Released in July 2005, Acguy was given a lot of promotion by Bandai as it was the only MG for several months back then. The MG before him, Ball RB-79K was a May release. After Acguy, MG fans have to wait another month before Hyaku Shiki with Ballute pack was out (September).
Acguy was Bandai's emphasized merchandise, not only because of the lack of MG at that time, but the many interesting features of the model itself. Although Acguy was designed to be quite a simple Zeon MS in the original anime, all its abilities were made possible with the MG technology. With the retractable arms and legs, as well as shoulder and hip joints which can be extended, it's even possible for Acguy to perform its signature sitting and cuddling its legs pose.
As usual, I'll break up the review on this model into a few parts:
Part 1: Pre-assembly work
Part 2: Assembly
Part 3: Action pose
Part 4: ???
Just what exactly is Part 4 about? I'll keep that as a secret first ^^
'Huge', 'big', 'monstrous' are probably a few words you'll get to hear a lot in this series of reviews. Size seems to be Acguy's most notable feature. Apart from the completed model, all its parts are quite big. Since my previous work was MG Char's Zaku II Ver. 2.0, I could feel the huge difference between assembling the two kits. I suppose the gap in terms of size would be even bigger if compared to Strike Freedom ^^;
For Part 1, let's talk about the pre-assembly work and all the parts for Acguy:
Runners
Not only are the armors of Acguy big, parts for its inner frame are equally humongous as well.
Effect parts for the torpedoes, aquatic jet-streams from the propellers in the feet, spring and screws for the one of the forearms, and a set of four figures.
Head
All the parts for Acguy's head. Be cautious of a few smaller parts among all the bigger ones.
The head is four or five times bigger than Char's Zaku II's O_O
Body
The body unit is the most complicated component for Acguy, with the most parts.
The armor pieces for Acguy's body, are they enough to hide the entire body of Char's Zaku II? I bet so ^^
Arm - Apart from the spring action for the claws, the best thing I like about Acguy's arm is the armors being molded in singular pieces. As a result, you get to see very little parting lines here and there. As a matter of fact, most of Acguy's armors have such feature, which is an excellent design by Bandai.
The difference the left and right arms are the claws and torpedoes. The forearms are identical.
Legs - Unlike most other MGs, Acguy's leg design is probably the simplest of them all. Because of its size and disproportionate segments, you'll probably feel that it's shorter than other models' legs, but as a matter of fact, Acguy's leg is just as tall as the others.
Bigger feet with thicker armor as compared to Char's Zaku II.
Figures - Acguy comes with six 1/100 figures, which is probably a record in the MG line. The three children (Letz Cofan, Kikka Kitamoto and Katz Hawin) are very annoying to paint. Although I should be feeling fortunate that they are molded in skin color, but the hard part is that they are made of rubbery plastic which can be a nuisance to paint and panel-line.
Another figure from the same skin colored part is the diver, which is no problem-o for painting. Since his primary color is dark brown (his diving gear), it's a 'feast' for your marker after all those delicate work on the figures of the children. I just swiped my marker all the way, forgetting the painful experience of painting the children. ^^ The other two divers with his briefcase (?) and the pilot are made of normal plastic and are quite easy to paint.
I'm a bit suspicious about the accuracy of the figures' scale though - Char seems a bit smaller as compared to the kids ^^;
Letz wears a yellow shirt and red pants, Kikka is the girl in the middle with a red ribbon on her head, and Katz is the boy on the right with green shirt and brown boots. I'm not sure about Letz and Kikka, but I know Katz's color preference never changed even when he was in Zeta Gundam XD
Also, a kind reminder for everyone: DO NOT use black pen to panel-line the face of the kids. As light as I tried with my pen, their eyes and mouth seem to be made up of black dots and tiny lines. Now the kids look like they come from the world of Lego XD
Display Base - Acguy also comes with its own display base, which is a must really. Else how is he going to display the effect parts for his feet? ^^;
Also, the Action Display Base isn't compatible with Acguy ^^;
Effect parts
When combined, the effect parts become Zeon's ultimate weapons during the One Year War - Transparent Hand Drills!
Just kidding ^^;
Stay tuned for Part 2! ^^
