The Baund Doc is an ugly looking mobile suit from Zeta Gundam and is piloted by Rosamia and Jerid. It has a psycommu system since both of the pilots are Newtypes of some sort. Since the rise of popularity with the Zeta Gundam movies is still increasing, Bandai thought this would be a good time to release the Baund Doc (and re-release it in Gates colors), but is it worth the possibly $45 you have to pay for it? I paid $35 shipped for mine off of eBay (lucky me) but at cheapest, it's usually $45+. Is it worth it? Let's find out!
Head
The Baund Doc's neck is connected to the upper torso with a ball joint. That neck connects to the head via another ball joint which give the Baund Doc a good range of motion. He can move his head forwards or backwards and can look around 360 degrees and can look down real well. He can't really look up due to the back of his head but I don't think that is something Bandai can fix. Coming out from the bottom of his head down to the Baund Doc's collar are two little cables. These cables are connected to his head but not to anything at the bottom so that the Baund Doc can move his head. This is a tiny problem though because these wires tend come out from his collar and to push them back in is a little bit of a pain, but no big deal. Also, his antennas are made of very soft plastic and bend easily so be careful. The Baund Doc's head is mostly fuchsia with dark blue near the back. There are two little yellow triangles on the front of his head and his mono-eye and cables are green with black around the mono-eye. The connector piece is gray by the way.
Torso
The Baund Doc's upper torso is connected to the lower torso via a swiveling joint (which allows you to do the things he does like in Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam). There's a ball joint in the middle of the torso and then another under the cockpit area. Oddly, there are two cables connected to the upper torso. The bottom connections of these cables are connected via a peg which allows both of the connections to swivel. Now, with the behemoth bottom torso, it connects to the lower torso with a few pegs that fit into slots that lock it in. The lower torso shell is two pieces, and to connect the back to the front, just slide the little pegs in the respective slots and it shouldn't come out unless you pull on it pretty hard. On top of the shell, there's a piece on each side that can swivel outward to allow the Baund Doc's backpack and torso to fit through the hole in the shell. Again, there's a flap on each side of the bottom-front part of the shell to allow the legs to come out during Mobile Armor mode. In the back, there are three boosters. These boosters are connected to the shell via swivel joints and then are connected to the swivel joints with ball joints. The middle booster can swivel a lot and the other two can't really swivel too much due to the shell. Also, there are two boosters on his back that are connected via ball joints. There's also a hole on the right side of the shell to attach the beam rifle.
The upper torso is dark blue with a fuchsia cockpit hatch. The middle of the torso is gray with green cables. The shell is dark blue on the outside with fuchsia lines on the top and front and fuchsia circles on the inside. The inside has gray areas on all the detailed cables and parts. The boosters are dark blue with black on the inside with fuchsia around it. The very back of the boosters and hinges on front of the shell are gray and the cables on the boosters are green.
Arms
The arms are the weirdest part of the Baund Doc. The right arm is more of a claw arm and the shoulder armor is molded to the upper torso and cannot move. The right arm is connected to the upper torso via a ball joint, has a swivel bicep, and a double-jointed elbow. The wrist is a ball joint and each one of the four claws is hinged. There's a hinge joint that allows the left arm to move back and forth and on the other side of that hinge is a ball joint that the shoulder of the left arm is connected to. After that is a swivel joint that allows the arm to move toward the body and away from it. Next joint down is a peg joint that allows the arm to turn 360 degrees. The elbow is not double jointed and can barely make it to where the first generation MSiA could. Next is another peg joint that allows 360 degree movement around and then a swivel joint similar to the one near the top of the arm. After that is the hand connection, which is a ball joint. The big piece sitting on the arm is connected with an odd piece that allows it to slide up and down the arm a little. The mobile armor's “head”, which sits on the wrist, is connected with two tiny pegs. It doesn't fit in very well and can connect to the bigger piece with a peg when in mobile armor mode. The shoulder armor for the right arm is hinged so that it doesn't interfere with the arm's movement. The big piece on the left arm also has a little connector which comes out of a flap so you can attach the scattering mega particle cannon.
The right arm is mostly fuchsia with yellow on the big claws and on the shoulder armor. The cable is connected with ball joints on each side and is green. The right shoulder armor is dark blue and the connection pieces are gray On the left arm, it's mostly gray along with all of the connection pieces. The shoulder armor is dark blue on the edges and fuchsia around it with a yellow center and a black line in the yellow part. The big piece on the arm is dark blue with yellow near the flap. The mobile armor “head” has a green mono-eye with yellow on bottom and fuchsia on top and a black mono-eye track.
Legs
The legs are connected to the lower torso via a ball joint and have armor similar to the shoulder armor around the thighs that connect via a hinge, like the first generation MSiA shoulder armor. There are double jointed knees along with knee guards that are connected to the knees via pegs which allow them to swivel so that they don't interfere with articulation. The Baund Doc has three “toes” on each foot that are all connected the legs via a ball joint. Each “toe” swivels and then are hinged to add to the articulation. The thighs, knee joints, and toe joints are all gray and there are little yellow triangles on each leg. There are dark blue edges on the legs and the rest of the legs are fuchsia.
Weapons
and Accessories
Hands- The Baund Doc only comes with three hands. He comes with a fist, trigger hand, and open hand because his right hand is a claw. All his hands are gray and serve their purpose well.
Beam saber-
The Baund Doc's beam saber is your typical Titans beam saber in which it's just a gray handle with a transparent yellow beam. This time around, they made the handle bigger so the Baund Doc can hold it.
Beam rifle- The beam rifle is all gray except for a small green camera. It looks accurate and can fit into a hole on the side of the Baund Doc when not in use.
Scattering mega particle cannon- This cannon is all gray except for some black inside the barrel. It connects to the big piece on the arm via a hinge.
Transformation- When in MA mode, it's accurate and has a “perfect transformation,” where you don't need to remove anything to transform it. All you do is turn the upper torso and head to the side and turn the right arm to the side too. Then just pull it down into the hole in the shell where the left arm's big piece and mobile armor “head” are showing. Connect the mobile armor “head” and big piece to the hole and then bring the legs through those flaps and put the “toes” facing forward and you have mobile armor mode.
Conclusion
The Baund Doc is a neat, yet odd, mobile suit and I think Bandai did well on it. It is VERY back heavy and cannot really stand on its own without some sort of stand holding up the back of that shell. The fact that it has a “perfect transformation” is great, and it looks good too. I think that if you have the money, and like this MS design, that it's worth it.
