Actually, I’ve decided to pull the trigger and pre-order this figure as I don’t think we’ll get its HGUC kit anytime soon. But for those who still are hemming and hawing, then you may read on.
It’s almost a solid two years since Tamashii Nations had the Anchor on display, well virtually, as part of Tamashii Nation 2021 Online. We haven’t heard much since but finally, or rather a couple of weeks ago, Tamashii Nations finally decided to put this figure into an expected online exclusive.
The Anchor, or now officially referred to as the Anchor Gundam, is the lead mobile suit from Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Dust and is basically a kit bash of a mobile suit as parts become sparse during this time in the Universal Century as colonies enter the “Space Warring States” period.
Being a kit bashed mobile suit, it is heavily modified from Gundam F89, an experimental mobile suit meant to collect data for SNRI’s Formula Project (and also appears in the ongoing manga Mobile Suit Gundam F90 Fastest Formula). You can definitely see the bits and pieces taken from other mobile suits thanks to its very asymmetrical design. The F89 is also 18 meters tall, and if we’ll go with how tall Crossbone Gundam Robot Spirits figures are, despite their supposedly smaller stature in-universe, then this guy should display well along your other 1/144 scale Gunpla.
As “standard” with these late Universal Century mobile suits, the Anchor Gundam has some crazy weapons. Chief of them being the Ikarimaru, a large anchor-shaped beam saber to which this mobile suit likely got its name from. It’s intended for this one derivative of a known 40-meter tall mobile suit.
You are provided several options to display the Anchor Gundam using the Ikarimaru. First is a rather large beam saber effect parts for its intended use as a… well… large beam saber. It also comes with an alternate large beam blade and Anchor cable to allow poses like you see above.
There’s also the Axe Gun which can be used as a normal machine gun thanks to the ammunition belt connected to the mobile suit, a smaller but still large beam saber when the Ikarimaru runs out of energy, and as a hatchet called the Knuckle Duster that the Anchor throws with the ammunition belt when it’s depleted of both energy and bullets.
The Rotating Shield mounted on the left arm can also be deployed as a gauntlet-like offensive weapon for melee attacks. Pile Bunkers can also be deployed from the bottom of each foot, and the set even comes with effect parts to show cartridges being ejected when firing the pile bunker. The last two weapons are the Heat Ceramic Bullets you can fire from the launchers mounted on the right side of the chest, and the Head Cutter which replaces the typical Gundam blade antenna and can rotate at high speeds. The figure comes with replacement parts to display Head Cutter in use, and even has a position meant to look like the typical Gundam blade antenna.
As crazy as the Anchor Gundam might look, I do like how it’s a good representation of where the Universal Century is around this time. With the scarcity of mobile suit parts, engineers have to resort to these seemingly incompatible combinations, all of which contribute to this particular aesthetic. Which is also why I decided to pull the trigger and secure a pre-older. I might immediately regret this if Bandai Spirits decides to announce an HGUC version, but I feel the Anchor Gundam isn’t as popular as the Phantom or Ghost Gundam to warrant a model kit release. It wasn’t even sold out at our local Premium Bandai online store a week or so after pre-orders went up.
The Robot Spirits ⟨Side MS⟩ Anchor Gundam
February 2024 / ¥11,000
Premium Bandai Exclusive
