Maguanac Rashid Custom WMS-03

Synopsis: If I remember correctly this is the leader of the Maguanac Corps (Leader under Quatre anyway).  I guess the Maguanac Corps is the only grunt suits allied to the gundam pilots in the series. 

  When they had released these figures I had hopes that maybe a few of the Mobile suits they did not make initially would finally see a figure being made.  But whom am I kidding?  I had also hoped Zeta would come out in the summer and look what happened.  Oh well, with Gundam SEED figures due out at anytime I can at least be glad that the toy aisles will be filled with Gundam toys other then Superior Defender. 

The Figure:  It was nice of Bandai to release these figures.  New figures with Version 2 joints after a long drought of new releases was a nice welcome to the lag we had been experiencing.  But I digress.

  The head is nicely detailed and the paintjob is neat, no messy splotches.  The articulation of the head is hampered by the torso; a common problem with all the Maguanac MSiAs.  It can move about between 15-40 degrees.  I did get it to rotate 360 degrees a few times but it is not recommended.

  The arms lack panel lining but it does not need it.  The elbow and shoulder armors feature a brown-yellow color scheme that makes up for the plain crème colored arms.  The elbow armor does not hinder the version 2 joints but can be removed if you desire.  The hands connect to a ball joint giving nice motion.  The hands that come with the figure include 2 closed fists, two "gun" fists, and 2 "sword" fists.

   The legs of all the Maguanac figures have the same leg molds except that this MSiA has a different set of knees in that Knee armor has been added and fortunately the armor does not hinder the version 2 joints in the knee.  Leg movement and interference from the waist armor is evident.  Though most Gundam Wing designs suffer from that flaw the flexible skirt armor and hip armor on a ball joint try to a certain degree of success fix that flaw.  The rear skirt armor is still rigid (although nothing compared to Auda's).

   The torso is sparsely detailed though the color-scheme makes up for it from a displaying standpoint.  The torso twisting is 360 degrees with a little work.  The backpack does not have any color or any movable thruster nozzles.  In essence it's a removable solid chunk of plastic though some may not notice it over the other elaborate looks of the figure.

The Accessories:  Like most Gundam Wing Accessories, the weapons are a little over-sized for the figure and for some that enforces the toy-feel of the figure.

Beam Rifle:  A nice detailed rifled with a blue energy pack that is removable.  A small swiveling "arm" on the rifle can fasten on the energy pack for looks (not for functionality).

Heat Tomahawk:  The back of the Blisterpack depicts the tomahawks between Rashid and Auda as being different in size (Rashid's supposedly smaller).  This is not the case however; the Tomahawks are from the same mold.

Play Value:  A good guy grunt suit for the Gundam Wing Universe is never a bad thing whether as fodder, backup, or an objective it is always good.  With two weapons the figure has its choice of Melee or Ranged and the weapons are not so complex that using them or switch out with one or the other does not hinder flow of play.

Display Value:  Standing with your Gundam Wing MSiAs can allow these guys to standout to a point.  Gundam Wing Designs are all decorated and while this MSiA follows that line, Gundam designs can make these guys look sparsely designed.  The large weapons these figures have can a beneficial factor as well as grouping all three together.  Making them look more like a team then the five gundams themselves plus the version articulation helps out immensely. 

Dollar Value: Like Heavyarms version 2 I discovered that Target raised all of the MSiA prices.  Now you may not find the Maguanac figures there you can still find them at Kmart for a dollar or two less.  It just does not feel like a deluxe figure even with the detailing and version 2.0 treatment.

Conclusion:  This is a solid figure, although the weapons loadout is very light the figure compensates in terms quality and possibility.