Finally I posted this review! Sorry if anybody waited ;^^, I was delayed by college, keeping in tune with latest animes, the destruction of my RG's beam rifle's peg (and it's fruitless attempts at repairing it ;_;), and also because Cosmic Break were having 8x exp and money event :p.
Well annyway, back to this kit. After collecting around 10 of HGUC and taking a good look in dalong, I decided that HGUC GM Striker is among the few older HGUC kits that I really want to have (others being HGUC Zaku Sniper I, which I cannot get even till now, and HGUC Gundam GP02A
Type-MLRS.), and when one of the local retailer told me he had one, I was like...
In case you asked, yes that is me, showing my reaction to the release of HGUC Unicorn a couple years ago XD
*cough* then here we go with the review. I apologize for the pictures quality in advance, I accidentally knocked and broke the extra light bulb in the middle of taking the pictures, so most of the pictures ends up being taken only with room lighting, not to mention some pictures were kinda blurry :(.
HG RX-78-2 G30th ver, HGUC GM Striker, HGUC Unicorn Gundam Destroy mode
GM Striker's real height is 18 meters tall, which is pretty much the average MS height in every Gundam Universe, or in UC timeline, the average height of OYW MS.
Head
Nothing really special on the head itself. Painted the inner detail of the "eye" as mentioned on the WIP.
Can moves up and down a bit, and 360 spin. Pretty much basic HG head articulation.
Body
Not much to say about this one.
It can't raise it's shoulder because of the lack of such joints in earlier HGUC models.
Because the connector to the waist isn't a ball joint, the body cannot wiggle up or down at all.
It can rotate full 360 though.
ARMS
Elbow can rotate full 180 (less if the arm is facing toward the outer side like in the pic), and arm can raise to almost 90 degrees (the armor on the shoulder can be moved).
I also forgot to take a pic that shows that the arms can rotate below the shoulder and the shoulder rotates full 360 ;^^.
SKIRT
Front skirt can rotate all the way up (but when the body is fitted in place, the front skirt can only be moved to around 120 degrees), side skirt is almost 90 degrees, and the back skirt doesn't move at all.
Oh, and the connector between the front skirts is only a circular rod, so if you cut it (to make the front skirts able to move independently), it would become quite loose =/.
LEGS
Knee can rotate a bit more than 90 degrees, and the feet can move up around 45 degree (although if you do that, you can see that the back of the feet would look "empty" ;^^).
The legs can move to a bit above 90 degrees until it hits the inner side of the skirts.
A decent range of leg split while keeping the sole flat on the ground.
Not really much range in the maximum leg split, which is caused by the joints that connects the leg and the pelvis are just a fixed polycap (as seen on the 3rd pic before this).
ACCESSORIES
Comes with a 100mm Machine Gun (the same equipped on Gundam Ground unit and GM Ground unit), Twin Beam Spear, Spike Shield, a single Beam Saber mounted on the backpack, opened fist for the left and right hand, one left open palmt hand, and one right trigger hand.
The 100mm Machine Gun is put into the trigger finger like most HG rifle weapons.
The stock can be rotated out, although it's kinda hard to make poses where the stock would actually looked natural.
The left open palm seems to be made purely for this pose. It fits almost perfectly.
Grip on the side can be rotated for two-handed poses.
The spike on the Spike Shield can move out a bit.
And finally the Twin Beam Spear. It's held by both opened fist hands and might move around a bit in some positions.
Also I painted the staff in silver, because it came in full black =/.
And the sabers can be rotated (they rotates together thanks to a connector inside) to form a scythe.
CONCLUSION
Articulation: 7/10
This kit's articulation is pretty much a basic old HGUC articulation. Luckily it didn't had much conflict with it's armors, which means this kit's articulation is, at least, decent.
Well anyway, the fact that elbow articulation is a huge factor for a kit wielding two handed weapons made this a big plus! ^^
The only conflicting parts in this kit is the leg that is restricted by the front skirts (but even then it manages a 90 degrees swing forward, it's not like you need more ;^^)
+ 180 elbow bend
This one comes as a big surprise for me. If an earlier HGUC can pull this out, why can later HGUC, especially the ones with simple designs, can't pull this!?Well anyway, the fact that elbow articulation is a huge factor for a kit wielding two handed weapons made this a big plus! ^^
+ Very few parts conflict
Head, waist, and shoulders can rotate full 360 without hitting other parts!The only conflicting parts in this kit is the leg that is restricted by the front skirts (but even then it manages a 90 degrees swing forward, it's not like you need more ;^^)
- No up and down movement for the waist
- Shoulders can't move up
Issues which was caused by the fact that this was an older kit.- Shoulders can't move up
Accessories: 9/10
The Twin Beam Spear was pretty much the main attraction of this kit, but Bandai also gave us the Spike Shield and the 100mm machine gun which both had moving parts^^.+ Twin Beam Spear
Two beam sabers put on the end of a staff and can change into a scythe, what else can you ask?^^+ 4 beams for the sabers.
Yes, they actually gave us 4 beams even though we can only use 3 on this kit.Spare parts, ho!
+ Wrist joint for the left open palm
a cool feature which made us ask why other HGUC doesn't have this, or even why the other hands of this kit doesn't.- Would've been perfect had the Twin Beam Spear was in it's correct color :p
Difficulty: 6.5/10
+ Some extra works needed on the thrusters, elbows, and knees
+ Lots of panel lines
It's actually a good point for me, since I loved panel lines :p.But because it actually added work time to building the kit, I just had to putt it in.
- The stickers covers some seamlines and make the kit almost perfectly color-correct
Stability: 9/10
+ No loose parts!!
- The Twin Beam Sabers aren't held tightly, making it kinda loose in some positions
+ The Twin Beams Sabers (whew, how many times have I mentioned this? XD) make this kit stands out quite a bit
+ Great looking for a grunt unit :p
- The orange might be a turnoff- GM feet =/
Recommended to:
* Fans of OYW Mobile Suits* Fans of grunt Mobile Suits
* Fans of close range unit
* Anybody interested with that Twin Beam Spear XD
Whoop D! That was one well waited Review, and even as a *Not* so fan of close and green and orage paint schemes, I love its detail and Bulk, oh and especially the head. Nice job on the "eye" btw.
ReplyDeleteNice review. A distant relative of Deathscythe, maybe? XD
ReplyDeleteFour beam parts... and yet the basic 1/144 00 Gundam has... NONE~! orz...
p.s. You looked like you've just scored a goal. XD
This GM looks like it is for short range combat. Looks pretty nice and detailed.... I want the HGUC GP02 as well....
ReplyDeletethis kit is great, and i agree with you, the twin saber is a little loose on hand.
ReplyDeletemaybe it is my first time visit ur blog?
ReplyDeletebtw nice review,,i like GM but still hasn't get it now :P
love the details on the armor :)
@Mikee:
ReplyDeleteyeah, a grunt unit that doesn't looked like a cardboard cannon fodder ^^
@bd77:
\(≧∇≦)/
@marzzgunpla:
yeah, that big bulky Gundam equipped with multiple missile launcher just screams badass
@redmage20386:
would've gained perfect score on the stability had it was tight ;^^
@koga:
welcome, wanna exchange link? :3
nice reaction lolz.
ReplyDeleteand also nice review.
surprisingly, this is one great GM.