Series: Mobile Suit in Action!! (MSiA)
Title: AMX-004-2 Qubeley Mark II
Release Date: 06/2003
Suggested Price: ¥ 1500
No. of Parts: 1 Qubeley figure + 20 parts
Plastic colors: glossy finish dark violet, pink, light gray, grimy black,
pale yellow, translucent yellow
Gimmicks: tail binder w/ten funnels, beam cannon/beam sabers stored in recharge racks in forearms, transformable into "cruise mode"

Introduction

Contributor: MavHunterExtreme
Date: January 2, 2006

The original Qubeley was the personal mobile suit of Axis general/Neo Zeon dictator, Haman Karn. The Qubeley was a revolution in Zeon mobile suit design and Newtype technology, being the first mobile suit to use a
miniaturized psycommu [psychic communication] unit, and the first to use
funnels, the mass-produced version of the Bit weapon pioneered in the Elmeth mobile armor from the One Year War. The Qubeley Mk. II was one of two extra Qubeley units that were ordered into production after the Gryps War of Zeta Gundam. The AMX-004-2 served as the personal mobile suit of young Newtype pilot Elpeo Ple throughout Gundam ZZ. Given the large impact the Qubeley's had on mobile suit theory and construction in the UC saga, combined with its unconventional design, made the Qubeley Mk. II an attractive addition to my collection. I chose this one in part because I was partial to the 'stealthy' paintjob. So how did the Qubeley compare in the MSiA lineup? Let's see...

Head

Appearance wise, the head appears to be on par with the Qubeley Mk. II
from Gundam ZZ, featuring a glossy finish dark violet paint job with panel
lining nicely filled in with light gray. The eyes are also well done, giving
the Qubeley Mk. II a very menacing look that nicely compliments its overall appearance.

The head is mounted on a standard b-joint which is connected to a organic looking neck that is further connected to the torso with a double-hinged joint that is similar to the hinged neck joint on the MSiA GP03 Stamen. This serves two purposes: (1) to raise the head and neck to their proper positions, (2) to enable the head to tilt back 90 degrees to its cruise mode position, since the ball-joint is buried in the head. The b-joint is rather tight, but still would allow 360 degrees of left/right and/or right/left movement had the Qubeley's head not been so long.

Torso

The shoulders are amazingly well done and constructed. First, the torso
features a variation of the double b-joint system employed on the Jagd Dogas from Char's Counterattack, with the first b-joints located inside the torso, which allows for about 5 degrees of shoulder articulation. One problem I've encountered on my Qubeley Mk. II is that the shoulders tend to droop down when left in their normal position (possibly due to either imperfections in the b-joint, or from wear & tear when first handling the Qubeley Mk. II).

However, I've found that by twisting the shoulders into this position
pictured here, that the b-joints tighten significantly, and can thus better
support the heavy shoulders. The arms are then attached to a standard
generation 1 shoulder b-joint directly on the torso. Although not a
predominantly popular design among some hardcore fans, this concession has proven to the Qubeley's benefit by displacing the heavy weight of the
shoulder binders onto the much stronger torso-mounted b-joints. It also
freed up some considerable space for outward arm movement of 60 degrees as well.

The torso is very well detailed, even for a MSiA lineup action figure, with
every vent and conduction cable neatly molded into the design. The only
problem I've encountered is that the pink torso armor gets easily pushed
into a crooked position when being played with. This is a minor annoyance at worst, but it still is irritating to have to push it back into position almost every time I handle this figure. The torso also incorporates a design feature that hasn't been seen since the MSiP Contio, it is articulated! This means that the entire upper torso can do more than just rotate 360 degrees, it also means that the torso can traverse nearly 15 degrees in every angle. The best part is that, unlike the Contio from MSiP, the Qubeley Mk. II's articulated mid-section is strong enough to support the top-heavy torso, and provide a secure connection that hasn't worn out on me at all as of this writing. I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!!!

The waist itself is not articulated since the designers wisely opted to
make the upper torso articulated instead. Thus the waist serves as a solid
support for the heavy torso. The front skirt panel on the waist utilizes a
miniature b-joint to give it 20 degrees of motion in any direction, giving
it the ability to easily accommodate any pose with the legs. The hips allow for about 35 degrees of outward leg movement, while attaining about 60 degrees of forward & backward movement. The tail binder features 10 pegs from which each of its 10 funnels are attached. Now I ask you, where are the other two?! The Qubeley Mk. II comes equipped with not ten funnels, but a total of 12 funnels!!! Don't tell me that they were left out because of a lack of space, because if you look closely at the picture of the tail binder, you will see two gray-colored areas off to each side of the back of the binder. These two gray areas mark where the remaining two funnels should have been attached, so there is enough space to include the extra binders. Now, its not that I'm a fan of the funnels that were included with the Qubeley Mk. II, its just that for the sake of accuracy and continuity, the two funnels missing from the package and from the tail binder should not have been omitted from the package, even if it did somehow expedite production.

The funnel binder itself is attached to the Qubeley Mk. II's back with a
single hinge joint. The joint is a little loose when moving the binder
between positions due to the binders weight, but it has the strength to hold the binder in its deployment position without falling down under normal conditions.

