Sporting more cannons than Freedom Gundam, the Seravee Gundam is a force to be reckoned with… if given to someone who can aim (Tieria failed to demonstrate this… but maybe the grunts are just that good in 00 ^^;). There are many things I like about this Gundam- the bulky yet sleek design, the giant face on the back, the cannons, and pretty much the overall design. I likened the Seravee to SRW’s R-2 Powered minus the beam chakram. For about 200 yen more than the regular 1/144 Seravee, the GNHWHWHWHB/B beefs up Seravee’s defense by means of four GN condensers and an extra pair of cannons on the hips for more beam spammage^^.
Out of the Box
Nine individual runners. Random color pages in manual. and reasonable amount of foil stickers. HG 1/44′s have really come far… The only difference between it and its 1/100 counterparts are really almost just size and number of gimmicks you can fit; the details and number of pieces are almost nearly equal o_o. So much for this being an effortless project…
I have to say that I really do not like this model’s new style of connecting the pieces to the runner. The gates slants and causes the cutter to slide down, almost a bit too close to the actual part. Some of them are really thin and can be easily cleaned off though.
BODY UNIT
Easy assembly. Not sure what I could talk about here… except it doesn’t have the GN Drive?
HEAD UNIT
Silly V-fin crest comes in plain clear so I paint it clear red and used the foil sticker for reflective properties. I also cut off the “nubs” behind the V-fin as well to make it thinner… almost broke the v-fin by accident from the cut ^^;
RANDOM WEAPON
This was the next step after the head. I had no weapon what it was for until afterwards; it is a beam machinegun for the Seraphim ^^;. Wasted my time assembling this…
ARM UNITS
Skipped the foil stickers for the orbs and just paint them in clear green. Love the articulations on the arms. The many points of rotation allows for the arms to be free moving and articulated despite the bulky design.
LEG UNITS
As with all the other plain clear pieces, I also painted the beam “lens” in clear green as well. Quite a lot of pieces for the legs and this is the part that probably took me the most time to assemble.Construction seems pretty solid.
WAIST UNIT
I like the simple gimmick of the swiveling pelvic joints that connect the legs. Wish they would’ve molded seperate pieces for the yellow inner linings for the hip cannons though. I didn’t have the yellow paint to paint inside ^^;
GANMEN SERAPHIM/BACKPACK UNIT
The coolest and most distinctive feature of Seravee. NOTE: the backpack cannot convert to Seraphim.
GN BAZOOKA II
Bazookas… Cannons… what difference does it make in Seravee’s case? They all shoot beams in one form or another >_>.
COMPLETED MODEL
Solid model. Stands very confidently and stable. It could’ve looked better with a coat of topcoat but I couldn’t spare any ^^;.
No point in leaving the face close. Gotta leave it in FACE BURST MODE!
Antithesis?
PUT YA GUNZ ON!
If I was a grunt, I would be smart to not mess with Seravee. Even standing there, he already has four beam cannons on standby…
With one bazooka on each hand, there’s little to no weight trouble. Seravee has enough range of motion in the arms to point the bazookas in just about any direction without much restriction ^^. A nice thing to note is that the GN condensers can rotate independently from the shoulders.
Truth be told… I am not good with posing Gundams wielding guns as much as I am with swords… and Seravee doesn’t come with any >_>
Even though Seravee technically does have a rotating waist, it is pretty much obstructed as you can see ^^;.
TWIN BUSTER CANNON
As if wielding them in his hands wasn’t intimidating enough, now let’s mount the bazookas on the shoulders…and call them cannons!
The process is easy and painless. No slipping off and such like that. Just stick them in place and the hands will hold. You can still rotate the cannons left or right a little too ^^.
I didn’t take many aerial shots because the legs doesn’t look like they belong in the air. The gundam looks the same whether in the air or on the ground >_>. Not sure how to explain it but it’s not really the articulation… but maybe the design?
GATTAI CANNON
It’s amazing what you can do with two bazookas! Personally, I believe Tieria is secretly a Super Robot fan as he is always shouting ridiculous attack names whenever he fires like “HYPER BURST MODE!”… I’m sure he meant to say “STONER SUNSHINEEEE!”
A bit out of place but just thought I show how effortless Seravee can do a kneeling post. Like I said, its legs have great articulation despite the bulky design.
This is where the troubles are at. One bazooka on each arm was fine but two on one hand (especially with one below said hand) and you’re bound to run into weight issues thanks to the law of physics. It is not terribly annoying but the cannon will slowly sag if you get Seravee to hold up the cannon. The arms are partly to blame here as well since they aren’t exactly snug and does feel a bit loose right out of assembly.
Still awesome though ^^
VERDICT
For its price, scale, and grade, this model exceeds a few expectations. It looks great unlike cheap 1/144 models in the past and most parts are in the right colors. I’d still recommend some painting though as the plain clear parts aren’t exactly… attractive combined with the foil stickers. There’s not really many legitimate things I can complain about here ^^;. I can overlook the minor color separation on the hip cannons and loose elbows because it can still look cool doing other poses. Even though it has a wide range of articulation, poses are still limited due to its weapons… but that’s just me ^^;. In any case, Z approves of this model ^_^b!
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December 8, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Wow, I havent bother getting this guy yet,. For the rifle, I was gonna ask if you could compare it to cherudims sniper, folded.
