Calamity Gundam appears in Gundam SEED. It is one of the three Gundams developed by OMNI halfway through the anime to counter the forces of ZAFT. The other two are Forbidden and Raider. In terms of design, I think it is the best as compared to the other two mentioned, although it’s the only one without a MA mode (Forbidden can turn into a crab-like MA for close-combat, and Raider can transform into an eagle-like MA for added mobility and firepower in atmospheric combats). Calamity features two beam cannons on his backpack, called ‘Schlag’ (meaning impulse), chest cannon ‘Scylla’ (name of sea serpent), dual cannon on its shield ‘Kaefer Zwei’ (war beetle) and a handheld bazooka ‘Todesblock’ (The Way of the Dead). So, the combat module of Calamity is not about melee attack or one-on-one fight, but devastating mass destruction with all the beam cannons it has, just as the name of this mecha suggests. I like that concept very much; as there are few other mecha with similar design (another one is Buster).
I assembled this model around a year ago and as with all the HG models from the SEED series released by Bandai, all the parts are molded in colors accordingly. So there is no need for paint work. Although inking the lines on the model is a must to show the details and the silhouettes. In terms of playability, it’s slightly less interesting since there’s no other weapon for him other than his bazooka and shield. Normally, Gundams are equipped with beam sabers or some form of close-combat armaments, but not for this fella, as I mentioned earlier on. Also, how many poses you can have with the bazooka anyway?
However, I still stick with my comment just now about Calamity being my favorite among the three Gundams of OMNI. I’ve seen people assembling Raider and Forbidden without painting them, and they look so ugly (so sorry for those who own these two models and don’t paint them). Raider’s color scheme is black, red and light purple (which is supposed to be white) while Forbidden’s color scheme is green, and light green, and that doesn’t work for me either. Anyway, my favorite mecha from SEED is Duel, piloted by the aggressive Yzak Jule. Check out this mecha on MAHQ.
