I thought it was a prank when I first saw the announcement of a “Gurren Lagann Ver. Ka”; the news was just baffling and out of the blues. Not to mention what business does Hajime Katoki has with Gurren Lagann? o_O Anyway, I was just too thrilled about it and pre-ordered it after seeing that it comes with the GIGA DRILL BREAK(ER)!
So the full name is Composite Ver. Ka Gurren Lagann… what is so “composite” about this figure? It’s all plastic. When I saw the depth of the box I thought the drill was smaller than I thought… but it is actually halved inside the box ^^;
Here is where Bandai trolled me as this is almost false advertisement. No matter how you look like it, the GL on the box is clearly painted in a hot metallic red… but the actual figure is this plain semi-gloss red. -_-
Not a whole lot of stuff inside but it’s plentiful… the only thing you really need and want is the Drill anyway xP
The two halves of the Giga Drill Break(er). Both snaps over the base that connects to GL”s wrist. I like how it almost feels “paperweight”… but it was still too heavy to actually pose with.
Stands pretty well… not much to fuss around with after taking it out.
It certainly has a good pose!
DETAILS
Serious face!
The figure feels quite solid and I like that. While it is mostly painted (thankfully) unlike the joke that is the Lancelot Ver. Ka in the same line, most of the panel lines are a bit messy though. The flaming decals suit Gurren Lagann pretty well. It would’ve been hilarious if Katoki decided to slap some of his signature “WARNING!” markings on it though. Actually… I do question if Katoki actually have a hand in this line-up at all…
ACTION!
What a tiny base… oh in case you’re wondering, that really is how far the arms can bend. Yea… I’m sad too.
Articulation is as good as what you see in Fix Figurations… that is to say, there really isn’t any. What you see above is just about the best it can do. Its range of motion is very restricted; both the arms and legs can barely bend 90 degrees and the waist can hardly turn (and it rubs). Only the head has any decent range… >_>
“WHYYY BANDAI?! WHYY!?!”
*Insert hotblooded, dramatic, heaven-piercing, magma-burning line here*
… or more like “what the heck is that up in the sky?!”
“Grandma said this, ‘walking the path of heaven piercing! The man who rules the universe’!”
“YOU WANNA EAT THIS?!”
That face goes pretty well with those drills… ^^;
Some learned the hard way what happens when they pissed off Simon/Kamina…
Shades that can turn into boomerangs? WIN!
Without much articulation, it’s really hard to pull off cool poses that can make use of the sleek boomerangs. The biggest setback is not being able to do the throw pose for Giga Drill Breaker -_-
Note the reflection ^^
Comparison with the Revoltech Gurren Lagann Full-Drillized.
HISSATSU!
GIGA!
DRILL!!!
… AND I CAN’T DO THE BREAKER! So yea.. while the drill might be light, it is still far too heavy and it is a bit unreasonable to think the arm would be able to hold that horizontally. It has no problem holding it straight up like that without support but any sort of tilt and the drill will come crashing down. I tried all my display stands on it but its shape and size made it near impossible to get a good stance.
While it really doesn’t need the stand to support it, I think it’s a good “just in case” thing should the arm ever give in. I’d say it looks a lot better without the stand.
VERDICT
For the price, this Gurren Lagann is a lot more reasonable than the Lancelot Ver. Ka since it is at least painted. However, there is just something really wrong about GL not being able to pose… it just doesn’t feel right. Beside its articulation (which was probably never the point of this line-up in the first place), there isn’t really much I can find faults in. The figure is solid, looks good, and makes for a great display thanks to the giant drill. I’d say this is the best looking Gurren Lagann figure out there, even if it is not playable. If you’re going to pick it up, the end result is obviously that you will just leave it in the “ready to Giga Drill Break someone’s ass” pose. Does that worth ~$50 dollars to you? I think it’s worth it to me ^^;.
A's Toy Box
Akamage
American Salary Man
An Army of Zakus
Baby TheEnd's Gunpla and Toy Review
BD77's of Figure & Plamos
Beamknight87's Blog
Celestial Preventer
Chessboard Attic
DC23 Mech Arts
EM Creations
Eyeshield30's Blog
FigurativelyGunpla
Gaijin Gunpla
Gundam Australia Forum
Gundam Model Kit n Figures
Gundamgazette
Gunota.Info
Hobby Hovel
Lupes' Blog
Machenix Mechas
Memoirs of a Blur Sotong
My Gundam Harem
Plamo Addiction
Random Stuff from the East
Rock Lee's Lotus
Studio OZKai
Tonythem's Hobby Corner
August 17, 2010 at 2:56 AM
at least the giga drill is not like the paper drill on the kit from kotobukiya. ^^,
August 17, 2010 at 5:25 AM
Yeah that drill looks so fake.
August 17, 2010 at 5:58 PM
I remember that! I laughed at it..
