The photoshoot for the Command Quanta went well, for a certain definition of “well”. In terms of sheer quantity of photos, and diversity of poses, this was the shortest and simplest photoshoot I’ve done in a very long time.
This was partly due to the fact that the right arm kept popping out of its socket. I may consider tightening it up to prevent future issues, but in the heat of the moment it just kept causing problems.
But it is also due to the nature of this particular model kit. In the Battlelogue animation, the Command Quanta doesn’t really move all that much. And when it does, it mainly zips around without actually moving its body very much. It’s all about stiff (but cool looking) standing poses.
This turns out to be entirely fitting, because all the extra armor on the model kit greatly reduces its range compared to the origin Quanta (at least I’m assuming that’s true). The only articulation that is genuinely impressive is the ankles, which can lean to either side at quite a sharp angle.
(also, it can do a very good split, but the forward/backward motion of the legs is so poor that the overall leg articulation is less than ideal)
All of which is to say that the shoot was short because there were only a few viable poses, regardless of any other problems and limitations I encountered. The good news is that I think the (few) photos I got are all pretty solid. With a green background and low lighting, I think the Command Quanta looks much better than it did during the build. There’s something about this design that works best with a bit of shadow and mystery.
That being said, I really don’t like that shield. Something about its size and shape doesn’t feel appropriate for the Command Gundam (or at least the Command Gundam “style” that this Gunpla adopts). Considering all the other changes it makes to the original Quan[T] design, I’m disappointed that it was left largely alone.
But that’s okay, because my original plan was to repurpose one the leftover rifle from the Jesta Cannon, so that the Command Quanta can dual wield. That is, until I ran into a slight problem. The Jesta Cannon uses the “peg and hole” system for securing its weapons to its holding hands, which means there’s a long, thin, rectangular peg jutting out of the grip of the rifle.
Meanwhile the Command Quanta uses more modern holding hands, in which everything is engineered so precisely that its weapons fit without the need to plug them in or otherwise secure them. That means that the Jesta rifle doesn’t fit comfortably in the Quanta’s left holding hand - there’s no room for grip to fit when it has that peg sticking out.
Until it did fit, thanks to an ironically beneficial mistake. In the days between when I first tried to equip the Jesta rifle, and when I finally did the photoshoot, I somehow lost the outer backing piece of the left holding hand. This actually made it possible to use the rifle. The rifle grip actually fits snugly inside of the hand, but the backing piece can’t (or should I now say “couldn’t”) fasten securely. Now that’s no longer an issue.
Normally I wouldn’t be happy to lose a piece, and it still remains the case that the model is going to look goofy if the outside of the hand (without the backing piece) is visible in a photo, but that’s easy enough to avoid. Overall I’d say this is a win.
Here are some photos with the sword. It looks pretty great in these still shots, so much so that I didn’t feel the need to do any action shots with it taking a swing:
Lastly, here are a few with the two knives. Again, it looks better than I expected:
Conclusion
This was a frustrating experience. The model didn’t meet my expectations both during and after the build, and mistakes were obviously made. Yet I’m really happy with the handful of final photos I scraped together.
The lesson here, if any, is a variation of one I’ve been hammering on for a while. When all is said and done, there are so many things that can impact the way a model looks. It’s overall silhouette. It’s individual body parts. The color palette. The lighting. Background elements. All of it works together. Some of these elements may be substandard in isolation, yet work quite well as part of the whole.
Maybe that means I should reserve judgement more often when a build is in process. Maybe I should put more care and thought into how I set models up for photography. And maybe I should think a little harder about what poses and stances will look good for any particular model.
Of course, this is all easier said than done. For now, I’m glad that I got some decent photos, and that I can move on to talking about the second build from Home Alone 2022.