MSiA ZGMF-1001/K Slash ZAKU Phantom

Height: 9.75 cm to top of head

Articulation: 41 total points of articulation: Ball jointed neck; 8 points in each arm - double jointed shoulder, double-jointed shoulder-shield, pre-elbow swivel, double jointed elbow, ball joint wrist; ball-jointed waist; ball-jointed main thruster on back; 6 hinged skirt plates; 9 points in each leg - ball jointed hip, triple-jointed knee, hinged ankle armor, double-jointed ankle, double-jointed thrusters on back of leg.

Accessories: MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle with removeable ammo clip; Extra ammo clips x4; MA-M8 Beam Tomahawk with removeable beam blade; Slash Wizard - MMI-M826 Hydra Gatling Beam Cannon backpack plus Falx G7 Beam Axe with two removeable beam blades; extra hands x4

Colors: Molded sky blue, blue, white, black, grey, maroon, clear pink; Painted sky blue, blue, white, orange, black, red, yellow, pink.

Release Data: Released January 20th, 2005 in Japan at a price of ¥1500. This item is still in production as of this review (February 20th, 2005).

Gallery: 18 images.

Author: ExVee

The Figure

Y'know, mono-optic mobile suits aren't such an uncommon thing. Every Gundam series usually has one, or at least some kind of variation on the theme. But outside the Universal Century, you never get something called a Zaku. Until now, that is, with the introduction of the ZAFT Armored Keeper of Unity, or ZAKU. The ZAKU comes in two varieties - Warrior, which is the standard production type coming both in the basic green and a variety of custom pilot colors, and the Phantom, the high performance version specifically for team commanders and other ace pilots, which seems to exist only in custom pilot colors.

Never passing up a good idea, and not above using it twice, ZAFT applies the same interchangable option equipment system as used on Impulse for the ZAKU series. So, in the grand tradition of Strikers, and Silhouettes comes... Wizards. No, I'm quite serious. The ZAKU equipment packs are called Wizards. Blaze Wizard, Slash Wizard, and Gunner Wizard. Remarkably, they haven't used the Wizard term in the show at all, and I just can't imagine why!

The Slash ZAKU Phantom is designed for close range combat, with a giant beam pole-axe, complete with an armor piercing hook on the other end of the pole. The backpack component adds a pair of beam gatlings for mid-range firepower, making the Slash Wizard more balanced than the Sword Striker or Sword Silhouette, which lack such an ability. This Phantom has only appeared twice in the show so far, and is the personal machine of former Duel pilot Yzak Jule. And even in combat against the technically superior Chaos and Abyss, Yzak and Athrun in a Blaze ZAKU Warrior completely trashed the stolen Gundams. Acknowledging the skill of the pilots, it shows the great potential of this series of mobile suits. And in a very Gouf color scheme, how could anyone not love this suit?

The Head

It's certainly not a clone of the classic Zaku. With clear inspiration from that design, the ZAKU Phantom's head goes it's own way, adding renewed style to the familiar shapes and themes. The pink monoeye is centered well in the sensor track, and the edges are clean. Topping the head off is the commander's antenna, glued in place on the front of the "helmet". The neck articulation has a good amount of range, the only problem area being at the back of the head, where the "helmet" extends down and restricts how far up the head can tilt, but this is a minor issue.

The Arms

The articulation here is standard, nothing much to say about that. The elbow joints are a little bit longer than typical, especially considering how thin the arms are overall. There's also the opinion that these longer joints make the arms appear disporportionately long when in an at-rest pose. Personally, I don't see it. The arms might be the slightest bit longer than is normal, but I feel that it still looks well within the range of "normal".

The shoulder armor connects the large shoulder shields by way of a unique connector arm. An L shaped piece with three ball joints attaches to a socket on the shoulder armor, and the other two ball joints both fit into side-by-side sockets on the shields. This connection is both secure on the shield end, and allows for a carefully planned amount of articulation. If it was a single ball joint on both ends, the shield would be able to rotate at both points, which could lead to problems keeping them straight in pose, but as they are, the shieldscan only rotate at the base, but the shield end allows for a little movement to angle forward or back. Between the two joints, you get a nicely controlled, yet wide range of articulation. Very nicely engineered and executed there.

The Torso

On the back are the sockets to connect the Wizard. The connector is universal - any ZAKU figure can use any of the three Wizards. The connection is three points - a socket just behind each shoulder, and one in the middle of the back. There's also a thruster on a ball joint below the connection point, but it's practically immobile.

The great thing in the torso is the waist joint. Continuing on from Saber, this waist joint is a clear advancement. The practical mobility range in about twice that of Saber, and the joint is just tight enough to not fall all over the place constantly. You can bend the torso a great distance in any direction, which really helps for making natural looking poses. Essentially, it's the waist joint every MSiA should have, so clearly nothing but the ZAKU mold will ever use it.

The other great thing is the skirt armor. Every single panel is articulated, front, sides and rear, so you can do any sort of pose with the legs without any fear of warping skirt panels. It's great! The only thing that's not so good is that the way they're articulated isn't exceptionally secure. Instead of using, say, ball joints, they're attached by very basic hinges. So, while they might move up out of the way, when you put the legs back down, the skirt panels are just as likely to fall off as they are to fold back down with the legs. But, you take your victories where you can get them, I suppose...

