MSiA ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner ZAKU Warrior (Lunamaria Hawke)

Height: 9.75cm to top of head

Articulation: 39 total points of articulation: Ball jointed neck; 6 points in right arm, 8 points in left - double jointed shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, double jointed elbow, ball joint wrist, plus double jointed shoulder shield on left arm; 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 x2; MA-M8 Beam Tomahawk with removeable beam blade; Gunner Wizard - M1500 Orthos High Energy Long Range Beam Cannon backpack; Extra hands x4

Colors: Molded pink, grey, black, maroon, clear pink; Painted white, black, pink, lavendar, red.

Release Data: Released February 10th, 2005 in Japan at a price of ¥1500. This item is still in production as of this review (March 2nd, 2005).

Gallery: 12 images.

Author: ExVee

The Figure

The most common practice in toy lines is recoloring. Recoloring is simply changing the plastic and paint colors of an existing toy in order to make an extra toy at low cost. The next most common practice is remolding, which involves changing some elements, but mostly leaving the original figure unchanged. Lunamaria Hawke's Gunner ZAKU Warrior is an example of both practices being used together.

It's been covered in both ZAKU Phantom reviews that the basic ZAKU body will be used no fewer than five times in the first half of the year. Three are to be in the ZAKU Phantom configuration, but the other two are the simpler ZAKU Warrior type. The physical changes are minimal, though in the fiction these are supposed to be the "standard" model, with the Phantom being a more high performance version intended only for the best pilots.

The Warrior type retains the Wizard gimmick, and uses the same equipment as the Phantom. This ZAKU comes with the Gunner Wizard, Lunamaria's standard weapon choice, and with this, each Wizard type has been released once. The Blaze and Gunner Wizards will be released again with the standard colors Gunner ZAKU Warrior in March, and Heine Westenfluss' Blaze ZAKU Phantom in April.

Since this is mostly a reuse of the basic ZAKU body, this review will mostly cover changes from the Slash ZAKU Phantom. If you'd like to read my thoughts on the body type, see the review of the Slash ZAKU Phantom.

The Head

One of the points of remold, as this version lacks a commander's antenna. Otherwise it's the same, right to the good range of articulation. There is one complaint, which is that the monoeye is slightly off center, but this shouldn't be assumed to be a common happening. Just be aware of the possibility.

The Arms

The ZAKU warrior is possibly even more like a Zaku II than the ZAKU Phantom was, as this version replaces the squared shoulder armor with shield on the right arm with a more rounded, bulkier piece of armor that lacks the shield. This design actually doesn't restrict articulation of the arm at all, a good bit of design there.

Otherwise, everything's the same, articulation, slightly longer than usual elbow joint, everything. It can be a little tricky to wrap the arm around the Orthos beam canon and get the hand to fit the grip right, but once you get it there it actually looks quite natural. The articulation even allows very easy use of the secondary grip - you don't even need to angle the cannon across the body to make it work. It's fun how you find out more about the engineering of a figure just by adding a new accessory.

The Torso

No changes here. The waist is still awesome, the backpack thruster is practically immobile, and there's the same set of slots to mount a Wizard. What is different from the Phantom is the skirt armor. There seems to be better tolerances with this batch of plastic, so the skirt pieces no longer try to fall off when you pose the legs. This, I feel, is a significant improvement. The only downside with the articulated skirt previously was the looseness of the hinges, and with that basically countered now, it's great. Oh, and the grenades are still glued in place.

The Legs and Feet

As before, perfect kneeling is possible, and completely unobstructed without even the inconvenience of falling off pieces. I find the thrusters in the back of the ankles to have a little more flexibility than before. The ankle joints of the Slash ZAKU Phantom had seemed a bit loose, and while the ankles here are a little better, I still find they're not like as stiff as I'd really like. There doesn't seem to be a threat to stability, but it does make the legs feel a little bit weak.

Paint and Deco

Pretty good. The only major flaw is the monoeye, as I mentioned before. The edges of the white paint areas on the Gunner Wizard are not exactly even, but everything else appears fine.

Sculpt and Articulation: 9/10

Paint and Deco: 8/10

Accessories

-MMI-M633 Beam Assault Rifle/Extra Ammo Clips

The improved plastic tolerances seem to carry over there, too. The ammo clip stays in the rifle much better, and the hinge has extra strength, so it won't wobble around. This figure only includes two extra ammo clips, since it loses half of its storage having only one shield. They fit in place nice and snug, with no worry of dropping out unexpectedly.

-MA-M8 Beam Tomahawk

Nothing different at all here, but that's okay, because there wasn't really anything wrong with it to begin with. It still has no place to store.

-Gunner Wizard

As is the norm, the Gunner Wizard is a single piece of equipment. The Slash Wizard seems to be an exception, being two separate components. The only new accessory in this package, and it's a good one.

The beam cannon folds up somewhat. The barrel and stock fold up to make the cannon a little more compact for storage, which works out pretty well. It stays off the ground, and also doesn't rise up alot over the top of the figure. The armature that attaches the cannon to the backpack is very solid, and has shown no sign at all of being prone to falling apart while changing positions.

The hinges in the cannon are adequately solid, and the parts stay in place just fine in either configuration. the backpack itself is a solid piece, pretty well detailed. The side opposite the cannon mount is a large tank, which is supposed to be an ammo tank. Whether it's just a big single battery or a tank full of capacitors like the ammo clips for the beam rifle, I dunno.

The whole things plus very securely into the slots on the back. In fact, it fits so snugly that I was afraid at first that it was mis-molded and wasn;t going to fit at all. Fortunately that wasn't the case, and there's no sign at all of it falling off. And since the Wizard has no equipment that uses the hardpoint on the back of the skirt, you can mount the beam rifle while the Wizard is being used.

-Extra Hands

The standard range of extra hands, identical in every way to the Phantom's extra hands, save the color. They switch easily and hold snugly, with a good range of mobility.

Accessories get 9/10

Closing Remarks

Like I said in the Phantom review, if you have to have multiples of a basic figure, this is the figure to do it with. Largely the same, but there's enough positive changes - not to mention a really great main accessory - to make this an excellent remold which is easily better than the first version of the body. For up to $20 shipped, this figure would be a great purchase.

I give Lunamaria's Gunner ZAKU Warrior an overall rating of Excellent.

-ExVeeBrawn, 03/02/2005