Loongon HG Galaxia Earth Guardian EX Apollo

Hi guys! Today i'd like to take a look at the HG Apollo by Loongon again, from the same line as anaklusmos, the Earth Guardian EX

Section 1.1 : Boxart and Manual

very straightforward box art and single fold 4 page manual

typical HG build that can be expected

Section 1.2 : Runners

the kit comes with only 5 runners and 1 PC runner with a small sticker sheet

yeap, details :D awesome clear parts

Section 2 : Assembly

2.1 Legs

very nice leg units, typical HG build, good 160 degree bend though

2.2 Waist Armor + Upper Body

very simple waist piece, has a typical left and right skirt armor like on a gundam. Not much of side skirt armor to hinder posability. Upper body makes good use of a clear part and some stickers + parts separation. Look familiar? :P

2.3 Arms

HG type arm assembly, articulation, however, is extremely limited and the arms can only bend about 90 degrees. The arm guard and shoulder armor piece are completely red and makes use of some stickers to give it the separation.

2.4 Head

Very nice detailing with a clear part. Once again, no eye stickers so the eye suffers some color-less-ness. Will need to find a marker to fix that soon.

2.5 Backpack

Backpack has some very nice clear parts. Looks exactly like a bat :P or dragon wings! Very well done pieces. It also has a holder for the sword and it can fit back there when not in use.

2.6 Weapon

One of the better features of the kit. It comes with a clear yellow blade which looks REALLY cool on it's own!

Section 3 : Completed Unit

Completed with everything on, and i think he looks fantastic! With all that clear parts and yellow stickers he looks like he has a lot going on with him and i love it!

Section 4 : Comparison

Just a little comparison with the only other unit (as far as i know has been released) in the line. They look pretty good together!

Section 5 : Photos

Section 6 : Final Thoughts

This is another one by Loongon and while they have shown some improvement from before, there still leaves quite a bit to be desired.

First of all, the joints are not as well done as i would like. The hip joint connecting to the skirt armor is extremely loose since it makes use of a ball joint that is too loose to fit into the leg. While it's not impossible to get him to stand, the feeling is not quite what i would like when posing a model kit and he tends to do the split A LOT.

The same problem with the arms connecting to the body as the ball joints are a bit too loose. They make use of a PC part equivalent to the pull-out mechanism we have seen on some newer HGs but fail to execute it well, and the hands that peg in suffer the same fate as the Anaklusmos and may drop off when the weapon is not positioned properly.

Aside from some jointing issues, i'm loving this kit by Loongon and the design is very well done. Since McModel has not announced this yet, the only way to get this design is to get this Loongon version. All in all, it's a pretty fun build and decent to pose with, if you'd overlook some issues stated above. While it's bad, it's not as bad as, say, a GHD kit.

That being said, i would recommend this figure for just a fun few hours to build it up and play with it. The sword is also a good bonus as it looks amazing with anything :P

Loongon HG Galaxia Earth Guardian EX Anaklusmos

Hi guys, I'd just like to do a short review of the newest model by Loongon, the HG Anaklusmos from the series Earth Guardian EX

my local seller brought in some of these units and since the McModel version was much too expensive for a cheapskate like me, i thought i'd give this one a go :P

In case you haven't noticed, the template is inspired by one of my favourite reviewers at duelmasterng.blogspot.com :P feel free to check out his reviews on gunpla as well!

Section 1.1 : Boxart and Manual

very straightforward box art and single fold 4 page manual

typical HG build that can be expected

Section 1.2 : Runners

the kit comes with only 5 runners and 1 PC runner with a small sticker sheet

no details were spared here :D very nicely molded

very nice shiny-ish blue for the shell pieces

Section 2 : Assembly

2.1 Legs

very nice leg units, typical HG build, good 160 degree bend though

2.2 Waist Armor

very simple waist piece, not much of skirt armor to hinder posability

2.3 Upper Body

simple assembly for upper body, the head has some good parts separation, but unfortunately, if you look at the next pic.. they do NOT give eye stickers, so i'm going to have to go out and get some green markers to paint them in myself

2.4 Arms

HG type arm assembly, 'turtle' armor attaches to the side of the shoulder armor.. very good movement there via the connector piece to allow for various arrangements

2.5 Back thruster/armor piece

the last piece of the turtle armor, includes some thrusters that are painted red and look very good behind him

2.6 Weapon

unlike the McModel version, this one only comes with 1 weapon that can be used as a gun or a sword.. they do not include clear parts or transformable pieces for the weapon, which is pretty disappointing
but with the price i pay, i can't ask for much :P

Section 3 : Completed Unit

the unit completed without the 'turtle' armor put on

from the back he really looks like a turtle!

Section 4 : Comparison

i will just do a comparison with a kit most people would have already owned :P HG AGE-1 Razor!
which is the same height as pretty much all the HG AGE-1 units :P

Section 5 : Photos

Section 6 : Final Thoughts

Overall, the kit is quite worth it's price, in my opinion. It has a pretty fun build and the price is of a typical bootleg HG and for me, it's a pretty good replacement for the, i don't think it's considered original, but the 1/100 version. It's a pretty fun figure to build and fun to display.

But as with some figures, there are certain cons to this kit.
Firstly, the weapon does not peg into the arm, making it hard for him to pull various poses as the sword handle tends to rotate around in his hand, however it is not impossible and you just need a bit of patience to properly pose him
Secondly, NO EYE STICKERS! i don't think that's too much to ask :( now i have to go find a marker to paint it in myself
Thirdly, while the sword is not particularly heavy, the hands do not have a PC part to hold the hands in place properly while posing so the hands tend to fall out a lot.

That's about it for the kit, they're not very big issues, just a few things i found could've been executed better. Nevertheless, I enjoy this kit and look forward to more releases of this line by Loongon