December 8, 2009 at 4:56 PM
i am not really a fond of guns and cannons so i guess i skip this one…
December 8, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Hm, that’s interesting. Do you water down the green paint at all? Mine’s pretty hard to brush on since it’s so thick. Maybe that’s the problem. Using a brush leaves marks so I have to dab it on, when it dries it looks like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uUcaUNP7qYU/SxewZ4mUdLI/AAAAAAAAFks/emtn8J6JZe0/s1600-h/DSC03905.JPG
December 8, 2009 at 5:57 PM
nice review Z, it’s kinda short tho. probably less picture spaming than i’m used to tho. why is it that all of your reviews makes me want to pick up one of the models u reviewed? it’s painful. i was torn with unicorn, sword impulse, Exia, and the Blue Frame that was already on the list.
December 8, 2009 at 7:12 PM
Gunstray, I’ll compare them if I remember it when it comes time to Cherudim ^^
John, me neither… but the model still has its worth ^^
Shinra, I don’t have to thin mine. It’s runny as is. Your method looks pretty solid ^^. The person in there doesn’t really look like Domon… xD
Allen, compared to other reviews, yes this one is quite short ^^;. Not much I could’ve done with two cannons. Maybe I shouldn’t praise the models so much or something so you don’t get the urge ^^;
December 8, 2009 at 7:29 PM
Z: Well, it wasn’t that bad a piece of plastic… Somewhat fragile, yes (my Sandrock’s without legs because I unintentionally treated it like my GP02A’s arms in trying to remove parts), and it needs some work in the paint department, but after you handle both right, it goes alright with, say, the GFF Wing you got there. Not as much articulation and pizazz like the newer 1/144 models, yeah… But those models can break too. I guess I haven’t been pampered well enough by newer 1/144 models yet. But then, I do have EMSIA figures and I still find myself toying with my regular ones as well, so I guess not having much new 1/144s is the main reason why our viewpoints diverge a bit, but they do.
And while an MS design serving a more melee purpose, you got to admit Katoki’s version of the Altron Gundam looks pretty good, right?
December 8, 2009 at 7:41 PM
Nice review, although it was a bit short compared to all the other ones you have done before.
Fat Gundam is Fat but with that many cannons I doubt you can insult it before getting blasted away lol.
December 8, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Haha, yeah, the little figure didn’t have much shape to it, think it’s wearing a helmet too, so no spiky Domon hair.
Maybe mine paint is a little dehydrated, I’ll play around with diluting it maybe. Did you brush the paint on to those clear green sensor pieces? Or did you a similar method to mine where you just dab on paint until the whole piece is covered in a layer of paint?
These paints are harder to use than I thought!
December 8, 2009 at 8:45 PM
@Z: More Seravees = More beam spammage? lol
1 is 1/100, the other is 1/144 though. 1/100 for the big cannons, 1/144 to complete the CB team.
December 8, 2009 at 9:10 PM
@Z: hey, hey, don’t stop praising the models! i think it’s because the way u make it look, like, invisible nub marks and stuff XD. u know, the second time going through this, i realize, no really big referances to other anime. not even a “with your cannon/bazoka, pierce the heavans!!!” or anything. that’s probably why it’s so short.
December 8, 2009 at 9:13 PM
oh, and congrats on finishing the finals.
December 8, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Siroh, I wasn’t pampered by nice models back then either ^^;. It was just that I kinda regret shelling out $15 for it instead of paying the extra $5 for the 1/100. I was enticed by the words “FIGHTING ACTION” and “HG” on the box… so I thought it would at least be like the 1/100 haha. And Nataku is actually my second favorite EW design… after Deathscythe Hell.
Beamknight, since it’s Teria… you can just zigzag around and I’m sure you’ll be alive after insulting his Gundam ^^;
Shinra, I don’t ever recall Domon wearing a helmet of any sort.. xD. and Yea… I just brush the paint on. Nothing special.
Chris, I see. I can only imagine how a Jet Stream Attack from a few Seravee’s would be like…
Allen, There’s one reference in there! xD
December 9, 2009 at 2:28 AM
Z: Well, I might do the same in the future (were it not for limited availability), though in the case of the Altron (EW ver.), I think it could’ve been done a bit better, since it somewhat looks like whoever designed the model forgot he was doing Katoki’s design of Altron and added an Okawara touch as far as the lower legs go.
But as I’m comparing the 1/100 GW models as I type this, I’m thinking what really was done was that the legs of the 1/100 Shenlong was actually used instead of the making of new ones similar to the Katoki design. Reminds me of how the MG RX-78 ver. Ka using a previous MG design as its basis.
December 9, 2009 at 2:11 PM
Kereennnn!!! (it’s Cool in Indonesia ^^)
HG from 00 sure changing my opinion towards HG model, and i’m thinking to get some HG in near future now ^^
December 9, 2009 at 10:29 PM
Twin buster…cannon…rifle?
January 11, 2010 at 1:57 AM
Yow, Z. Just asking if you have any photos of the Seraphim backpack conversion… :D Recently became a fan of your HG’s and planning to get a 00 Raiser here in the Philippines… :D
January 11, 2010 at 2:02 AM
Sorry but the 1/144 Seravee’s backpack doesn’t convert but its Trans-Am model comes with the Seraphim though.
January 16, 2010 at 6:32 AM
Mind doing a Seraphim next time?
January 11, 2010 at 5:07 AM
Can I use Seraphim for Seravee’s backpack?
January 11, 2010 at 5:11 AM
@ divinelight yes you can use the skinny guy to attach to seravee. which is a lot better than the one that came with this guy. XD
January 11, 2010 at 3:56 PM
sucks they didnt give the heavy weaponry seravee a seraphim to go with it… just get seraphim out with cannon arms and BAM you’ve got… same amount of cannons, but u can attack in 2 directions.