Torso
I love how there’s a big yellow piece, just so that we can get a bit of yellow color in the chest vents:
Different colors aside, this is the spitting image of the Gundam X’s chest. It even has the four vulcan cannons, which feels particularly apropos for the mobile suit, where the legs and feet are literally the only body parts that don’t have guns.
Here it is attched to the lower torso:
I actually think they could have swapped out the yellow chest vents and made them red. I know yellow is traditional and all, but it stands out among the rest of the colors.
Head
I forgot to take any photos until the head was assembled, but I am happy to report that there were no surprises worth noting. It’s a standard, High Grade Gundam head.
At least, it is in terms of assembly. In terms of looks it is a bit unorthodox. Like the Blazing Gundam, It has no mouth. and those tiny cracks below its eyes give it a bit of a creepy vibe, resting somewhere between “evil demon” and “evil clown”.
Shoulders
This is one of those models where the shoulders are separate and independent from the arms. There is some nice parts layering going on here to make it look like the green psychoframe is peeking out from underneath the armor:
Arms
Since there are Double X-style heat fins on the legs, sure enough there are Double X-style heat fins on the arms as well:
They go together in the same fashion as the ones on the legs, though obviously they’re much smaller. And they’re really the only notable feature on the arms, so let’s move on!
Actually, not yet. First, let’s talk a bit about the hands. We get two pairs. One is, of course, a standard set of closed fists for holding weapons. But we also get a set of open hands. Specifically, we get the open hands from the HG Destiny Gundam that show off its “Palma Fiocina” palm-mounted cannons (yes, the Helios also has guns in its hands. Like I said, it has them everywhere but the legs and feet):
What I like about these hands is that you can use them as general open palms, and for attack poses (including poses where you make it look like Iron Man).
Conclusion
At this point, the main body of the Helios is complete, and it doesn’t look half bad:
But it can be better! We’re still missing its very significant backpack, but I’m going to dedicate its own (likely short) post to this final part of the build.