Ah, the Titans… you just want to hate them, but you can’t.
Clearly one of the few factions in the Gundam multiverse that could actually be considered “evil”, nobody can deny the fact that the Titans have some of the most stylish mobile suits and uniforms, with great color schemes to boot. It almost makes you want to forgive all of their war crimes and awful pilots. Regardless, the Titans kind of got the shaft in terms of Master Grades, with their only releases being both versions of the Mark II, the GM Quel, the Hizack, The-O, and now the Marasai. You’d think a faction with so many suits would get just a few more Master Grades…
For my first Titans Master Grade, I felt I’d satisfy an itch I had for the Master Grade Mark II. Naturally I went for the 2.0, since, well, it’s better without question.
For this project, I needed to mix a new batch of Titans Blue. My first attempt was… disastrous, to say the least. This is my second attempt, which came out EXTREMELY dark. I quite like it this way. It really brings home the whole “Black Gundam” thing from the first episode, I think.
I also grabbed the old decals for this kit, since it came with decals for both the Titans Mark II and the Super Gundam (two for one!!). Unfortunately, since they’re for the version 1, everything save for the numbers and faction signifiers is near useless. The old warning labels were just hideous, with the BEWARE OF BLAST labels and “Avoid Excessiv Use of Con-Trols” warnings. I’m glad the more contemporary labels are less… well, awful.
Compared to most of the Master Grades I’ve built over this past summer, this one classifies more as an “older kit”. It’s actually the first Ver 2.0 mold released, so it’s not even up to the standards of the other Ver 2.0s. However, that doesn’t make it a bad kit. There’s some mentality out there where people (usually the type who don’t paint) think that whenever better kits come out, the older ones automatically become bad. That’s not really true. A bad kit is a bad kit. A kit may be dated, but it’s still good, just not AS good as later counterparts. Most suits that got Ver 2.0s only got them because they were iconic and their original Master Grades really WERE terrible.
As for the kit itself, so far there isn’t much to talk about. The articulation is good, with limited flaws. The only thing that could be improved is the shoulder armor joints, but otherwise it’s pretty good. The elbows have sliding pieces that allow for a great appearance while retaining articulation, just like some Soul of Chogokin figures.
One irk I do have is with these stupid cable pieces. They’re made out of some kind of fabric and I’ve ALWAYS hated them. They fray incredibly easy and are hard to get at the right length. They may look nice, but in my opinion, they’re more trouble than they’re worth. I don’t think kits use them anymore, thankfully.
I love the way the beam sabers work on this kit. They have hinges, giving the suit just what it needs to grab them with no problem.
It’s hard to tell, but the kit properly simulates the whole 360 degree cockpit monitor. If I painted this to be displayed with its armor removed, I’d show it off, but alas…
So far, I’m enjoying this kit well enough. It seems like a sturdy enough Master Grade, but you never know. Remember to always keep on the lookout for Master Grades at FPNYC!
