| MSiA
GAT-01 Strike Dagger
Series: Mobile Suit in Action!! (MSiA) Title: GAT-01 Strike Dagger Release Date: 09/2005 Suggested Price: ¥ 1200 No. of Parts: 1 Strike Dagger figure + 11 parts Plastic colors: opaque gray, blue, red, battleship gray, yellow, gunmetal, black Gimmicks: M703 beam rifle with swiveling handle, ES01 beam saber with yellow beam blade, shield with removable handle, pair of closed fist handsets, pair of open handsets for beam saber/shield, pair of trigger finger handsets for beam rifle
Contributor: MavHunterExtreme Photography: MHEX Date: January 2, 2006 During the first Bloody Valentine War of the Gundam SEED universe, the Earth Alliance found itself in want of its own mobile suits to combat the highly effective ZGMF-1017 GINN produced by ZAFT. This led to the development of five Gundam-type mobile suits, which included the highly versatile and deadly GAT-X105 Strike. Once the Strike Gundam and the Archangel mobile carrier safely returned to Earth, the Earth Alliance set to work to build a mass-production version of the Strike. Due to budgetary cuts, as well as the urgent state of emergency the Earth Alliance found itself in, the end result was the GAT-01 Strike Dagger. This mobile suit lacked many design features of the original Strike Gundam, including its ability to use Striker Packs, Phase Shift (PS) armor, and EMP shielding, the latter of which would be the Strike Dagger's undoing. Despite it being a "cheap and cheerful" mobile suit, the Strike Dagger nonetheless proved effective in combat against the ZGMF-1017 GINN. There you have it in a nutshell. Basically, I'm a fan of mass-production Additionally, I have also had the pleasure of owning the MSiA incarnation of the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam, which was absolutely superb. Therefore, I was eager to get my hands on the mass-production version of the Strike Gundam for my collection. So how did the MSiA incarnation of the GAT-01 Strike Dagger stand up? Let’s find out…
The Strike Dagger's head is mounted on a high ball-jointed neck recessed a little short of midway up the head itself. This allots the head good articulation and range of movement including 5-10 degrees of tilt and 360 degrees of turning. Also noteworthy is the fact the neck joint is very tight when the figure is first removed from the packaging, something which I love and adore since it often translates into greater durability and articulation. Additionally, the communications antenna jutting out of the head's right side does not bump or collide with the protruding beam saber hilt stored on the back pack, which means it doesn't interfere with articulation (what a relief). My only real complaint with the head is the communications antenna. Just as I expected, the antenna is thin and extremely flimsy, a bad combination for a piece like this. The plastic used in its construction is so flimsy in fact that even a pot of boiling water and cold soaking couldn't remedy my Strike Dagger's warped antenna. Then again, I'm not surprised...
Upon closer examination, I discovered the paint job of my Strike Dagger got particularly splotchy along the lower torso near the waist and cockpit. Then again, the overall paint job of the Strike Dagger was quite good everywhere else. After all, when you mass produce products of such a small size and with this much detail you're not going to get everyone of them right. It's just not possible, nor is it reasonable to expect. The Strike Dagger's backpack is molded as part of the upper torso, which not serves to simplify the Strike Dagger's design but also limits the overall Just above the engine outtake is a slot where the shield can be mounted by removing the handle and inserting the shield's ball-jointed peg into the The upper and lower torsos are connected to each other using a waist-mounted ball joint imbedded deep within the upper torso, a now common construction technique for MSiA figures. This allots the waist 360 degrees of twisting motion, though it can be hampered somewhat by the design of the front and back skirt armors. The ball joint used to connect the torso to the waist is imbedded deep within the upper torso, consequently the torso can only tilt a few degrees forward and backward. On a good note though, the joint is unusually strong, meaning it'll be able to withstand most wear and tear without a problem.
