Finding myself in need of another distraction, and not wanting to let my experience with the Duel Gundam hold me back, I picked this one up. I had a better idea what the kit was actually like this time, going in. In-Universe, the Dagger L is in the grand tradition of the GM series of grunt suits. You know, a somewhat watered-down version of a Gundam without the plot armour. More specifically, its a further economised version of the 105 Dagger, an already simplified version of the Strike Gundam and is explicitly a machine designed to be used en mass. It doesn't have a particularly distinguished service record, SEED Destiny, and the Cosmic Era in general, was not kind to grunts, and this one was being phased out. It was also fielded by the Earth Alliance, which I am led to believe aren’t very nice, but the writing in the Cosmic Era is often awful, and I don’t want to go and check. But the Dagger L did maintain the modular equipment functions. I also half-remembered something about this being a retool of a full-fledged Gundam kit, which made it a bit more interesting. Hopefully a more recent kit than the painfully outdated Duel. Given that Bandai usually tries harder with hero mechs, this boded well. A simple meal done well, maybe? It worked for the Adele.
Initial impressions during the build were positive. Polycaps were present in a majority of the joints, but effectively so, with the elbows being a slightly more advanced double-jointed friction affair. The shoulder design confused me at first, I was convinced I'd got a bad polycap because the left arm kept separating, but no, I was just being dumb. Make sure to double check the instructions and that everything is fully inserted, if you have the same problem. The joint design seems to be the only thing taken from the Build Strike kit, its not a Fine Build kit like the Leo, and everything else seems totally new. Articulation is pretty great across the board, with a redesigned waist joint. No stickers were required, and were blessedly absent, the kit not being totally colour accurate, but the bits skipped being minor to the point of why bother? The main areas of criticism involve the accessories. You do get the standard swords, gun, and shield loadout, but not those stilettos this family of mecha have. You get two sabres with very long blades instead. The gun cheats a bit, as there is not a trigger hand here, just closed fists, so the trigger guard is cut-out. There's also notable hollowness on the inside of the shield, and you'd have to paint it grey if you were a perfectionist. Striker Pack functionality is there, but there's none present in the box. I feel I am either nitpicking or at risk of overpraising it. Its not as refined as a recent 30MM or the Demi Trainer, true, and my perspective might just be warped by that last kit I did. But if you did like this design, and maybe to the point if doing a squad, this kit does everything it chooses to do well. Its not a complex design, but its not unattractive, and I find those head-mounted guns quite charming. It puts me in mind of both the Gundam Mrk-II, and a pair of earmuffs.
I
did a fairly standard weathering job on this. First a light drybrush
of Vallejo Chainmail for general wear, and to pick out the CIWS gun.
GW Nuln Oil was carefully used to pick out recesses and panel lines.
This included the sensors beneath the visor, which required that I
carefully dismantle the noggin. I then went back to drybrush again
with Vallejo Silver, attempting to suggest more recent scrapes. Its a
rather simple design, so there's only so much detail to pick out, but
I think it worked out OK.
Job's a good 'un.
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