1/100 MG Gundam EZ-8 Review

Shine in the Storm!


I haven't been able to do some review from the past weeks due to being too preoccupied with my life as currently i am quite busy with Uni stuff. Gundam EZ-8 is one of my favorite gundam despite it is the weakest lead character gundam ever which is one of its unique charm for me and that's why i decided to get the MG kit version. As a kit, the MG version is quite robust for an older MG compared with other MG like Zeta Plus for instance.

Gundam Ez-8 is the lead Gundam in 08th MS team which are the field repair version of RX-79 Ground type Gundam which i recall it is named after a German tank in World War 2 which had same characteristic. Due to lack of spare parts and heavy damage of the RX-79 used for the upgrade, the EFSF engineer decided to repair the Gundam with available spare parts which result in the creation of Gundam Ez-8 which surprisingly have better performance compared to Ground type Gundam. The MS came in service for a relatively short span of time where its final duty is shooting down Zeon's prototype Mobile Armor, Apsalus 3 which results in destruction of both units. The pilot of Ez-8 is First Liutenant Shiro Amada, the leader of 08th MS team.

First Liutenant Shiro Amada is the main character in 08th MS team where he serve as team leader for his group and probably one of the oldest lead character in Gundam series (though 23 is relatively young for his rank ). He had gentle personality and good leadership at the same time which makes his subordinates respect him. Shiro is one of the few witnesses of Zeon's horrible act on Side 2 where Zeon gassed all of the inhabitants to death which fuels his primary reason to join the war. During his transfer to earth, his shuttle is attacked by High Mobility Zaku which he fend off the MS with Ball, during this fight he encounter the pilot of the Zaku which become his love interest long story short. Near the end of OYW he become somewhat bitter with EFSF as he sees them as bad as Zeon which is why he decided to desert along with his lover after fighting against Apsalus 3 which results in his Ez-8 got destroyed and Shiro lost a leg.

For this kit i did some partial paint job where i painted the all of the Black and Gray parts. I also repaint the Blue parts which include the torso and the feet as i find the original color looks to toyish for me. As a kit the MG is well made and one of the better kit for its price. However it still have issues just like the older MG especially the hand which is unable to hold weapon properly and articulation is somewhat limited due to the bulkiness of the armor.

Probably one of the unique equipments for Gundam Ez-8, Ground type Gundam and GM is the bacpack which are used to store secondary weapon. For MG Ez-8 the backpack is used to store the compact version of Hyper Bazooka. While it seems impractical i think the backpack has some use in OYW where it can be used for MS to carry supplies through rough terrain like hills and forests which mobile carriers like Big Tray unable to traverse. Another possible use could be carrying logistics for infiltration mission where dropoff from the Air seems impossible.

The primary weapon of Gundam Ez-8 is the 100mm machine gun and beam rifle. 100 mm machine gun is the standard firearms used by Ground type GM and Gundam which supposedly serve as counterpart of Zaku's 105mm machineguns. Due to the upgrade for Ez-8, it's generator is capable to supply power for beam rifle(which is quite a big deal in OYW) where its predecessor is unable to do so and supposedly the Ez-8 beam rifle is somewhere in between GM's beam spray gun and RX-78-2 beam rifle.

The secondary weapon of Ez-8 is Hyper Bazooka which should be roughly equivalent with the one that Gm have, I rarely see this unit use this weapon frequently as i see it use more 180mm cannon and Rocket Launcher.

This time i think i managed to get better shots for the beam saber pose, on the other hand MS like Gundam Ez-8 is not really suitable in melee combat in my opinion as they are more suitable for long range combats where Zakus and Goufs are not good at. The primary reason is that near the final episode it is shown that Ez-8 had some troubles against Gouf  Custom which is partially due to the MS specification.

One of the final attack of Ez-8 is the full-fire burst which Ez-8 fire with both guns on hand and the chest armor is opened,e exposing hidden vulcans. This attack is used by Shiro when he rush down from skyscrapers where he unleash the barrage against Gouf Custom(i recall?) and this attack also featured in GVGN and SRW A. As a closure i would say this kit is recommendable for UC fans though probably not many people really fond of the design. I will definitely get Ground type Gundam and GM as they are meant as a set for Ez-8.