavy. You can also trick an extra joint out of the wrist by opening up one of the transformation joints for an extra hinge.

Legs and Feet

Remember I said ball joints are not favorable? Guess what the hip joints are? For large, heavy toys like this, ratcheting universal joints are effectively a design standard. Putting so much weight on a ball joint is simply begging for joint fatigue, which would lead to an incurable case of The Spilts. This is somewhat offset by the skirt armor, which is actually made as a unit of the torso. It's not independantly moveable except for transformation, so it pretty much locks all but the slightest hip motion - less than 45 degrees total.

The knee joints are thankfully tight hinges. The real story is below the knees, though. There's a complicated looking frame structure within the lower legs which allow the "armor" to get where its going for Mobile Fortress mode. Problem is, it's really difficult to get it moving in the first place, and even then to determine which way to move it in order to get from one mode to the other. Even having had this as long as I have, I still can't figure it out - I have to just keep messing with it until it's right.

The ankles are hinges followed, stupifyingly, by ball joints. Just as with the hips, these are weakening over time with all the weight placed upon them, and in this case there's no structure around them to prevent the catastrophic effects of joint fatigue. These will one day fail completely and I'll be left with a figure no longer able to stand on its own. If there's one thing that bugs me more than anything else in this hobby, it's having a toy with an obvious-but-unspecified expiration date.


Mobile Fortress Mode

Y'know, I just spent 20 minutes trying to transform this to Mobile Fortress mode, and no matter what I do I'm not satisfied with how the legs turn out, and I'm pretty sure I remember it being the same the last time I did this. From this, I draw the conclusion that it's designed not especially well. The suffering of the first transforming MSiA, I suppose.

Otherwise, this looks exactly like what it is - a squished up giant mobile suit. There's no moving parts anymore, no accessories that can be added, all you can do is set it on a table or shelf. This isn't a big deal, except that it takes up a larger volume this way - the footprint in this mode is much greater, which is certainly a consideration if you're working with limited space.

This has a number of the things I don't like about transforming MSiAs present. For one thing, none of the parts lock together. At the absolute minimum, a way should have been added to allow the legs to clip together so they can't flop around, and the shield halves should then have been made to clip to the legs so everything remains aligned and basically homogenous. Besides this, it also has pieces that fit together poorly. The arms consist of a series of panels that are supposed to fit together to make the sloping surface from the shoulders down to where the wrists were. These actually do peg together, or at least are intended to - the fit is remarkably poor, and they come apart at the slightest touch, making continual readjustment necessary. Finally, there's the ambiguity. To open the torso and keep it that way, there's a bar inside the torso that folds up for mobile suit mode. During transformation, you unfold it, and prop it vaguely "somewhere" inside the torso until it keeps it open enough. There doesn't seem to be any specific set place for it, or I sure can't see one, since it's impossible to look inside the torso to find one.

I may seem to be highlighting only the negative here, but that's pretty much all that stands out. This is at least a passable representation of Psyco Gundam's transformed state, but nothing at all stands out as good about it.


Accessories


-Shield

This large and extremely weighty chunk of plastic is kind of a problem. It serves its function well enough in Mobile Fortress mode, but there's trouble actually using it as a shield. For one thing, it's so heavy that when it's on the figure, it makes the figure noticeably lean to one side. Plus, the only method of attaching it to the figure is by a bracket that plugs into the forearm. But the shield is very heavy, so if the arm is in any position put straight, the shield actually falls right off the arm.

-Extra Hands

Besides the fists, the figure comes with a set of open, articulated hands similar to the open hands of the Zeong. The hands attach with a large peg which is pretty easy to change, plus the peg is attached to a hinge joint to be able to articulate more. The open hands can just manage to hold the Gundam Mk II, even...

-Four Murasame

The only human figure released with any MSiA, Psyco comes with a figure of its Cyber Newtype pilot. The basic sculpt is okay, though the face doesn't really look like Four. Plus it won't really stand by itself.


Closing Remarks

From a simple sense of completion, I'm happy to have a Psyco Gundam, but I'm certainly not blind to the fact that the figure is problematic. Allowances are of course made for the age of the figure, but I can't help thinking of what improvements there would be if it had been made in the last year or so. Even so, the mobile suit mode is pretty much okay by 2001 standards, and I suppose you could look at the Mobile Fortress mode as a thrown in bonus. But either way, with the cost involved you're not gonna buy this unless you're determined to have a Psyco Gundam. It just isn't that good otherwise.

I give the Psyco Gundam a rating of Could Have Been Better

-ExVeeBrawn, The Zeta Project II