Robot Spirits GM Sniper II Review

Everyone's been hyping the MG GM Sniper II at it's release and were super excited when it released, but in all honesty, I did not follow this hype. This was partially because I prefer the regular GM Sniper as opposed to the GM Sniper II, but it was mainly due to a very...ill timed decision.

As a Gunpla collector, I had always been interested in the Robot Spirits line. I was always a Gunpla builder and I enjoyed the experience, but I had always wondered how handling one of those figures would be like. Of course, there were two things turning me off from the idea, one is that they aren't always 1/144 scale, so that would affect my scale OCD, and that they were quite expensive compared to Gunpla. So when I saw the Robot Spirits GM Sniper II for a cheap price, and found that it was close enough to the scale of it's HG counterpart, it was enough to make me buy it. So I came back home, unboxed and messed around with my first Robot Spirits and I loved it.

Then the MG got announced a week after.

So instead of excitement and hype for the MG, I got salt and a tinge of regret for it. Whoop de-fucking-do. Still, I am partially glad I bought this guy, because he certainly is a nice and enjoyable figure, and he does have his merits too.

Box:

For the box, you get the typical Robot Spirits layout. You get the red side with the Robot Spirits logo, as well as the unit number and what the mech is, in this case, it's an MS. You also get a cutout to see the figure inside, as well as a little snippet of art to show you it's bust.

At the back you get some info of the MS, as well as some shots of the figure in action poses.

Product:

Say what you want about Robot Spirits, in terms of proportions and colors, this is the most anime accurate GM Sniper II out there, no it does not have the "3" unit decal on the shoulder, which is a bit of a shame, but this has proportions that is more faithful to the original lineart compared to the MG and even the HG, not to say I prefer them though. Like most other Robot Spirits, there are a few nubs from the cutting of plastic during the molding process, and they don't look the most appealing up close. The gunmetal used for the joints looks pretty good, and the plastic colors work fine too with little deviation from the original colors.

Articulation:

Head is on a ball joint and the neck is on a small hinge.

Shoulders can move up decently far.

But sadly there is barely any swing-out movement.

Arm can swivel and the elbow is double jointed and bends about 150˚, only hindered by the armor and shoulder design.

Torso can move a bit back.

As well as abcrunch a bit forwards.

Leg is on a ball joint but doesn't swivel that much, but the leg is on a 170˚ bend with a floating kneecap.

The ankles pivot quite decently, and even have working pistons inside.

The toe can move insanely far forward, this guy can kneel quite easily.

Accessories:

He comes with a nice amount of accessories, everything you'd really expect from him, but no machine gun.

Besides the closed fists, you get 3 pairs of hands. You have open hands, trigger finger hands, and grabbing hands.

You get this adaptor piece which allows you to put the figure in a Tamashii Nations base or even an Action Base.

You just shove it between his legs for some aerial poses.

You then get a pair of vivid clear pink beam effect parts.

These are for the beam sabers stored on his backskirt. Word of note, these do fall off a lot, so pay attention to them.

Otherwise, they fit into the grabbing hands and look really good due to their bright pink color.

You also get his shield, and it looks pretty good.  This doesn't have a stand like the MG, but I think that was a one-off thing for the MG, not even the HG does it, and nothing about it is stated on the wiki.

Behind the shield there are 3 peg holes.

Each one can be put into the shield adaptor. The shield adaptor itself has a little smaller adaptor that can be put under or beside the arm, so you can choose whether you want the shield to be under the arm or on the side of the arm. The 3 peg holes on the actual shield can be used to adjust height, which is pretty nice.

The adaptor for the connector itself is on a ball joint, so you can move the shield around as well.

It's great!

Finally the most iconic accessory of this figure, his sniper rifle. It's painted in a nice matte green with a beautiful gunmetal grey for accents, the best paintwork on the whole figure is this gun as a whole. I love this thing. It's also worthy to note that design of this is slightly different to the one on the HG and MG. The handle is flat and parallel on this one, while on the Gunpla variants, it's on an angle so the kits can hold it with their hand designs. It also doesn't have the bipod of the MG.

You can slide the trigger finger hand into the handle and it grips onto the rifle on an angle.

MRW the MG of the GM Sniper II gets released a month after I caved.

He can get into some good sniper poses.

Gimmicks:

His visor can slide down for some sniping poses if you need it to.

Size Comparison:

As you can see this figure is only one or two millimetres shorter than the Robot Spirits RX-78-2, meaning this figure is pretty much 1/144 scale. Which is one of the reasons I got this guy.

Verdict:

With all this hype around the MG, do I think the Robot Spirits is superior? Honestly no, it's got less articulation as the MG has some pretty impressive movement, it's got less detail, less accessories, and you don't build it. However, it's not a complete waste however, as this figure will serve an overall better alternative 1/144 representation when compared to the HG. It's got less accessories sure, but in turn it has more articulation, more anime accurate proportions, more detail, more color accuracy, and is overall the better representation. Plus, if you want the most anime accurate GM Sniper II out there, this is the one you want, not even the MG matches this figure when it comes to anime accuracy. I personally love how this figure looks, especially the gunmetal-like plastic used for the joints and grey parts of the figure. While it's not the MG, it's pretty articulate in it's own right, and definitely trumps the HG. If you're not a builder, or found disappointment in the HG, definitely consider giving this figure a try.

Pros:

- Sniper Rifle is painted really well with the different finishes. (!)

- Very good articulation.

- Most anime accurate GM Sniper II figure out there.

- Solid figure, does not feel fragile or tight in certain joints at all, super playable.
- Pretty much to scale with other 1/144 scale Gunpla.

Cons:

- No number 3 decal at the shoulder.
- Nubs from molding process are visible in areas.