Van Savior?

[Geoxile]

This is kinda model related but what I'm asking is about the suit itself.

I noticed that the ngeekhiong blogspot put a list of items that were going to be released sometime soon (sept - dec)

I spotted a 1/100 Van Savior Gundam being released and I have to wonder, what is the van Savior, I've never heard of it before. Was it in any of the astray mangas? Or MSV?

Can anyone translate this?

http://www.happinetonline.com/NASApp/mn ... 3112610034

It's a japanese store that supposedly listed it, if it really is a new savior Gundam where did it come from?

[Homeless]

Its going to be in VS Astray.

http://www.imagebeast.net/images/flkczq ... e9vprc.jpg

[Maelstromm]

Here's a prototype picture:
http://www.mpsnet.co.jp/hobbynet/photos ... 91111L.jpg
A larger picture:
http://www.ganguya.com/img_title/25385/ ... 1_more.jpg

From what I can tell, it doesn't seem too different from the original Savior, and like the Mirage Frame, it looks nothing like its initial silhouette.

[quasadra]

am i the only one that think this Savior is more awesome than the original one? gut feeling tells me it will be in purple colour.

[Maelstromm]

Well, maybe it's because it is one of the few "re-imagined" SEED Versus MS that came through relatively unscathed? That aside, it's rather curious how the Mirage Frame and Von Savior look nothing like their silhouettes, I wonder if that means that that the silhouettes are further upgrades or just abandoned designs? This really makes me wonder about the design of the re-imagined Blitz.

EDIT: Not really a new picture, but certainly a clearer and larger one:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3027/388 ... 829b_o.jpg

[Dark Duel]

I would say the latter. IIRC the Duel silhouette is also very slightly different from the way Regen Duel turned out.
I don't know if it's been posted or not, but while looking around online for more information I tripped across a large-scale pic of the Van Saviour MS mode that even more clearly shows the differences, especially the head, and...Eeew...that just looks WEIRD in my opinion.

[Momaru]

This further supports my opinion that the "re-imagined" SEED Versus MS look more like horrible kitbashes than anything else.

[Geoxile]

It looks fine, better than the original IMHO which I think is a terrible design

[DeltasTaii]

This further supports my opinion that the "re-imagined" SEED Versus MS look more like horrible kitbashes than anything else.

There isn't anything kitbashed about Van Saviour. It's all new parts except for the beam saber hilts (unless you want to count slightly vertically shifting backpack pieces around a new piece as "kitbashing"). The 3rd wave pair of Librarian MS seem to be lucky that way. There isn't really much info on it because the 1/100 release is still over a month away and the manga hasn't even gotten rolling yet, but it seems to mount Striker packs over its normal backpack rather than swapping like the others so far. The laws of space suggest that rather limits the options though.

[Maelstromm]

Now that you mentioned it, since the SEED Versus MS have this ability to trade their Striker packs with each other, do you suppose that they each have just one copy of their own Striker packs or that they each possess a few more copies as backups? Also, even though this may be difficult to answer now, do you guys suppose that there's any tangible benefits of the SEED Versus MS trading their Striker packs, or is that feature merely a kit selling gimmick Bandai came up with?

[Homeless]

Figured there's no need for another topic.

Here's the (Nebula?) Blitz, looking little like that silhouette just to stick to the pattern:
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7253/1253928174827.jpg

At the bottom-right you can see Van Saviour equipping the thing's Striker.

[ShadowCell]

Blitz Gundam: Oh man, what a day...*sigh*
roguish sexy voice: Hey babe...come here often?
*Blitz looks over, there stands Amatu Gold Frame*
Blitz: Oh... *blush* oh, um, well, no...
Amatu Gold Frame: Well if you want, I could, y'know, show you around. Why don't I buy you a drink...?

[ZeroBusterXX]

So instead of Gold Frame borrowing from Blitz, we get Blitz borrowing from Gold Frame? Neat.

[Dark Duel]

Reminds me of a Gold Frame/Blitz franken I once did, which I unfortunately lost when my old laptop was stolen.
At least it's not as hideous as Nero Blitz was...but it's pretty unremarkable overall.

[Arsarcana]

So... Blitz Gundam with Amatu's backpack replacing the original and the triple claw mounted to the hip as an optional weapon. That's disappointing. I mean sure, the odd rearranging of Gale Strike and Nix Providence is weird but for the last two suits to be so unoriginal is kind of meh. I wonder if the reaction to the first round of suits caused them to re-evaluate their proposed designs after they'd already released the silhouettes. If so I'd be curious what they had in mind originally; Savior and Blitz almost have to be more interesting than this, however funky and pointless the rearranging may have ultimately been.

As for the question about Striker packs, while I'm certain the main reason is a kit-selling gimmick (see also: XN Raiser being able to attach to most 1/144 00 Gundams) I can imagine situations in which some pack swapping would have a real use. Let's use Savior as an example since doesn't seem to have a removable pack but is designed to accept them. Adding Nebula Blitz's pack would seem to give it a nice extra melee option and since the magazine scan for it specifically mentioned Hail's pack, that would turn it into a pretty decent hit and run artillery suit.

[DeltasTaii]

There's not much rearranging Blitz or Saviour could do. They don't have a lot of, for lack of a better description, "kibble" like Buster's weapons or the already removable parts on Aile Strike, Providence, and Duel.

[Maelstromm]

I wonder if the reaction to the first round of suits caused them to re-evaluate their proposed designs after they'd already released the silhouettes.

I wouldn't be too surprised were this the case, I mean what other reason would they have to change the color scheme of the Hail Buster from its original garish scheme of yellow and blue to its current more subdued dark color scheme?

[ShadowCell]

What was the reaction among Japanese fans anyway? I know people here bitched up a storm about it, but Bandai doesn't tend to care about us and we don't really matter anyway.

[DeltasTaii]

I wouldn't be too surprised were this the case, I mean what other reason would they have to change the color scheme of the Hail Buster from its original garish scheme of yellow and blue to its current more subdued dark color scheme?

Well, it did go from Calamity colours to Blitz colours with Mirage Colloid. I personally suspect it became a stealth unit inbetween for the sake of making it more interesting in the story.

[Deacon Blues]

I don't think the name of the Gundam is "Nebula". The katakana for that would be ネビュラ. It could be "Nebra" which would be an homage to the sky disc from 1600 BC (if memory serves me correctly that is).