Arms

The Qubeley Mk. II's arms are attached using a standard single hinge joint
to the elbow. Normally, for so excellent a action figure, I would be quite
upset about the absence of double joints. However, upon closer examination, I have to agree with the decision that Bandai's designers took with the single joint. My reasons include: [1] the fact that a double-jointed elbow would merely cause the whole arm to get in the way of the immense shoulder binders, [2] the unusually lightly constructed arms would've had difficulty supporting such a joint, [3] the unusual design of the forearm and its elbow area would have further hampered the articulation of elbows, and [4] the fact that a double joint would likely wear out even faster than a standard single joint. So all-in-all, I commend Bandai for making such a sound decision in the Qubeley Mk. II's decision and construction.

The Qubeley Mk. II also utilizes the increasingly familiar miniaturized
b-joint attached directly on the end of the forearm itself, with a matching
cavity in each handset. Normally, this system is far easier than the
traditional peg-in-hole system employed in earlier MSiA designs, but
unfortunately, the wrist guard that covers the back of the hands interferes
makes changing the handsets just as difficult. However, this is not the
fault of anyone involved with the design or construction of the Qubeley Mk.
II, since the original mecha called for the wrist guards. The mini b-joint
does still provide about 3-5 degrees of wrist articulation.

I've found a way to make changing the hands much easier though. The first step (which is completely optional), is to first remove the forearm from the elbow joint, and then gradually pull on the handset with your thumb at a downward angle while applying enough force to remove the handset. For
installing handsets, just reverse the said procedure. My only caution is to
be careful with exactly how much pressure you apply to handset, since no
b-joint yet made is unbreakable.

As for the hands themselves, they are all made using durable materials, and are well suited for playing with the Qubeley Mk. II. Each handset is also very well detailed with the finger joints, clawed fingers, and other such
details clearly visible without any panel lining. The best highlight here,
in my opinion, are the hands molded for holding the beam sabers. Each
handset has a special mold for the short and small beam saber handles, with the thumbs molded directly onto the other fingers. I love the fact that
Bandai's designers have finally begun to incorporate such handsets into
their lineup, while these have both better grips for holding the weapons,
but are also much more resistant to wear-n-tear.

Legs

The knees feature a T-shaped hinged joint that gives the knees 90 degrees
of backward movement, and NO forward movement since the T-joint prevents the knees from bending forward. The T-joint also gives the attached knee armor a solid base and secure connection, enabling it to move a full 90 degrees to point either outwards, or to completely cover the knee joint when it's in cruise mode. BRAVO!!!

The feet themselves feature about 10 degress of side-to-side/20 degrees
backward/forward articulation, and are also hinged at the foot itself and
the immense pink heel, this allows the foot to move about 30-35 degrees in place. This is a feature I in particular enjoy being incorporated into a
number of some of the latest in the MSiA lineup, such as the Wing Gundam [2nd Version], Wing Gundam Zero [2nd Version], Gundam Epyon [2nd Version]. The hinges used for the feet do tend to wear out more quickly than they should, and coupled with the design of the heel, the Qubeley Mk. II can be one of the most difficult figures to pose.

Weapons and Accessories

In addition to the aforementioned tail binder and 10 funnels, the Qubeley
Mk. II comes with 2 beam sabers w/ yellow beam blades, 1 pair of closed
fists, 1 pair of open hands for holding the beam sabers, and a pair of open
palms for utilizing the wrist-mounted beam cannons.


Funnels- The funnels included with the Qubeley Mk. II are by far the smallest I have yet seen included in a MSiA package. Consequently, they are easy to lose, and can be a choking hazard either for small children or pets. The funnels themselves are constructed using rather malleable materials, and can be bent, warped, or damaged when attaching them to the tail binder. My personal advice is to simply keep them inside the packaging, or else leave them attached directly to tail binder, since getting them on or off is a major pain.

Beam cannon/beam saber- Each beam saber handle can fit inside a respective hole in each forearm to store each beam saber handle. The sabers can be somewhat of a pain when first installing the beam saber handles into each forearm hole, since the holes can be smaller than the handles themselves which can cause the handles to bend and warp if too much pressure is applied. Removing them is thankfully much easier, since you can use a fingernail to remove them from place. The beam saber blades attach & remove easily into the cavities in the handles with a slightly elongated peg. The blades themselves are among the longest I
have yet seen, measuring roughly 11.4 cm [4 1/2 inches] in length.
Additionally, each blade is fashioned very similarly to the beam saber blade found on the Gyan [my absolute favorite to this day], so the blade doesn't suffer the same trouble of bending or warping as some previous figures' beam sabers.

Conclusion

The Qubeley Mk. II has proven to be one of the latest masterpieces brought to us by the geniuses of Bandai's MSiA lineup. With its superb paintjob, construction and articulation, the Qubeley Mk. II and its other Qubeley counterparts are guaranteed to satisfy all. I am especially excited at the steady progress evident in each of Bandai's newest large-scale MS figures, such as the Xamel, Qubeley's, Jagd Dogas, and the Sazabi, and I can't wait to see other such MS figures like as the Quin Mantha, the Psyco Gundam Mk. II, and the Nightingale to be included in the MSiA lineup.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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