I found this on sale at Barnes and Noble’s website for 50% off, and you could get it with in-store pickup. So I paid $13 (yes, just $13) and picked this sucker up at the local shop. What a steal!
This here is the Crossbone Gundam Maoh from Gundam Build Fighters, and it’s not something I expected to see in stock any time soon (and certainly not at Barnes and Noble of all places)
About the Pilot
I love Build Fighters so much, and if you’ve read my previous Build Fighters Gunpla builds, you know that I can’t talk about these mobile suits without talking first about their pilots. In this case, that means we finally get to talk about Mao Yasaka.
I love Mao. He is an extremely prodigious builder, and an equally capable combatant during Gunpla Battle, but he’s also a huge softie. While he may try to brag and trash talk from time to time (and to be clear, he can more than back it up), in the end he becomes more of a friend and ally to Sei than a rival. They admire each other’s skills and passion too much for things to ever get really heated.
He also has a (mostly) sweet crush on an older girl, Miss Misaki, which reminds me a bit of my own boyhood crushes.
At least, it did until he tries to leap forward and kiss her:
Which doesn’t go too well for him:
Though compared to the vast majority of anime, this scene is actually pretty tame (and hey, they make up in the end).
And then of course there is the moment where he finally faces Sei and Reiji in the tournament finals, loses by the skin of his teeth, and goes to the river to cry his eyes out:
In shonen tournament anime, rivals either immediately get up and swear to do better next time, or they’re written off and not given a second glance. It’s rare that we see them grieve and be vulnerable, or to show the level of uncertainty and confidence issues that Mao goes through before he rediscovers himself. It’s phenomenal character work.
What else is great about Mao? Let me count the ways.
He’s such a good builder that he assembles the High Grade Kshatriya while riding/hitchhiking in an 18 wheeler:
He’s loved Gundam X ever since he was a boy, so he has excellent taste:
Which is why his main mobile suit during Build Fighters is the Gundam X Maoh:
His favorite Gundam Girl is Emma Sheen. Again, impeccable taste here.
Mao’s a fella after my own heart.
Crossbone Maoh Appears
So if the Crossbone Maoh isn’t Mao’s main mobile suit, where does it come into play?
Well, after Mao suffers two consecutive losses, his Gundam X Maoh is completely destroyed. Rather than follow in Fellini’s footsteps and rebuild it, he instead find inspiration and starts a new build from scratch, which we briefly see him building in Episode 23:
But we don’t see it in action until the final episode, where things go haywire and all our heroes have to fight against a massive army of Gunpla drones. Everyone gets to show off and do cool stuff, including Mao, who shows up late with his new design:
After which who proceeds to do … this:
Yeah, that’s on brand for Mao. Boy loves him some big cannons.
Sadly, that’s all we really see of the Crossbone Maoh, since this was the final episode.
About the Mobile Suit
The PDF of this kit’s instruction manual on the Bandai Hobby site was weirdly formatted, such that I couldn’t easily select text to feed directly into the translator. Instead I had to point my phone at the screen and let it’s translation app do the work, which I find less reliable. Still, I think I got the gist of what it’s trying to say.
We know that Mao likes not just the Gundam X, but the letter X in general. And there’s only one other mobile suit with an equally obvious X-shaped design - the Crossbone Gundam. So that became the base for his new creation.
Remember that on the OG Crossbone, it’s X-shaped thrusters are a part of its Core Fighter, which actually docks into the mobile suit through its back. Mao removed the Core Fighter and replaced its thrusters with Gundam X-like energy collectors, and then stuck an even stronger version of the Gundam X’s Satellite Cannon directly into the chest, hiding it behind a giant pirate skull that would make Captain Harlock proud.
In addition to its super weapon, the Crossbone Maoh can also use the OG Crossbone’s standard weapons, and also comes with a few new ones of its own, including these babies:
For these, Mao took the thrusters from the original Crossbone and turned them into weapons. They can either be fired like a gun, or lit up like a sword.
Lastly, while I don’t recall these being used in the show, it has an extra set of manipulators built into its backpack, which allows it to wield two extra beam sabers in addition to whatever it has in its two hands:
While we may not get to see much of this thing in the show, it’s clear that its mecha designer(s) put a lot of thought into it. It’s exactly the kind of upgrade Mao would come up with after his losses. The redesigned Satellite Cannon allows him to fire it hands free, and the bevy of new weapons help shore up some of his weaknesses (including close quarters combat).
About the Model Kit
It’s an older kit, and admittedly one that I don’t believe gets reprinted often. I recall maybe seeing a reprint once before. Maybe (though I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Gundam X Maoh on shelves ever).
As such, I’m not entirely sure what I’m getting into, but video reviews have clued me in to a few facts. First, just like the original Crossbone, it comes with a ton of weapons an accessories.
Second, I learned that it comes with two “peace sign” holding hands, which it does throw up at one point, just like its pilot:
Maybe I’m just jaded and bitter, but this seems like the kind of fun little gimmie that modern Bandai is so much more hesitant to include.
Other Thoughts and Fun Facts
According to the Gunpla Wiki, this was technically the first time a design based on the Crossbone Gundam was ever made into a High Grade model. Yes, even before the High Grade of the original Crossbone X1:
However, this feels like cheating, as they were both released in 2014, which means they were probably designed at the same time (and probably share a whole bunch of parts)
Here’s a fun bit from the manual, where it talks about how Mao draws inspiration from designs like the Gundam X and the Dendrobium. The implication seems to be that he loves mobile suits with extreme destructive power.
Here’s another silly bit from the manual, where it points out that if you position its bone swords in just the right way, you can create a skull and crossbones:
And I like this blurb where Mao encourages you to customize the look of the skull:
Specifically, it encourages the use of a Real Touch Marker to add weathering. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that, while I’ve been aware of these markers for a long time, I didn’t know what they actually did until I saw this.
But now that I know, I figured I’d finally buy one and give it a try:
We’ll see how it goes.