OLD Gundam W 1/144 Gundam Epyon

Release 1995.10

Price ¥500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Box side view

Runners

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

The heat rod has joints at 3 points, so it can be bent to some degree.

Limb articulation. The hip joints barely move T_T

Wing articulation

Beam sword action

Heat rod action

Remove the rear skirt and hands for transformation.

Rotate the legs 180 degrees backward and fold them, then reattach the rear skirt vertically.

Fold the arms into a claw-like shape and the transformation is complete.

Mobile Armor mode

Underside

With the 1/144 Wing Gundam Zero.

1/144 Gundam Epyon - WF Repackage Version

WF series box art with pilot character image added

A color guide for painting the figure has been added.

Figure runner added in the WF series

OLD 1/144 Gundam Epyon - Zechs Merquise figure (1/3)

Zechs Merquise figure

With the Zechs Merquise figure included in the 1/144 Tallgeese.

OLD 1/144 Gundam Epyon - Assembly manual slightly revised to include the figure (1/3)

Assembly manual slightly revised to include the figure

Newly added color guide for the figure

The 10th kit in the old 1/144 Gundam W series is Gundam Epyon. Overall joint strength is decent, but the front skirt doesn't move, which means the hip joints can barely articulate — a notable downside. It seems like they had to make that sacrifice in order to focus on getting the transformation gimmick to work properly.

Thanks to that, the Mobile Armor transformation gimmick is simple yet well-executed. And in terms of how securely it holds together after transforming, it's much sturdier than the Wing Gundam and Wing Gundam Zero.

The heat rod attached to the shield has articulated segments along its length, so it can bend to some degree — but the range of motion is fairly limited, so it won't flex dramatically. That said, it holds its position well, so posing it in various ways isn't a problem. The kit also comes with a beam sword as additional armament.

This kit's strong point is its solid transformation gimmick. Sure, the molded colors and proportions have that old-kit feel to them, but since it hasn't been released as an HGAC, it still has its own appeal. :-)
[ Updated at 2018.2.26 ]

The 1/144 Gundam W series was repackaged and released as the WF series in July 2000. The kit itself is the same as before, but a small character figure was added, bumping the price up by ¥100. The box art and manual were also slightly revised accordingly, and a color guide for painting the figure was added. Since both the regular 1/144 W series and the WF series are still mixed together on the secondhand market, please refer to the WF version review below for details on the figure and included contents.

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.