#wolfgar

No doubt like many of you, my first exposure to Gundam was Toonami's landmark airing of Gundam Wing in 2000–2001, and I did build a few non-grade 1/100 kits around that time (if you can call tearing parts off runners, slapping them together, and drenching them with ink wash 'building'). However, it wasn't till my sojourn in Taibei in 2007–2008 that I got into Universal Century Gundam—the good stuff—and started more seriously building Gundam models. With the abundance of hobby shops in Ximending just a short light-rail trip from my residence in the Shida night market, building mobile suits became my hobby for most of 2008.

During that time, as I immersed myself in the extensive depths of the Universal Century canon, I became particularly fond of the short bit of original story told in the extra levels at the end of the SNES game Mobile Suit Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079. Having already become a devotee of the Zaku II, and particularly impressed with the excellent Master Grade Zaku II ver. 2.0 kit released just a year earlier, I set out to build my interpretation of the Wolfgar Team, the squad of desperate Zeon antagonists from the Cross Dimension story.

PART I: TAIBEI, 2008

I began with an MS-06J, the ground-type Zaku, for Wolfgar's youngest member, Saki Graham. The cut-down shoulder spikes, battle damage, and desert weathering all represented initial experiments in the kinds of customization I would apply to the whole team.

Taking my cues from the gameplay in Cross Dimension, I equipped Saki's Zaku with a bazooka. On the other hand, I put my own spin on her armament, adding captured beam sabers from my spare parts.

Next was Martin Hagar's unit, an MS-06F space-type. As Wolfgar's seasoned second-in-command, I figured Hagar might pilot the older F-type, even after his reassignment to terrestrial deployment. Also, this variation of the Zaku II ver. 2.0 kit was brand new, and included the bulkier 'giant bazooka' that I wanted to give to Saki.

I took the shoulder armor from the next kit to give Hagar's unit two spiked shoulders. (The extra shoulder shield from this one would come in handy down the line.) Hagar wields a flamethrower in the game, so I did my best to build something vaguely reminiscent from scratch. Finding the result lackluster, I added the leg-mounted missile pods from the J-type kit.

Third up came Lester Carrot's machine, another J-type. In the game, Lester attacks only with the Zaku machine gun, making his unit the plainest. To give him more character, I decided Lester was left-handed, and customized his suit accordingly.

By the time I finished these three Zakus, midsummer had passed, and the end of my year in Taiwan was approaching. I had time enough to build a few more robots, but found myself in a bind concerning the Wolfgar Team. A Master Grade version of the Zaku cannon type had been announced, but wouldn't be released till just after my departure in August. That model would be perfect for the fourth Wolfgar Zaku, but I couldn't obtain one before I left.

When I returned from Taiwan, the Wolfgar Team remained incomplete. I knew it would be some time before I'd be able to resume the work, let alone finish it—but I had no way of knowing how long.

Leader

Houndstar - Massive, greying long-haired dark brown tom with pale blue eyes and a lightning-like scar that winds from his right brow to the center of his chest, blinding him in his right eye

Deputy

Ashear - Scruffy short-haired medium grey tom with charcoal speckles and bright green eyes, a ridge of spikey fur runs from between his ears to the base of his tail

Healer

Shardtooth - Plump long-haired pale grey tom with white points due to age and eyes that have turned milky white with blindness, Former Loner

Apprentice: Shrewpaw

Warriors

Wolfgar - Scrawny long-haired dark grey tabby tom with pale yellow eyes

Applestem - Large short-haired red tom with white marble-like streaks and brilliant, golden-green eyes

Apprentice - Antpaw

Maggotjaw - Lanky tufted mottled pale brown tom soft green eyes and a mangled lower jaw that renders him mute

Goosestrike - Muscular long-haired black she-cat with white markings and fierce orange eyes

Frogfern - Heavyset long-haired silvery gray she-cat with black smoke patterns and pale green eyes

Apprentice: Cloverpaw

Frostwhisper - Elegant long-haired pure white she-cat with sharp amber eyes

Hailstrike - Muscular short-haired black tabby tom with cold blue eyes and a large tear in his right ear, Formerly of Riverclan

Umberfern - Scrawny short-haired pale brown tabby tom with sharp green eyes and a multitude of scars, one of which renders him mostly deaf on his left side

Apprentices

Shrewpaw - Lanky short-haired golden tom with messy fur and dull green eyes

Antpaw - Muscular short-haired cinnamon tabby she-cat with black speckling on her back and pale green eyes

