It’s time to put the Powered GM through its paces. But first, a brief aside.
A Good Vintage
I’ve always believed that the High Grade Universal Century line of kits entered its “modern era” some time around 2010. But now I’m starting to realize that a lot of the ideas that I attribute to that time frame were already present in kits from as far back as 2016.
Case in point - the Powered GM, the Zaku I Sniper Type and the classic Zaku I are both from 2006, and they’re both excellent kits (ignore the negative opinion of the Zaku I I wrote back in 2022. I have no idea what I was thinking. I currently think that the Zaku I is phenomenal).
All of these models have some combination of surprisingly good gimmicks, surprisingly good detail, surprisingly good color separation, and surprisingly good articulation (including, in some cases, partial inner frames for the joints, as opposed to just straight polycaps).
True, they’re lacking some of the extra goodies and decals that post-2010 HGUC kits often feature, and none of them quite feel like a complete package. But compare them to kits that are just two years older, like the GM Command Space, the Gelgoog Jager, and the Gundam Alex.
None of those are bad kits in the least, but they require a lot more painting, have much poorer articulation, and have many more visible seamlines. More and more, 2006 is looking like it was the start of a major leap in quality.
GM Striker
I have one other kit in my backlog that's from 2006 - the GM Striker. I'll be very curious to see if it continues the quality streak.Articulation
I never bothered to fully test all of the articulation, but it’s pretty good. The partial inner frame in its joints means that it can do things like this:
I used to think this degree of range wasn’t possible until circa 2015, but I guess I was wrong.
About the Visual Design
I’m starting to think that Stardust Memory GM’s are my favorite style of GM. Between this model, the GM Custom, and what I’ve seen of the GM Type C, they’re all bulkier and broader than previous GM designs, which tend to look more slight and fragile. It’s as if the GMs of UC 0083 decided to all go to the gym to get yolked.
In my opinion, the bulkier GM designs just look more capable of standing toe to toe against Zeon’s generally bulky mobile suits (regardless of whether or not they do stand toe to toe, as GM’s of course have a tendency to get blown up).
As for some remarks specific to this particular mobile suit, I think the Powered GM really benefits from some weathering and shading. A little bit of grit and grime on the orange plastic really helps keep it from looking like a big block of cheese.
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t emphasize the fact that the face visor looks super cool with a bit of metallic paint behind it:
Action Poses
I had a lot of fun posing this one, so much so that I went back and took some more photos later in the day. Other than a somewhat loose holding hand (which is unfortunately common across most kits), it’s an extremely sturdy build with good enough articulation.
But more than that, I feel like this model has a lot of personality. It just looks cool, or poised, or tough, or whatever. It even manages to make the bullpup machine gun look good, which I didn’t think was possible:
As for the bazooka, as usual it’s a bit unwieldy, but once you get it up on the shoulder you can get some nice shot:
I even got a few poses with the beam saber that I don’t hate:
I have to say - as much as I would have liked a second left holding hand, the hinged hand it comes with is quite useful for two handed weapon poses. It’s so much easier to do when you can position the left hand where you need it, rather than wherever it wants to go.
And lastly, here’s a few more photos I took for fun:
Conclusion
This is one of those rock solid, workhorse Gunpla. It’s not the best at doing anything, but it’s at least good (if not great) at doing everything. A fun build, fun to pose, with a lot of personality. Easily one of my favorite GMs so far.