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Gundam
Deluxe Mobile Suit with Vehicle RGZ-91 Re-GZ

By Gary Peterson
11.7.2002

The Re-GZ Figure:

The Re-GZ is part of the Char's Counterattack Mobile Suits in Action sub-line. Sadly, it seems to suffer for this fact. Like other larger figures in the line, such as Nu Gundam, many of the figure's joints are very loose, including the knees and ankles. Though I admit this could easily be an isolated problem with my figure, it's also quite likely that the PVC plastic the figure is constructed from simply is not up to the task of supporting the large, heavy pieces in the lower legs and feet. These loose joints make the figure somewhat unstable. In addition, the lower body has more moving parts than normal to accommodate the transformation, which also causes problems for some poses.

The arms are also somewhat loose, and are not really able to support much weight beyond their own. The large, heavy shield particularly makes problems for the left arm, as its weight prevents the arm from holding any kind of pose other than one at rest, with the shield at the side. The right arm is a little better, and can more easily support the weight of either the beam sword or rifle, but the joints are still as loose as the left arm.

The shoulder armor and legs have small rockets all over them, which is sensible, since this Mobile Suit was designed for space use. The skirt armor also has a few small rockets, and the backpack has rockets and a tail binder.

The waist articulation is good. The skirt armor doesn't sit high up on the figure; without it in the way, the waist is pretty free to turn.

The head is on a ball joint, giving it good freedom to move. The only bad part of the head is the antennae, which are made of such horribly soft, flexible plastic that they can be warped and deformed almost by simply breathing on them. The really bad part is that these have a piece of plastic pushing on them in Wave Rider Mode, so unless you never transform the figure, you can't much get around this problem.

The Accessories:

The beam rifle is a solid piece of dark grey PVC plastic. The design of the rifle and the figure's right arm prevent it from being held very well. About the best I can get is an at-rest pose with the rifle half tucked under the arm.

The instruction sheet mentions you can store the beam rifle in the shield for Wave Rider Mode, but the directions were quite vague, and the only way that seems to work ends up warping the rifle. I'd just as soon skip that idea.

The beam sword is made of two pieces: a small blue hilt, and a long, clear, yellow "energy" blade. The Char's Counterattack figures are somewhat infamous for very flexible beam weapon blades that basically slump over to one side or the other over time from their own weight. The Re-GZ's beam sword is somewhat flexible, but seems to have left the previous problem behind by utilizing a slightly stronger grade of plastic. The sword can be held in left or right hand, and it is generally not quite heavy enough to make the arm flop down.

The shield, however, is rather large, and routinely exceeds the arm's ability to support. The outside has large "Earth Federal Forces" markings (similar markings appear on the shoulder of the figure and on the Back Weapon System), and the inside has panel and mechanical detailing. The shield has a small ball-jointed post that folds down and plugs into a slot on either of the Gundam's arms. There's also a handle with a ball joint that can be placed into the hand while the shield is plugged into the arm.

The Back Weapon System is just a support vehicle formed from Wave Rider components -- a very questionable support vehicle, mind. The BWS is meant to disassemble into three pieces, each of which is made of the same PVC as the figure. The pieces are all heavy, and they each attach only by a single small post. The resulting connections are very... tricky. In most cases, they just fall apart or fall out of position, and it's hard to keep them stabilized.

The Wave Rider Mode:

The figure undergoes a minor transformation by pulling the legs apart, collapsing the knees, and folding up the feet. Then you take the BWS apart and reassemble the pieces around the figure, and then you plug the shield onto the bottom. The basic result is a Wave Rider Mode that combines the main weak points of each component. The floppiness of the BWS remains present, stabilized only slightly by the arms of the Mobile Suit, and the legs are, if anything, even less stable in this configuration.

Bottom Line:

The best thing I can say is that it's a good attempt at making a transforming Mobile Suit/vehicle without it really transforming. The Wave Rider design is kind of neat but underwhelming. The Re-GZ might be worth $10.99, but unless you're thinking of completing your Char's Counterattack collection, you won't miss anything waiting for it to go on sale or clearance.

Gary's Grade: 6/10

You can see pictures of the Re-GZ in our Gallery!