Kit Review
Straight build
+ seals + panel lining
Size comparison with a cigarette pack
It's a nice touch that even the horse's reins are recreated using coated wire.
First up, Master Gundam...
Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
Upper body and head
Arms and wing section
Legs
Master Gundam's weapon, the Master Cross, is molded in a rather odd way...
It's attached to the Master Asia figure.
You'll need to cut it apart from the Master Asia figure with a knife before you can actually have it held in the hand.
The cute little Master Asia figure.
Just like the HGFC Shining Gundam released alongside it, a large fluorescent hand is included in red.
(The green one is the hand that comes with Shining Gundam.)
The wing shield deployment is recreated via swappable parts —
the 2 on the left are the folded form, and the 4 pieces on the right are the parts for the normal mode.
You layer those 4 pieces together and wrap them around to complete the normal mode.
Normal mode with the wing shields wrapped around.
Since it's a swap-out system, everything clicks together nicely.
(For reference, the form with the wing shields folded is called Master Mode.)
Remove the left wing shield and attach it to the shoulder, and...
You can recreate that scene where he reaches out with just one hand.
Articulation is top-notch! Arms and legs that fold all the way.
The wing shields can move freely left/right and up/down.
First up, Master Gundam's signature cocky arms-crossed pose...
The arms don't twist and wrap all the way around, so it looks a little awkward.
Dynamic and cool action poses
Master Cross action
Recreating the showdown with HGFC Shining Gundam
You can press the two large fluorescent hands together.
Now for Fuunsaiki.
The head has some color separation going on.
The beam reins recreated with coated wire have actual wire inside, so you can bend and hold them in any position you like.
Chunky legs.
The lack of color separation makes them look a bit plain...
If you let the front legs hang straight down, you get something like this...
Take the stand away and try to stand it on the ground, and it looks really awkward.
That's because the Fuunsaiki included in this kit is essentially a model designed solely for that rearing Napoleon pose(?) with the front legs raised.
In other words, the leg structure simply wasn't designed with standing flat on the ground in mind...
As you can see, the rear legs themselves are locked in with square fixing pins that don't allow any rotation.
Simply put, articulation has been given up entirely, and it's designed purely to nail the right angle for the rearing pose.
The rear legs do have joints, but they barely move at all.
The front legs have two joints that move through a fairly wide range,
but they're really only there for flailing around anyway... (;;;)
And critically, all the ankles are fixed — none of them move.
You can try to strike a pose, but it's pretty much the same thing no matter what. ^^;
The neck and tail do move a little bit.
To mount Master Gundam on top, you remove the saddle temporarily
and plug it into the action base peg hole on the underside.
Thanks to this, it locks on firmly on top of Fuunsaiki.
Poses with Fuunsaiki.
It's a shame that Fuunsaiki has to stay locked in the rearing pose,
but it's still a pretty fun option to have.
Together with the HGFC God Gundam kits.
Together with the MG Master Gundam.
The MG is a decent kit too, but being an older release,
the HGFC Master Gundam feels a bit sharper overall.
Straight build shots.