Line: Robot Damashii
Theme: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 8th MS Team
Side MS (Mobile Suit)
Character: Gouf – custom
Manufacturer: Bandai Japan
Year: 2011
Theme: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 8th MS Team
Side MS (Mobile Suit)
Character: Gouf – custom
Manufacturer: Bandai Japan
Year: 2011
Retailer: BigBadToystore (www.bbts.com)
Cost: $45 US or higher (depending on what retailer you go with, and what kind of shipping method.)
Before I begin the review I should provide some background info on the theme. Mobile Suit Gundam is an anime from 1979 following a fictional future where mankind has migrated to space colonies that exist in the solar system around Earth. A set of these colonies, the Principality of Zeon, declare war for independence from an Earth bound Federal government using a new weapon called a mobile suit. This particular anime has been spun off and is one of Japan’s biggest hobbies in the form of plastic models of the suits and ships featured from the media. This review is for one of the figures from one of the spin offs: The 8th MS Team.
And some background info on the line Robot Damashii meaning Robot Spirit – a line started about around two or three years ago aimed to capture the articulation of the figure and to offer all kinds of accessories to basically capture the spirit of the character the figure is modeled from.
And some background info on the line Robot Damashii meaning Robot Spirit – a line started about around two or three years ago aimed to capture the articulation of the figure and to offer all kinds of accessories to basically capture the spirit of the character the figure is modeled from.
Packaging – cardboard box with window displaying a plastic tray containing figure and accessories.
Displaying the line Robot Damashii, advertisement for their online website (which is in Japanese) where you can find info on other products manufactured by Bandai Japan. Including exclusive web only items, which you will pay out of the wallet for…of course, as these items are exclusives.
Back of the package:
Demonstrating the accessories’ ability to be broken down into parts, example of poses and other accessories, and one other gimmick (explained later).
Displaying the line Robot Damashii, advertisement for their online website (which is in Japanese) where you can find info on other products manufactured by Bandai Japan. Including exclusive web only items, which you will pay out of the wallet for…of course, as these items are exclusives.
Back of the package:
Demonstrating the accessories’ ability to be broken down into parts, example of poses and other accessories, and one other gimmick (explained later).
Contents of package:
1 Gouf Custom figure
2 Heat swords
1 Heat sword activated
2 open grip hands
2 open hands
2 closed fists
1 grappling wire with open hook
1 grappling hook device retracted
2 tri-barrel 35MM machine gun with scope attached to shield and 75MM Gatling gun
2 ammo canister and feeding line for 75MM Gatling gun
Let’s start with a comparative shot of the Gouf custom with the original Gouf figure released a little over a decade ago. Then a couple of years later the Gouf custom was released. These two previous versions were part of the now defunct American release of the Gundam Action figures. These figures were copied from the Japanese line of figures known as “Mobile Suit in Action” (MSIA). These figures held great detail and accessories for a 5.5 inch figure meaning they could be put to through a ringer and survive.
Course these smaller figures didn’t have as much articulation, they were just built sturdier.
Let’s start with a comparative shot of the Gouf custom with the original Gouf figure released a little over a decade ago. Then a couple of years later the Gouf custom was released. These two previous versions were part of the now defunct American release of the Gundam Action figures. These figures were copied from the Japanese line of figures known as “Mobile Suit in Action” (MSIA). These figures held great detail and accessories for a 5.5 inch figure meaning they could be put to through a ringer and survive.
Course these smaller figures didn’t have as much articulation, they were just built sturdier.
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| Left to Right: Gouf original 2001 Gouf Custom 2003 Gouf Custom 2011 |
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| Front to Back: Gouf original 2001 Gouf custom 2003 Gouf Custom 2011 |
Compared to the original Gouf, the Gouf Custom gave up a five barrel right hand for a normal hand, and opted to mount the machine gun as an external tri-40MM device that could be attached to either wrist. The Heat whip was replaced a wired grappling hook, and the armor was upgraded. What is a heat whip or heat sword you ask? Basically a weapon when activated would become heated to the point that if used against an enemy would damage or destroy whatever it touched, giving the weapon a more potent effect.
As you can see the Robot Damashii figures are larger than the MSIA line, and the articulation is far superior. The MSIA line was continued up until 2010 or 2011, when Bandai Japan moved the line to the MSIA – Extended line that supposedly was meant to be a superior toy to the original MSIA figures. However I haven’t seen any releases from this line for awhile now – at the time when I was looking at the line there was maybe 5 or 6 figures released. Then news of the Robot Damashii line hit…
Anyway, on to the review! The Gouf Custom figure is pretty sturdy right out of the box. You can easily get it to do a kick pose without it falling. The skirt, or armor that hides where the upper leg connects to the rest of the body is segmented into six panels that can be moved to allow for any kind of wide leg movement you can get the figure to do. The joints of the figure feels like their tight and don’t feel like they will wear from excessive use (which was a problem with some of MSIA figures the first time around in the US). Another note on the articulation is that the arms are double-jointed allowing for a 180 degree rotation, the head is on its own joint and can move side to side, stare up or down, the feet are limited (no push up poses possible), knee is also double jointed, the waist has some mobility. But due to the shape of the upper body, due to the cockpit’s pointed piece there isn’t a lot of turning motion allowed. The colors Bandai Japan decided to go with the figure is a sky blue shade for the armor parts of the shoulder, the arms, legs, head, and feet. While the main body itself is a darker blue, with black on the upper chest area above the cockpit area defined by two curved yellow spots that resemble windows.
