1/100 MG Qubeley Mk-II Elpeo Ple (AMX-004-2)

In The GodFather III, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) said that "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in"

Well.. basically I am off for a break from GunPla for many months now but I still being loyal to our big brother Bandai. Less or no more spending for GunPla but instead I focus on the Kamen Riders section while the Figma, the GFFN and/or Robot Tamashii will still become the important items in Shewsbury Land collections.

Nonetheless, this MG Qubeley was given to me by my lovely friend and loyal retainers - Vicky, probably one of the very few female modelers in here including my beloved twins.

She gave this to me for free - she said she get bored with this model - in return I gave her the big Dante Devil May Cry action figure as my appreciation for her kindness...

The best part is that the Qubeley is already fully assembled by Vicky, I just need to apply the dry transfer decals and top coat and then it's ready for display and review.

This is the review of 1/100 MG Qubeley Mk-II Elpeo Ple from the anime of Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam (the first ever Gundam anime I watched several years ago).

The price is 4,000 yen (about SGD 65.00 before adding shipment charges).

The pilot is Elpeo Puru (エルピー・プル, Erupī Puru), the widely accepted English transliteration is "Elpeo Ple". She is an artificially enhanced Newtype, who first appears fighting for Neo-Zeon under Glemy Toto.

After an encounter with ZZ Gundam's Newtype pilot, Judau Ashta, she becomes obsessed with him, referring to him as "big brother". This can be seen as a possible side-effect of the cyber-enhancement process that artificial Newtypes are subject to, as it also happens to Rosamia Badam, a Titans cyber-Newtype pilot who had similar feelings for AEUG pilot Kamille Bidan in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

Because of her attachment to Judau she leaves Neo-Zeon to join the AEUG aboard the Argama. Aboard the Argama she is seen as troublesome by the ships crew, constantly wanting to be with Judau. She dies protecting Judau from Puru Two (Ple Two) who is piloting the MRX-009 Psyco Gundam Mk. II.

Her Newtype "spirit" remains influential however, convincing Puru Two during the Battle of Axis to stop fighting Judau, which in turn leads to the death of Glemy Toto and her clone to join Judau and his friends.

Elpeo Puru and Puru Two appear to be identical twins, although their actual relationship is never explained in the series. Haman Karn makes the assumption that they are twins, which Puru Two denies, saying that she "has always been alone".

This leads to speculation that she could be a clone of Elpeo created by Glemy to further his Newtype research. At Puru's end, when she attacks Puru Two, she shouts "Die! Myself".

It is also possible that both Purus were simply created by Glemy in his lab. This is supported by the fact that when he goes to wake Puru Two out of her cryogenic sleep, multiple sleep pods are visible. These other clones are suspected to be the pilots of the black mass production-type Qubeleys that fought and killed Chara Soon in the final episode.

Haman refers to them as "Glemy's Ghost". Further supporting this is the presence of Puru Twelve or Marida Cruz in Gundam Unicorn, who piloted one of these Quebeleys during the First Neo Zeon conflict. Puru Two appears to peacefully die while seated on the bridge of the Nahel Argama, directing the targeting of its mega-particle cannon to avoid hitting Judau at the end of the battle against Haman.












The name Qubeley is an unusual name originated from the Greek goddess Cybele. Cybele (Mountain Mother) was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia (the "Earth"), or her Minoan equivalent Rhea, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals (especially lions and bees).

Her Ancient Greek title, Potnia Theron, also associated with the Minoan Great Mother, alludes to her Neolithic roots as the "Mistress of the Animals". Her son and consort Attis is a life-death-rebirth deity who was resurrected by her. She is associated with her lion throne and her chariot drawn by lions.

I'm a big fan of Zeon MS especially those conventional type like the Zaku, Gouf, Geara Doga, Geara Zulu and also some of the cute one like Zgok and the super "kawaiii" Acguy - Sinanju is surely the most fantastic of them all so far. This is Qubeley however is very unique as from one look, I would like to think of it as some sort of bird species with "humanoid form" treatment - but it is not really like that... It's pretty hard for me to define this one, surely the best is to leave it as "Qubeley".... LOL..

This Qubeley have 2 eyes.... surely the face can be scary...





The decals is so lovely - one of the cutest design I've seen so far for a Zeon model... this is so girlish - very gorgeous...




Articulation on the head is very simple....






Apart from the above... the head can turn to left and right a bit... just a little bit - not great.


And now this is the pilot cockpit....





Dual layer of cover protection for the pilot...





The large set of wing binders on the shoulders to assist in AMBAC (Active Mass Balance Auto Control).







The usual Bandai sticker treatment... I love Bandai....




The tail binder containing a set of funnels (10 of them on this model), a smaller and cheaper version of the Elmeth's bits. These small remote weapons, while still armed with a beam gun and thrusters for movement, were powered by an energy cap system which required recharging aboard the Qubeley after a certain amount of time. Controlled by a Newtype pilot's thoughts via the psycommu ("psychic communicator") system, the funnels turned the Qubeley into a truly deadly unit, capable of attacking enemies from beyond visual range.






Other than that, the other gimmick is this front skirt and knee parts which you can lift up a bit....





Bandai gave 3 pieces of hands...




1 of them is this one...




The other 1 is this one...




And lastly this one with fully articulated fingers....





Simple standing pose....




Articulation on the leg is quite OK.... not great but still acceptable after taking into consideration of the original design of this Qubeley....





Not much action pose I can think off... anyway this Qubeley is often used in outer space and with the deadly funnel units ready to shoot when ever there is need for it, it doesn't really have to do any extraordinary movement...










Overall for unique but deadly MS, Qubeley can be an intimidating opponents for those Earth Federation bastard. Though I don't understand much about this MS, 1 thing for sure this Qubeley sure looks cool as killing machine. I love the girlish theme of Elpeo Ple decals on the right shoulder but as a GunPlaMo kit, I do have some complains about this model.

The joint are all but lousy - yes very lousy - I have to use lots of super glue, cement and some white glue to make sure that everything feel firm and solid - without all those gluing, you might think that this kit is a fake China made kits coz it is really sucks!!!

It reminds me of my previous 1/100 MG Crossbone Ver. Ka - where I end up modified it a little and use lots of super glue and white glue on the joints here and there- terrible, absolutely terrible.

Even so, this maybe only happen to this specific unit that we have here...

However, after some effort to white glue those lousy joints, at the end this model feels much better and more sturdy now though maybe I will still use more glue to make it even more stronger in the future.

Apart from those weaknesses, I think I can still like this MS - Sieg Zeon, Sieg Zeon, Sieg Zeon...

Long live Zeon...


*Photos from Fujifilm HS10



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