Moderoid Gurren Lagann: Review/Showcase

Hello everyone! Moderoid Gurren Lagann is finished! So let’s get to it!

General Appearance

Before I start, I’d like to point out I did not put any of the stickers on this kit, as minimal as they are. There is a reason for that. But for now, let’s take a look at this model.

The moderoid does a real good job at capturing Gurren Lagann’s likeness, even in a chibi form.

The detail is pretty good, too — for instance, the teeth/hatch inside the mouth of Gurren is a nice touch.

And impressive detail is the glasses, the smokey clear color really is excellent, and the yellow eyes just pop out.

Even the detail on the back is pretty sweet.

Then we have the small mechanical detail, no hollow points, which is always a plus.

A major plus to this particular model is the color separation. Again, I have not done any painting or stickers on this model. The colors just pop!

Articulation

While it looks pretty good, how does it hold up for articulation?

Well…

The head can move left and right, but cannot move up; this is due to the helmet hitting its back.

It can look down as well.

The arms are on a ball joint that pretty much gives 360 degrees of articulation. However, the arm will hit against the glasses and the head and head crest.

The arm can extend out this far.

The arm can also do a kind of out of socket movement. That’s mostly because of the slanted angle the shoulders are on.

The shoulder pads can rotate around thanks to being mounted via a ball joint.

The arms have the right amount of articulation. The upper arm can spin around.

Same with the lower arm.

The elbow has a beautiful 90-degree bend.

And the fist can spin around thanks to its ball joint.

The torso is quite impressive: the upper half of the body can lean back,

…and crunch down. This gives the face on the chest a more dramatic look.

However, you cannot really rotate around the upper half of the torso.

But we have a proper hip rotation which makes up for it.

Then we come to the legs, and being legs, they are the polar opposite of the arms.

The legs are on ball joints and can move forward this far.

And this far back.

And spread about this far.

And, the feet are on ball joints.

Unlike the arms, the legs come across pretty limited with the lack of knees. But more on that later.

Accessories/Gimmicks

Gurren Lagann has a fair bit of accessories to look at, each really capturing the spirit of the show.

Starting off, we have two of these open fists (left and right).

Two open palms (left and right).

A single pointing finger.

For the next accessory, we need to remove the sunglasses from the chest.

(Do be careful and not bend or break the peg, it is pretty slender.)

Then take this much flat and larger set of glasses, or boomerang.

Then place it in the open fist.

For the next accessory, remove one of the hands.

Then pop in the Giga drill.

And here we have the Giga Drill Breaker!

Now for the gimmicks of this figure!

First, we need to remove Gurren Lagann’s head.

Next, we need to remove the armor around the head itself.

Next, we take these additional limbs.

After a quick plugin, we have Lagann.

Now Lagann doesn’t have a lot of articulation, but it does have some.

The first significant thing of articulation is that Lagann’s arms are on ball joints, which allow it to move around almost every way.

The arms are on pegs, which would enable the arms to rotate around.

The same goes for the hands, however the arm guards to stop them from doing a full 360. (A trend I’ve noticed)

Next, we have the stubby little legs, which are on ball joints as well, which allow for some nice articulation, but nothing more than that.

Back to the main body, there is a hole for a stand.

Then and part of the gimmick that goes with the Nendoroid Simon, we have an opened hatch on the top of Gurren Lagann.

Size Comparison

Next, we have a size comparison.

The figure itself is honestly pretty big, and I say that due to its proportions. It is a massive chibi figure all things considered.

Here is a comparison to the Full-Drilized Gurren Lagann Revoltech.

Next, the Nedororid Kamina.

Issues

So, issues, and there are honestly a few things we need to talk about.

The first major issue I’d like to talk about is, when removing Laggan (the head), the parts start to separate. For some reason, when putting the head back on to the torso, it isn’t a good fit and comes off slightly loose.

Speaking of separating, some seam lines bug me, primarily on the arms.

Next, I’d like to talk about the nub marks, now there are lots of nub marks, and it just gets kind of annoying.

However, the worst nub marks are on the glasses, both the mounted and boomerang ones, the clear plastic that is used does not look good with nub marks.

Speaking of glasses, because of the material, these glasses can and will, smudge.

And then we have an enjoyable little thing going on, where basically every point on this model, it SHARP! No joke, like, just sharp. So be aware.

An opportunity I feel Good smile missed was giving us option parts to make Gurren. If you are a Gurren Lagann fan, you’ll know that Gurren Lagann is made of two robots. Lagann, the head which we can build, and Gurren, the body. Who just sits there with a giant hole in hits head and well, just seems like a missed opportunity.

And finally, the most unfortunate part, at least in my opinion of this figure, is the joints. The poly caps they use are kind of strange, and I recommend sanding them down or maybe even tightening the joints. Because boy does this figure love to pop apart at the joints.

Pros

With that said, this figure is not all bad; in fact, I like it and think it is rather cute.

A lot of the issues I’ve pointed out with articulation can honestly be ignored with a straightforward way of looking at it. This is a Nendoroid model kit. The proportions and articulation are very much in line with most Nendoroids. And this figure is meant to be partnered with a Nendoroid. With that, I can honestly look past the articulation.

The next major pro is the color separation. I really like how it turned out; the separation is clean, and it really doesn’t need that much work color-wise, even the small details on the arm guards are present.

The weapons are pretty lovely too, really it is all the iconic weapons that Gurren Lagann carries.

The sunglasses are also a plus, I’m thrilled it wasn’t a solid piece of plastic.

The biggest plus I have for this figure is the fact that, despite not having Simon, it doesn’t take away anything significant from this kit. The kit can stand alone pretty well.

Conclusion

By all means, this kit isn’t perfect, and the moderoid line is honestly pretty new. So I can’t really fault Good Smile Company on this. I had a ton of fun building it. I love Gurren Lagann, and I was delighted to get a hold of this kit. So let’s just have some fun with a quick little gallery.

Again, I really enjoy this kit, but! I did mention that I wasn’t going to put stickers on it? That’s because I plan on working on this kit. If that interests you and you want to do something similar to your own copy of Modoroid Gurren Laggan, feel free to follow along. Until then,

– Zeroconvoy

Get your own here:
– MODEROID Gurren Lagann