G Gundam Mobile Fighter by Bandai Action Figure Review: Noble Gundam

From Star Wars' EV-9D9, to Hajime Sorayama's Sexy Robots artwork, to The Buggles' "I Love You, Miss Robot" and even the Andy Kauffman flop Heartbeeps, there isn't really anything new about the concept of a "female" robot. A giant Swedish female robot, dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl, who fights with a gymnastics-style twirling ribbon... well, that still has some novelty value left.

Noble Gundam, also known as Nobel Gundam, is supposed to represent Sweden in the worldwide Gundam fighting contest, though it's clear that her outfit is modelled after a Japanese schoolgirl uniform, in particular bringing to mind fellow anime star Sailor Moon. Interestingly enough, her face is not particularly feminine, instead having more of a Transformers look to it.

Action Figure Sculpt and Paint: 7.5
Though a fairly small 4.5" figure, the overall accuracy and level of detail is excellent. The neck seems to be slightly long, but I'm pretty sure this is a design choice, so as to allow better head articulation, rather than an oversight. She stands up easily, though she tends to topple when holding her ribbon accessory. On the negative side, the paint was somewhat sloppy on our reviewed figure. I try not to hold that against an otherwise-good figure too much, but I'm sure some collectors would care.

Articulation: 10
The articulation is everything you could possibly want in such a small figure. The head is ball-jointed and can swivel, There's two points of shoulder articulation, upper-arm (bicep) articulation, elbow, and ball-jointed hands. The waist turns, both hips are sperately ball-jointed, and there's two points at each knee. The ankles are articulated with ball joints as well, but forward motion is somewhat limited due to the chunky shoes and fairly think lower legs. While it's obviously an easier thing to articulate a robot figure than a human, as hiding the artivculation points isn't necessary, this figure is a fine example of doing it right. She's a perfect 10.

Accessories: 8
Japanese-based toys often feature removable hands, and Noble Gundam is no exception. She comes with a total of 5 (why 5?) including her default fists. The other three are two open hands--or possibly karate-chop hands--and one clenched right hand in to which either of the ribbons can fit. The two gymnastics ribbons or "beam ribbons" are pink and translucent, and both short and long versions (in a spiral pattern that fits around the figure) are included. There's also a replacement upper back for the figure showing her rocket thrusters out, and replacement "hair" for her berzerk mode. Finally, and perhaps most impressively, there's a little tank with a crane of some sort on it. It really looks like it should be articulated, but it isn't, although the crane pops off. All told, an impressive number of accessories, and all fairly good, but nothing with a high "wow" factor.

Packaging: +0
Standard bubble packaging on cardboard backing board. Does the job.

Overall score: 8
Wonderful articulation and solid accessories, not to mention a high wierdness factor, save this from being just another robot action figure. Recommended to fans of the series, or collectors of odd Japanese stuff.

Availability:
Should be easy to find in the USA. As of this review, K B Toys had quite a few of them. They're also on Amazon.