Mobile Armor Lalah Sune Use/ MAN-08 Elmeth (Asian Release)

Synopsis: In the series the Elmeth was one of the mobile armors made for new types or telepaths depending on the translation you are watching.  Given her powers Lalah Sune used the Elmeth to snipe the Federal Forces fleet after the battle of Solomon ( I cannot remember if it was before or after Char and Amuro's encounter in Texas Colony).  Her death would spark a feud between Char and Amuro that would end in Char's Counter attack.

  I was very surprised that I bought this mobile armor.  Quite frankly Zeon Mobile armors are not the most aesthetically pleasing units of the UC era.  And a toy depiction of the Elmeth seemed to me as a big chunk of plastic with little features it could offer.  Fortunately like Byg Zam I was surprised with what Bandai did with it.

The Mobile Armor:  There are very few moving parts to this Mobile Armor.  So for the sake of simplicity I will approach this review from the top and work my way down.

  There is only one component that requires any assembly after removing Elmeth from the box.  It's a fin or spike that is attached to the top of the mobile armor.  When attached it does not really move and was only detached to allow placement in the box.

  Sliding down the top of Elmeth, you will find two buttons used to activate the funnel launcher in the back and other to play the sounds taken from the series.  The funnels are launched from the back.  2 tubes are located at the back capable of loading 1 funnel per tube.  The funnel tubes are spring-loaded and can fire even with the tube hatches closed. 

  The two Beam cannons found on the front of Elmeth can freely rotate over 90 degrees in elevation.  They are well-detailed back lack any paint compared to the rest of the armor.  The cockpit is visible behind an orange windshield and has decent detailing and a halfhearted paintjob however the focus of the mobile armor is not the cockpit.  A trivial observation to not is that Lalah is somewhat out of scale with other cockpit pilots like those shown on the Dopp fighters and RX-78-2 Gundam.

  The thruster nozzles on the back are movable.  There are also three retractable landing gears.  Each gear retracts and is covered by a folding plate that covers the gears when retracted.  At the bottom is the switch to turn the mobile armor on or off.  And of course the plate to insert the batteries that Elmeth needs to work.  To place the two AAA batteries you will need a small screwdriver due to the cover plate being fastened by a screw.

The Accessories:  The accessory loadout on this mobile armor is pretty light and even features accessories for Char's Gelgoog. 

  Funnels:  The funnels are well detailed and well painted.  6 funnels are included even though only two can fire at a given time.

  Yellow stand:  It is meant to simulate Char's Gelgoog in flight holding on to the rear spike/fan mentioned earlier.  The gelgoog attaches by the knees.

  Open Hand:  This gelgoog hand allows for Char to grip the fin of Elmeth with his right hand.

  Battle Scarred Shoulder and shoulder plate:  To help depict the scene in MSG where Char's Gelgoog sustained damage from a fight with Amuro.

Play Value:  For a large Armor there is only a limited amount of things to do with it however it is nice to relive scenes from MSG or use it as some big obstacle in play.  However given its size replay value is not much there.

Display Value:  With its Zeon linage firmly in place (translation: not so pretty) Elmeth definitely stands out in your collection.  Char's Gelgoog with all the accessories added to Elmeth makes a central piece for a collection.  Despite the positive factors still expect some odd looks at it.

Dollar Value:  I bought this on eBay for around $30.  This is almost a 50% discount compared to retail price found on Hobby Link Japan or other import stores.  $30 is the max I would pay for this since it is approximately the price of an import figure.  Then again I am not a great fan of the mobile Armor in the first place.

Conclusion:  It is a decent mobile armor but really meant for a fan of the Armor or a Lalah Sun fan.  In fairness it is a well-made Mobile Armor considering the animated design.