AMS-119 Geara Doga

Fifth Anniversary Special!

Height: 11.5cm

Articulation: 14 total points - ball joint neck; 3 points each arm: ball joint shoulder, hinge elbow, swivel wrist; waist swivel; 3 points each leg: ball joint hip, hinge knee, ball joint ankle.

Colors: Molded green, dark green, grey, clear yellow; Painted dark green, green, yellow, grey, black, pink, red.

Accessories: Beam rifle, beam rifle w/ grenade launcher, storage beam sabre grip, active beam sabre grip, beam tomahawk blade, beam sabre blade, small beam blade, shield, panzerfaust x4.

Release Data: Released in the US in 2002 at a SRP of US$7.99

Author: ExVee

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Originally reviewed in May of 2002 for the now long defunct Newtype Asylum, the Geara Doga was an easy favorite of the Char's Counterattack assortment. For the stage in MSiA development, the larger size and heavier mass of the other CCA figures was hard to support on the styles of joints that were being used, leading to many loose joints right out of the package, plus plastic warping problems on the accessories which were oversized compared to their equivalents in MSiA from other series.

While I had tried previously to review Gundam figures, it wasn't until I began to write for Newtype Asylum that I developed the review format that I still use even today for action figures in general. Char's Counterattack represents among the oldest reviews I still have archived, and can be said to be my start in reviewing MSiA. There were probably a few before, but this was really where I began growing into my own writing style. Unfortunately it seems grammar skills were yet to settle in. Today's presentation of Geara Doga has therefore been "cleaned up" enough that I'm not embarrassed to even acknowledge its existence. Also, for no reason I can determine today I seemed to go with a "bottom-up" figure breakdown back then.

Well, nobody ever likes to admit to mistakes due to his own youth...



Legs

The hips can move pretty well, as the front skirt armor is flexible enough to move out of the way easily. Standard warped plastic cautions should be considered, of course. I really like the trend in the CCA figures to have molded detailing on the joints. In the case of the Geara Doga, the front of the knee joints have cabling detail molded in. It's always nice to get the joints dressed up a bit where it's practical to do so. The knee joints have roughly the standard 90 degree range, and would probably get a little more bend if not for the slight flare of the top of the calf armor. The range of the ankle ball joint is a little bit compromised by the design of the armor, so they're not going to give you a heck of a lot of mobility. On the detailing front, there's also more hydraulics and cables molded in just below the knee armor and standard warning labels, the ankles have a pair of molded in thrusters each, and the sole of each foot sports 4 small rockets.

Torso
Pretty well immobile, as the uneven shape of the top of the skirt and the cables running around the waist don't give any clearance for the waist joint. Like the Jagd Doga's the backpack looks like fuel tanks with a set of small rocket nozzles and is removable, revealing some simple connector detailing on the back of the figure. The backpack apppears symmetrical to top and bottom, but can only be installed in one direction thanks to a T-shaped connector. The connection is good and solid and is unlikely to just casually drop off the figure. Each of the six small rockets on the backpack are ball jointed, but are somewhat limited in range of movement.

Arms

The forearms have a slight curve to them plus the wrists are ball joints. As a result you have a little control over the general shape of the forearm, which I've found to be helpful in some situations of posing with weapons like rifles. Plus in general I really like ball joint wrists in MSiA's, as they make for really nice posing.

Owing to its obvious design lineage with the Zaku, the Geara Doga has spikey shoulder armor on the left, and a very Zaku inspired shield on the right shoulder. The armor is hinged on the shoulders to help increase the range of motion in the shoulders. The unfortunate result though is connection to the arms is a bit looser than it maybe should be, and the shoulder armor tends to flop around a bit. Both shoulders have ball jointed rockets - two on the left and one for the right side.

The shoulder articulation is pretty much normal. The hinged armor pieces do mostly clear the way for the arms to extend out to the sides, at least a little. By any means of measuring it's better than your standard Zaku figure manages. The elbows manage to surpass the typical 90 degree mark by a little bit. Always a remarkable achievement with a single hinged elbow that's not using some kind of design trickery.

Head

The Doga's head kind of brings to light two developmental processes. First being the general "steel helmet" shape which is a matter of the original design and is a symptom of the ever increasing Nazification of Zeon. The other of course being the obvious Zaku heritage and taking a range of steps all over to continue advancing that design. In any case, the head is free to swivel in a full circle, but the "helmet" design completely prevents tilt in any direction.

Accessories


-Beam Rifles

The normal Geara Doga comes with two beam rifles. Both are the same design, but one comes with a removable grenade launcher and has its butt extended. The grenade launcher can be attached to the other rifle as well. Both rifles have a hinged forward grip that can swing out from under the rifle. While a nice detail, in practice the arms can't move in such a way to bring the forward grip in range of the left hand, and even if it could the opening in the hand is too small for the rifle anyway.

-Shield

The shield is hinged in the middle, and has 4 clips on the inside to mount the panzerfausts. The shield has a plug to attach to either forearm. The left is better since it has less existing shield to get in the way. This is also of the accursed style of back-of-the-arm shield connections, basically meaning you can either have useful arm articulation or a shield attached, not both.

-Panzerfausts

The most terrible accessory I've ever seen, and there's four of them. What makes them so bad is the ridiculously soft plastic they're made from. It is barely an exaggeration to say that they'll probably warp just from being looked at. The clips for them in the shield hold them in place tightly, but to actually get them in means you'll probably be half way to warped plastic. I imagine the damage would compound upon trying to remove them again. I have not even dared attempt it yet. The shield is probably the best place for them, though. It at least provides a solid surface that will protect them from some warping if in storage even in display conditions.

-Beam Sabre

This beam sabre design is one of my favorites of the CCA releases. The hilt has slots to plug in the normal sabre blade on top, and a sort of beam guard above the hand. The sabre blade and beam guard can be removed, and a beam tomahawk blade can be placed in the slot for the beam guard. Certainly a better melee weapon than the beam sabre/heat knife combo of the Jagd Dogas.

The Geara Doga comes with two sabre hilts, one in sabre mode, the other in beam tomahawk mode. One hilt can be stored at a time on the back of the skirt armor. Sadly, the right hand holds the hilt very loosely, and it's hard to get them into the left hand at all. The grips are also soft plastic albeit not even close to as bad as the panzerfausts, but please exercise care when storing on the skirt rack or if you decide to try to force one into the left hand.



Closing Remarks

Among the general eccentricities of the Deluxe Char's Counterattack line, the Geara Doga is easily most normal. While the Jegan would later come and blow it away in terms of design quality, I originally gave the Geara Doga high marks and I stick with that even today. It has its problems and certainly shows its age today, but on the balance with its contemporaries was always really nice. Plus if you prefer it comes in a very attractive shade of blue. Very Good.