Review – Mobile Suit Gundam Softvinyl Zeong

Mobile Suit Gundam* is hugely popular with mecha fans, but it’s yet another one of those series that I know next to nothing about. I love the mecha designs, but I’ve so strongly disliked various anime series in the past that I’ve never even tried watching Mobile Suit Gundam. That didn’t stop me from grabbing these toy while I was in Hong Kong, though, because a “big softvinyl” mecha for a decent price is exactly the sort of thing that captures my attention. I may not like what I’ve seen of the stories, but the mecha designs are always awesome.

Machined, Marvelous Mecha

This Zeong toy looks pretty damned accurate to the artwork shown at the Mecha Anime HQ Zeong page. A legless mecha design, the Zeong was supposedly:

” . . . only “eighty percent complete,” the Zeong was actually at one hundred percent combat capacity, not needing its cosmetic “legs” for a space battle.”

I don’t think this toy would have captured my attention quite as fast if it had been equipped with legs. It was the skirt-like portion of the design that made me go from “should I?” to packing it in my luggage for the return trip from Hong Kong.

And even without legs there’s still enough articulation in the toy to make it kinda playable. Not enough to compete with modern action figures, but the swivel neck, elbows, and shoulders mean that you can at least pose the toy in a couple of different positions. And since this guy is a pretty durable chunk of vinyl you don’t need to worry too much about dropping it; the head “antenna” pieces are the most fragile point on the toy, but even those have enough give that the toy should survive a few accidental drops.

Clean Paint, Even if There’s Not Much of It

The toy is cast in the lighter grayish-blue color and all of the other colors are painted on. There’s nothing elaborate about the paint design of the toy, but all of the lines are clean and there’s enough different colors used in the design to make the toy pop nicely on my shelf. I would have loved this if it had been beaten and weathered, but what we get in this design is attractive and professionally applied. And for what’s essentially a game prize and not even intended for sale this is a remarkable paint job.

Not My Usual Toy Purchase

I mostly tried to grab toys while I was in Hong Kong that I don’t typically buy at home. And I’m glad I went with that approach to toy shopping while I was there, even if it does now have me thinking about grabbing some other Mobile Suit Gundam toys. After all, it was an opportunity to find new stuff, and having more robots and mecha in a toy collection can never be a terrible thing. I can’t see myself shifting my focus so much that mecha toys overtake the other stuff, but I’ll be more likely to at least glance at new Japanese robot and mecha toys than I was before the visit to Hong Kong.

Closing Thoughts

At about $10, this 5.5-inch tall vinyl mecha toy is cool, but it isn’t something I’m going to demand you run out and buy. This is one of those pieces I’m happy to have in my collection, but I suspect that in a year or two it will be more of a “gateway” toy than something I want to keep forever. As an introduction to Mobile Suit Gundam* toys it isn’t terrible, but if you grab one of these expecting anything more than a cheap vinyl robot toy then you’re going to be disappointed.

The Zeong looks cool displayed with other toys, but it’s not so exciting that I see myself taking it down to play with. And, in the end, that makes me expect that within a few years this guy will be traded off or given away. Sorry, Zeong, but shelf space is limited and you just can’t compete with vinyl robot toys that are as awesome as my Combat-R Zero (review here).

Philip Reed often finds his thoughts about a toy change drastically when he sits down and photographs/studies a toy. It seems that sometimes what looks and feels awesome doesn’t quite hold up to a close look; but that’s true of anything if you let your mind get in the way of a good time.