Time to pierce the heavens with the review of the highly anticipated Gurren Lagann figure under Bandai Tamashii’s Super Robot Chogokin line! We’re not just looking over the figure itself, but the “Drillset of Manliness” add-on kit as well.
Video Segments:
Out of The Box: Beginning
Figure Overview: 2:03
Accessories: 11:47
Final Thoughts: 21:12
Video Segments:
Out of The Box: Beginning
Drills and Manliness: 1:48
The bright, cherry red and smooth gold accenting give it a nice and attractive “pop” the second you take it out of the box. This version is a bit more cartoon-like than releases like the Konami Great Impact, or Sentinel Riobot releases of the same character, in that the coloring of the red is flat rather than metallic, and the molding does not carry more than a “basic” amount of detail throughout.
Aeshtetically, the areas that I have a problem with are the hips and Knee pads. The hips are very noticeably more wide than his waste, leading to a very disproportionate silhouette even by Super Robot standards. The knee pads are also unnecessarily “big”, and their lack of ability to slide up and down leads to the unpainted “knees” of the toy being visible from the top when the knees are bent.
As standard with most Super Robot Chogokin releases, the poseability on this thing is pretty outstanding. Double jointed elbows and hips top off a figure that has joints just about everywhere imaginable. Even the mouth of the torso (Gurren) has the ability to move up and and down, which is not only cool, but gives you a much more cohesive look when utilizing the figure’s ability to ab crunch. The hips do come to be a problem though, because even though his side skirts are movable, the hips are so wide, that lifting the thighs up to even a moderate level makes the skirts prone to pop off.
Gurren Lagann comes with three faces: stoic, open mouthed, and grinding teeth. They’re very well-done, and add a lot to your poses.
He comes with a variety of hands, including his signature air point, and fists with openings to hold the shade-blades (he comes with two). He also has a different brow to replace on Gurren when using the shade-blades to keep him show-accurate. He also comes with four small drills that can technically peg into any of the peg holes throughout him meant for the drillset of manliness add-ons, but are meant to peg into two hole in each of his forearms for melee weapons.
The biggest accessory is going to be his wing pack. The wings on the pack are poseable, and he does come with a clip for his underside which lets him attach to tamashii act stands.
The appropriately titled “Drillset of Manliness” is actually a set sold separately for this figure. It was released on the same date though, which made it great for those wanting to have it along with the figure (I was one of those people).
The set comes with a ton of the smaller drills to give him the “Full-drillized” look seen in the anime. It also comes with the “giga-drill” which is a gigantic drill that you can either have replacing his hand or his entire forearm area using the optional attachment pieces. The Giga-Drill also comes with a cover that gives it the appearance of spinning.
This set is a must-have, especially retailing at approximately $20 USD. This set gives you a lot more options, as well as a really nice look. If you already own another Gurren Lagann figure, I’d especially recommend buying this set as well to differentiate this version more.
A great addition to the Super Robot Chogokin line, Gurren Lagann is a very popular mecha with a strong fanbase. A super-poseable figure only stifled by it’s own aesthetic, it’s a nice representation of the character. The score in parenthesis represents what it would be with the Drillset of Manliness, which I’d definitely recommend to anyone purchasing this. It really does add quite a bit to this figure, which is lacking in areas.
Overall Score: 7.5(8.0)/10
Enjoy a few more pictures of this figure below! Remember to click the pictures to view larger resolutions:
