Let’s put the Schwalbe Graze through it’s paces.
About the Visual Design
This is a very cool looking grunt suit (even if it’s technically a limited production Commander-Type MS, rather than a straight grunt).
I like how it doesn’t feel compromised. It has tons of thrusters across its body, so you know it’s fast and agile. And it has plenty of weapons to handle most combat situations.
I also like how it looks so well armored. Too many of the mobile suits in Iron Blooded Orphans’ leave far too much of their inner frame exposed, but the Graze-types are pretty well covered.
Finally, I like how it looks so robotic. So many of the IBO suits look like demons or monsters, so it’s nice to see a good, practical, tactical design.
I guess I’m just old fashioned in my mobile suit design preferences.
Articulation
The head can nod pretty far forward, but it cannot look up at all:
Side to side is pretty good too:
Arm list is solid enough:
Same with the arm bend:
The side to side movement is phenomenal:
And the forward and backwards bends are surprisingly good too:
Moving down to the legs, we get a pretty great split, especially considering how much armor gets in the way:
The same can’t be said of the leg lift:
The knee bend is about as good as you can get, though one might reasonably ask how much good that does when the leg lift is so poor:
Finally, near as I can tell, there is no torso rotation whatsoever. The side skirts completely block any movement in that direction.
Overall, I wouldn’t call the articulation great, but I think it’s going to get the job done for what this mobile suit is and what it is trying to do. After all, it’s a space-based MS, so it’s legs (as just one example) only need a little bit of bend.
But let’s try some poses to test out my theory.
Action Poses
But before we get to them, can I just admire this rifle?
It already looks pretty call on its own, but then you add all the little clips that mount it to the wrist, and suddenly it looks that much heavier.
The little scanner/sensor in the Graze’s head is a silly little gimmick, so here’s the one and only photo of it:
Okay, now for some actual action shots:
I don’t know if it’s the thrusters on the shoulders, or the stabilizer fins on the legs, but the Schwalbe Graze looks effortlessly at home in the air.
While there may be no torso rotation, the torso tilt allows it to lean into its attacks. For example, it’s very easy to create a facsimile of the Zaku Kick:
Now let’s get a target in there:
The thrusters on the backpack have a wide range of movement, and moving them into different positions an create a very strong sense of motion. Whether that be flying upward:
Or going forward:
Or slowing down:
Or flying downward to kick you in the face:
You really get the sense that this thing can go.
Due to the way the arms work, it’s a bit tricky to get it to hold onto the rifle grip, but it is doable:
I’m not sure the Schwalbe Graze is supposed to be equipped with the standard Graze’s axe, but it came in the box, dammit, so I’m going to use it:
Gundam-type mobile suits in Iron Blooded Orphans have melee weapons that are (usually) too oversized for my liking. I guess that’s why I like this axe, simple though it may be. It gets the job done without being over the top:
Finally we have the Wire Claw. You pop it out, and replace it with smaller piece that you can fit the thin strand of wire into. Then you pop the other end of wire on the claw, and voila:
There are a lot of things you can use to secure remote weapons in middair like this, but all the ones I have involve some sort of peg. There’s nothing on the Claw that can attach to such a peg, so you just have to let it float like this and hope it stays in place (it also means you can’t get too fancy with the positioning).
Conclusion
I think this is my favorite IBO Gunpla.
It’s not fancy, but it looks cool, it’s rock solid, and while it may not be the most articulate thing in the world, it manages to strike a decent enough pose without much effort.
Oh, and the build was fun too.
It’s just a good, no-nonsense Gunpla.