THIRTY SEVEN DOLLS #32: Gundam Aerial (It’s Complicated)

BEHOLD, THE FIDDLIEST OF FIDDLIES!OK. So technically, I found this on vacation. Technically, I found it on a bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto, which is when one of my Bluesky toy buds posted a pic of the Gundam Universe Gundam Aerial. And I liked the design. So I looked to see if there was a ver.A.N.I.M.E., and there was, so I kept the tab open until I got home and needed to order some other stuff for other reasons and boom it was on its way.

This is the initial release, not the 15th anniversary re-release, which has even other stuff and cost twenty bucks more. I can’t even understand what the other stuff would be because this came with SO MUCH STUFF.

I also started watching Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, Which I like quite a bit, but also I do like to understand the suit, the pilot, and the abilities, and so I understand all the little pieces mostly. See, there are about a dozen bits of plastic that perform one of three roles on the figure. First, as in the pic above, they’re drones that fly around and shoot lasers. The figure comes with an elaborate clear plastic rack with six articulated clear curved arms and six clear triangles and the bits plug into the triangles which plug into the arms which plug into the back piece which plugs into the figure. For the pic, I removed some of the extraneous bits, then blurred and made semi-transparent the arm bits that remain, but you get the idea.

Many of the bits also plug into to form Aerial’s Big Ass Shield, as shown above.

And finally, they can clip on as pieces of aditional mobile suit armor.

Nearly every attachment point is some variant of a single or double ball joint. So EVERYTHING MOVES. This is in addition to the excellent standard articulation on a Robot Spirits Gundam, so calling this poseable  is an understatement. It makes Maximum Spider-Man look like a statue. 

We’re now at 4 on the Robot Spirits count, so hopefully I’m really for reals done for a bit. I’d love a Guntank but they’re not making one right now. I’d love a Hyako-Shiki but not at the price they’re charging. Plus the iPhone box I repuprposed for Robot Spiirits accessories is fucking full already after four figs. It’s a lot of stuff.