Oh, and there's a pair of little grenades on each side panel, but these are firmly glued in place and decidedly not removeable, so you probably won't want to try. There are cases where through a factory error or what not, one or more may not have been glued, but odds are you'll get one where they're all staying right where they are.

The Legs and Feet

Flexibility in the legs is great. The joints are standard, but with the articulated skirt armor, there's no interference. To further the Zaku styling, there's a cable on each leg that runs from the thigh to the lower leg. The cable is fixed securely on both ends, and I haven't had any problem about it popping out during posing. The cable is also made of a relatively soft, flexible plastic, to allow the knee to bend as far as possible without resistence.

The lower legs are pretty well removed from normal Zaku style, and are in fact more similar to the GINN, especially in the area of the flexible ankle armor, and thrusters in back. But in place of the hardpoints for the missile launchers the GINN had, there's a set of extra, smaller thrusters on both sides of the ZAKU Phantom's ankles. The thrusters in back are ball jointed, and unlike the one on the back, these actually get some room to move. The ankle joints themselves are basically on par with the average modern double jointed ankle.

Paint and Deco

For the most part, the paint work is good. There's only minor issues, like some poorly defined or uneven edges, but coverage is pretty well even, no thin spots or spots with missing paint. Besides, the monoeye is painted quite nicely, and that's pretty important on figures that have them.

Sculpt, Articulation, Engineering: 9/10

Paint and Deco: 8/10

Accessories

-MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle/Extra Ammo Clips

Plenty of influences on this design, but the majority seems to be a combination of both the 105mm Zaku I machinegun, and the 120mm Zaku II version. The rifle is shaped really well, being made to fit snugly against the shoulder or torso vent, depending if you're using a one or two handed pose. The forward grip is hinged, and can sort of lock into the upward position, which is nice. The only thing I'd change is how the ammo clip connects. The way it's made, the magazine attaches to a hinged piece, in order for it to fold to the side when in storage. The problem is that the hinge is not really stable, and to have the magazine stay level, you have to place it in a particular spot just befoore the point where it wants to stop. I know, that doesn't make alot of sense, but what I'm really getting at is that I would have skipped the hinged deal, and made two spots for the ammo clip to attach, so you'd have to change from one spot to the other instead of moving the hinge.

The rifle has a small peg to mount to the back of the skirt armor. Incidentally, this is the same place the Slash Wizard's beam axe stores, so you can't store both weapons at the same time. The extra ammo clips store in the shoulder shields. Each shield can mount two, so the Phantom comes with four extras, for a total of five clips. They stay attached to the shields quite securely, and you'd probably not realize they're removeable if you never saw the toy before.

-MA-M8 Beam Tomahawk

Inspired by the good old Heat Hawk. The design is elegantly simple - a cylindrical handle, with a fingerguard over the grip, and the beam emitter attached on top with a small brace that attaches to the middle of the handle, and to finish it off, a hinged anti-armor spike on the reverse side. Being as it's so simple, it's hard to describe it, but the total basic-ness of this weapon is extremely appealing to me, as a style unto itself. The beam blade fits in place snugly, and is a very pleasing dark shade of pink.

Unfortunately, there's no place to store this accessory. In the show, the tomahawk is kept in the shoulder shield, but so far no version of the ZAKU design, figure or kit, has replicated this functioning. Seems like a problem with the relative scale. You'd either come up with a tragically thin, fragile weapon, or an ugly, thick shoulder shield. Considering the circumstances, I think this will be acceptable.

-Slash Wizard

...boy, does that sound bad. Anyway, this is the close combat specialty equipment, in the same family as Sword Silhouette or Sword Striker. The backpack is simple enough. It has two ball jointed combined gatling cannons and extra thrusters. The way it is, when the gatling cannons are pointed forward, the thrusters end up at a useful angle, either pointing down, or down and back slightly. Otherwise, the backpack has no moving parts.

The second part is the Falx beam axe. This is what is called a pole axe, a large axe attached to a long staff, and acts as a combination of bladed weapon and polearm. That's the theory behind the general design, anyway. To continue that theme, there's an armor penetrating hook at the end of the pole. Granted, that's hardly necessary when the axe blades are beams, but it's all for the style.

I'm not sure if it's amusing or just sad that the axe has more moving parts than the packpack. The hook is hinged, to fold against the pole in storage mode, and the beam emitters are on an interesting hinge structure. In storage mode, the emitters fold together to take up less space, but then when in use, you pull the emitters apart, which extends the uniquely designed hinge. Although they don't lock in either position, they stay in place okay by themselves.

The pole comes apart, and the middle section is removed, with the lowest segment and the hook attaching to the head of the axe. This smaller assembly then plugs securely into the same spot as the rifle.

-Extra Hands

The ZAKU comes with the standard assortment of extra hands. They fit securely onto the wrists, but are easy to change. They also hold the weapons extremely well, and have good styling.

Accessories get 8/10

Closing Remarks

There might be the minor issue here and there, but overall this is an exceptional figure. This is the kind of figure that you hope for to be used even once. But when it comes to having multiple versions of the same base mold, this is almost more than you can hope for. I strongly recommend getting at least one version of this figure. The differences are just minor, and none of them have an impact on the basic figure, so the only considerations are the colors and option packs. Either way, this is a must have, and a truly standout figure, and I give it an enthusiastic State of The Art.

-ExVeeBrawn, 02/20/2005