Back in 2002, despite the historic occasion of the Korea-Japan World Cup, Bandai released the not-so-exciting Titans Mk-II as a PG, which got everyone wondering — what would the 2003 PG be, coming two years later? There was no shortage of speculation. Toward the end of 2002, word reached me through a mutual acquaintance at Bandai's development division that the next PG would be the Zephyranthes. Originally targeting an early 2003 release, the PG Zephyranthes kept getting pushed back, and by early 2003 spoilers were already floating all over the internet — anyone who was paying attention knew what was coming. It kept dragging on and on, and in the end it wasn't revealed to the world until November, just as the year was nearly wrapping up.
When the PG Zephyranthes was finally revealed, what surprised everyone most was the sheer volume of the kit. The PG Zeta had already boasted an incredible record of 825 parts, but the PG Zephyranthes blew past that with a whopping 1,203 parts — an unprecedented part count in the entire history of Bandai injection-molded Gunpla kits. When you consider that a typical HGUC sits around 100 or so parts and the average MG comes in at 200–300, it really puts things in perspective... wow.
Anyway, just looking at the finished product, I'd say this was a kit that genuinely needed those two years of development time. (Which probably explains the ¥20,000 price tag.) It faithfully retains the internal frame structure while perfectly realizing both the GP01 and FB outer armor configurations with full conversion functionality, and the incredibly detailed Core Fighters and dedicated maintenance hanger just add to the overall package — the volume of this kit is truly in a class of its own. That said, there are definitely people who got so worn out from the sheer build time that they lost interest halfway through...
That said, looking at the PG Zephyranthes on its own, there aren't really that many parts that feel genuinely new. The existing PG lineup was already at such a high level that this feels more like a new mobile suit built as a natural extension of that — rather than a leap forward. The one standout addition would be the maintenance hanger, which looks like it'd cost over ¥2,000 on its own. At first glance I did wonder why they bothered including it and just driving up the price... but once you actually build it, the process of putting it together piece by piece like LEGO is genuinely fun, and given that this is a conversion kit, it actually serves a practical purpose and looks great too. The only downside is that the sheer size of it makes storage and display even more of a headache. -o-;
The conversion between GP01 and FB mode is well executed and faithful to the source material. Both configurations share a single mechanical frame, with the key armor pieces swapped out cleanly to achieve two distinct looks. The GP01 was originally designed for ground use, but in the anime it was heavily damaged during a forced sortie in space, and the GP01FB was essentially a rebuild of that wreck for space combat — so technically speaking, it's less of a "configuration swap" and more of a "reconstruction of a destroyed unit." But anyway —
Naturally, the FB configuration has far more visual presence than the GP01, and it looks absolutely stunning. The sheer imposing bulk of the Full Burnian's large backpack is something you really have to see in person to fully appreciate. With the oversized feet adding noticeable height and those thick, chunky legs... it's shorter than the Zeta in terms of height, but among all PG kits it has the largest overall volume. As the staggering part count suggests, this is a kit where virtually every design detail, every single section, has been carefully and beautifully engineered.
The Core Fighters in particular — two of them included, one for GP01 mode and one for FB mode — are just outstanding in quality. They're huge, and the intricate transformation mechanisms, internal mechanics, and opening landing gear hatches all bring the detail level up to the absolute top tier. The part count alone is substantial enough to rival a decent HGUC kit.
So, does being a PG mean it's flawless? Well, that's never really been the case... and the Zephyranthes has its share of issues too. Hmm...
First up, the thing most people point out right away — this:
The main connection point between the Core Fighter and the upper torso is a real problem. There are two pegs on the Core Fighter and two corresponding slots on the body, but the fit between them is so inexplicably loose that it barely registers as a connection at all. "Loose" might even be too generous — it's more like the connection does absolutely nothing, and you're left wondering why it's even there. You plug it in and it doesn't even feel like it's clicked into place.
There is a smaller secondary connection point in the center in addition to this main one, but since the primary connection — which looks like it should be doing most of the work — completely fails to do its job, the upper body has a tendency to just slowly slide forward on its own. In GP01 mode you're at least somewhat saved by an additional fixing point from the backpack that helps keep things in place (see photo), but in FB mode you have to ignore both side connections and rely entirely on that one center point to hold everything together, which makes it even more precarious. No matter how I think about it, it's hard to understand how such a baffling oversight made it through. You may well find yourself having to add tape or a bit of super glue to bulk up the connection points. Unbelievable...
The second head-scratching flaw is the absurdly loose waist joint. Most other parts are stiff enough to hold their positions just fine, but the joint connecting the lower torso to the skirt section has absolutely zero resistance (-_-). It feels like the upper body is just sort of resting on top rather than actually connected. It doesn't fall off, but it swings side to side way too easily, so you have to be really careful when posing it. Weird weird weird weird —
Third,
as you can see in the photo above, whenever you try to tilt the ankle forward a bit, that cylinder pops right out. -.-
Some other PGs have similar issues,
but PG Zephyranthes is a bit worse about it. Still, at least the ankle itself doesn't just fall completely off, so I guess that's something to be thankful for..
On top of that.. the articulation is clearly a notch below other PGs. Both the arms and legs fold a little less, the range of motion on the hip joints is a bit narrow.. and the ankle articulation falls a bit short too. Especially in FB mode, the articulation is even more restricted, so it really loses that dynamic PG feel. Oh, that said, this is of course because the articulation on other PG Gundams is just so insanely good — it doesn't mean the PG Zephyranthes kit itself has bad articulation. It's just that PG First Gundam and PG Mk-II have such killer articulation that it looks a little lacking by comparison. Sure, you could argue PG Zeta's articulation is even a step below Zephyranthes, but since Zeta is a transforming kit, somehow I find myself being a lot more forgiving about it.... PG Zephyranthes is neither a transforming kit nor a fixed-pose kit — it's kind of stuck in an awkward middle ground, and that might be why.
That said,
it's actually kind of interesting (?) that the ankle section — long criticized as a chronic weak point of PGs — holds together better here than on other PGs. It's noticeably stiffer than previous PGs. So the problem of the kit toppling backwards because of the ankles should definitely be less of an issue.. but then oddly enough, the rear section of the split sole is a bit loose, and that ends up causing it to fall over instead. -_-;;;
Anyway,
as a massive kit that overwhelms you with its huge box and enormous number of parts, I think it's one that every Gunpla enthusiast should try tackling at least once — a PG that definitely holds its own. ^^
As a side note,
PG Zephyranthes is actually the kit that triggered the public launch of dalong.net. The site itself had been in the works for years before it opened — photos and web work had been going on for a long time — and since I figured I could keep updating even while it was unfinished, I always planned to launch it at some point. PG Zephyranthes was scheduled to release on November 20, 2003, but for some reason it landed in my hands on November 14th.. and within an hour of receiving it, I posted a box opening and manual review on Ruliweb (possibly one of the first in the world?), and in doing so, dalong.net — which only a handful of people knew about — quietly went public. So that's the behind-the-scenes story of how I just went ahead and officially opened the domain and started running the site.. and then after nearly 9 months, it wasn't until August 2004 that I finally finished the build and wrapped up the review. (^_^; Man, that sure took a while..)
PG Gundam GP01/FB Zephyranthes | 2003.11 | ¥20,000
AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.