Anyway, on to the review! The Gouf Custom figure is pretty sturdy right out of the box. You can easily get it to do a kick pose without it falling. The skirt, or armor that hides where the upper leg connects to the rest of the body is segmented into six panels that can be moved to allow for any kind of wide leg movement you can get the figure to do. The joints of the figure feels like their tight and don’t feel like they will wear from excessive use (which was a problem with some of MSIA figures the first time around in the US). Another note on the articulation is that the arms are double-jointed allowing for a 180 degree rotation, the head is on its own joint and can move side to side, stare up or down, the feet are limited (no push up poses possible), knee is also double jointed, the waist has some mobility. But due to the shape of the upper body, due to the cockpit’s pointed piece there isn’t a lot of turning motion allowed. The colors Bandai Japan decided to go with the figure is a sky blue shade for the armor parts of the shoulder, the arms, legs, head, and feet. While the main body itself is a darker blue, with black on the upper chest area above the cockpit area defined by two curved yellow spots that resemble windows.
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| High kick! |
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| I can hold this pose all day. |
Now for the gimmicks of the figure itself -
(Not really a gimmick but I’d thought to mention it…) in a strange move Bandai has decided to make the knee of the figure its own piece. It’s a remove-able plastic piece that fits into a peg which slides up and down the joint for the upper and lower leg. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is strange when you bring the lower leg all the way back to a perfect 90 degree, the knee armor feels out of place.
The eye of the Gouf can be moved, but in order to move it…you have to basically scalp the figure and reach in to manually move the eye to the position you desire, and then replace the scalp.
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| The red arrow points to the eye piece. |
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| Help! I've been Scalped! |
Another gimmick to the figure is Bandai’s new move to incorporate the Hard Point System (HPS) on this theme. The HPS is basically specific places on the figure where with an additional peg or tab you can mount various weapons to your figure. The Gouf Custom has various HPS areas covered by armor, meaning some of these points are not seen in the original source media of the figure. The HPS on the Gouf is as follows:
1 on the shoulder armor by removing the big curved horn on each shoulder – this only fits the peg option for the HPSThe shoulders have a double-sided peg that holds the horned shoulder armor, or you can put a peg HPS part on (picture below).
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| ...I need something for my other shoulder...crap. |
The back of the body has three places for the HPS pegs, one on either side of back pack right above the piping and one on the middle of the back of the pack.
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| Anti-Air time! |
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| Looking cool by drawin' my sword |
The forearms have a HPS peg on the elbow area and a tab hole (picture below). There is also one additional peg HPS option (one utilized by default for the grappling hook accessory).
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| What? I got something on my elbow? |
There is also additional HPS points on the skirt armor for the back and sides.
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| Sword is on my side this time... |
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| Looking cool still... |
The legs on either side of each leg covered by remove-able armor pieces, a total of six HPS options, two peg holes on each side of a leg, and nestled between the two peg holes a tab hole.
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| Trip time! |
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| Peg and tab for the HPS |
Aside from the gimmicks of the figure, the accessories shouldn’t be overlooked. The heat sword in the storage mode fits nicely and securely into the shield with the Gatlin gun and tri-barrel machine gun when attached or not attached to the arm. Nothing is warped; the plastic does not bend easily, so no worry of having any bent weapons.
The added weight the accessories place on the figure does NOT offset the balance, the weight of the plastic is just enough to keep the figure from falling over.
The final accessory, the activated heat sword is slightly larger, to emphasize that the weapon is on and a little bigger than the swords that fit into the Gatling shield. It is made of a clear orange-red plastic.
Now aside from the gimmick – is this an accurate representation of the figure and is it worth it?
