As you are likely to have noticed, Bandai is fond of merchandising its Gundam Franchise on a scale worthy of Star Wars. Big names come first, and there is a tendency to skip villains, but everything gets done sooner or later. The Galbaldy Beta is an example of this. Its part of the highly regarded series Zeta Gundam, and appeared in a fairly important early scene. However, its screen time otherwise was short, and Zeta had a glut of designs, and it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. This 2018 kit is probably the most attention it's ever gotten.
As a project, I was initially bemused by its large number of sprues. The Galbaldy is not an especially big or complex suit, its basically a Zeon-looking chap with a sword/gun/saber combo, so this puzzled me. The excessive sprue count seems to have been in aid of a double-dip on the mould, namely the Build Divers Galbaldy Rebake. This is actually great for colour separation, but he kit feels more complex than it needs to be. The ab joint is good example, as it adds maybe 5 degrees of movement before popping out, which is a real shame as there's a second balljoint in there for this purpose. Similarly, you do get opening beam saber storage in the shoulders, but its purely decorative, with the actual weapons being too long to fit. There's also a removable chest panel for the cockpit, but there's nowt underneath. Finally, you only get 3 stickers for this, 2 being perfectly acceptable, but then there's the monoeye. If it had just gone on a flat piece, it would have been fine, but some bright spark moulded the monoeye in too, so it doesn't sit right. Basically, they could have gone simpler for any/all of those areas and ended up with a better kit. Or tried harder and maybe increase the price by 15%.
None of this to suggest its bad kit, mind you. The Galbaldy Beta has that "good grunt" vibe, and went together with no issue at all. Take care with the ab joint, and you've got a perfectly posable dude. Its got a nice gun, a couple of beam sabres, and a collapsing shield. Aside from the somewhat Char colours, its the platonic idea of a grunt, or possibly an elite mook. The story behind the design is interesting too, essentially being a link between the Gelgoog, Gyan and Rick Dias, which makes sense when you look at the details.
If I'm honest, this was ever so slightly unsatisfying to me as a project. Its not that its bad, far from it. Its that its good, but could so easily have been great. And there's not much finishing it needs, other than fixing the monoeye, which looks more trouble than its worth. I think I'd rather have a kit with obvious but understandable flaws, rather than one that was 90% good, and 10% questionable design choice. Its like a film that's good apart from one or two scenes that could have so easily have been cut. Maybe the Rebake is more up my alley?
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