#plamo

I'm finding it interesting how much the availability of these HGIBO kits varies. I'm not sure if it comes down to the volume of the reprint or the popularity of the kit or what... But some of these things are much harder to find than others. And it's not obvious to me which is going to be which.

This Gundam Gusion, for example, was much harder to get my hands on than McGillis's Graze.

Since this is an HGIBO kit we've got some foil stickers. There's a few color-correcting stickers, but it's mostly kind of marking/decal sort of stickers. Well, and the eyes.

I know that this thing is a Gundam frame... But there's no way you could know that from this kit. There is absolutely nothing in here with any resemblance to the other Gundam frame kits out there.

The whole design is absurdly chonky. Very big, bulky, rounded armor everywhere. And the incredible volume of the torso makes everything else seem very short and stubby.

So, this is what we get... That giant hammer, a gun, and an open left hand. Not a lot of accessories here. I mean, I guess it's about what I'd expect from its appearance in the anime...? But it still seems kind of light. I guess I would've liked at least an open right hand too?

I'm going on record saying that this is maybe the worst stand connection I've seen in a gunpla kit. Seriously.

We've got a polycap plugged into a seam between two parts. But it's one of those weird L-shaped (?) polycaps too. This means that it's not even remotely secure. The polycap immediately wanted to pop out of its socket, and the two parts kept separating. I'm not even sure that cementing the parts together would help because of that polycap there.

You'll see some pictures of this thing up on a stand... But I really didn't trust it to stay up there for long. I've got it standing on its own two feet on my shelf.

Somewhat surprisingly - this thing can actually store all of its weapons when not in use. A little latch folds down from the butt-skirt for the gun, and there's an optional connector/mount for the hammer.

There's something vaguely goofy about this thing's head. It really does look frog-like. I'm well aware that the yellow things are the eyes, but I keep thinking those vulcans are the eyes. It's just kind of weird. Kind of cute? Which seems terribly wrong given its appearance in the anime.

Unfortunately this thing's posability is somewhat limited by its design. It's big and bulky with stubby little limbs... There's just not a ton you can do with this. It's hard to get poses that look super dynamic.

Having said that... It does look good. It's well-executed. Well-realized. And it's actually pretty sturdy on its own two feet. Weirdly, it's more sturdy on its own feet than up on a stand.

This was yet another really solid HGIBO kit. Its unique design means that I didn't have to deal with the typical Gundam frame issues we see in HGIBO builds. And while I'm not a real big fan of this design... It still looks pretty fantastic up on my shelf. I guess my only real complaint is that terrible stand connector.