Let’s crack this sucker open and see what’s inside:
Like any other GFrame, you’ve got an assortment of accessories, armor parts, and two different inner frames. And like other GFrames, there are some parts that are nicely colored, and others that are extremely plain and color innacurate.
Let’s put it together and see what what a straight build looks like:
I’d say this falls somewhere between the RX78-1 and the Hi-Nu Gundam. As a straight build, it’s not nearly as nice out of the box as the former, but it doesn’t look like it will require quite as much work as the latter.
How to Paint the Efreet Custom?
There are different illustrations of the Efreet Custom that show it having slightly different paint jobs. This, I believe, is the “original” depiction:
But then there are these other depictions as well:
Ultimately I decided to recreate the first drawing - like the GFrame figure itself, it is the only one that has red shoulder armor instead of orange. Also, it’s the only one that doesn’t have white racing stripes on the shoulder spikes, which less white paint for me to deal with.
Painting and Detailing
Like the Full Armor Gundam 7th, this figure went on (and stayed on) the backlog for a very long time because I became very quickly intimidated by how much painting I thought I was going to have to do. But just like the FA 7, it turned out to be far less challenging than I feared.
To be clear, it still ocurred over several nights, as it required multiple layers of paint that all had to dry. And it still required a certain degree of precision in some places.
Finished!
Let’s look one more time at the straight build:
And here now is the finished version:
I dunno. Just looking at these photos, it looks less labor intensive than it actually was. In fact, the reason why this went on the backlog for well over a year is because I was intimidated by having to paint all the white trim, as well as the orange-and-black colored thrusters.
But just like the Full Armor 7th before it, this was a case where the actual work involved was far less challenging that what I was imagining.
Mind you, that doesn’t mean the work was easy. But it did take less time -and involved far fewer mistakes - than I was expecting.
In any case, the final result looks fantastic. It has a tremendous amount of surface detail, and I really like the white trim. It gives it a bit of a “racing stripe” vibe.
I’m also impressed by the fact that it looks so “complete”. G Frame figurines omit armor in certain places (or in the case of the Hi Nu Gundam, simply cut off the back half of the fin funnels), likely for cost cutting reasons. Technically that’s still true here, but the missing armor is on the back of the leg. That’s probably the best place to choose, as it is by far the most inconspicuous. It really doesn’t affect the look much, if at all.
Posing
This figurine has two things going against it. The main one is that the articulation on these G Frame figurines is not that great, so its range is limited. The second problem is that its only posable weapons are a pair of swords.
Cool sword poses require a certain degree of dexterity, and I’m afraid the Efreet Custom just doesn’t have it.
I did what I could, but admittedly this wasn’t the most elaborate photo shoot:
Side note - I should point out that the monoeye can pivot left and right, which is always a welcome gimmick
Conclusion
Overall, I’m pleased with this figure. In terms of overall quality - both as a straight build and as a finished build - it slots neatly between the the G1 Gundam and the Hi Nu. It’s not quite as good as the former, but a bit better than the latter. That’s good enough for me.
Other Thoughts
I think the Efreet is an interesting design, because it looks tough and highly performant. But on another level it kind of isn’t, in the sense that it doesn’t look quite different enough from either the Zaku or the Gouf to really stand out. In that sense, I can see why it’s one of the more obscure Zeon mobile suit designs.