Kit Review

Straight build

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Size comparison with a cigarette pack — I was caught off guard by how much bigger it is than

Size comparison with a cigarette pack
It's way bigger than I expected, honestly caught me off guard ^^;

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Just look at the comparison shot with the MG Gundam and you'll see just how massive this thi

Just look at the comparison shot with the MG Gundam and you'll see just how massive this thing is..

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Detail shots (1/4)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

The barrel sections spread apart and can be reconfigured to look almost like a hand.

You can open up the various locking gimmicks on the torso to seat a Frame Arms Girl inside.

Only 3 leftover parts.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - These parts are technically called spare parts, but honestly they're pretty much just leftov

These parts are technically called spare parts, but honestly they're pretty much just leftover parts.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Just like the Frame Arms Girl Baselard, the face is blank and a variety of eye options are i

Just like the Frame Arms Girl Baselard, the face is blank and a variety of eye options are included as waterslide decals.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Articulation test for the arms and legs. The joint structure looks a bit odd at first glance

Articulation test for the arms and legs.
The joint structure looks a bit odd at first glance, but the articulation is actually pretty good.

It looks great with the Frame Arms Girl Gourai riding inside.

You'll need to remove the rear skirt to get Gourai seated in there.

The locking pins move up and down, so you can flexibly adjust the mounting position.

The footrest positions can also be arranged freely.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Frame Arms Girl Gourai seated inside. (1/3)

Frame Arms Girl Gourai seated inside.

Locks in nice and securely.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Action pose (1/5)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Action pose (2/5)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Action pose (3/5)

Action pose

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - The manual said you could seat the Frame Arms Gourai in there too, so I gave it a shot.. but

The manual said you could seat the Frame Arms Gourai in there too, so I gave it a shot..
But it doesn't fit well and won't stay locked in place -_-

Legs spread front and back to convert into tank mode.

Closing up the body covers.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - The upper and lower body are symmetrical in design. The left side shows all covers open, and

The upper and lower body are symmetrical in design. The left side shows all covers open, and the right side shows them closed.

Disassemble the arms and legs, then reattach everything except the center footrest section.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Configured in tank mode. (1/3)

Configured in tank mode.

Underside

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - The manual showed placing a Frame Arms Kagutsuchi-Kou on top, so I tried it out.. but struct

The manual showed placing a Frame Arms Kagutsuchi-Kou on top, so I tried it out..
But structurally it doesn't lock in well and something just feels off about the fit.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Separate the upper and lower body again and reconfigure them, and you can build the Blitz Gu

Separate the upper and lower body again and reconfigure them, and
you can build the Blitz Gunner (upper body) and Movable Crawler (lower body) as individual units.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Insert the arm sections into the central body gimmick, then build the handle onto the body p

Insert the arm sections into the central body gimmick, then build the handle onto the body parts and combine.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Upper body configured as the Blitz Gunner. (1/4)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Upper body configured as the Blitz Gunner. (2/4)

Upper body configured as the Blitz Gunner.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Frame Arms Girl Gourai seated inside. (1/4)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Frame Arms Girl Gourai seated inside. (2/4)

Frame Arms Girl Gourai seated inside.

Reposition the autocannon on the lower body (configured in tank mode) as shown above.

Using the dedicated machine gun hand to mount the machine gun on the sub-arm.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Lower body configured as the Movable Crawler. (1/4)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - Lower body configured as the Movable Crawler. (2/4)

Lower body configured as the Movable Crawler.

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian - The Blitz Gunner and Movable Crawler — both of these were also released as separate individu

The Blitz Gunner and Movable Crawler.
Both of these were also released as separate individual kits.

This is the Gigantic Arms series Powered Guardian, released as part of Kotobukiya's M.S.G. (Modeling Support Goods) line. It's primarily designed to be compatible with Frame Arms Girls, and the upper body of the Powered Guardian — the Blitz Gunner — and the lower body — the Movable Crawler — were also released separately as individual products.

First off, since this is a combined kit of the Blitz Gunner + Movable Crawler, you'll want to read the review with the combined form as the baseline. The combined name, Powered Guardian, is a ride-on powered suit — think the power loader from Aliens or the AMP suit from Avatar. According to the manual's guide, it pairs best with the Frame Arms Girl Gourai; you remove Gourai's rear skirt and she can be locked into the center section.

And as you can see in the photos, there are support arms, sub-arms, and footrests hanging all around — top, sides, and bottom — to hold the figure in place, so once Gourai is seated and locked in, she's actually quite stable.

Above all, anyone building this kit will probably be just as surprised as I was — it's way bigger than you'd expect. As you can see from the comparison shot with the MG 1/100 Gundam, it feels almost PG-sized. Most Kotobukiya kits feel small for the price, but this one is so large that ¥4800 almost seems too good to be true. So if you love big, imposing kits you'll be very happy, but on the flip side, it does take up a lot of display space, so that might be a downside for some.

When something is this big, you naturally start worrying about durability and joint strength. Fortunately, the locking points throughout are solid and everything holds its pose well. Kotobukiya joints can be a bit iffy at the best of times, and this kit has far more moving parts than most — so the fact that they've handled the joint strength so well here is genuinely impressive, hats off to them ^^

True to its nature as an MSG-style accessory kit, the Powered Guardian lets you disassemble and reassemble the body, arms, and legs into all sorts of creative mech configurations. There are tons of mounting pins and holes all over the place so you can plug things in just about anywhere, like LEGO. The most obvious example is spreading the caterpillar-style legs and laying the body flat to form a tank, and you can even combine the upper body of another Frame Arms kit on top of that.

The manual also mentions that you can seat non-Frame Arms Girl Frame Arms mechs in the center section.. so I actually tried putting in the original Frame Arms Gourai, but it wouldn't lock in properly and didn't look great either, so I can't really recommend it. To me, it's clearly designed specifically for Frame Arms Girls.

Anyway, it's an interesting kit for the sheer variety of configurations — LEGO-style — and of course for being able to seat a cute Frame Arms Girl inside. It's big for the price, visually unique, and has solid joint strength, making it a great display piece. Especially if you're into Frame Arms Girls, this is a fun accessory kit you really don't want to miss :-)

Gigantic Arms Powered Guardian | 2016.9 | ¥4,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.