Series: Advanced Mobile Suit in Action!! (AMSiA)
Title: GAT-X102 Duel Gundam
Release Date: 05/2003
Suggested Price: ¥ 3000
No. of Parts: 1 Duel Gundam inner frame + 57 parts
Plastic colors: gray, navy blue, blue, turquoise grayish white, orange
Gimmicks: removable armor and inner frame

Introduction

Contributor: Jason Kwong
Date: August 28, 2005

During its run the Bandai rolled out the newly produced AMSiA or
Advance Mobile suit in Action figures. Theses new figures were not the
same as the ordinary Mobile Suit in Action toys, being produced out of
a harder vinyl substance similar to the Gundam Fix Figuration line of
toys, making the figures very sturdy without the ¥6000 price point.
Although it includes the inner frame similar to the ones found in the
G Gundam Master Grades, the poseability is limited due to the Assault
Shroud's bulky armor.

Head

Standard Duel head with great detail and painting. The V is made of a
soft vinyl similar to the ones the MSiA are made out of.

Torso

The torso in the Inner frame is made of die cast metal and comes with
the pieces for Duel Gundam's Deactive mode outer armor, which is nicely
detailed and painted. The waist, since Duel doesn't have a skirt,
comes with two separate hard vinyl pieces in which forms the top part of
the waist (similar to Duel's HG counterpart). The backpack is all one
piece although the beam sabers can be removed, although there is no use
for it since beams are not included with the figure. The backpack is
held on the back by two pegs although they seem to get loose if you
fidget with it too much (I insist you glue them). The chest and
abdomen section is comprised of 7 pieces 3 for the abdomen and 4 for
the chest and back area. The chest contains "vents" that have to be
removed when you are going to equip the Assault Shroud armor, which
can be a nuisance to some people since you have to remove part of the
abdomen.

Arms

The arm's inner frame is made out of the same hard plastic that the
outer armor is made of, so you know it wont break on you. The arm's
outer armor is comprised of 6 separate pieces that you can remove to
reveal the inner frame. The arms have double-jointed elbows, although
the bottom one seems to get loose after a while. The shoulders are
also double-jointed, which means that it can be posed in a variety of
ways. The shoulder armor is one of the toughest pieces to fit in to
place since it's made of hard vinyl. Duel comes with 5 pairs of hands;
2 closed fists for each arm, 2 grasping hands for holding the shield
and one shooting hand to hold the beam rifles.

Legs

Just like the G Gundam Master Grades, the inner frame provides the
figure's legs with lots of poseability, although the legs are not that
poseable with the outer armor attached. The legs are made out of 6
separate pieces that attach to the inner frame. Again, similar to the
elbows the knee is also double-jointed for poseability.

Weapons and Accessories

Beam rifle- Standard Duel Gundam beam rifle, though the barrel seems
somewhat skinnier that expected. Another neat gimmick is that the
energy pack can be removed from the rifle giving it a "reloading"
feel. Although a nice design the rifle doesn't fit to snugly in the
shooting hand.

Beam sniper rifle- Design is similar to the beam rifle, but with an
extended barrel and a scope. The shield hand can be used to hole the
barrel of the rifle making a sniping pose possible.

Bazooka- Although nicely detailed, the shear bulkiness of the weapon
makes it difficult to put in place.

Grenade launcher- same as the beam rifle, except it's missing its
barrel and is also a bit smaller than the normal rifle.

Assault Shroud armor- A superb paint job on the armor and the bits and
pieces that stick out all over the armor. Consisting of 12 pieces, the
armor is a simple snap into place design, which makes it simple to
remove and re-attach. A nice gimmick to the armor is that the missile
launcher in his left shoulder actually opens and closes, revealing a
nicely painted launcher. Though the armor is a nice touch, it removes a
lot of the Gundam's poseability especially in the leg area due to the
skirt part of the armor.

Conclusion

A nice first launch for the AMSiA toy line, although the down part
about this toy is that it only comes in Deactive mode. Though you can
pick up the Active mode for half the price, it doesn't come with the
Assault Shroud armor, but the armor from this figure fits on the Active
version perfectly. The inner frame is a nice design but seems somewhat useless since the outer armor covers it up. A great figure to play
with or to just place in your office, although he may be hard to find
due to the fact it's a fairly old figure.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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