Cloverpaw - Tiny short-haired dark gray she-cat with pale splotches and unsettlingly bright icy blue eyes

Queens

Smokebrook - Pretty dark gray & white she-cat with sharp green eyes

Willowthorn - Thin short-haired pale red tabby she-cat with a cream underbelly & beautiful bluish-green eyes

Kits

Mothkit - Fuzzy long-haired dark gray tom with white spots and soft green eyes

Juniperkit - Plump short-haired dark blue-gray she-cat with pale green eyes

Hawkkit - Spikey-furred short-haired red tom with dark stripes and kit blue eyes

Mudkit - Large long-haired pale brown tom with kit blue eyes

Elders

Aspentail - Pretty pale grey she-cat with white points and soft green eyes

I found much had changed in the preceding decade. Although Bandai's favor toward the 1/100 scale seemed to be in decline, many new kits of that size had been produced, including a new line specifically devoted to obscure Universal Century mobile suits. Meanwhile, the proliferation of 3D printing had introduced a whole new dimension of customization to Gunpla. The combination of these two developments enabled me to realize my old dream of completing the Wolfgar Team.

The MS-08TX Efreet was a prototype close-combat mobile suit produced in very small numbers late in the One Year War—much like its more prominent cousin, the MS-18E Kämpfer. The Efreet became widely known after its variations appeared in a number of games, comics, and other peripheral Gundam materials, but it was originally designed for Cross Dimension 0079, where its pilot is Captain Henry Boone, leader of the Wolfgar Team.

Aside from a very old set of resin conversion parts, long out of production and beyond my skills, there had never been a way to build a 1/100 Efreet. During my hiatus, that changed with the release of the RE/100 Efreet EXAM Custom. This popular variation of the Efreet from Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Blue Destiny differs significantly from the original design, but I knew it represented my best chance to build Henry Boone's Efreet in the scale to match my Wolfgar Zakus.

The most prominent difference between the original Efreet and the EXAM version is the shoulder armor. Fortuitously, in my researches I found an excellent conversion of the Efreet Custom to the original design built by a skilled 3D artist who'd printed their own replacement shoulder armor components, as well as the original type's shotguns. They graciously agreed to print these parts for me as well—and just like that, the Efreet, so long impossible, became a reality.

My rendition of Boone's Efreet is far from perfect. The shape and proportions of the custom shoulder armor aren't exactly correct, and it retains the EXAM custom's blockier, spikeless forearms with integrated grenade launchers, instead of the rounded, spiked forearm plates of the original design.

Following the suit's in-game appearance rather than the concept art and other illustrations, I also opted to paint the leg and shoulder highlights red rather than white—a decision I still question.

Despite these shortcomings, I was deeply gratified to be able to build this Efreet at all.

In Cross Dimension 0079, Ray Hamilton's Zaku isn't depicted as the MS-06K (that unit doesn't exist among the SNES game's limited lineup of mobile suits), but he does seem to use some sort of cannon-like weapon. I decided that was close enough to justify building the Zaku cannon, but I wanted his machine to maintain a closer resemblance to its siblings than the regular appearance of the K-type. Forsaking its standard beige-and-brown color scheme, I repainted it in the same classic Zaku greens as rest of the team. I also drew from spare parts in reserve to replace the shoulder armor, shoulder shield, and head with standard Zaku II components (the spiked shoulder and head came from yet another MG Zaku II ver. 2.0 I'd scrapped, while the shield was the one not used in constructing Hagar's unit).

I also gave Ray some standard Zaku armaments to supplement his artillery.

Meanwhile, I adapted one of the Zaku cannon's other weapons, the confusingly named 'big gun' (magazine-fed, rapid-fire rocket launchers, apparently) to serve as a moderately more convincing flamethrower for Hagar's unit. At this point Hagar also received a larger, more elaborate heat hawk.

Lester also got an armament upgrade with a second machine gun. Since he uses the plain-old Zaku machine gun exclusively, I thought he may as well have two of them.

With the fourth Zaku finished, the Wolfgar Team finally felt like it had come together—and in fact, I was resigned to the possibility this would be the best I could do. With no real option in existence to build the prototype mobile suit piloted by Wolfgar's leader, I didn't know whether it would ever even be possible to complete the team.

After a brief period in 2011, changing circumstances once again prevented me from building models. For many years, I doubted I would return to the hobby at all.