August 17, 2010 at 3:52 AM
the owner of kotobukiya kit will not be too happy with this… :p
August 17, 2010 at 5:29 AM
Well, this review kinda changed my view on GL ver. Ka, but because of it’s articulation (as you’ve pointed out) is still a turn off for me. So my answer is still no. I think i have better luck with the Revoltech version. I do love it’s design though.
August 17, 2010 at 6:06 AM
That giant drill looks a lot more like a funky umbrella to me
^ ^
August 17, 2010 at 8:33 AM
maybe if it was the size of a 1/100 scale gundam…
i like that size of models/collectibles
August 17, 2010 at 9:48 AM
Hm, looking at it, I feel that it isn’t worth it. Even though the ready pose looks nice and all, I prefer the actual drillin’ being done instead since I much prefer a dynamic action pose. Just like Terrorhunt, this is pretty much a turn off for me due to the weak articulation range. ^^;
Well, there goes another off my “maybe list”. *scratches off product line as well* XP
August 17, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Can’t do the BREAKER pose huh? well that’s a real turn off…
August 17, 2010 at 5:56 PM
I don’t think any figure would be able to hold that Drill horizontally to be honest…
August 17, 2010 at 4:33 PM
Throw away that flimpzy paper craft
I so have this on my top Buy list! But Questions tops, What would you recomend first for someone who still hasnt owned a Gurren Lagann?
August 17, 2010 at 5:56 PM
Revoltechs are fine… just spray some matte top coat on it >_>
August 17, 2010 at 5:55 PM
Hmm… for those who are disappointed that it can’t do the GDB pose… are you disappointed that the arm cannot hold the drill or that there is no easy way to support the drill? The arm not being able to support that huge mass is the one thing I didn’t ding the figure for; I don’t any properly-sized figures could hold it horizontally.. That’s just the law of physics. As for the latter, I actually figured out that I can support the drill using GL’s own display base by having the drill’s tip rest on the stand… and it’s not impressive looking. Because with the Drill in front, you don’t really see anything; GL is pretty much covered up and I couldn’t find a proper angle to take a photo. So yea… not being able to hold it horizontally is not a big deal at all…
But yes, articulation is a huge disappointment >_>
August 17, 2010 at 6:42 PM
Congrats on the Gurren Lagann Figure. Really digging the flame decals; look a lot like tatoos on him… :D
Although it could use a customized stand for the epic move…
August 18, 2010 at 6:05 AM
MC Hammer learned the hard way that Gurren Lagaan can touch this.
When you have the pure awesomeness of GL it’s always a crime against humanity to make a figure so ill-designed that it can’t do anything more than standing! RAWR! But the decals do look nice, hope GL makes it into the MG lineup….VER.Ka of course…
August 19, 2010 at 8:34 PM
And they said Katoki couldn’t redesign a Super Robot! Wait…what?
September 19, 2011 at 8:26 AM
First this and now Cybuster. He’s trying hard, dude.
August 25, 2010 at 4:02 AM
To be honest, I didn’t finish the anime (watched til the part Kamina died) nor watched the movie. I’m not a huge fan of GL but somehow I was amazed by the Revoltech line of GL. I nearly buy one of them. Having collected a few GFF, GFFN, GFFMC I declare myself as a Ver Ka fan. Having mentioned that i’m not a GL fan, but i found this Ver KA GL attractive! On top of that, the photos you taken is really superb and now my heart is aching for one… It’s sold out at my place currently though. Waiting for GFFN FA Unicorn :P
August 25, 2010 at 2:06 PM
Comes to think of it… GFFN Unicorn is just almost double the price of this… scary.
January 16, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Spoiler alert??? HELLOOOOO
November 16, 2010 at 8:00 PM
Waiting for mine to arrive, even more excited after this review despite the articulation and color issues you mentioned. I am more of the old guy who doesn´t associate mecha with dynamic motion anyway *Grew up with Voltes V and Groiser X…* and while I like the Giga Drill breaker bought this guy more for how it looks… I mean, always loved Gurren Lagann´s design and those decals and details boosted it to look way better.
Thanks for the review.
November 17, 2010 at 12:07 AM
Cool… at least you can enjoy it for what it is ^^. I love Voltes V!
February 18, 2011 at 8:32 PM
so is this ver.KA better than Revoltech one? i mean the articulation…
i just got my Revoltech Gurren Lagann(and so hard to pose it because of ball joint)
maybe i will get this but i dont like the flame decal on Gurren body X(
ahh, i wish Lazengann would get Ka treatment too
February 19, 2011 at 9:42 PM
It looks better than the Revoltech one… and is bigger but articulation is worse.
February 26, 2011 at 1:43 AM
Probably due to the lightnting setup, which made the red look metallic.
February 26, 2011 at 9:02 PM
I highly doubt that’s the case… in this case.
September 15, 2011 at 3:40 PM
Will you be getting the Exbein and Cybuster figures?
September 15, 2011 at 3:46 PM
Nah.