Sentinel – Riobot – Gurren Lagann

October 16, 2021Figure Reviews,  Reviews,  ,  ,  
ROW ROW! FIGHT THE POWER!
Do The Impossible
See The Invisible
Raw! Raw!
Fight The Power!
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is one of the most hype mecha series ever that it is well-known even outside of the genre due to its overwhelming shonen tropes and the eccentric animation of studio Trigger’s Hiroyuki Imaishi and Akira Amemiya. The hot-blooded courage of men, the emotional loss of a comrade, the unbreakable determination to protect what’s dear to a person, and so on. It is also a love letter to the mecha genre, especially Getter Robo, Gunbuster and other Super Robots. And of course, Sentinel also paid the series a love letter by making a Riobot Gurren Lagann, which is one of the most amazing Gurren Lagann figure until this day.
+ Sculpt & Painting: Riobot figures usually have a bit of a modern redesign compared to their original model with more mechanical details. The Riobot GL has just enough added to it that it doesn’t look as barren as it does in the show. The anime depict it like a living warrior with 2 cockpits rather than a full-on mechanical entity. The figure however add more details, break the color pallet out a bit and added more gray and gunmetal, which makes it more….robot-y. The proportion is beautiful, still keeping the overall shape of a samurai with impeccable painting. The red and gold really pops and the Dai-Gurren shoulder badges are perfect. The face-sculpt are also very well done, which is pretty surprising considering the size of this figure, which is only around a HG gundam size – about 14cm.
+ Articulation: Riobot excels at this aspect. And of course Gurren Lagann is no exception. The range on this guy is very impressive. Shoulders, elbows, thighs, knees, torso are all very flexible. The figure has no problem pulling off the poses in the anime. The joint-gimmicks are also very nicely engineered. When you twist the torso, the eyes on Gurren face moves along with the direction of the chest, which is very cool. The back of the calves also has 3 separate moving panels which adds to the mechanical feel. Coupled with the amount of accessories this guy come with, you can pretty much channel the full might of the Spiral Power and pull off extremely dynamic and photogenic poses!
+ Accessories: the figure comes with everything you need to pierce the heaven (well except one thing). Included in the package is the Gurren Wing, 3 drills – 1 large 2 small, 2 drill gauntlets, a screaming face, 1 gurren boomerang, 4 pairs of hands (including the pointing one) and a basic riobot display base. The chest glasses can also be use with the Gurren boomerang but it’s not straightened out for obvious reasons. The Drills’ lines are painted with green accent which looks really cool. Too bad there is no huge Giga Drill Break part or Full-Drillized set but you should have all the things you need to make him badass.
There are many, many toys of the Drill Boy out there in the market: the Konami Great Impact, the Super Robot Chogokin, the CCSTOYS, etc… But the Riobot still stand as one of the best Gurren Lagann out there. Many other figures at a more premium price point has a lot of things they did better, but not many can boast the all-rounder value like the Sentinel version. Great looks, amazing posability, ample accessories and gimmicks, the Riobot will be a nice addition to your collection. If you find the Riobot a bit too pricey, you can grab the Plaiobot version as well, it’s basically the Riobot sculpt but with less accessories and is unpainted, but much cheaper.