For the sake of conversation, let’s say that Home Alone 2022 kicked off my summertime model kits builds, and that this Gogg build is my last (I’m not going to get another kit finished before the end of September, and despite the fact that October can be surprisingly warm in my neck of the woods, I just can’t think of it as summer).
In that case, I’d say that the Gogg was the most pleasant experience of them all, and in addition to being the most pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting much going into it, but I’m impressed with what I got out of it.
The High Grade Gogg is a “Goldilocks” build. It challenged me to try and use every tool and technique I have to spruce it up, without posing much of an actual challenge. No need for precision, no need for multiple coats of paint, no waiting … I could make progress every night, and with every finished body part I felt that much closer to the finish line.
(If you’re wondering, then, why it took almost a full month to finish the build, that’s just because my personal life got very busy as of late. The actual number of days/hours I spent on the Gogg were fairly small)
The key, I think, to the Gogg’s success is that it is made out of such big parts. Even if the parts themselves aren’t highly detailed, they come in many shapes, and at this size you can really take notice of the ways in which they play off each other. The Gogg’s got a lot more going on than people typically give it credit for.
The Gogg is one of those cases where the physical model kit looks better than the animated version. Most drawings of the Gogg make its arms look shorter, and its shoulder armor less flared. It also tends to look very squat, despite the fact that, at 18.3 meters, it’s roughly the same height as a GM.
The model kit fixes all of these problems. The height is most obvious, especially once you do a size comparison:
Additionally, the arms look “properly” long, and the shoulders look far more “sharp” and threatening. There was a time where I didn’t quite see how the Gogg evolved into the Hygogg, but now I can see it.
Articulation
You can probably imagine how this is going to go. The Gogg is a big, bulky boy that isn’t known for being nimble.
This is its best attempt at a knee bend:
Here it is showing off a fairly decent ankle bend. I think the Gogg looks much better when it’s in a wide stance:
The torso can twist and bend a tiny bit, but not enough to be notable. The head can move, though it looks off, and you have to force it:
All in all, it’s not much (at all), but no one should expect anything else from this particular mobile suit.
The Hands
On the other hand, the, um, hands are extremely expressive. They alone imbue the Gogg with a lot of personality.
Since each segment of the arm has its own ball joint, you can get quite a bit of an inward or outward curl:
And their length ensures excellent range:
Then, of course, there are the hands:
With five individually articulated fingers, the Gogg can do all the things we can with our own hands:
Granted, with as long as the claws are - and with only one point of articulation - not every hand signal looks correct:
And closed fists don’t always look fully closed:
But I’d say it’s all close enough, and it’s definitely fun to mess around with. Plus, it can scratch its own back:
Body Language
Even with its limited articulation - and even if you don’t do anything crazy with the arms - the Gogg has quite a sense of presence:
With the right pose and the right angle, you can really make it feel like a big, hulking monster:
Gimmicks
Aside from its bendy arms, the Gogg has only one gimmick. You can plug its hands directly into its shoulders, to make it look like the arms are folded up inside:
This of course is used to depict its underwater cruising mode, where everything needs to be made as streamlined as possible.
The only problem, however, is that this model kit predates the invention of the Action Base. I guess if you had this back in the day, you were supposed to lay it down flat on the table.
I did my best to find an Action Base adapter that might work in a pinch. It just barely did its job.
I doubt I’ll ever do that again, but there you have it.
Fun Pictures
Now for a fun little “story”. Naturally, once the Gogg showed up, Grandaddy Gundam had to fight it:
Which went about as well as it did in the show:
But rather than take the fight to the water, this time Gogg took his opponent to his true natural environment - the wrestling ring.
He’s on the turnbuckle:
He’s throwing ‘em into the ropes!
STOP THE MATCH!!
He’s got ‘em pinned!
AND GOGG WINS THE CHAMPIONSHIP BELT!!!
Conclusion
As you can probably tell, I had a lot of fun with this one. Just a nice, simple, rewarding built that let me play around with it. No complaints here.
Last Thoughts
I did want to mention that the polycaps in the arms are not the best at their job. The arms (plus the shoulders) tend to pop out very easily, and while it never felt like they were going to break (nor did it ever feel like the arm wouldn’t stay in position), it was a bit of a pain to deal with from time to time. Not nearly as much as other kits I’ve built recently, but enough to be notable.