By Loran
Loran here again, back on my “week” schedule again, but this time with a bonus-three articles instead of two! This time around, I’m covering more Zeon stuff, since I’ve kinda neglected them outside of the Rick Dom II. This week’s theme is the good ol’ MS-14 Gelgoog, starting with the two versions of the Gelgoog Marine. This kit was the first Gelgoog released in the HGUC, and the first grunt from 0083 to ever get a plastic kit. The Commander type/Cima custom version came a little later, being built off the same frame.
The two seem pretty similar at first glance-the notable differences being the weapons, the backpack, and the command horn on Cima’s model. Cima’s suit comes in the… unique brown and purple (peanut butter and jelly, anyone?) and the mass production type comes in the classic Gelgoog gray and green. The Marine is one of my favorite Gelgoog designs-a much “meaner” take on the classic design. Neither of my kits are painted as of right now-I’ll get to that sometime. >_>
The heads of the two kits are largely the same, with the only differences being the top-front parts: The standard Marine has no extra detail, but the Commander type has two head vulcans on each side, with the spot for the command antenna. The regular head is four pieces and the command head is five.
The torso is standard, with just your typical side-to-side movement. The Commander’s torso is more “stylized” than the regular one, with a reinforced cockpit piece and this weird thing kinda resembling a belly button. Uhh. Maybe that’s the generator? I dunno. Anyway, the backpacks are different as well, with the Commander sporting seven boosters and four propellant tanks as opposed to the four boosters and two propellant tanks on the mass production type.
The waists on this design don’t have much movement, sadly. No cut joints or anything. Both are mostly the same save for the extra boosters on the rear of the Commander type. Both kits have three boosters located on the interior. I’ve also heard issues with the waists on some earlier-run kits (ie, produced before the Commander type came out) breaking very easily, and I can back this up-one of the waists I used for my Shin’s Gelgoog broke when I was disassembling it. Thankfully, the Commander type has a reinforced bars attached to the ball joint parts, and this change was carried onto all later releases of the standard Gelgoog Marine.
The arms on both of these are identical, save for the vents. The limbs on this kit are actually symmetrical-meaning they both contain the same parts-right down to the numbers. No double joints or special shoulders here, but both kits include a nice opened left hand.
The legs are the same story as the arms-nothing special, with the wacky symmetrical construction. The Commander Type has extra detailing on the back of its legs, with boosters and vents and stuff. A neat extra detail. Each kit has three boosters on the inside of each leg.
Weapons-wise, both kits come with my favorite gun yet again, the MMP-80 (although the Commander type’s comes in pink), and two clear plastic beam sabers molded in yellow. Each kit has a different shield, with the Mass Production type having the handheld Zaku shield with those nasty spikes mounted on the front, with the Commander type getting a sleek upgrade of the classic Gelgoog’s Zulu shield. The Commander type also includes a big, nasty, beam machine gun.
In the end, these two are okay kits. I can’t recommend one over the other since it’s all about preference. It’s a cool design without too many extra or special features, so grab one if you like the design. Of the three HGUC Gelgoogs, it has the least features and isn’t the one I’d recommend if you don’t like its looks.
Oh, and if you’re wondering about the Shin Matsunaga Gelgoog Marine I have here-the base kit is the regular Gelgoog Marine, with the Commander type’s head antenna slightly modified to fit on the regular head. The only other addition was the Commander type’s shield. It’s an obscure design that only appeared for about 5 seconds in the Gihren’s Greed PSX game.
I like the Toy Story movies, great animation.