FRAME ARMS GIRL GOURAI

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KIT CONTENTS

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The kit proper comes with all the stuff you see here (except for the Tamashii Stage base I'm using to prop up Gourai Girl): The Gourai Girl herself, a back-mounted mini cannon, a Freestyle Bazooka, an extra unarmored arm & leg, and an empty "stocking". The kit also includes 5 pairs of optional hands made of a durable PVC: 2 closed fists, 2 gripping hands for melee weapons, 2 trigger-grip hands for firearms (with index finger pointed), 2 neutral open hands, and 2 splayed wide open hands. The PVC material allows the hands some give when gripping so they won't break easily despite their thin fingers, though I'd still exercise caution when working with them as it's still possible to stress the plastic.



Gourai Girl herself comes with a whopping 20 hardpoints (2 of which are used by the mini cannon and knife mount) that can accommodate 3mm pegs, for various attachments like add-on weapons & equipment.









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The kit also includes 2 interchangable faces with eyes looking left & right. The face may be changed by removing the front hairpiece/armor and the actual faceplate. These pieces are not pegged in as tightly as the rest of the kit and are easier to remove to facilitate the face swapping. The faces themselves only have one stoic expression, though.









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Also included is a sheet of waterslide decals, which features markings similar to those used by the original Gourai, cut to fit her dainty armor parts, as well as spare sets of eyes, pinstripes, and various optional decorations for her...*ahem*, unmentionables.

ARMOR OFF

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This is pretty much the kit you can build with a minimum of armor and not exposing too many unsightly holes. She doesn't have an inner frame of any sort. Note also the gaps in her upper arms and waist - these are perfectly spaced to allow for the shoulder armor and skirt parts to be sandwiched in between them. Also omitted are the armor panels on the legs, chest panel, backpack, and knee armor.

OPTIONAL PARTS

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The extra unarmored arm & leg are designed to facilitate one particular pose - which is the illustration on the box cover above: part of her armor stripped off, in her gloves and stockings, holding one of her leggings. The arm and leg are molded in these static poses, and cannot be posed any other way except by the joints they attach to - the hip joint and the upper arm swivel joint.





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ARTICULATION

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Head entire head is connected to a thick ball joint mount, which in turn sockets into an uncomfortably thin ball joint that's secured tightly to the inside of the torso.









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The resulting bend gives a cursory nod, can allow the head to lean back a bit, and if you cheat a little and pull the upper neck from the torso joint, you can get a decent bob to the side, but this tends to make the head pop off if it leans any further. My one big fear though is that inner neck joint could break if I ever get careless, so I'm reluctant to paint it.









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The chestpiece is connected to the torso via a swivel joint that clips right in.









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This swivel allows the chestpiece to slide down slightly, which allows it to cover up the resulting gap in the waist when you bend the torso back.









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Speaking of which, the main torso joint is a simple swivel that tightly pegs into a polycap in the upper torso.









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The resulting bend isn't much due to the cut of the torso - she bends further back than she does forward, which is barely noticeable. The black midsection, armored section underneath, and the skirt are all static interlocking pieces - they do not move in the slightest, which further limits any potential articulation in the main body.









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The arms are connected to the torso via a solid plastic ball joint with a swivel at the shoulder that allows the arm to go up to the side by this much. The arm can rotate at the connection peg to the upper arm/shoulder armor. The arm can bend at the elbow a bit further than 90 degrees on a single joint. The hands pop into the arms via ball joints, but have little wiggle room unless you pull them out slightly. Their PVC material rubbing closely against the PS plastic of the wrist socket makes it hard to rotate them, so take care when doing so, lest you stress the ball joint.









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Gourai Girl's hip joints peg into polycaps in her thighs, and are on a central swivel that allows the legs to be positioned lower just enough that they can clear the skirt.









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This is about as far as the leg can rise before it hits the skirt. The leg can bend at the knee at almost a full 180 degrees, provided you shift the thigh armor slightly and if you unfold the rear tank treads to make room.









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The thigh armor connects to the upper leg via a small ball joint, which is a bit loose, but holds the armor fine, and allows it to swivel just enough so that it gets out of the way of most poses.









