Gundam Model Kits

The head is of a typical MG construction. It's made of left and right halves, a clear eye piece, a mask piece and a red Gundam chin piece. Like the Wing Zero Custom, it has Katoki's wing-like addenda on the sides of the helm. Pieces J5 and J6, the smaller red bits by its cheeks, are a bit hard to stick without super glue, but pose no other problems. My main gripe is with the plastic used for the antenna, which looks soft but is liable to break after a few careless transformations to Bird Mode. There's decent neck movement too. Overall the head is a very decorative piece in the typical Katoki style - it reminds me a bit of the S Gundam.

Torso

The torso looks more like the anime version of the Wing Gundam Zero. The torso has two ball joints, a main one and a hidden one so that the chest area can lean forward a few degrees - a nice touch. Pilot Heero Yuy's cockpit sits behind the big green search eye in the middle, sliding out drawer-style, but most will have trouble grasping the cockpit access. The machine cannons don't open as much as you might like, and they require the head to lean back for them to open - it feels like a waste putting them there. A swing arm sited at the back provides the connection for the backpack wing unit, swinging for Bird Mode. The waist and lower torso are the receiving end of the main ball joint. Nothing very special about the build. Front skirt armors can move independently, like other MGs, although I didn't like the way these tended to open. Rear skirt armor can move with limited range of motion.The backpack is simple enough. Two arms, each with pivot posts on the end, bear the weight of the rather heavy wings. They can move in a limited range of motion. The wings themselves have polycap-style slots, but are actually made of polystyrene and come with detents so that they can sway and yet stay in one position. All this sounds good and can provide some radical poses (such as an angel-style wings-raised pose), but care must be taken to make sure the backpack and the arm it connects to do not come loose and droop from the suit's back due to the weight of the wings. Stiffening the torso's rear recess with some dried white glue can help. Design-wise the wings are a minor work of art.

Arms

These have "claws" on the forearms, reminiscent of the original Wing designed by Okawara. They look great, and they're up to the task of carrying the heavy Buster Rifle and shield; just make sure you push the polycaps into the shoulder pegs all the way in. Shoulder movement is limited to around 40 degrees of movement fore and aft, and the armors look like the Wing Zero from the TV series, with three differently colored sections. The hands are typical MG, but have detents on the fingers to restrict movement and presumably hold the buster rifle and beam saber better - a thoughtful touch.

Legs

This kit's feet shine. Because the feet flex only backward (i.e. tip-toe) for Bird Mode, and not forward as on the Strike and other MGs, basic freestanding stability is quite excellent. It effectively has one-piece feet when standing up. The legs are solid units and reveal the only internal detail on the kit when the armor plating is removed, but personally I think other MGs have more interesting internals. My only gripe is that the calf armor is too eager to come apart---nothing a little super glue can't fix.

Weapons and Accessories

Buster rifle- This piece of kit is amazing. It's HUGE, much more so than the Okawara version, owing to Katoki's fetish for long barrels. It also has provision for 3 replaceable energy cartridges, one per shot---true to the show. The grip has a blue piece of armor used for hiding the head in Bird Mode. It's just such a shame that this thing is so unbalanced and barrel-heavy. The grip is literally on one end of the rifle; the barrel is on the other. The Buster Rifle can indeed be held in a one-handed grip, it just took me months to figure it out. The key is not to have the hands grip them all that tightly, and let the rifle's grip settle in the depression on the palm. The rifle can also be used in a two-handed grip, too.Shield- Much like the Okawara design, but this time there's a flared portion in the upper region that houses what looks like intake ducts for Bird Mode. A slot houses the hilt of the beam saber, and the whole thing connects to the suit's arm via a rather weak clamp - there's no grip on this shield. At the end there is a gray hook to accept the buster rifle in Bird Mode. Overall a nice piece.Beam saber- Nothing special - it's your typical beam saber, only this one comes with a gently-curved green blade. A little tab on the hilt helps it to settle in the suit's hand well. I much prefer posing the Wing ver.Ka with just the beam saber, as there's a bit less fiddling around to do than with the buster rifle to get it working.Energy pods and rack- In addition to the buster rifle's three shots, this kit has 6 more energy pods so that the Wing ver.Ka can use its buster rifle for longer. These are stored on two simplistic racks. While they don't look all that special, they do complement the kit well.Bird mode- The legs fold and shorten. The backpack goes downward to the MS's butt plate. Shoulder armor slides off and folds over, revealing a pair of "radiators," while the arms accept the energy pod racks, which act as landing gear with the crotch armor. The buster rifle and shield combine into one nosecone unit, then mount on the rear recess where the backpack used to be. The blue armor on the rifle grip goes over the head, covering all but the antenna assembly. Voila - Bird Mode. It's quite simple in transformation compared to other MGs such as the Zeta. My main concern with Bird Mode is that this introduces the threat of breaking the brittle head antenna, which deceptively look bendable but are actually just very thin. Caveat emptor.

Conclusion

Despite not liking Gundam Wing or Endless Waltz all that much, this Katoki-designed kit simply drew my attention. It's visually attractive, even more so than the Endless Waltz Gundams that had primarily dark blue and white as their color scheme and not much else. This version of the Wing Gundam is a clean alternative for those who don't like the overwrought visual drama of the Wing Gundam Zero Custom. (Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars)

Contributor: Juan Miguel de Leon

General and Technical Data
Series: Master Grade (MG) 1/100 Release Date: 03/2004
Price: ¥ 3500