Because there’s no new Core Gundam to build, and because the Mercury Armor looks so much like the Earth Armor, and because the airframe for the Support Mecha is the same one we used before, there’s not a whole lot of new ground to cover for this build. I should be able to get this whole thing done in a single post.
But first, here are the runners, first for the armor kit:
And then for the accessory kit:
You might notice that one of the runners is labeled A, while the rest of them are labeled G. I’m not at all sure what the reasoning behind that is, but so be it.
Weapons
Here is one of the Fin Zambers:
There’s not much to say about these. They’ve got the reverse grip like they’re supposed to, and the blades are on a hinge joint, so they can move back and forth.
Next, we have this thing:
I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a fake/dummy version of the Core Gundam’s Beam Spray Gun, one that more easily plugs into the Water Needle Gun. That would make a lot of sense, as it would allow the engineers to design the Water Needle Gun the way they want to, without figuring out how to make the standard Beam Spray Gun fit into it.
But then there’s this bit of the instruction manual which shows how you can attach it to the Mercuone’s backpack:
You wouldn’t do that with a fake version of a weapon, would you? Now I’m thinking I may be wrong …
Whatever! Let’s move on to the Water Needle Gun.
First, some bad news: it’s not color accurate out of the box.
Now for some good news - it’s doesn’t require nearly as much work as some of the Iron Blooded Orphans accessories I’ve built in the past. It mainly involves filling in some spots with black paint, and painting the needles in white. It’s a lot of work in terms of time, but none of it is particularly difficult.
Here it is before I touched it up:
And here is the finished version:
As you can see, there are lots of little details, and filling them in really brings the weapon to life. I’m becoming quite fond of the way it looks.
Backpack
Like the Needle Gun, the backpack is quite large, and it’s wings are filled with lots of panel lines and details to fill in:
This took by far the most amount of time to paint and detail, but I think the results were worth it.
In terms of articulation, the wings can rotate, since they’re supposed to be oriented different based on whether they’re attached to the Support Mecha, or to the Mercuone Gundam.
Lastly, I just noticed that there’s a shark fin in the center :)
Mercury Armor
Here are all the parts, laid out like they are on the front of the box:
Like I said before, the armor looks largely the same as the Earthree’s. This is further emphasized when you put the Support Mecha together. Notice how similar they are when placed side by side:
But things change quite a bit once you attach all the accessories.
Support Mecha
Here now is the fully assembled Support Mecha:
Is it just me, or does this look really cool? It’s tall, it’s wide, and with the accessories on it looks less like a jet fighter and more like a submarine.
And now when we put it next to the Earth armor, it suddenly doesn’t look so similar:
The lesson here, if there is one, is that you probably don’t want to get the Mercury armor without the accessories. It’s an underwhelming package without its accouterments, but with them it ends up being a phenomenal unit.
Mercuone Gundam
You know the drill. Core Change - docking …. go!
From these angles, the Mercuone Gundam really does kind of look like the Earthree if it slapped on some flippers and a snorkel mask. The problem is that it’s big, cool looking backpack is largely obscured in these basic standing poses. What we need are some action poses from different angles.
That’s better. But how about a couple more?
And how about one where the Needle bits are deployed?
Overall, I’d say this is a model that looks best in motion, and from uncommon angles. Doing so really helps show off its unique features.
I also think that the Needle Gun, as cool as it looks, doesn’t really work as a one handed weapon. It’s simply soo large for that. On the other hand, it looks great in two handed poses.
Let’s do one more scene - a little bit of action against an undewater foe.
Conclusion
The Mercuone is nice enough, but if I’m being fully honest, I think it is the least essential of the eight Planet Armors. I’d suggest buying it only if the following conditions are true:
- You really like the Mercuone, AND
- You can find the armor and weapons without too much fuss,
OR
- You’re a completionist who needs to have them all.
Otherwise, I’d say you can safely skip this one. I don’t think you’d be missing out on much.