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The foot pegs into a hole in the leg bottom, and into the foot the same way, with a tight swivel joint holding the ankle together. The resulting swivels make respectably wide splays possible, and allows her to point her toes (or rather, her entire foot).









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Her rear tank treads can fold up and fold out, which like on the original Gourai, grant the kit extra stability, especially when carrying heavier weapons. Each tread module is made up of two swivel joints and connect to the rear of the leg via a ball joint. This gives them decent positioning range while still keeping flat on the ground.

WEAPONS/EQUIPMENT

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The mini cannon connects to a simple swivel mount via a ball joint.









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The swivel joint then pegs into one of the rear mounts on the backpack. The mini cannon can easily be positioned over the shoulder, but cannot be posed straight due to the housing banging against the head armor, so you'll have to have the cannon askew slightly to the side.









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The bazooka included with this kit is Kotobukiya's Freestyle Bazooka, one of many optional weapons that are normally sold separately from other kits. The bazooka kit has a trigger grip and a mount that will not be used with Gourai Girl, as she has no proper peg connector that will allow her to mount the bazooka over her shoulder (such optional connectors like the Mechanical Arm are also sold separately). The Gourai Girl kit also includes a smaller grip that fits into her more considerably dainty hands as compared to other Frame Arms kits. The bazooka's lower section can swivel down to allow for easier slinging poses propping the weapon on the shoulder while still maintaining a solid grip. The rear section can also open up...for a sort of reloading or blowback effect, I guess?









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That all said, Gourai Girl has problems holding up this weapon, as it's bulk and weight are too much for the shoulder joint, and the arm sags down as a result. Looks like the inner ball socket in the torso could use some tightening. This might be a big turn-off for some, as the bazooka is her main weapon.









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She also comes with a survival knife that slots in via friction to a small clip that attaches to her lower leg. Quick and easy to pose with, it slips into her hands and she grips it solidly with no problem.

POSES WITH OPTIONAL KOTOBUKIYA WEAPONS

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While she can grip some optional weapons, she's limited by the smaller size of her hands - many of the weapons' grips are simply too large for her to hold onto properly. Some of the weapons I've decided to incorporate into her arsenal are usable by filing down the grips to a suitable size, but other weapons like the Handgun set are way too oversized that they look ridiculous on her. This sword however, fits her just fine.









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She's able to hold the Sniper Rifle fine, slung under her arm, but she's unable to strike a proper sniping pose, as she can't manage a tight, two-handed aiming pose. She can, however, do a respectable kneel.









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Airborne pose with the Freestyle Gun.









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Despite her weak shoulder joint, she can manage a pretty good pose with a weapon as heavy as the Mega Slash Edge.









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She had a really hard time holding up the weight of the Hand Gatling Guns, as her wrists would sag down even at the best of times. Thankfully after I took these photos, I repositioned the guns to peg into the sides of her arms instead and she had no trouble holding them then. The Belt Links/Energy Canisters proved so bulky that mounting them onto the backpack would force the shoulders forward, so later on, I just used a single canister, mounted on the back (after removing the two black mounting brackets to make room). I then connected two belt links from the gatlings to the canister.



I've already decided that she'll keep the gatling guns when I repaint her ^_^

SIZE COMPARISONS

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Gourai Girl stands about 15.5cm tall - about the average size for a standard Frame Arms kit, possibly the same height as the original Gourai. I don't have the kit currently on hand to compare it with, so HGUC RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.30th will have to do for now. She's at least taller than a typical 1/144 Gundam kit, which also makes her taller than a Kotobukiya REcaseal.









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She's significantly shorter than an average 1/100 scale Gundam, though - at least 2 heads shorter than RE/100 GP04 Gerbera.

