Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining

Gundam Collection α Azieru - The universal size reference — a cigarette pack comparison. This thing is massive. Over 30cm tal

The universal size reference — a cigarette pack comparison.
This thing is massive. Over 30cm tall.

Side view.

Top view. It's wide too.

Upper body close-up.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - The head unit. There's a lot of paint applied right out of the box. As you can see from the back

The head unit. There's a lot of paint applied right out of the box.
As you can see from the back of the head, even the inside of the armor is painted, and the panel lines are nice and dense.

The verniers on the front of the body. All nicely painted.

The nicely detailed inner arm section.

The side skirt and hip joint areas.

The massive rear skirt and the panels attached to it.

The equally massive propellant tanks.

View from below. The verniers are all painted red without exception — really striking.

Laid on its side. It's long.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - The painted interior of the skirt. There are so many panel lines that once you add panel lining

The painted interior of the skirt. There are so many panel lines that once you add panel lining it looks absolutely stunning.
Hard to believe this is the level of detail you get from a 1/400 Gundam Collection kit.

The shoulder open gimmick.

The five mega arms at the shoulder tips can each point in different directions.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - The planet-shaped stand uses two support pieces that plug into the underside of the propellant t

The planet-shaped stand uses two support pieces that plug into the underside of the propellant tanks to hold everything in place.
Very secure.

About the only action pose you can pull off. ^^;

The sheer size of this thing is overwhelming.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - Since the mega arms are part of a psycommu system, you can recreate scenes where they operate in

Since the mega arms are part of a psycommu system, you can recreate scenes where they operate independently —
but since the connecting cables aren't wire, they just hang limply rather than holding any particular shape.

Even without the stand, you can lay it down on the floor like this (sort of).

First step in transforming to landing mode. Start by folding the arms inward.

Tuck the head into the body.

Fold the structure at the back of the head 90 degrees forward to cover the head.

Extend the claw-like pieces that were hidden behind the front skirt.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - Pull out one of the claws from inside the skirt and set it down on the floor — landing mode comp

Pull out one of the claws from inside the skirt and set it down on the floor — landing mode complete, just like that.
Cigarette pack included for size reference. ^^;

Looks a bit like a bird perched on a branch.

Looks great from the front.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - The vernier paint work is really impressive. Those Chinese ladies' skills just keep getting bett

The vernier paint work is really impressive. Those Chinese ladies' skills just keep getting better and better.

The underside in landing mode. Supported by three legs.

All nine panels on the rear skirt are removable.

Landing mode mounted on the stand.

Gundam Collection α Azieru - The included 1/400 action pose Nu Gundam Gundam Collection. Even translucent blue premium parts

The included 1/400 action pose Nu Gundam Gundam Collection.
Even translucent blue premium parts are included to recreate the vernier effect.

Mounted on its separate stand.

The included Sazabi Gundam Collection can also be mounted on the planet stand.

It can also be displayed on its own separate stand.

Kit bonus — two clear Gundam Collection figures are included as a first-run pre-order bonus.

Clear Jegan.

Clear Re-GZ. This one's pretty special. :-)

Gundam Collection α Azieru - Size comparison with the other 1/400 Gundam Collection kits, Quin Mantha and Big Zam. The α Azie

Size comparison with the other 1/400 Gundam Collection kits, Quin Mantha and Big Zam.
The α Azieru is absolutely enormous~

Comparison with the MG Sazabi. They're giving each other an awkward stare. ^^;

Gundam Collection α Azieru - Size comparison with PG/MG/HGUC reference kits. The α Azieru... takes up a ridiculous amount of

Size comparison with PG/MG/HGUC reference kits.
The α Azieru... takes up a ridiculous amount of display space...;;;

A little diorama of sorts. ^^;

Straight build — front

Straight build — rear

The MA α Azieru from Char's Counterattack has been released as a 1/400 Gundam Collection injection kit — a unique entry in the Gunpla lineup. It's priced at ¥5000, which makes it quite pricey compared to other releases, excluding warships like the White Base and Musai.

The end result is a quality level that's hard to compare to the earlier 1/400 Gundam Collection kits. As you may know, Gundam Collection kits (except for the Musai) are produced in Chinese factories, and while the low labor costs mean they come with paint apps here and there, the plastic quality was a bit rough and the details tended to be soft. But this α Azieru comes out with such high quality in both paint and detail that you'd question whether it's really made in China.

The paint quality has been upgraded from before — almost no slop, triple-color paint apps all over the place, and every single vernier is carefully painted. On top of that, even the inner surfaces of the outer armor are all neatly painted in gray tones. The paint work goes above and beyond the design spec colors in almost every area.

The molding quality, which used to be a bit rough and coarse, has also improved — the plastic itself is nearly indistinguishable from Shizuoka original production, and the molded colors are excellent. It's clearly a different beast from the Quin Mantha, which had that figure-like surface feel — this one has a molded color quality much closer to a proper injection kit. The detail is also great, with panel lines evenly distributed all over the body, even carefully engraved on the inner armor surfaces that you can barely see. Of course, there's no panel lining applied at all by default so you'll have to do it yourself — and there's so much of it that it takes quite a while — but once you get it done, it's a really rewarding kit. :-)

The photos above show the result after panel lining every single panel line. I went with a darker shade for personal preference (and to make the panel lines stand out in the review photos). With so many panel lines, a lighter color might actually work better. Either way, if you take your time it'll take upwards of 3–4 hours to do them all — but that's also a testament to just how much detail is packed in here.

Articulation is a bit of an ambiguous point for this unit, but all the parts that should move do move with a good range of motion, and the transformation to landing mode goes smoothly. The shoulder open gimmick is faithfully reproduced, and all the panels are removable. No polycaps were used, yet all the joints have just the right amount of stiffness — nothing feels loose.

The included Nu Gundam and Sazabi can both be mounted on the planet-shaped stand together for a simple diorama-style display, and individual stands are also included so they can be displayed separately. The Nu Gundam even comes with a gorgeous translucent part painted with a blue gradient to realistically recreate the vernier effect. The extras are really luxurious.

On top of that, first-run pre-order buyers get two bonus Gundam Collection figures — a clear Jegan and a clear Re-GZ. The Jegan is nice enough, but the clear Re-GZ has a really unique look that I quite like. :-) These might be the reason a lot of people go for the first-run limited edition.

The sheer size — bigger than even a PG — means it takes up a serious amount of display space, but that also means it dominates any shelf it's on with an incredible presence, making it a fantastic display piece. Aside from the price being a bit steep (though it's absolutely worth it), there's nothing lacking in the overall quality. The fact that it looks this good as a straight build is just incredible!!! The difference in appearance before and after panel lining is especially dramatic, so I'd strongly recommend giving it a go. (Definitely worth the effort.)

In a way, this feels like the dream plastic model we all fantasized about as kids — already painted, just needs assembly, the kind of gorgeous, clean kit that looks like it jumped straight out of a hobby encyclopedia. The world has come a long way. :-) This kit really gets me excited about what else might be coming down the line in the Gundam Collection injection series.

α Azieru | 2006.8 | ¥5,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.