Bottomless Top

Top Fighter in deployment mode sans Core Fighter...

Actually piecing the Top Fighter is not hard as there aren't many parts that need to be panel lined (Thanks to my decision to use the included clear parts), it's the oh-hella-lotsa decals and stickers that are the cause of the cumbersome drag... ^^;

This is how they stash the parts in the MS hangar as seen from the anime series...

Saves quite a lot of space IMHO... :D

Core Fighter is ready to do a symmetrical(?) docking with the Top Rim... ^_~

See that hook by the side of the arms? It will be used to hold the Core Fighter in place after docking... ^_^

However before that, you'll have to spread the arms a bit to flex them out in order to receive the Core Fighter in full...

Laid the Fighter in place and slide the hook into the intended slot... Docking complete! XD

Looks much, much better than its initial deployment mode... ^_^

Definitely more intimidating than a Core Fighter alone... >:3

V's Beam Rifle can also be deployed alongside the Top Fighter itself... ^_^

As part of the package, Top Fighter can call upon the protective barrier of Beam Shield to fend off incoming attacks...

Talk about dual role of offence and defense! ^_^

The Beam Rifle is a combination of 3 different parts: a basic Beam Pistol, an Extension Barrel with grip, and an Energy Expansion Pack with sight scope...

A major complain over this design tho, is that the grip between the Beam Pistol and the Energy Expansion Pack when docked together is quite loose...

Furthermore I accidentally cut a chunk off the extruded stub located behind the barrel of the Beam Pistol that was suppose to hold the Energy Expansion Pack in place... ^^;

To remedy this I'm thinking of permanently fuse the two together with superglue, creating a sort of Beam SMG thingie, which is a huge plus on my side as it appears more menacing than a mere Beam Pistol... XD

Let's transform the Top Fighter now, shall we? :3 First thing first, adjust the red parts (Beam Shield Packs) downwards while pulling the white piece (With sort of a clip thingie) at the middle of each arms outwards.

Close the white hatch on the Beam Shield Packs while moving the white pieces mentioned earlier to the end of the arms, locking them into position.

Bend the forearms to help you locate a hook thing, push them into the elbow armours. ^^;

Push the Packs into the forearms completely to finalise the arms' transformation.

Now turn your attention to the bottom rear part of the Top Fighter... Swing the whole front skirt + lower abdomen from their initial position to the front and lock them into place.

Next bring down the rear skirt and lock it onto the lower abdomen.

Problem arise at this point during my documentation...

The piece that connects the Top Fighter to the Action Base snapped just when I adjust it to fit into the frame of my lens! >,<

I managed to remove the broken piece from the Top Fighter using my trusted pointy-end tweezers... It sure scared the hell outta me when this happens...

Bandai should have use the soft PE material similar to the extra V Fin mentioned during last review instead of the hard PS... This material sure is crispy and crunchy... ^^;

Fixed the part using superglue... But I doubt I'll be using it again...

I think I'll turn to other options (Grabbing clip from di:Stage?) from now on...

Back to the transformation progress... Hand units are to be part-swapped with the clip thingie you saw earlier...

Mmm... Looks like a certain legless Gerwalker... XD

The transformation of the Core Fighter part cannot be done while it is docked with the Top Rim so you'll have to unload and deal with its transformation separately...

Last but not least, open the hatch at the rear skirt to reveal V's butt verniers... XD

Let's have a look at V's articulations, minus the calves of course... As the MG is focused upon V's transformation gimmick, a lot of areas are fixed... For instance the chest until abdomen parts has no articulations whatsoever, much to my dismay... -_-

Limited movements around the head due to the hindrance of armour parts around it... Unlike Exia tho, V has double neck joints instead... ^_^

Articulations around the shoulders are severely limited by the addition of transformation gimmicks... ^^; Raising the arms (Via side motion) above head level is quite impossible unless you turn the whole arm around (In circular motion)...

Shoulders can move a little towards the front tho...

Forearm bending is okay, a staple of all recent MGs...

Besides the thumbs, there's no articulated joints on the hand units!!! No more movable fingers!! 0_0

This is quite a blessing instead of a curse tho... Taking into account of the weak joints on the hand units of recent MGs, they can no longer hold their respective weaponry steadily unlike the tighter grip of the older MGs like Strike and Zaku II F2... Furthermore, grips on smaller MS like F91 are too loose to even hold a Beam Sabre!!!

So here we are with V's hand units consist of a base with articulated thumb and several fixed fingers for various occasions (Open palm, close fist, gunner fingers and Beam Sabre grip)... Kinda reminds me of those extra hands on FigNendo type action figures... ^_^

Gunner fingers in action... Perhaps this is a way Bandai encourages us to buy B-Club's extra hand units? ^_~

Deploying Beam Shield requires you to move the red Pack outwards and remove its cap...

Of which we'll attach the deployed Beam Shield onto the cap and refit it onto the Pack...

By swinging the Pack outwards, you can readjust the Beam Shield to face to the front side from the end of the hand!

A common weapon on any Gundam type MS, V's Beam Sabres are hidden inside its forearms... Remember that white hatch on the red Beam Shield Packs? That's where they are... :D

Beam Sabres come in two flavours: the traditional pointy blade and the fan type... Looks like a Harisen to me... XD Good for Gundam Tsukommi comedy panels... :3c

More bad news... :0 As the wings on Core Fighter are quite loose themselves, they came off easily when you undock the Core Fighter from the Top Rim... ^^;

And one of the hooks that hold the Core Fighter in place looks as if it's about to snap off... 0_0

Concluding the review for now with the vanilla type in full (Half actually... ^^;)...

The next and probably final review might have to wait until New Year's Eve or after...Stay tuned! :Dc

More piccies can be accessed from here...