Robot Spirits Gundam G-Self Review

G-Reco, a controversial series in the Gundam fanbase, but a show that I actually quite enjoyed. It's story was confusing sure, but I found most of the characters quite charming, the art style to be amazing and the MS designs to be quite good. If you've seen my HGRIG G-Arcane review, you'd know that my favorite MS are the two main Gundams that stayed from the beginning, the said G-Arcane and the G-Self.

 A lot of people seem to dislike the G-Self's design, saying it looks ugly and weird. I on the other hand, absolutely dig this design, everything speaks to be here, it's proportions, it's mix of round and angular shapes, and the immense amount of color usage and clear lenses dotted around the MS. Sadly, the HG frankly...wasn't very good, and as a Gunpla collector, it felt disappointing. However, I checked out Type V3's channel, and he noted that the Robot Spirits was an alternative. After checking his review and finding out that the Robot Spirits was not only a very good figure, but also still matches 1/144 scale, I put it on the wishlist for a representation of the MS. After buying my GM Sniper II, I had reminded myself to get this guy, so the next time I visited that shop, I bought myself the Robot Spirits G-Self.

Box:

The box is your average Robot Spirits box, you get the red side with the logo along with the type of mech it is, being a "Side MS". There is a cutout where you can see the figure and glimpses of the accessories. You also see a snippet of it equipped with the atmospheric pack next to the name.

On the back of the box, you have some pictures of the figure in action poses, and some information about certain aspects of the figure.

Product:

Out of the box and this figure looks fantastic. The proportions are bang on on this figure, I especially love the headsculpt, it is a lot more anime accurate and has much better proportions compared to the HG's. The eyes and round shape of the head give the G-Self an image of an active curious child, which is the impression I get from the entire MS. all the details are here, if you want, you can even panel line the details and this thing will look completely anime accurate, i've personally just panel lined the black in the front skirts, but more will help if you're careful. The clear blue lenses are an extreme highlight, gone are the few clear parts and numerous stickers on the HG, and in it's place are clear blue parts with shiny silver paint underneath, and the effect it gives makes the blue areas shine beautifully. All color apps are accounted for, and the paint is well applied, something I cannot say about the HG. There are also no visible mold nubs on this one like most other Robot Spirits have, so that's another plus. I love the way this figure looks and have zero complaints with it.

Articulation:

Head is on a ball joint, doesn't look up or down super far though, main movement is side to side.

Arms go up at 90˚s, quite serviceable.

Shoulders swing out to the side.

Arm can swivel and bend about 100˚, which while a bit disappointing, it bends more than the HG's 85˚.

Torso is super articulate and can move a bit forward.

As well as a ton backward. It could even swing side to side a bit.

Surprisingly, the sideskirts and frontskirts are connected together on a single bar, as well as each being on their own balljoint, with the front skirts actually having a barbell joint. This gives these skirts a lot of articulation. The leg itself also swings down forward, so he's got some very nice thigh mobility, far exceeding what the HG can do, and is probably the best part of articulation on the figure.

Legs swivel at the thigh and are double jointed and bend about 110˚. There is also a part at the back of the thigh which you can move up to give way to slightly more movement. The round thrusters on the sides of the legs can also rotate 360˚, and are removable as well.

The ankles move forward and backwards quite well, but not a whole not side to side. Both the toe and heel of the foot are also on their own hinges, so those move as well should you need them to.

Accessories:

This figure comes with a nice assortment of stuff, it's what you'd usually expect.

First you get a part which can plug into the hole used for plugging the G-Self into a Tamashii stage. This part allows you to plug the G-Self onto the stage at an angle, and these holes also work with action bases, however I find it redundant with tamashii stages as the stage itself has a hinge at the end.

The G-Self also comes with it's Atmospheric Pack.

It has a square peg and clicks snugly into the back of the G-Self.

Now here you have it with an inactive Atmospheric Pack.

To make it active, simple flip the pack up and flip out the wings.

There is also a peg connection in the atmospheric pack which allows a Tamashii Stage or Action Base as well.

It's quite a secure connection when using this one.

The figure also comes with 4 pairs of hands. Besides the closed fists on the figure, you get a pair of trigger ringer hands, gripping hands and open hands. The trigger fingers are meant for the beam rifle, and the gripping hands are for the beam sabers. All hands are painted well, which is a major improvement over the HG's hand stickers.

The G-Self's beam sabers look great, and like they are in the anime, have quite thin, straight blades similar to the Turn A. It's also worthy to note that the beams plug in only at a certain way, and that you need to insert the effect parts correctly. Also, these blades sadly do not store on the figure's shoulders like on the anime.

You also get the G-Self's second shield.

It plugs to the arm by using an adaptor.

The adaptor just plugs into the arm, and allows you to plug the shield by the side of the arm or under it.

It's a nice shield, far better than the first one, so i'm glad they went with this.

You also get the beam rifle which is superbly detailed, all the colors and detail are painter here very well, and defects are extremely minor. While the HG's rifle is pure grey, this one is just spectacular to look at, one of my favorite rifles so far.

I like using this weapon, like I said, it's one of my favorite beam rifles so far, and the detail work done here is superb. This rifle is absolute eye candy to look at.

G-Self flies around curiously, remaining one of my favorite protag Gundams to date.

Size Comparison:

The G-Self is marginally taller than the RX-78-2, and is actually exactly to scale with the HG. So if you were disappointed by the HG or found it had too many flaws to warrant the purchase like me, this Robot Spirits serves as an excellent alternative.

Verdict:

The G-Self is an MS that I personally really love, which is unfortunate because quite a few people don't share my sentiment, and the show isn't that respected to redeem this MS either. So when the HG was frankly, a disappointing release, I was honestly debating for a while whether to wait for an MG or get the Robot Spirits instead. After buying the GM Sniper II and having a wonderful ball with it, added with the fact it was to scale and Type V3's overwhelmingly positive review, I caved, and I did not regret. Sure you don't build this figure, and it's a bit on the pricey side too. Still, in terms of the finished product, this figure trumps the HG in every aspect, and is in my opinion, one of the best Robot Spirits releases to date. I love this figure, it's got some very cool engineering for it's articulation, it's got all the accurate proportions, it doesn't miss any color apps and looks amazing with how it was made. From the beautiful blue parts with silver base paint to make it shine, to the  many color applications dotted around the figure, this Robot Spiritsdefinitely is one of my favorite figures to date, and I am very glad I caved to get this figure.

Pros:

- All color apps are here and expertly applied, no real complaints even in the minor details. (!)

- Clear blue parts have silver paint under them, and shine beautifully because of it. (!)

- Can have decent shelf presence when displayed in the air with the atmospheric pack.

- Proportions are on point, no complaints here whatsoever.

- Absolute joy to pose, super solid figure with smooth joints and articulation.

- Quite good articulation, engineering done to achieve it is also very neat.
- Is a 1/144 scale Robot Spirits, to scale with 1/144 scale Gunpla.

Cons:

- Expensive compared to the HG release.