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And that is the cue for me:
I have bought the TR-5 Gaplant. It's really a normal Gaplant with
add-ons, as all they do is take away the frame with the tail booster
parts, and then add two more frames with the new parts.
But! the are subtle changes to some of the "standard" parts of the
Gaplant to facilitate the introduction of the new armor pieces, so a
person just can't buy the two extra frames and then connect them to an
old gaplant (this is particularly true of the shoulder connector area).
Still, a normal Gaplant (without tail booster) can be constructed, if
one so wishes.
The new parts are:
Head:
The new head essentially makes it a "gundam" with its head spikes. It
is, however, a bit bulky, and tends to be hard to position.
Extra waist armor plates:
These are essentially clip-ons to the standard armor set. The front
plates have four slots for extra claw clamps (these clamps serve to hold
the rounded shield parts common in AoZ kits), but only one claw clamp is
with the kit - for the tail arm. the back extra armor parts are also the
base connector area for the Tail arm, which can hold the Hrududu-style
long rifle via the aforementioned rounded connector part.
Shoulder pods:
The right shoulder pod has an opening "mouth" with a beam gun inside,
but it can also clamp a hrududu-style long rifle into place. the left
shoulder pod is nothing special. The shoulder pods connect to the main
shoulders of the gaplant via a connector arm; these connector arms
attach to the back waist armor plate in MA mode. what makes the shoulder
pods so interesting is in what it can potentially hold; the back of each
pod has holes for attaching more tail arms - one tail arm for each pod.
two holes, one on each pod in the outer sides, will also allow the
connection of the HGUC Psyco Gundam's arms to the shoulder pods.
In it's expanded form, (which probably need quite a number of TR-5
kits), you will have a Gaplant with two Hrududu-rifles at the shoulders
(using two "mouth" pods), one tail arm for each pod, each tail arm
holding a booster shield or hrududu rifle, and the front skirt can be
holding up to four hrududu long rifles. the middle tail arm (attached to
the rear skirt) can opt to hold either a booster shield or another
hrududu rifle.
It is, really, in the same vein as most other AoZ kits, in that it is
very modular and will probably require the use of other kits for all
sorts of variations. However, in its pure form (using only what comes in
one box), it is very much an attractive kit.
The box is actually the same size as the original Gaplant box. It also
comes with the original gaplant's stand.
Dr. Core wrote:
By now some of you must have received (or close to) or picked up the
December releases?
Richie already gave us a good look at GM Striker. The other HGUC kit
is the Gaplant TR-5. I am no fan of either AoZ or the
stick-a-lot-of-crap-on-it school. So TR-5 is a deadly combination.
But it's a freaking huge box for only 2400 Yens, and for a SaLoCoi
design, it kinda hangs well altogether. And the color scheme and
decals is the best out of the AoZ kits, by a long shot.
It's not yet a "yes" for me, but I am putting it in a low priority
queue for the time when good releases are slow again.
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