Studio HalfEye - Perfect Change Gunbuster

  
It's Gunbuster! The titular robot from one of my favorite anime series.

Released back in 2006 to stiff competition from Bandai's SoC. One of a few instances where Studio HalfEye's figure isn't your only option for a transformation that shouldn't be possible in real life.

- Buster Machine 1 & 2 -

 The base forms of Gunbuster. That's Buster Machine 1 on the left, and 2 on the right. Shown here on their included flight stands.

I'm pretty sure that's the Kanji for "Fire" on both stands. The stand bases may look familiar, no?

Both Buster Machines.

These have some cool integrated panels that are used to close up gaps around the ships. Interesting that Gunbuster's head crest is visible in this mode.

Overall, I really do like how these look. I'd say the SoC does a better job at the proportions and accuracy to the animation, but these still look like two cool spaceships regardless. Though there's probably some bias in that, since the vehicle designs from Gunbuster are some of my favorites.

- Combination -

 

This is where the figure really shines, pulling some creative maneuvers and featuring a lot of moving parts. 

It's also a pretty different conversion than the SoC in some spots. Since they came out very close together, it's cool to see how such a tricky design was approached by different people.

 Buster Machine 2 forms the lower half of Gunbuster. 

The panels covering the ship's midsection twist multiple times to move out of the way. Completely avoiding animation accuracy, the feet are concealed inside rather than being formed from the nose cone.

The lower leg slides down, the long part with the foot attached rotates into place, and the open panel flips around to finish the leg.

Rotate the ship's thrusters, slide up that rubber-looking ab cover from the show, and the lower legs are complete.

By comparison, Buster Machine 1 is way more complex. It's hard to show all that the lower arms do in pictures, but it's a whole lot.

The fins on the end of the ship mode actually get hidden within the arms, and the panels used to cover the middle enclose one side.

 Aside from the screws, these clean up pretty well.

  Using a series of hinges the front of the ship splits open, and the red parts of Gunbuster's chest come out from within the shoulder pads.

This is the trickiest bit of the transformation to be sure.

 

A closer look at the workings.

The red parts fold around the front while the head extends out and other parts rotate into place.

The most unfortunate part of the figure is this extending piece here. It's held on using two rubber (?) bits.

Due to age and/or storage conditions, the adhesive holding these flexible parts in has worn off. This isn't really a huge deal since it just means I have to glue them in or something, but they will try to detach.

The SoC used a hinged system for this area, but at this scale I think the flexible strips were probably a good move.

 Rotate the head and extend its spikes, and Gunbuster is complete!

- Gunbuster -

 

Combined, Gunbuster gets a lot right. Despite all the panels, it certainly looks the part, and I greatly prefer the the lower half to the SoC and its thin thighs.

The main issue with the appearance would be the arms, which can sometimes come off looking too long. This can be remedied somewhat with shoulder adjustment.

Talking articulation, it's pretty poor. This goofy pose should give you an idea of the extent of certain movements. Arms are decent but the legs are lacking.

Transformation is obviously the draw here, but it would've been nice to see some better poseability worked in.

This is what you're gonna get for the Inazuma Kick. Spikes are included for the feet, but it doesn't really seem worth the effort.

The Buster Collider is doable, but comes off a little weak.

With that said, it is still impressive that all this is fully integrated.

This is not a big figure, and the fact that this can all be done without parts swapping is commendable.

By partially de-transforming the arms and utilizing extra jointing, Gunbuster can sort of assume the famous crossed arms pose.

It's really more of a camera trick though. Would've preferred a dedicated arms crossed piece to swap in here. Not sure why so many Gunbuster figures don't have one.

- Accessories -

The two stands for the Buster Machines form the front of the Exelion!

All together is a solid chunk of resin, and a really creative display stand. You can place Gunbuster in those two cavities as seen below.

Homing Laser!

Essentially strands of wire on a clip. I love that this was even attempted, and I think it actually works pretty nicely.

You get a pair of Buster Missile hands. The white parts seem to be a softer material that can be pushed through the finger tips. 

 The Buster Shield's here too. Made of some kinda fabric.

Gotta love a robot with a cape.

Finally, the best of the bunch, the Buster Beam!

Accompanied by a stand and a written sound effect, this one really stands out. Probably the most unique beam effect I've seen.

This is a wonderful set of accessories, and one of the coolest aspect of this figure. There's a lot of personality and creativity on display here.  

I would've liked to see a chest reactor, but that would probably require some disassembly due to transformation.

The bonus you would get for ordering this from SHE directly was an additional box of accessories, covering the weaponry seen in the Super Robot Wars games. Unfortunately, I don't have these. Maybe someday!

- Extras + Conclusion -

The combined Excelion piece from the back. 

I think when combined like this, the kanji mean "blazing" or "passion". Definitely a perfect fit for Gunbuster!

  

 

Size comparison with the SRC.

Issues aside, this is still an amazing piece. I say that in part because of the picture above. Despite being only slightly taller than the SRC, this thing pulls off a perfect transformation and manages to look good doing it.

Could it have used more articulation? Definitely. Are there some areas that could've been cleaner? For sure. But it really is a thing to behold.

I hope to pick up the SoC someday to see how they differ in person (not to mention it looks like a great figure). But for now, this is the transforming Gunbuster for me.