This is, for now, the last Planet Armor on the backlog. It also happens to be the last one revealed in the show: The Nepteight Gundam:
About the Mobile Suit
Clearly I’m not shy about spoiling details about certain mobile suits. But I can’t think of many that are as ridiculously spoilery as the Nepteight. To spill the details about this suit would be to spoil so much of what Build Divers Re:Rise is all about, and I don’t want to do that to anyone who has yet to watch the show. It’s so spoilery, in fact, that even the Gundam Wiki contains no major spoilers about its origin.
Suffice to say that I can’t think of many, if any mobile suits that are this strongly thematically linked to a character and their journey. Everything about it - from the way it looks. to its function - carries deep meaning and symbolism. It is quite a special machine on many levels.
Having said all that, here is what the Wiki is willing to say about it:
The Nepteight Gundam is the special cruising form of the Core Gundam II docked with the Neptune Armor through the PLANETS System. The special cruising units on its arms and back can be unfolded to activate Voiture Lumiere, the Stargazer Gundam's interplanetary propulsion system. The halo created by this unit leaves an everlasting trail that can be seen from all worlds.
Appearance in Media
The Nepteight shows up in the penultimate episode. The Build DiVERS need to get into outer space for their final mission, and the Voiture Lumiere system is the only mechanism they that might get them there. So the team links hands to sing koombayah launch:
The plan works, but since the armor was never meant for combat, Hiroto has to ditch it in favor of the Jupiter Armor once they escape from gravity well. And that’s it for the Neptune Armor.
The Build
Amazingly, this build was actually a little different than the last two. One reason why is that it has stickers. Lots and lots of foil stickers:
Another reason why is that this one actually has a backpack! A nice, big, complicated backpack that’s fun to build.
But back to those stickers. This is a case where you’re pretty much forced to use them, unless you somehow know how to mix up paint with that exact color and that exact metallic sheen. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but some of the stickers can be tough to line up properly, meaning you could run the risk of wrinkling some of them. My advice is to just be slow and methodical when applying them.
Support Mecha
Wouldn’t you know it, but the Neptune Armor looks a lot better than either the Saturn or Uranus Armors, all thanks to its backpack. It makes the whole thing look fuller; it’s not quite a sleek space ship like the older Armors, but at least it’s like a … UFO, maybe?
Whatever. The point is that it looks good.
Nepteight Gundam
Of all of these new, Core Gundam II-specific Armors, this is the only one that really feels like the older Armors. Again, a lot of that has to do with its backpack, but I also feel like the foil stickers (and the color scheme) give it it’s own unique sense of personality. It just doesn’t feel as copy/paste as the last two did.
When I wrote about the Uraven, I assumed that this one would be just as bad, but I’m here now to admit I was wrong.
Eagle eyed readers will notice that the backpack is equipped, but the Voiture Lumiere system is not deployed. That’s because there’s a little transformation sequence involved. First, we these two curved sections out from the top two segments of the backpack:
Next, the bottom section is secretly hidden between the two bottom segments, so we pull it down:
Then, to complete the circle, we put the arms in a crucifix pose, unfurl the curved bits on the wrist armor, and connect it all together:
Now we’re ready to launch:
One more note - according to the instructions, the wrist armor can double as a small beam gun for self defense. However, we never see any evidence of this in the show:
Conclusion
Earlier in the year, the Planet Armors were by far some of my favorite builds. So it was a huge bummer to build the last few, only to find out that they were some of my least favorite.
Thankfully the Nepteight came in to end things on a high note. It’s a great look, with a fun gimmick, and even a surprisingly different build experience. I guess they were saving the best for last.
Other Thoughts
I still have two more Armors left to obtain. I actually have a long standing preorder in for them, but alas they haven’t been shipped. Perhaps one day!