I think it is fair to say that the Gasha Portraits figure line is the closest thing we have today to the various Mobile Suit Gundam-themed Gashapon figure series from the early 2000s. However, Bandai Namco doesn't do "simple" retail Gacha figures anymore and this is exclusively a Premium Bandai product like the other Gundam-sets released through the brand. I have noticed that the prices of Gundam-character figurines have gone up a bit on the secondary market in the last couple of years but overall they are still fairly good value.
Today we are examining the latest Gundam-themed Gasha Portraits set which - of course - focuses on GQuuuuuuX, much like the focus was exclusively on SEED Freedom earlier. It gets a little tiresome that all brands are featuring the same figures in parallel but that is often what the market is like today. The Gasha Portraits brand has been subtly changed to "GQuuuuuuX Portraits" on the box. Actually, I'm not sure what the status of the retail Gasha Portraits figure line is these days - for some reason I only seem to come across these figures when these premium products drop... The GQuuuuuuX Machu and Nyaan set opened for pre-order earlier in the year and was delivered to customers in October 2025.
There are multiple different product identification numbers on these boxes. Beside the barcode I can spot two additional identification numbers and I'm curious why this is.
If you are familiar with the Pokemon Scale World figure series this packaging will feel very familiar (ironic perhaps since the GQuuuuuuX character designs really look like modern Pokemon trainers...). The figures are safely sandwiched between two layers of plastic and wrapped in a plastic bag to prevent paint scratching. The box is quite airy which will give additional protection but as a result the boxes themselves are sometimes a bit compressed as can be seen on this second-hand item. I picked it up from Mandrake for ¥5000 and they are currently selling for around ¥6000 there.
Here we have the duo in what I believe their smallest figure form as of yet (not counting chibi plushies or similar) atop a school bench. The first impression is very good. The material is mainly hard and not prone to bending (even though there is some softer PVC mixes in places) and of course is devoid of any articulation. Think of each figure as a statue.
If we zoom in a little closer you can see the careful attention to detail, the beautiful comic book-style rounded shapes and the overall impressive paint applications. I think these look insanely good.
Here is a closer look at the eyes. The shape of the eyes and the colour choices are indeed cartoony but I have no complaints here. Something I am not a fan of however is the weird colour choices for the hair, I don't think these green and violet highlights look good at all. I hade the same issue with several of the character designs from The Witch of Mercury, it appears to be a current design thing to throw in odd colours in the hair of Gundam characters recently and I'm not a fan. The choice of giving Machu a cellphone (which looks very 2020s era) is of course also a questionable idea when you are designing your alternate future universe but we can't fault the manufacturer for this, but rather the style of the show in general.
This cliché school bench is the only accessory included in the pack and you have to wonder if school furniture is doomed to remain in the late 20th century style forever. Jokes aside it is a nice prop that you can easily adopt into custom dioramas if you have other figures roughly the same size. I think it would have been fun if the designers included maybe a chair as well, especially if could have supported one seated figure as well.
These figures do not have any bases or connecting pegs and rely solely on gravity to stay where they are when placed on the desk. This opens up many possibilities for you to pose the figures however you see fit. The figures are completely flat underneath and so you can place them on any flat surface you fancy, if you are feeling particularly brave you can let Nyaan sit on the edge of your shelf and dangle her legs in the air for example.
Overall this is a really neat set and easily one of the better entries for Gundam-themed figures in the Gasha Portraits line (follow the Gasha Portraits tag in this review to see reviews of the previous sets). On the other hand, the high price and the rather specific artistic style of GQuuuuuuX characters in general can serve as drawbacks that will limit the appeal for some. If you are interested however I think now is a good time to get it since a fairly good number of sets are currently out on the secondary market but over time these might become harder to find.
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