| PG 1/60 MBF-02 Strike Rouge + Skygrasper
Series: Perfect Grade (PG) 1/60 Title: MBF-02 Strike Rouge + Skygrasper Release Date: 08/2005 Suggested Price: ¥ 19000 No. of Parts: 782 Plastic colors: red, pink, light pink, white, black, blue, yellow Gimmicks: Skygrasper support fighter, Aile pack, light-up eyes, action base, foldable Armor Schneider knives
Contributor: Lert Date: September 29, 2009 Cagalli got a hand-me-down Strike made up in a very girly red / pink color scheme at the end of Gundam SEED. And, Bandai being Bandai, they smelled the opportunity for a quick yen and brought out a re-colored version of the already existing Strike Gundam PG. To try to get even more of our hard-earned cash, they included the also already existing Skygrasper and Aile Pack PG models as well, for one all-inclusive set. Let's see if it's worth the dosh, shall we?
The head is an interesting build. A departure from earlier Perfect Grades in that the electrical system is deceptively simple to set up. No wires, just two small metal bits and a single led. Together with a few pieces of plastic and the battery this forms a 'block' that slots into an opening in the head, which is then covered by a detail piece and an outer armor piece. The led lights up pretty bright, and gives the Strike Rouge a menacing, green glare. The head is a very faithful, sinister reproduction of the Strike's own mug from the show. Very good piece of engineering.
The torso is also an interesting build. First you build the cockpit area where the miniature pilot sits. Then you just keep slapping on detail parts and joints until the Strike's characteristic, sharply angled torso takes shape. There are many smallish pieces of armor that cover the details, and the cockpit hatch is annoyingly difficult to open without removing some of the armor pieces. The range of motion in the shoulders and waist area is nothing short of spectacular, due to very intelligent design. Etch-stickers are provided for a nifty looking gold trim on the upper torso armor plating, and the back of the torso has a small hatch that hinges open to allow the Aile Pack to dock. The torso is has a sleek and sinister look to it, to match the Strike's overall appearance. My favorite part to build of this PG.
And these were my least favorite. Not that they are poorly engineered or annoying to build, not because they are fragile or don't hold their post - they're not and they do - but because they are so difficult to pose well and have a tendency to partially disassemble when posing them. They are interesting enough to build, and actually have a lot more joints than you would expect - all of which can only move a little bit, but the end result is a patchwork of tiny armor pieces sliding in, over, under and through each other, instead of a single, elegant whole to make up the arm. Bonus points for the new style hands, though. The entire hand is now cast in a single go instead of having to put five individually cast fingers into fragile slots which always end up breaking. Instead, it's all one bit now, that you put a palm and some outer armor on. Very, very good. The biggest nitpick though is that some of the light colored armor which should be a very light pink is actually white, breaking up the uniform look of the finished arm, even more.
A better build and a more uniform whole than the arms. The knees are weighted with solid iron blocks, which helps a whole lot in stability when posing the finished Strike Rouge. The legs are solid and easily poseable though they hold their pose very, very well. (As all PG's do in my experience) One very interesting bit to note is that some of the outer armor is constructed so that if you pose the leg, the pieces all slide in interesting ways, adding a sense of complexness and intricate design. Unfortunately, some of the armor pieces that should be light pink are white here as well.
Skygrasper- A very interesting build, if a bit simplistic. Why they call this a PG I don't understand, it lacks much of the internal detail PG's have and is closer to being MG in quality. Of course, PG in scale, but still. It is a single, solid feeling piece of kit, with a slot in the back to which you can attack the Aile pack, and it looks absolutely spectacular with the Aile pack attached. Unfortunately, it looks a bit wimpy without. Aile pack- Now this is more like it. I was very pleasantly surprised by the solidity, poseability and sheer wingspan of the Aile pack. The amount of inner detail is also surprising, especially when you consider it's overall sleek, slender and thin build. The main wings and main thrusters are movable. The vents at the rear of the main thrusters are movable, the flaps on the main wings are movable, there are even clear parts at the tips of the main wings to simulate the port / starboard lights that airplanes have. The Aile pack comes with a built-in bonus of +4 to bad-assedness, which applies whether you attach it to the Skygrasper or the Strike Rouge - both of which hold the Aile pack very firmly. The action base is a large black thing that either the Strike Rouge or the Skygrasper can firmly attach to, which helps greatly in posing and adds a ton of stability to whatever pose you put your Strike in. It even has mounting points for the shield and rifle. Speaking of which, they are both fairly standard PG fare. A good bit more pieces to build up than MG shields and rifles, but firm constructions. I only wish Strike could hold them both a bit better. The armor schneider knives are cast in a single folding piece, using the same technology that makes the fingers poseable. They slot in perfectly in Strike's waist armor, and Strike looks mean wielding them. The beam sabers are attached to the Aile pack like in the show and are fairly standard fare. Finally there's the Grand Slam sword which is huge, but a bit flimsy, and a very simple build. Nothing special, but it looks cool.
This is truly an impressive piece when completed, and it took me a great many fun-filled hours to build. Also interesting is the fact that the only screw in the kit holds the battery lid closed, yet the entire kit remains firmly poseable despite this. However, a few very minor flaws keep it from being a perfect piece. It's large size, expensive cost and slow poseability make it far more a display piece than an action figure. The Skygrasper has great Zoom-ability, and the Aile pack makes it truly bad-ass - which leaves Strike Rouge looking a bit wimpy. But then you can swap the Aile pack around a bit and have Strike looking awesome while Skygrasper is left looking a bit silly. The only reason this kit hasn't gotten a perfect score from me is because of the .. 'interesting' engineering of the arms and the fact that the lightest pieces of armor plating are a patchwork of (proper) light-pink and pure white. It was almost like Bandai accidentally included two of frame D from the regular Strike PG instead of pinkish ones for Strike Rouge - but the kit that Dalong reviewed has the same 'issue'. |
