Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - Detail shots (1/4)

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - Galleon form with Gao Machines removed (1/3)

Galleon form with Gao Machines removed

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - In the Galleon's Fusion form combined with the Gao Machines, the chest armor and head decoratio

In the Galleon's Fusion form combined with the Gao Machines, the chest armor and head decoration can be assembled in 2 different configurations.

Extra parts needed to strip off the Gao Machines and convert to Galleon form

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - Inner body state with Galleon armor also removed (1/3)

Inner body state with Galleon armor also removed

The 3 Gao Machines

Liner Gao

Stealth Gao

Drill Gao

Using the extra parts, you can also recreate the Liner Gao transport configuration.

The Stealth Gao's ducts can be attached in either open or closed position.

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - When attaching the Stealth Gao to the back, you can disassemble the lower section as shown and

When attaching the Stealth Gao to the back, you can disassemble the lower section as shown and get a clean finish like on the right.

When using Drill Gao as legs, it can be transformed as shown above.

You can also recreate the form with both Drill Gao and Stealth Gao attached.

At this point, insert the hidden fixing pin inside Drill Gao into the wrist.

Drill Gao/Stealth Gao attached state

To achieve the Powered Suit state, you need to bring in the separate sub-arms and reassemble.

Powered Suit state with four arms

Three face options are available to choose from.

11 standard hands and 4 GaoGaiGar-specific hand types are included.

A nicely sculpted Dividing Driver is also included.

The Broken Magnum punch is also reproducible.

Leftover parts

Limb articulation

Inner body poses

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar - Galleon poses (1/3)

Galleon poses

Drill Gao/Stealth Gao attached state poses

Powered Suit state poses

Broken Magnum pose

Aerial pose

Protect Shade recreated with 2 different hand types

Hell and Heaven pose

Dividing Driver pose

Together with Frame Arms Girl Gourai Kai.

Together with the D-Style GaoGaiGar.

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar has been released as a spin-off lineup from Frame Arms Girl. The basic format is the same as Frame Arms Girl, but the concept applies the design of famous robots as armor worn over the inner body. It came out with a surprisingly generous set of contents, though at a steep price (¥8100..).

First off, it can be configured in multiple stages — the Galleon form with just a bit of armor added to the inner body, and then the full GaoGaiGar form with all 3 Gao Machines attached, making it a 3-stage setup. On top of that, you can also do variations like attaching Drill Gao and/or Stealth Gao individually or together, and by adding the sub-arms you can even recreate the Powered Suit form with four arms.

The Gao Machines — Liner Gao, Stealth Gao, and Drill Gao — are each nicely realized in their own right, and some of their combination gimmicks are reproduced as well. For weapons, GaoGaiGar's Dividing Driver is included with excellent sculpting, and using the Broken Magnum fist-launching feature plus the extra hand parts, you can even pull off Hell and Heaven and Protect Shade poses. It's impressive how well GaoGaiGar's iconic poses and gimmicks are reproduced on a girlpla inner body — better than expected — and a pretty substantial number of parts are included to make that happen.

That said, while there's a huge number of options, the sheer volume of combination parts can get a bit overwhelming, and as a result some parts don't hold together all that securely. In particular, the twin-tail hair pieces on the head are quite loose and pop off easily, and if the waist joint takes force at the wrong angle during posing, the chest armor keeps falling off. I even tried gluing things down out of frustration, but no matter how much I glued, pieces kept getting pushed out and coming loose. Also, in the fully combined GaoGaiGar state there are so many moving parts that getting a good pose locked in is pretty tricky — overall it's a kit that's a bit of a hassle to pose.

There are definitely some frustrating points, but the sheer variety of configurations does bring a lot of satisfaction. If you're a fan of girlplas and grew up loving GaoGaiGar, this is a pretty unique kit well worth picking up — though as always, the biggest sticking point will be the price, which feels steep for what you get. :-)

Cross Frame Girl GaoGaiGar | 2019.6 | ¥8,100

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.