BOTTOM LINE

PROS

CONS

WOULD RECOMMEND,

Frame Arms Girl GouraiKotobukiyaFrame Arms GirlFrame ArmsNon-scale4800 YenMay 2015This is a new spinoff line in Kotobukiya's proprietary series. While the main line of kits are comprised of original mecha designs in 1/100 scale, the Frame Arms Girl line makes use of the mech designs on various armored girls. This specific kit features an armored girl based on the design of the very first Frame Arms kit, theFor those not familiar with Kotobukiya kits, the plastic they use has different tolerancies as compared to Bandai's. They can be really tight, especially in joints that are plastic-on-plastic, to the point where they tend to creak in really tight contact points and most joints that don't utilize polycaps. In many cases, smaller parts may tend to pop out because they're literally being squeezed out of place. Also notable is the fact that many parts here are not kid-friendly - the hair, blades, and various other sharp edges that wouldn't be an issue in Bandai kits can potentially cut you and cause injury. Other parts are molded so thinly that they may snap if you're not especially careful. In short, Kotobukiya kits in general, are not for beginners. And this kit is no exception, so I'd strongly recommend you get experience with several Bandai kits, learning some fundamental skills before you consider taking on this kit.Please understand that this review may come with a bit of a bias, despite my attempts to be as objective as possible. After seeing all the figures in the Armor Girls Project, I couldn't help but want one as a kit for the longest time, and the Frame Arms Girl line is the closest equivalent I've seen to date, aside from the REcaseal kits. As a result, I've put in a lot of work into the build and have been happy with the results so far despite the shortcomings I'll detail below. Though as with all builds, one's experience with a kit may be wildly subjective, so please bear that in mind.- Come on - she's a cute, sexy armored girl! What's not to love?- She comes with 20 hardpoints all over her body. The Frame Arms' trademark customization potential is strong here.- Good part separation and chunky sections make for easy painting and masking.- Good quality waterslide decals, what little there are. Couldn't hurt to add more of your own.- Posability is decent enough, with plenty of feminine poses possible.- Compatible with some Kotobukiya optional weapon sets. Minor modding might be required in order to get them into her tiny hands, though.- Most of the main joints are tight, allowing her to hold her poses well.- The rear tank treads make her very stable. She's able to stand firmly even without a base.- She works very well with a Tamashii Stage or a Kotobukiya Mechanical Base should she need additional stability or opt for airborne poses.- At 4800 Yen, she's more expensive than the average Master Grade, and even the average Frame Arms kit. There are several Frame Arms kits available that offer more in terms of content and playability for less.- Like many female kits, she's quite delicate compared to her more masculine brethren. Several thin parts and especially joints makes posing certain sections (like the head and neck) a little concerning.- She comes with only a handful of equipment. And her main weapon, the bazooka, is way too unwieldy and cumbersome. It's annoying that it came with a new grip for her hand but not a mounting arm for her backpack, which would be considerably more stable.- Her shoulders are not as stiff as the rest of the joints in her limbs, which cause her arms to sag when carrying anything heavier than a rifle or sword.- Her thigh joint tends to pop out of the hip peg when you try to get the leg to go lower to clear the skirt. More often than not, you can't just pop the joint back in - you need to dislodge the ball joint, stick it in the leg socket, then peg the hip joint back in. It gets really annoying after a while.- The hardpoints on her leg that the thigh armor sockets into tend to pop off when you attempt to move said armor too much. You'll probably have to cement those in place.- Probably the biggest con, is that Gourai Girl is as of this writing, currently listed ason HLJ and is out of stock on many other online shops I frequent.You may have to put in some work into this build, but like other Frame Arms kits, it has loads of potential. More creative modelers may even opt to use her as a basis for other armored girl-type projects, substituting the Gourai armor for your preferred mecha. And I've only tried a small fraction of the available Kotobukiya optional weapons, so there's still room for customization there, especially if you do some modding to get them to work better with her.I would recommend this kit to anyone with a taste for armored girls, and anyone who's open to customization and experimentation. I'd also recommend having some moderate modeling skills, as Kotobukiya kits in general tend to be less "user-friendly" than Bandai kits. So beginners should definitely hold back on getting this, as should modelers on a budget. Definitely consider getting her if she's on sale (if you can even find her). If you do find this kit, you may consider getting it if the cons listed above haven't turned you off the purchase. I'd say you might find the change of pace from straight-up mecha kits refreshing. After building her, despite all my gripes, I'm looking forward to the upcomingbut just know what you're getting for the price and be willing to put the extra work & care into it. Otherwise, you can skip this kit.