When G.M.G. dropped early 2021 I was caught completely unaware and quickly developed a symptom of advanced jawdrop. It didn't help once I had the figures in hand either - I hadn't had this much fun with mini figures since good ol' Assault Kingdom. Naturally I have been keeping a close eye on the series' development since then and struck like a cobra when the first items hit the Mandarake store in late April.
If you missed them last time around, the MegaHouse G.M.G. figures are highly articulated action figures with a lot of accessories and swappable hands, kind of like the Robot Spirits figures for mobile suits themselves. Scaled at 1:18 the first set saw a trio of Zeon soldiers and so it was only natural that a follow-up featuring Earth Federation infantry should appear.
Similar to the previous set, we get three apparently nondescript characters in basic uniform. If they are made to the likeness of any characters that appear in a game, manga or anime it is beyond my knowledge I'm afraid. Each figure features a different body type and set of accessories, some of which are shared and some which are unique to each figure. The Zeon soldiers each carried a part of a heavy machine gun to be combined (as a lure to get you to invest in the full set). Here the shared components are still themed together but function on their own in isolation and so do no not utilize the same merciless sales tactic.
Earth Federation Soldier 01
There is no innovation in the packaging since last time, we still get the oversized cardboard boxes that feature two separate plastic trays for the components. Since they aren't visible from outside anyway this seems like a tremendous waste of space and probably only exists to increase shelf-presence. I plan to discard the accessory trays and keep two figures in each box instead because yes, of course I want to buy two of each.
The first E.F.F. soldier is the normal build type. He wears the basic federation uniform which appears ill-suited for waging war but on the other hand it works equally well on the bridge of a starship and so is quite useful for whatever environment you want to place them in. Articulation is mainly centered around a set of tiny balljoints with double-jointed swivel action in the elbows and knees. Hands operate using traditional swivel action but also feature an extra swivel of their own at the wrist. The feet sit on very fragile balljoints (haven't managed to break one this time...) and the toes feature an extra bend action as well.
Each Zeon figure came with two different head sculpts, basically helmeted and non-helmeted versions. Still, the faces were quite different and you can easily work them as six individual characters rather than three which I took as excuse for purchasing a second set. There are some design differences with the E.F.F. soldiers however since these are clearly the same people which means I'm not sure if it is such a good idea to double them up. This disappoints me a bit because I definitely prefer being able to create two unique characters rather than giving the same soldier a minor cosmetic difference. The Earth Federation soldiers also introduce swappable face parts with a unique expression for each of them as we shall see some examples of below, an invention not present in the Zeon gang.
Just like the Zeon soldiers, all Federation troops have access to a battle harness which allows them to carry additional gear. Putting it on means exploding the upper body of the figure and so I don't really want to mess with these too much, they tend to stay on once I have attached them. Each federation harness comes with two peg holes on the front side for minor pockets and holsters (replacing the ones on the uniform) and a universal plug on the back side for donning one of the extra pieces of equipment.
Soldier one comes with a rubbery poncho that can be carried on top of the uniform. I found that it didn't really fit over the helmet but fine with the un-helmeted heads. On the back you can see this soldier's back mounted gear, a small utility pack. All the Federation soldiers can carry each others' backpacks but the Zeon and federation figures have different pegs so you cannot mix and match between them, which I find rather disappointing and a missed opportunity for some extra fun.
Besides combat gear and weapons our frontline man also carries some field rations complete with a sticker sheet to label them. This is really neat but the stickers are of the usual type that will begin to unwrap themselves and so you may want to skip them. The jars all have a nice metallic finish to them anyway.
Earth Federation Soldier 02
Taking a cue from the Zeon team figure 02 is the large burly man although he doesn't appear to be quite as grumpy as his spacenoid counterpart. Although the box looks pretty full to begin with when you boil it down you don't really get a whole lot of equipment here, which I find a bit suspicious. The federation soldiers all carry the same rifle and sidearm, soldier one carries a bazooka and this guy some kind of man-portable mortar (I guess..?). The third soldier has no extra weapon at all, which seems a bit lacking.
While this bloke's body is a bit more compact it does not affect the articulation noticeably. As with the Zeon gang all team members also have their own personal size battle harnesses. The Zeon harnesses even carried the figure's number on them but not so here, presumably because there is no good spot to place it. You shouldn't have any trouble figuring out which gear goes with which person if you mix them up, however.
I'm sorry, but what the hell is going on here? At first I thought this man carried a really small beret but it appears to be his weird choice of hairstyle. This makes it even harder for me to motivate purchasing a second figure for army-building purposes. A little bit depressing.
Our second man has the same type of battle harness as the others but also carries a little backpack that can be worn directly over the uniform. It has a dubious colour resembling a school bag more than anything but at least it is nice to have an optional piece of gear. Next to it we have the strange portable mortar or single-use rocket launcher; I'm not sure how it is supposed to be used. The guy on the box cover just carries it under his arm.
Battle fatigue? Once Amuro went around and beat up all the Zakus single-handedly all that was left to do was eat rations or read cheap magazines, but hey, a soldier's life is never easy. Again you will find that perhaps these accessories work better without the provided stickers. It wouldn't be too hard to pen some lines into the open pages yourself and the colour matching between the stickers and plastic also leaves a bit to be desired.
Earth Federation Soldier 03
Our feddie team is rounded out - to no one's surprise - by a female soldier. As equipment goes, she is really stuck with the junk. Apart from the two basic weapons and harness she doesn't even get the backpack but instead a flight pack option. She also has a pair of binoculars and a a smoke grenade. I note that the grenade does not have peg that allows it to be carried in belt, something that was present in the Zeon explosive grenade. Overall each team member in the Earth Federation unit has the exact same two accessories for their belts; one carrying pocket and a tiny pistol holster. Unlike the Zeon soldiers their belts also do not feature any peg holes on the back, so carrying limit is also down from four to two. I think this is a little sad, it wouldn't exactly have exploded the budget to throw in a couple of extra carrying pockets and/or grenades to be able to customize each soldier's loadout a bit. The last two accessories are just random junk, a banged up canister where the crew have started a camping fire and an enormous spent bullet casing, presumably from a mobile suit machine gun round.
Soldier three is the shortest and leanest build of the three and I find the easiest to do dynamic poses. I haven't brought it up in the review yet but remember to be very careful when you break in the individual joints or you may find that you break them off instead. New figures can have very tight ball joints specifically, avoid using force with uncooperative joints whenever you can. Once used they quickly loosen up and I wonder if too much playing around will present issues further down the road. I always try not to stress the figures too much.
I really would have liked a different hairstyle here but we have to make do with a simple helmeted option. I realize now that another really cool accessory would have been a headset. There are so many characters doing comms duty in Gundam storylines that it would have been a handy inclusion. By the way, doesn't the helmet look a tad bit uncomfortable? It reminds me of my first week in basic training. The first helmet I received was like a large bowl and when I hit the dirt it would inevitably fall forward over my eyes like an auto-blinding sci-fi visor...
Conclusion
While I may have brought up a point or two in this review where I think MegaHouse took an easy way out I really treasure the G.M.G. figures and perhaps even the Earth Federation team a bit more. While the accessory count is a little bit limited for this group the optional face parts are a fun gimmick but I would really like MegaHouse to consider shipping alternate character heads to encourage proper army-building. Stay tuned for the third set which is intended to hit the stores in September and will feature none other than Char Aznable himself together with a pair of really gritty looking mobile suit pilots. Looking forward to see them in action!
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