In the first three months of 2024, I built the Core Gundam and three consecutive Planet Armors. My plan was to keep going and build the rest of the Armors in the backlog. But that didn’t pan out.
This is going to sound colossally stupid, but for some reason I expected the build processes to be more varied than they actually are. The truth is that, aside from the weapons, every Planet Armor is built the same way. Again. And again. And again.
In retrospect, this should have been painfully obvious, but no one ever said I was smart. What matters is that I got bored after a while, which is why I put the other Planet Armors on ice.
But it’s been six months since then, and I’d really like to clear some of these Planet Armor boxes out from underneath my workbench, so let’s get back to them, starting with the Uranus Armor and the Core Gundam II:
About the Core Gundam II
As I said before, the Core Gundam II is a traditional midseason upgrade. Here is what the instruction manual has to say about it:
An overall enhanced version of the Core Gundam which Hiroto had custom-built based on his battle experience on Eldora. It's output and structural integrity have been upgraded, and a new transformation structure has been implemented.
About the Uranus Armor/Uraven Gundam
And here is what the Gundam Wiki has to say about the Uraven Gundam:
The Uraven Gundam is a configuration specialized in long-range sniping where the Uranus Armor and Core Gundam II combine through the PLANETS System. This MS was build under the concept of enabling high-precision sniping in all situations. The Earthree Gundam was chosen as its base unit due to its all-around features and was tuned to specialize in shooting while having abilities that made it more than competent in regular combat.
By docking the armor with the Core Gundam II, the successor to the Core Gundam, the overall power can be further enhanced as it rises on Eldora as a new power of BUILD DiVERS.
Let’s dig in a little on that claim that the Uranus Armor being based on the Earth Armor. You might reasonably assume that this means that former is the midseason upgrade of the latter, much like the Core Gundam II is an upgrade on the original Core Gundam. I guess that’s kind of true from a Doylist perspective, but not really from a Watsonian one.
With the exception of the Neptune Armor, all of the Planet Armors predate the events of Re:Rise. That means Hiroto had access to all of them from the very start of the show. If the Uranus Armor was a strict upgrade over the Earth Armor, we’d never see the latter in use. But the fact that he uses both of them, - and indeed continues to rely on the Earth Armor late in the show - is evidence that it’s still useful, and is still the best “all-around” unit.
That being said, the fact that we keep seeing the Earthree Gundam using the Uraven sniper rifle does imply that they’re at least similar (if not identical) in terms of performance and handling.
(It also suggests that Hiroto may have built the Rifle before building the rest of the Uranus Armor. We’ll see something similar when we get to the Saturnix Armor, so put a pin in it for now)
Weapons and Stuff
In regards to Core Gundam II, it has all the same basic weapons as before. But we have to talk about the Core Defenser. It’s the big yellow-and-red looking that’s strapped to its butt:
It has several uses, the most obvious being that it is used during the transformation gimmick to turn it into the Core Flyer:
But it can also be used as the Core Gundam’s shield (and I’m assuming it provides additional thrust when strapped to its back).
As for the Uraven Gundam, it’s signature weapon is of course has the Beam Shoot Rifle U7:
This is an upgraded form of the Earthree’s Beam Shoot Rifle, and it can switch between “normal” mode and “sniper” mode by extending out the barrel. It also has a small shield on the side, which not onyl provides some small degree of protection, but which also generates an I-Field. I’d expect nothing less from a Gundam nerd like Hiroto.
Then there are the three Sensor Bits.
These are basically little camera drones that can fly around and feed telemetry to the Uraven Gundam in order to help it find enemies and calculate sniper shots. They can also mount to the rifle to act as an enhanced sight.
Sensor Bit Gimmicks
According to the Wiki, the Sensor Bits are also equipped with tiny vulcan cannons they can use in self defense, though I don't remember any scenes from the show where they use them.Also, according to both the Wiki and the instruction manual, the Uraven can attach one of the Sensors to the Rifle in order to enhance its targeting abilities. But again, I don't think it actually does this in the show (if it does, I can't recall in what episode it might be).
And if the Sensor Bits are destroyed? Not to worry - there are two backup cameras built into the legs. The only trouble is that they aren’t wireless - but hey, it’s better than nothing:
Appearances in Media
When the Core Gundam II shows up midseason, it does so without any Planet Armors for support.
Now to be clear, there is a story contrivance that explains why this is the case, but it’s obvious that the real purpose for doing this was to give the Core Gundam II a chance to fight on its own in order to make it look strong.
And indeed it does look strong, as it handily takes on foes that Hiroto would have once only fought with the aid of a Planet Armor.
(technically, these new foes are actually even stronger than the old ones, but that only makes it more impressive)
Later on, in episode 24, we get even more Core Gundam II, and this time it’s even more impressive. Hiroto manages to go toe to toe with everyone’s least favorite Mary Sue and his 00 Sky Moebius, and actually manages to hold his own.
To use some wrestling lingo, the show goes out of its way to put the Core Gundam II over, and it works.
As for the Uraven Gundam, while we see its rifle several times throughout the show, the Uranus Armor really only shows up in Episode 18, for one of the best episodes in the entire show. I won’t go into any more spoiler territory, but suffice to say that it’s a classic sniper duel with all the drama that implies.
Finding a Core Gundam II
In the world of the show, the original Core Gundam is compatible with all the Planet Armors, but the same is not true in real life. The High Grade Core Gundam is only compatible with the Mercury through Jupiter Armors. That means if you want to build the Uraven, Saturnix, or Nepteight Gundams, you’re going to need a Core Gundam II.
Backwards Compatibility
It should be noted that the Core Gundam II works with all the armors, making it the more "universal" and flexible of the two.Which brings us to a question … how do you get a Core Gundam II? You can buy the Uraven, of course, as its the only way to get a Core Gundam II in its standard colors.
Or you could get this standalone Core Gundam in Titans Colors:
Or this other standalone one in G3 colors:
Or this three pack of Core Gundams from Premium Bandai:
Or this other set from Premium Bandai containing the Core Gundams in Real Type Colors:
Except … I’ve never actually seen those two standalone retail kits for sale. Ever. That’s not to say that they 100% out of print, but they certainly don’t seem to show up very often.
And as for those Premium Bandai kits, well, they’re Premium Bandai.
All of which is to say that for most people out there, the best and easiest way to get a Core Gundam II is to buy the Uraven kit, regardless of whether you like the Uranus armor or not. That’s not great, but I suppose it could be worse.
Other Thoughts
I am going to knock out the rest of my Planet Armors. This shouldn’t be hard, as I’ve secretly built most of them in fits and spats over the course of the year. It just wasn’t until now that I was ready to put the finishing touches on them.
Also, I still have two armors that aren’t yet in my collection, specifically Mars and Venus. I do have them on preorder; I just don’t know when they might arrive O_o.