You know that I have voiced my aversion to Gundam Seed kits, but from time to time I am forced to swallow the bitter pill of hypocrisy, or just give leeway to my principles. Currently here in Malaysia, it has never been a better time to be a modeler. We call it the ‘Happy Time’.

The combination of an explosion of collectible hobby shops and the emergence of Gundam to the mainstream has resulted in a massive price drop in Gunpla. Previous prices have now dropped down to Yen price, and if you’re lucky you might find one of even less. That mean previous ones of RM 79.70 or 89.90 can be found for RM 50 or less. Unless you’re stupid enough to go buying for these in department stores. It’s a price war that is going on kids, and that’s the beauty of a market economy. Go to hell communism.

Anyway, this story begins way back before the price war. I was looking for a kit to test out my modeling skills when I stumbled across a kit of the MVF-M11C Murasame from Seed Destiny… It was simple-looking, not too fancy, simple color scheme, being a transformable MS made it a plus too, and it was cheap, (by the standards of that time) so I bought it. (Later, to my chagrin, it would be sold for half the price…)

Review time! Construction-wise, it’s simple and solid, what a modern Bandai kit would expect to offer. It seems that the designer was going for the half-Zeta Gundam half-VF-1 Valkyrie look, because that is what it is. Even in the anime it’s supposed to be quite powerful as Andrew Waltfield makes it his personal suit and a force of 3 was able to take down the Chaos Gundam. Design wise, like many Seed suits it’s simple and unimaginative but it’s plane mode is where it shines. Clever, and I do have to admit, kind of cool. Much fun to be had posing this around. Coloring the thing was kind of poor; this was my first time spray painting and some parts I used too much paint or did a piss-poor job, so it was basically a trial and error/ touch and go thing. Still, it’s not half-bad, and I did learn some lessons that I would use in my next kit.

And here are some mobile suit facts for you!

Model number: MVF-M11C
Code name: Murasame
Unit type: mass production transformable mobile suit
Manufacturer: Morgenroete, Inc
Operator: Orb Union
First deployment: unknown
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: overall height 17.82 meters
Weight: max gross weight 46.88 metric tons
Construction: unknown
Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery, power output rating unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: 2 x M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS, fire-lined, mounted in head; 4 x M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS, mounted on wings, operable only in mobile armor form; Type 70J Kai beam saber, stored on hips, hand-carried in use; Type 72 high-energy beam cannon, mounted on back, operable only in mobile armor form; anti-air missile launcher (4 x Type 66A air-to-air missile "Hayate"); shield, mounted on left arm in mobile suit mode
Optional hand armaments: Type 72 Kai "Ikazuchi" beam rifle, power rating unknown

More pictures can be seen here: http://flickr.com/photos/genosider/sets/72157594462894411/

Arsenal:


Front view:






MA mode:


VS Chaos Gundam. just like the anime!