HI-METAL R Glaug by Bandai – Available From HobbyLink Japan
By Cacophanus from Mecha Damashii
Following the unboxing, here is the review for the HI-METAL R Glaug from the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Bandai has yet again excelled here and the results are amazing. If you’re a Macross fan then this is going to make you very happy indeed!
As I said previously, while the Glaug has had some kits over the years it’s never really had any proper toys to speak of. This new toy changes all that and as the HI-METAL R toys are smaller than the other Bandai, Yamato, and Arcadia toys, the Glaug can be done to the scale it finally deserves.
The design itself is not overly gimmick ridden, as the Glaug was meant as a commander battle pod for the Zentradi. The result of this is that the focus is more on the joints and articulation.
While the cockpit opens, there is sadly no Zentradi figure within it. However, it’s a nice touch and the internal detailing is done well.
The joints on the legs are solid and the reverse jointed knees are diecast, and so are very sturdy. They are also ratcheted and make a nice clicking sound when you set up poses.
The feet and “toes” are nicely articulated and can sit flat on the ground regardless of the angle of the legs.
You also get a stand included but this Glaug toy is very stable and doesn’t really need the stand for most of the ground-based poses.
The arms and their chunky cannons are also handled nicely, with lots of joints across each arm. That said, as the cannons are quite large and bulky, it is recommended that you handle the arms with care. The joint joining the cannons and arms is quite fragile; while I’ve not had any issues with it myself it’s still best to be careful.
In addition to all the main limbs, the small guns at the front of the cockpit pivot and the main gun atop the Glaug can swivel around.
The big takeaway for me on the Glaug was that it’s not only nice and big but has really beautiful detailing throughout, not to mention an excellent sculpt. I genuinely think Kazutaka Miyatake would be proud of this toy.
To give you a bit of an idea as to the size of this Glaug toy, I also included my VF-1S Strike Valkyrie from the same HI-METAL R range for comparison. While the Glaug could be a bit bigger, it’s definitely in the ballpark in terms of its relative size and it clearly towers over a Valkyrie (as it should).
All told then, this is an excellent toy of the Glaug and comes recommended to fans of classic Macross that want to recreate all those memorable battles from the show.
