Dark Gundam Final Mode

Everybody, it's the moment you've been waiting for! Though on the surface, G Gundam seems like little more than an Olympiad for giant ethnic robots, it actually has a few continuing subplots, one of which is the search for, and struggle against, the Dark Gundam. Built for some unknown purpose, the Dark Gundam was stolen by (series hero) Domon Kaashu's brother Kyogi. Kyogi crashed the Dark Gundam on earth, where it began to spread its evil influence. Throughout the series, the Dark Gundam has several forms, from a sprawling crab-like thing to a series of giant evil Gundam heads. This particular figure represents the Dark Gundam's final mode; when everyone turns on it, the Dark Gundam must evolve to survive. In all its forms, the Dark Gundam's torso is always the same: a fairly plain Gundam head, big nobby shoulders and white arms. This torso is supported on a thin yellow waist that then connects to whatever lower body DG's sporting at the time. In this final mode, he actually has some legs, giant and outsized though they may be. The legs move at the hips, knees and ankles, and there are six square red and yellow toes on each foot. In this form, the Dark Gundam is just about 6 3/4" tall. The first mutation is fairly simple: giant claws burst out of Dark Gundam's shoulders. The back of his shoulder pads rise up on flat yellow arms, and each of the nobs becomes a finger. It's not a giant change, but it does make the figure look quite intimidating. The arms and fingers are separate, interchangeable pieces included in the package, and all the pieces snap on and off with little strain. The set also includes an extra piece of that long thing waist, used in both alternate modes to raise the torso up. With the extra height and the giant hands, Dark Gundam is now about 9" tall, twice as tall as any of the other mobile suits. The final mode is a bit of a transformation; fold all those toes away, rotate the legs back, and attach the included faceplate to the exposed hips; Dark Gundam's lower body has now been turned into one of the giant Gundam heads. How giant? At 1/144th scale, a human would be approximately half an inch tall, and this head measures 4 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" tall, so a quick bit of math reveals it would be more than four stories tall. Extrapolating from that, if it had a body to scale, said body would measure at least 300 feet. Like I said, "giant." This is one of the few G Gundam robots not designed to represent a particular country, which means that the designers were free to make it look fairly monstrous. I can't see this beast ever looking good as a 1/100th model kit, so I'm glad that I got into these MSiA figures. With three transformation modes, the Dark Gundam Final Mode figure is definitely a good buy. Which of the G Gundam suits is stupidest? Tell us on our message board, The Loafing Lounge.

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