Gundam Wing is a weird show with a lot of on the fly changes.
The Wing Zero was redesigned in Endless Waltz to become the angel winged version.
Later on came a manga (Glory of Losers) which is an in between story, where this version of the Tallgeese (Fluegel) becomes decommissioned and its wings and other still useful parts merge with the Proto Zero, to become the Wing Zero.
Until that came out, there was no explanation for why the Wing Zero had “feathered” wings.
Somewhat ironically, this kit uses parts from the MG Wing Zero Ver Ka.
What’s in the box:
1. The decade old MG Tallgeese EW
2. The runners from the Wing ver ka to make the four wings specific to that kit.
3. Two “J” runners from the Wing ver ka.
4. The beam saber effect parts from Wing ver ka, in pink.
5. New sprues unique to this kit.
Left over you’ll have the original mohawk, the back inner frame of the chest along with the entire booster section of the normal Tallgeese, minus two thruster bells, as well as two outer halves of the big wings and the majority of the two J runners which contain all the inner parts of the Wing Zero Ver Ka Buster rifles in a grey sturdier plastic, than the brown softer one.
I actually used these to repair and modify my ver ka kit and give the rifles a two tone look. Very useful for me!
Aesthetics:
The Tallgeese itself only has two visual changes from the old one, which is the roman mohawk that’s been replaced with the flowing one instead and then all the new stuff, the wings and new weapons.
The new wings have a half eagle on each in yellow, which is a stylized version of the symbol on the shield.
There are two yellow edges at the top and the broad part of the wings feature a more angular pattern than the one on Wing Zero.
Instead of the smaller wings folding out more feathers, they each have a thruster.
Unlike the Wing Zero, you can’t store anything in the wings, apart from the beam saber hilts.
The new weapons are in the same color scheme as the Tallgeese; White, yellow and a very dark navy blue, almost black.
There is a sheet with small color correcting stickers and a large sheet of water slide decals.
Mechanics:
It’s literally a mix of two kits.
The Tallgeese itself is limited by its decade old engineering while the wings are highly articulated. You can fold the wings in front of the model like the Wing Zero. No “bird mode” transformation though :)
The iconic rifle (Dober gun) is still mounted on the right shoulder support arm and still hard to mount in the hand despite this flaw being fixed in the RG version, so no change there.
There is an included support arm for the lance that connects to the existing support arm for the shield, so the Tallgeese can use one of the crossguard handles and the support arm holds the main grip. It does so via two flaps that close around the handle, with a little cut groove to form around it.
Reviews mention this as being sloppy, but I found that it works fine, as long as it is put in that groove.
A sandwich style clamp would have been better though and much easier to use.
Overall the articulation is a bit better on the Tallgeese than the other EW kits and the wings, especially the two smaller ones, aid in stability.
There is one fairly big negative, which is that the base adaptor has a very poor connection and falls off easily, which is even worse when the entire kit is quite heavy with all the added equipment!
Finally the ankle guards come off quite easily, also known as “the Leo curse”. Easily fixed with a tiny bit of glue.
Equipment:
1 backpack with four wings, two larger and two smaller ones at the back.
1 Dober gun rifle with an internal spring and recoil mechanic, mountable on the shoulder with two grips.
1 Round shield, mountable on the shoulder with two rectangular beam sabers mounted inside.
1 Halberd which is enormous.
1 Heat Lance with a foldable crossguard that function as handles, mountable on the support arm under the shield (can also be used for the Halberd).
2 cylindrical beam sabers stored in the small wings.
Conclusion:
Visually, this is my favourite gunpla model kit.
It’s an impressive Premium Bandai, despite this reusing parts from two kits, because it has those new wing parts as well as a beautiful lance that really cements the ‘winged knight’ motif.
The halberd is a nice extra. It all feels like its own kit.
There’s quite a lot of surplus parts.
You can ‘fix’ the base adapter with glue or risk balancing it, but it’s a bit silly that they didn’t make a more sturdy one to fit on the back.
If you get the chance to buy this kit, you are very unlikely to be disappointed.
