So, last week I went to Endah Parade and bought myself another Gundam. Yes, from the same shop I bought Destiny and Freedom from. Why? Cause the shopkeeper[s] know their shits and they sell at prices far cheaper [about RM20-50 less] than you can get in other hobby stores in KL.

[note: it's the same place where Albert gets most of his Transformers from, too. He's the one who introduced me to it]

Actually I’ve had a few Gundams in mind, mostly from the Gundam Seed Destiny [GSD] line, with this being one of them. How about a bit of a story?

Impulse Gundam was introduced in the first episode of GSD, not by itself, and not by its most popular equipment [the Force Silhouette, where a 'Silhouette' means some sort of equipment pack attacked to its back, like Strike used to have.] but by making a bold appearance with the Sword Silhouette and brandishing its two giant swords the moment its feet touched the ground.

True to its name, Sword Impulse is a pure melee warrior, swinging giant beam swords and short beam sabers [which also doubles as beam boomerangs]. It doesn’t have much atmospheric flight potential, and is only limited to making huge leaps to close-in on its targets. Piloted by the kid-bastard Shinn Asuka, Sword Impulse is the one suit where he truly goes berserk and anything that crosses this Gundam’s path is bound to be cut up into bite-sized pieces.

That should be enough, onwards to the model!

Profile

Being at a scale of 1/100 , Sword Impulse stands at approximately the same height Destiny [and almost all other MS* of the same scale] did. AH, you noticed the blotchy and smudges of paint here and there? Yeah, well, that’s my terrible paint job. I’m still trying to figure out a proper technique to actually keep it neat. Using thinner to remove access paint damages the surface of the plastic, anyone has a better suggestion? Does alcohol work?

So anyway, as you can see, Sword Impulse comes equipped with 2 ‘Excalibur‘ anti-ship swords [hence the size], 2 throwable beam sabers, embedded in the wings. Of course, it also came with a standard beam rifle and shield.

An interesting point to make about Impulse is that it’s not a single unit like most MS-es. It’s made up of 3 modules; the torso, the legs, and core unit that links the first two together. This core unit is actually a small fighter jet which folds in half, and is then sandwiched between the chest and hips. [Sorry no photos of that].

Giant Swords

Sword Impulse’s main weapons are its two giant swords. Not only can it engage in a twin sword fighting style, it can even combine to form a giant double bladed sword. just think of an oversized, mechanical Darth Maul, if you may. Only that Maul can’t split his saber into two units.

Strong Joints

In comparison to the Destiny and Freedom units I had, Sword Impulse happens to have hinge and ball joints that are quite rigid. Which is a good thing when posing with big weapons. Freedom didn’t have to hold big cannons and/or giant swords, but Destiny did. It was hard for me to get Destiny to pose nicely with its giant sword, because the sword makes it tilt down, and messes up the balance of the whole figure. Destiny has weak and loose joints, especially at the wrists.

Impulse doesn’t seem to have this problem. It’s quite hard for me to move some joints into a certain position, but it also made posing with the big weapons a whole lot easier. You can see in the photos above and below how the elbow and shoulder joints don’t droop down under the weight of the sword. Even the wrists’ ball joints held the weight up pretty well.

Now for a fair bit of complaining…

Legs

This is something that dissapoints me quite a bit. Unlike my other models, its hips can’t bend back. It’s stopped by its rear skirt plating. A shame really, I can’t do much leaning or crouching poses without using the swords as a form of counter balance. Crouching and leaning poses are a must for cool sword techniques!

Sword Beams

This is another frustrating point. First let me explain something about beam sword models. A beam sword is usually made up of two main components, the sword and its beam [duh]. Such weapons can also be seen on Sword Strike Gundam and Destiny Gundam, among others. The one you see here is one of Impulse’s ‘Excalibur‘ anti-ship swords. [meaning its main use was to cut up ships :p]

The beam would usually fit nicely in its groove and would be straight and parallel to the sword body itself. Destiny was a perfect example. Excalibur’s beam however, was a tad bit longer than the space it was meant to fill. The result?

Goddamit. Maybe this is an unforeseen product defect, I’ll tell the shopkeeper about this, I wonder what she has to say, LOL.

Conclusion
This is only my 3rd Gundam, and I still have plenty to learn if I want to criticise. At any rate, Sword Impulse is a wonderful piece, and I had plenty fun assembling it, and am still having fun posing it around on my shelf. I would’ve given it a 9, but with the kind of flaws, it still only deserves an 8/10, considering it’s still in the No-Grade line :)

notes:
*MS = Mobile Suit i.e. giant robots operated by a human pilot. Gundams are just a type of mobile suits. There’s plenty of wonderful MS-es out there that aren’t Gundams, but they look really cool.

If you’re interested to look for the shop I mentioned, it’s on the 3rd floor of Endah Parade. It’s the only one on that floor that sells Gundams, Transformers and other toys. Ask for Auntie; she’s the best if its about explaining the latest models. She can even make special orders for you if a model you’re looking for isn’t on the shelf.

There’s also another dude who assembles all the models on display there. Feel free to ask him modelling questions or whatever. Specialty shops should all be run by the experts of the field, not by some ah beng who knows shit about the trade :(