Just Wild Beat Communication! Man that anime opening for Gundam Wing, when it opened in Toonami, was just epic.
Gundam Wing was my gateway into both the greater Gundam Universe and Gundam Plastic model building. My very first model was the Gundam Deathscythe. It was the most emo thing aside from the Gundam Pilots in this series hahaha. It was black, had a scythe for a weapon and was cool as hell.
Rebooting my love for Gundam Plastic models this year I decided to do a "Red Series" wherein I primarily focused on the mobile suit units of Char Aznable.
I initially wanted to do Zech Marquise mobile suit, the Tallgeese, but it was so hard to find the first version as like the protagonist of the show Heero who will have upgrades to his Gundam Wing Zero so does Zech's Tallgeese will have 1,2 and 3 versions. The third one being the Endless Waltz version.
Little did I know when I first watched Gundam Wing that Zech's was actually following the Char Aznable archetype. They both elite pilots and wore a mask and wore red clothes to hide their identity and past. They would became the main protagonist's rival and would be at most parts the antagonist of the series.
Some spoiler if you do decide to watch the series. What made Zech's memorable to me was the fact that he went against the Gundam Wing Zero unit which was the pinnacle of mobile suit warfare using a Leo, which was the grunt unit of the show and almost jokingly used as cannon fodder which the Gundams destroyed by the dozens.
Yet Zech's went head to head using this and was even able to neutralize a Gundam. It was akin to Char using a Zaku unit kicking the OG RX-73 Gundam.
Anyway here we are finally being able to get my hands on a Tallgeese version 1! Just looking at the box art makes me smile.
This was my 2nd Real Grade model as the last one I made Char's Zaku II was also one. I knew I had to be careful in snapping the arms and legs.
I started with the feet and legs
I then started building the chest, torso and a large number of hands! It had so many hand parts!
Here we are with the inner frame complete and able to stand and articulate different poses.
Next came the mentioned red crest on top the head. It gives the Talgeese a distinct look of a legionaire officer's plume. A There is something classic with the white and black color scheme of the Tallgeese with a few yellow parts on the vents and some other pieces.
One thing that I really liked with the Tallgeese mobile suit were it's huge back thrusters. As a rival of the Gundam Wing Zero who could fly of course they needed something that could go toe to toe and match its speed.
These single back unit alone had four thrusters and stabilizers in order to have that air maneuverability.
Incidentally in the series lore the Tallgeese was actually the prototype of the different Gundam Series in the show but was deemed unpilotable because of its speed, difficulty in handling and the huge cost. So it got mothballed into a facility before Zech's found it when he was looking for a unit to be able to use against the Gundams.
Next were the armaments. If the Gundam Wing Zero had its Buster Rifle which had massive destructive power that could level a base, the Tallgeese had its Dober Gun that also fired a huge beam shot that was at par with the Buster Rifle. It had this huge recoil and could not be just held by hand but rather had to be attached to the shoulder almost giving it a bazooka=like feel to it.
Since we were already done with the inner frame I now started with the leg armor parts that would be attached on top of the frame. Yellow and white color just looks so good in the Tallgeese.
Next are the armor parts of the arms and its shoulder pauldrons that would also have attachments for the shield and the iconic Dober Gun.
Here we are with all the parts ready to be assembled. I just love that Dober Gun!
Finally with all parts put together and the shield and Dober Gun attached to the shoulder pauldrons.
The Tallgeese has this look of a knight wearing a Centurion helm with its distinct red plume.
While it is already looking good out of the box and just snap built with some cleaning and sanding done. All that white needs some panel lining the details and decals to further pop out.
So placed some paint in the some of the lines so that it will have some shadow and for some details to show up better.
The red decals also gives more color and details, contrasting with the white base making it look really good.
I love the Dober Gun (yes I will keep saying that) but the back pack unit and it all its thrusters just blows me away. Having it all opened and extended out just gives the Tallgeese the ability to fly very fast and have the agility to fight against the Wing Zero.
Here we are as the Tallgeese takes flight and looking so majestic.
The Tallgeese is definitely one of my favorite units in the Gundam Universe and is worthy to be part of the "Red Series"
Now if I can only find an affordable Gundam Epyon which Zech's eventually used after the Tallgeese.
Here is to the next build then.