In the advent of the real robot genre in the 80's, one of the classics to come out was L-Gaim. It belonged to those who were thought of as mechas with almost realistic aspects in their functionality like say they use normal guns that run out of ammo at some point, well clearly the point being is that they don't just magically sprout off hands that just flew off their wrists and exploded in the enemy's face, nor would they tend to shout out their attacks before proceeding to shoot their enemies (shouldn't the enemies have taken notice of that?) with colorful beams in the shape of an egg or a letter 'V' which would undeniably end in a cloud of mushroom of whatever shape or form, for that matter; real robot shows were spiced with militaristic flavor, added with the usual political intrigue, backhand dealings between rival arms dealers and their supporters/clients, displays of betrayal and loyalty and courage and everything in between, the occasional musicals that would either make you teary eyed or would make you want to puke, the protagonist who happens to be a child and a noob and surprise, surprise, he just might know better than the adults on how to save the day, thereby rendering them useless, and then there's this love conquers all thing...
Presenting the Robot Damashii L-Gaim Mk-II. Tomino. Stylish. Classic. And it comes in pretty big, eye catchy box! Everything on display on the window.
By now you might think that just a bit more gravitas could be well afforded when it comes to referencing to these type of shows as compared to your usual diet of kiddie fare, but no. That's probably not the case. Why of course, these were primarily aimed at children, what else did you expect? Off with the introductions now.. L-Gaim came from the same creator of that wildly popular real robot franchise, yes that Gundam. I'm pretty sure you must have heard it already from somewhere.. Though a little more obscure from the masses, that shouldn't be the case with long time fans of Super Robot Wars games. Especially in older titles, L-gaim's story arcs are one of the major plots in the game. But sadly, there were not a lot of merchandise that appeared for the series after the new decade came along.
Quite obviously it didn't get much love from the toy makers but the fans took care of that issue, making sure that Bandai knew that they would expect nothing less but a toy line from this series by having L-gaim garner the number 1 spot of 'which robot action figure would you want to have next' poll they conducted back in 2009 or 2010.
Pretty long intro huh? Which of course by now you must have guessed that I don't have that much pics to share. But that aside, let me start of with this:
Now that's a closer look at the figure. Let me just remind you, this is an action figure and not a kit. It comes pre-painted and pre-assembled. Plug and play if you may. It comes with a very long mega beam launcher, named just like the Zeta Gundam's. I might just show you that, once I get to complete that Master Grade of mine which has been sitting in its box for about a year now. Aside from that it's got a pair of beam sabers, only this time in yellow which you just might see on the upper right of the first pic up top. Also it's provided with the same beam rifle as that of the original L-Gaim, which you can opt to use instead of the big gun, though I could say that it's not as eye catching. Also there are tons of other accessories, of which there are more than you might care to put in one posing.
So here he is, straight out of the box. He can sure do stand on his own with no problems at all. And all this after I have attached that neat looking little backpack of his. Only problem I encountered was that it was real hard to pose the arms when I try to use that Mega Beam Launcher. Given it's size, well it is to be expected that balance issues will come out of it. Meanwhile, MG Char's Zaku version 2.0 is right behind to extend a helping hand..
Well I just swear that the first thought that came to me was L-Gaim saying 'no you can't have it', just like a little child from whom you are trying to steal that piece of candy.. Such a bully.
Anyways for a Robot Damashii figure, this guy sure is tall. Pretty much they are of even height between them, but when it comes to width, the MG easily wins. That and the soft pink colors, just pure win for Char. =)
Now I just have two robot damashii figures at the moment, three soon if I am going to get lucky by tomorrow. But for a size comparison, here is the RD Victory 2 Gundam. It is miniature looking, if not for the damashii stage act 4 base it sits on. I actually tried out that base with the L-Gaim but to no luck. Matter of fact, the L-Gaim MkII has a special crotch connector provided but let me just tell you that it is pure crap. The connector isn't wide enough for it to sit on comfortably, and worse it doesn't lock into place. Sadly, in the end it is just not of any use for me.
For display purposes I might just as well hold it myself. Having said that, maybe I'll try doing that for a week just to see how it feels. Oh and one more thing, the guy transforms into a waverider form, or something like a flying jet. But then I am not one for doing transformation on transforming toys, so I'll just leave you with some boxart samples at the very least.
Just the same pic, but since I got lazy I just inserted the box right behind. Lazy me. =D
All in all, this is a pretty awesome figure. The details are top notch, bits and pieces move here and there, and it is just proportioned as so that when you see it on display, this figure would be sure to catch your attention. Sleek and sharply designed, futuristic, heavily armed, transformable and all in glorious white, need I say more? Only downside is the posing for its huge ass gun, the inability to make use of the stand, and then there is the price, which is quite high, given that it is Y4500 (Japan).
Just look for around hobby shops that would give good deals. Tell you what, I got mine off of Ebay for 70% off. Sweet deal for a great figure, no?