The arms are attached using the familiar slotted peg imbedded into the Strike Dagger's shoulders, reminiscent of the Strike Gundam from which it draws it foundation, with a protruding hinge joint attached to another elongated peg with a ball joint at the end connects attaches to the recessed peg. This allots the shoulders approximately 15 degrees of lateral movement, which works wonders when it comes to posing with the Strike Dagger's beam rifle. From there the shoulder armor is attached onto the elongated peg mentioned before while the arm is connected to the ball joint at the end of the peg. The connection for the shoulder armor is fairly sturdy and able to maintain The upper arms feature 360 degrees of vertical motion (Excellent) and The elbows feature classic double hinge joints with a long intermediary
The hips feature a five piece skirt armor (two on the front, one on each
side and a large solid piece on the back) that works quite well for the Strike Dagger since it doesn't interfere with the waist's articulation. The skirts on the sides feature an angled slot similar to the ones found on the Strike Dagger's forearms for the shield. What the purpose of this is I don't know, save perhaps for either aesthetic value. If that be the case, then I can't help but congratulate Bandai's designers for their attention to details. The design of the hips allows the legs to move approximately 40 degrees to the sides, up to 90 degrees forward (if you're willing to push against the front skirt panel), and 30 degrees backwards. This gives a good range of motion that allows the Strike Dagger to easily maintain poses without putting a strain on the figure's frame, even when its fully loaded with its weapons and accessories. The knees feature double hinge joints with a tapered rectangular intermediary piece that allots the knee 180 degrees of backward movement (Excellent) and up to 20 degrees of forward movement if forced (THE HORROR! THE PAIN!) and 5-10 degrees when not forced (Good). It's interesting to note the hinge joint on the lower leg is connected using a miniature ball joint that can tilt a little under 5 degrees of motion, adding to the figures articulation. The knee joints are also nice and tight, able to withstand considerable wear-n-tear while remaining strong enough to support just about any kind of pose. Also worthy of note is the presence of a familiar angled slot like those found on the side skirt panels, a feature also shared by the MSiA Dagger L that serves as a mounting point for that figure's beam carbine weapon. This means that there is a very distinct possibility of being able to use that particular accessory with this figure. SWEET! The ankles utilize the same double ball joint originally found on the MSiA
M703 beam rifle- The beam rifle is well-molded with stiff PVC plastic with fantastic detailing and painting. The rifle remains light enough for the Strike Dagger to easily hold in one hand, but I do have some difficulty fitting the rifle in both hands beings the swiveling handle on the rifle's midsection has a triangular hand guard at the end. I've found it's easiest to remove the hands from the wrists, attach them to the rifle's handles, and then replace the hands on the wrists. The only disappointing thing about the rifle is its lack of a peg to mount the weapon onto one of the Strike Dagger's many hard points.
ES01 beam saber- The beam saber is both the most disappointing and most delightful of the Strike Dagger's accessories. I say disappointing because the beam saber hilt has been fashioned using very soft PVC plastic similar to the materials used to construct the MSiA Geara Doga and Jagd Doga action figures from Char's Counterattack from the UC timeline. Consequently, the hilt can be bent and warped out of shape very easily, this is most especially true when attempting to attach the hilt to the Strike Dagger's backpack using the familiar peg-in-hole arrangement. I ended up twisting my hilt quite badly the first time I attached it to the back pack; but fortunately a little hot water and some careful shaping and cooling solved that problem. On the other hand though, the beam saber hilt does attach securely onto the backpack and fits comfortably in the figure's hand. So what's the delightful part? The beam saber blade! This yellow colored blade is about as tall as the Strike Dagger itself. It attaches to the hilt using the tried and true peg-in-hole system and fits very snuggly. What amazes me the most is the construction of the blade itself. The blade is shaped like a slimmer version of the MSiA Gyan's beam sword, making it thick and less prone to warping, but what's most amazing is the fact that it's constructed using some form of hardened plastic that I don't recall ever seeing on any other MSiA action figure. This beam saber blade thus has unbeatable durability; KUDOS BANDAI!!
Shield- The shield attaches to either forearm using a combination of a Handsets- Each handset attaches to the Strike Dagger's wrist using a The open handset utilized for the beam saber can hold it well enough, but it would have served the Strike Dagger better to have handsets specially molded for the beam saber hilts so they could not move at all. One good example of this are the handsets for the MSiA Qubeley, which are molded as a closed fist with a cavity specially fitted just for the figure's rather small beam saber hilts. Also missing from this package are a pair of handsets molded to hold the beam saber hilt at a 45 degree angle, the proper angle for holding a sword in a duel.
The Strike Dagger does not disappoint. This excellent addition to the MSiA lineup proves itself practical, durable, and very collectible. For those of you who are either fans of the Strike Gundam or Gundam SEED or even just mass-production mobile suits, I highly recommend the very reasonably priced MSiA GAT-01 Strike Dagger. Having said that, I would also like to see Bandai produce the GAT-01A1 "105 Dagger", another powerful mass production version of the Strike Gundam that retains many of that Gundam's design features including the ability to utilize Striker Packs and the AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker. If you're interested in other mobile suits similar to the Strike Dagger, I suggest you check out the MSiA Strike Gundam from which it was based, the Strike Rouge, and both the MSiA Dagger L and Windam from the Gundam SEED DESTINY universe. High Points: Excellent range of movement, strong joints, good paint job Low Points: Flimsy beam saber hilt and communications antenna, small size of action figure. Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars |
