Dave's Toy Rant:

     Gundam Action Figure: Sandrock
     Gundam Action Figure: Heavyarms

     Found four of the new Gundam action figures at Kay Bee today.  Decided
to get just two.  Heavyarms because it's my favorite (assuming a non-
transforming Gundam Wing...if that figure transformed, I'd have snapped it
up) and Sandrock because it's reported to be shortpacked, and I figured that
if I was ever going to get it, I'd better snag it today.

CAPSULES

     Sandrock: Looks good in the package, but it's pretty floppy and falls
apart easily.  Several of the accessories simply don't stay on due to shallow
pegs and soft plastic.  Way too expensive for what you get, by about a factor
of two.  $9.99 at Kay Bee.
     Heavyarms: Again, looks good in the package, but is soft and wobbly.
Accessories almost have the opposite problem as Sandrock's...they stay on
very well, but it's almost impossible to get the soft plastic to force in all
the way to click into position, so the accessories often fall off anyway,
because you didn't get them all the way on.  Again, not worth the money
unless you want to just keep the package sealed and on the shelf.  $9.99 at
Kay Bee.

RANTS

     General Notes: These are 1/144 scale toys, standing 4.5" (12cm) tall.
Poseability is, in theory, very good.  Head, shoulders and hips are on ball
joints.  Elbows are a universal joint mix of swivel and hinge.  Knees are
hinges (well, snap-on hinges like a Banpresto toy), wrists snap in and
swivel.  Ankles are on ball joints, but pretty restricted by the "spats"
Gundams have.  The shoulder pads just sort of snap on over the shoulders, so
they don't really restrict motion, but they can pop off pretty easily.  
     The toys are made of two types of plastic: soft and downright floppy.  I
have Banpresto kits made of sterner stuff, and it's a major disappointment
compared to the 1/144 model kits.  The joints tend to pop off pretty easily,
especially when you're trying to force something else back on.  The floppy
plastic helps in one or two places (skirts, getting Sandrock's gunhand
wrapped around the gun), but it's generally not good.  Basically, they feel
like toys that weren't intended for removal from the packaging.  And while
there's the standard 3-and-under warning on the box, I'd recommend not
letting anyone under 10 near these things.
     In general, the colors are pretty good, but not quite as good as the
ones shown on the back of the package.  Economizing cuts at least one painted
on color out of each toy, from what I could tell in the store and from the
two I bought.  And, as others have noted online, the seams are not lined, so
if you do take them out of the packaging, you might want to take a pen and
fill in all the lines.
     The packaging is typical Bandai minimalism.  Identical cards for all
toys, with pictures of the line but no specific details on the back, and a
small paper insert inside the bubble with the toy's name and any
instructions.  The figures are pretty strongly nested in the plastic bubbles,
and it's really easy to dismember the Gundam in attempting to take it out of
the package.  Or putting it back in!  Sigh.

     Sandrock: This Gundam comes with his swords, shield and "Beam Uzi", plus
his jetpack can be taken apart and used to create a combined weapon with his
swords and shield.  The backpack and shield use small pegs to attach to
things, and this is very loose.  The combined weapon barely holds together. 
     The swords are very floppy, like a bad sentai villain's sword, although
they hold firmly in the hands and attach snugly to the jetpack.  Sandrock
comes with a spare hand for the Uzi, but the hand is too small for the pistol
grip...you have to wedge the gun in, then manipulate the trigger finger into
the trigger guard.  I'd recommend just gluing the hand to the gun, one less
thing to pop out while you're moving other things around.  The shield isn't
too bad, but it'd be nice if it snapped on more tightly.

     Heavyarms: You can sort of upgrade the Heavyarms to its second version,
as they include both a single gatling cannon (with handle so that he can
guide it with his free hand) and double gatling cannon.  He also has panels
that flip open for his chest gatlings and his shoulder launchers, although
his leg launchers don't open.  The shoulder launcher panels pop off VERY
easily, and only open a little more than 90 degrees.  The chest panels are
pretty solid, though.  On mine, at least, the right leg keeps popping off.
     Heavyarms's jetpack is fixed to his body, and the nozzles have a little
freedom of movement.
     His gatling shield weapon stays on very tightly...if you can get it to
snap into place.  The pegs, both for attachment of shield to arm and guns to
shield, have snaps.  But they're so soft that it takes a lot of pushing and
twisting to get them to snap into place.  Otherwise, it will *seem* to be
attached, then fall off.  Also, while I don't recall ever seeing one on the
cartoon, the toy of Heavyarms has a left hand that has to be removed before
you can attach the gunshield.  Finally, he has a flip-down blade on his right
arm, but it doesn't look right.  Maybe it's too short, or it might be on the
wrong way, I'm not sure.

     Overall, if you're a real fan of Gundam Wing, you might want to pick
these up.  You might even want to open the packages.  But, frankly, the
1/144 scale model kits seem to be a much better deal, and much better toys
(although I'm comparing to an Air Guardian from Gundam X, since I haven't
spotted the Wing models at TRU in my area).  I doubt I'll bother buying any
more of this line.

     Dave Van Domelen, *might* grab the Tallgeese if he ever finds one left
behind by a scalper, but then again, it seems particularly vulnerable to
gummyplas problems.