OLD Victory Gundam 1/144 Contio

Release 1993.8

Price ¥500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Box side view

Runners

Clear runners, background card, and polycap frame runner.

Some runners can be stacked and assembled all at once.

Parts diagram

OLD 1/144 Contio - Manual & design specs on the back of the card (1/3)

Manual & design specs on the back of the card

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Clear stand, beam shield, and beam sabers

Beam sabers and open shot claw parts are included.

The Contio doesn't use the lower body polycap frame, so it ends up as leftover parts.

Arm and leg articulation. With no skirt armor, the hip joints swing around freely.

Airborne rifle pose

Beam saber + open shot claw pose

With the shield attached, it interferes with the shoulder and you can't move the arm at all.

With the background card.

Background card action

With the 1/144 Zoloat.

With the background cards from the 1/144 Zoloat, Jabelin, and V-Dash Gundam.

The background cards from these kits form one continuous space scene.

The 8th entry in the 1/144 V Gundam series is the Contio — and true to its Zanscare Empire origins, it's got a pretty bizarre design. Right off the bat, the wild color combo of pink and dark brown stands out, though the molded colors have that cheap candy-toy feel that really shows its age.

The basic package stays true to the series concept, with clear runners and the 4th space background card included, letting you recreate various scenes. That said, the shared polycap frame doesn't seem to mesh well with the kit's design — the lower body frame goes completely unused, and overall joint strength is pretty poor. The shoulders and neck pop off easily during posing, and the rest of the joints aren't much better, making this a frustrating kit to handle.

On the articulation front, the waist is fixed with no rotation, and the shield's mounting angle is awkward, making it hard to strike a pose with it attached. The one gimmick unique to the Contio is the ability to swap the shoulder shot claws out for open versions.

All things considered — molded colors, articulation, joint strength — this kit ranks among the worst in the entire 1/144 V Gundam series. Unless you're a die-hard fan who has a real soft spot for the Contio from the original series, this is one old-school kit that's hard to recommend. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.11.6]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.