So after my pleasant experience with the HGAGE AGE-2 Double Bullet, I decided to pop into my local hobby store again and pick another well renowned HGAGE kit up for hopefully another good expreince. At the time, they just so happened to have my favorite Vagan Mobile Suit in stock in the form of the HGAGE Gafran so you can bet I picked it up for myself.
Box:
The box is your average HGAGE boxart. You get the information of the kit and MS on the left side of the box, with a shot of the Gafran terrorising a city with it's Mobile Armor mode behind it.
Parts:
You really don't get a huge amount of parts in the box. You get one dark grey runner, one blue runner...
...and a multicolored runner with the same colors.
You also get a large polycap sheet, so that's something.
Very little in the sticker department, it's a very simple kit but it doesn't need a lot of color separation to begin with.
Manual:
The manual is your average HGAGE manual. On the cover you get information on the MS and a shot of a Vagan ship (I assume?). Inside you get your product shots, instructions, part count, and a very small colorguide. You also get a hint of an unknown MS at the time, which we now knows as the Xvv-xc Zedas.
Completed Product:
(Sorry for the dark image)
The HG Gafran looks great for what it is, sure the kit looks bland when assembled, but that's faithful to the actual series design. Dynamic lighting was one of the main reasons the MS looked so good in the show, however due to this being a physical representation, the kit doesn't have this advantage and thus may look a bit plain. However I think the kit looks pretty good for what it is and sports a decent amount of detail as well. Expect a simple build, and simple yet accurate results, similar to that of the RX-78-2 Revive.
Articulation:
For the head, it's on your average double ball joint, and despite it's helmet design, it's quite unrestricted due to the fact the helmet can move around a bit if needed (more on that later).
His shoulders go up an exact 90˚, it does what it needs to do, and nothing more.
This is one of my favorite parts of the kit. We all know that the HG Build Burning Gundam has that section in the torso in favor of the swing-out polycap to give the kit a more natural swing out movement for the arm. Well due to it's transformation, this kit does exactly that, and goes even further to also include that swing-out polycap as well, so it's swing out movement for the arm is really freaking good.
Arms swivel and elbows go about 100˚ despite being double jointed. Nothing impressive, but it's decent and does the job.
Sideskirts move outward instead of forward as well, they aren't exactly connected to the waist, so you can move them entirely out of the way you wanted to. Waist also has a swivel at the torso.
This picture doesn't show this well at all, but the kit can pull off a 180˚ bend with it's legs, so that's definitely a plus. Just don't expect him to win any balancing contests on one leg. Legs don't have a swivel though, so that's a shame.
Accessories:
Here is where the kit's low price is justified a bit, simply put, he comes with barely anything. But that doesn't mean he has no weapons at all.
You get closed fists if you wanted to use them.
But his open hands are the ones that show the vulcan guns inside them.
These vulcanss are actually stronger than your average Gundam Vulcan guns, and can actually do a bit of damage. Quite nice if I do say so myself.
He also has his main weapon in the form of his tail.
Flip it out and prop it over the shoulder.
Now you've got his beam rifle. It's certainly a unique beam rifle to say the least, and I think it looks and works great. However, getting him to move the rifle around his shoulder for posing is the harder bit, as the rifle assembly doesn't have the largest amount of articulation.
Transformation:
But that's not all the Gafran can do, like i've previously shown in the cover image of this review, the Gafran has a dragon-like Mobile Armor mode, and it requires zero partsforming to get to it. Meaning this MS is a fully transforming HG, and while it's a simple and easy transformation, it's still awesome that it doesn't need to partsform.
First, you take the side skirts, and flip them outward as if they were wings. Then you turn the actual skirts a bit so they align more with said wings.
Then, you take the sides of his helmet, and flip them out, while lifting a piece at the back which makes the "fins" sit more flat to his head. After that, you flip down the blue jaw piece of the MS a bit lower to finish the head transformation.
After that, you flip out his beam rifle, and it turns into his tail.
You then take the toes, and rotate them to turn them into more claw-like looking feet.
Finally, you bend it's double jointed knee joints backwards to complete his transformation.
Then, you swivel the arm so the elbow is facing the same direction of the shoulderpad, and you turn the hands down.
Here you go! The HG Gafran in his draconic Mobile Armor Mode, and I have to say right of the bat that I really like his design. The only nitpick I could have about this mode is that the face doesn't look that draconic, but that's really it. They did a perfect yet simple transformation from a good looking Mobile Suit, to one hell of a great looking Mobile Armor, and they did it so well that I love it.
The Mobile Armor mode is really not meant to be displayed on the ground though which is made obvious by the way it's designed. So you just use the trusty ol' buttplug, and prop him on a stand.
This is just a very simple pose I did with the AGE-2 Double Bullet's stand, but with an action base, you can put this guy in a nice amount of action poses with his unique dragon mode.
I really do love this kit.
Verdict:
What can I say? I absolutely love this kit. It's so simple, yet it manages to be so good and do so much. I can't say to other people, but for me, it gives a very similar story to the HGUC RX-78-2 Revive. They are both very simple kits with a total of 4 runners in the box including the polycap sheet, and while they don't have the most color separation in the world, they are pretty much anime accurate, and they achieve their goals essentially flawlessly. While the RX-78-2 focuses on poseability and articulation, the Gafran focuses on giving us a kit that transforms fluidly and simply without too much hassle, it's a fun kit to pose around with in both modes, and the only real area of articulation that could've been better is that 95˚ elbow, and even that's decent. Overall, I cannot recommend this kit enough, it's so underrated due to how bad Gundam AGE was, and this kit really deserves move love than it's currently getting. As of now, this is my favorite MS from Gundam AGE, and it's probably going to be my favorite HGAGE kit out there due to how well done it is. If you're a fan of age, or are just remotely interested, I urge you to buy this kit. It's just that good.
Pros:
- Transformation to MA mode is simple and easy to pull off with no real flaws, not a partsformer either. (!)
- Quick, simple build with no real inaccuracies with on screen counterpart (!)
- Pretty good overall articulation
- Decent amount of surface detail for such a simple kit.
Cons:
Honestly...can't think of any real ones. Uhmm...build could be too simple for people looking for a challenge?
Neutral:
- Not a whole lot of accessories, but then again, it never had any more in the show.
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