Accurate representation is on par with the source media; in the case of this review the anime of the 8th MS Team is acceptable if not good. The fact Bandai decided to include an additional Gatling shield weapon system with additional heat sword is nice of them, and I won’t count it against the accuracy of the figure. Now the worth of the figure…The quality of construction is very good and the plastic isn’t brittle, except maybe for some of the accessories…mainly the sword. One nitpick I do have is that the open grip is angled, so trying to get the grip for the Gatling gun into the hand is a bit of a hassel, but not necessarily a negative to this figure in general. The only issue I can possibly see arising is wear and tear, and eventually breakage of the accessories. Everything when attached to the figure HPS cover parts and the scalp seems to stay on just fine and will not fall off if you drop the figure. In fact the only notable parts that will likely fall off if someone were to play with it would be the shoulder armor. They sit on a tiny peg and if you move the arms to far from the side of the body the higher the arms are lifted at the side the shoulder armor will pop off. Even though the shoulder armor has been giving a range of movement it is limited… Aside from the brittleness of the accessories the fact that each part can be broken down and assembled in a variety of ways to utilize the HPS is a big a plus on this figure. Currently in the HPS Bandai has released the original Mobile Suit Gundam with its weapons and the Zaku (the main work horse of the Principality of Zeon) with its own set of weapons. Therefore one would have significant options for customization on accessories. The additional set of weapons that came with the Gouf Custom was a pleasant surprise, as originally the Gouf Custom was only shown with one Gatling shield.The price of the figure is a bit steep as $45 US is/was more than enough to obtain a Power Rangers Megazord (combining robot of five, or more, parts that usually stood 12 inches or taller with the articulation of a brick).Another point to take into consideration is the quality of this figure over the previous release the Gouf Custom from the American line back around 2003, is still a good figure from that time. But it is showing its age. The blue plastic has faded over time, and the plastic for the shield has warped. Heck, one of the cool features was the ability to store the sword in the shield when not in use, but the one I have eventually warped the sword. Granted the plastic is malleable so I could easily fix it. It’s just that with the passage of time such malleable plastic will lose its shape and follow gravity’s pull. Another issue would be the weight of the older figure when you added the accessories to it. The older figure has a good tendency to fall over or forward if the accessories were not held just right on the arm. Over all I would recommend this premium figure as it offers a range of custom play and the articulation is decent for a figure of its size.
Now enjoy some pics!
NOTE: No Mobile Suits were harmed in the making of the scenes.
Additional Mobile Suits – from the American line: Gouf, Gouf custom, 8th MS Team Gundam: EZ-8, RGM 79 (Earth Federation mobile suit.)
Bandai Japan MSIA line – RGM 79 type version 2
The added weight the accessories place on the figure does NOT offset the balance, the weight of the plastic is just enough to keep the figure from falling over.
The final accessory, the activated heat sword is slightly larger, to emphasize that the weapon is on and a little bigger than the swords that fit into the Gatling shield. It is made of a clear orange-red plastic.
Now aside from the gimmick – is this an accurate representation of the figure and is it worth it?
Accurate representation is on par with the source media; in the case of this review the anime of the 8th MS Team is acceptable if not good. The fact Bandai decided to include an additional Gatling shield weapon system with additional heat sword is nice of them, and I won’t count it against the accuracy of the figure. Now the worth of the figure…The quality of construction is very good and the plastic isn’t brittle, except maybe for some of the accessories…mainly the sword. One nitpick I do have is that the open grip is angled, so trying to get the grip for the Gatling gun into the hand is a bit of a hassel, but not necessarily a negative to this figure in general. The only issue I can possibly see arising is wear and tear, and eventually breakage of the accessories. Everything when attached to the figure HPS cover parts and the scalp seems to stay on just fine and will not fall off if you drop the figure. In fact the only notable parts that will likely fall off if someone were to play with it would be the shoulder armor. They sit on a tiny peg and if you move the arms to far from the side of the body the higher the arms are lifted at the side the shoulder armor will pop off. Even though the shoulder armor has been giving a range of movement it is limited… Aside from the brittleness of the accessories the fact that each part can be broken down and assembled in a variety of ways to utilize the HPS is a big a plus on this figure. Currently in the HPS Bandai has released the original Mobile Suit Gundam with its weapons and the Zaku (the main work horse of the Principality of Zeon) with its own set of weapons. Therefore one would have significant options for customization on accessories. The additional set of weapons that came with the Gouf Custom was a pleasant surprise, as originally the Gouf Custom was only shown with one Gatling shield.The price of the figure is a bit steep as $45 US is/was more than enough to obtain a Power Rangers Megazord (combining robot of five, or more, parts that usually stood 12 inches or taller with the articulation of a brick).Another point to take into consideration is the quality of this figure over the previous release the Gouf Custom from the American line back around 2003, is still a good figure from that time. But it is showing its age. The blue plastic has faded over time, and the plastic for the shield has warped. Heck, one of the cool features was the ability to store the sword in the shield when not in use, but the one I have eventually warped the sword. Granted the plastic is malleable so I could easily fix it. It’s just that with the passage of time such malleable plastic will lose its shape and follow gravity’s pull. Another issue would be the weight of the older figure when you added the accessories to it. The older figure has a good tendency to fall over or forward if the accessories were not held just right on the arm. Over all I would recommend this premium figure as it offers a range of custom play and the articulation is decent for a figure of its size.
Now enjoy some pics!
NOTE: No Mobile Suits were harmed in the making of the scenes.
Additional Mobile Suits – from the American line: Gouf, Gouf custom, 8th MS Team Gundam: EZ-8, RGM 79 (Earth Federation mobile suit.)
Bandai Japan MSIA line – RGM 79 type version 2
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| RGM: He has BFG! RGM #2: We can take him! Gouf: I don't need this big frakking gun to kick your asses. I'll use my smaller gun. |
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| Gouf: Now say "uncle." RGM: NEVER! |
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| Gouf: Suit yourself. |
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| HAIL ZEON! |
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| The show is over. Now go buy me! |
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