I was easily satisfied with the GINN, so I thought it would be a good idea to add the GuAIZ to my collection. However, the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ was unavailable at the time, so I opted for the ZGMF-601R GuAIZ R instead. So how did the MSiA incarnation of the GuAIZ R stand up? Let’s find out…

The paint job on the head is on par for the course with little bleeding and smudging, and beautifully crafted details including the sensor eye, head-mounted CIWS and large sail-like mohawk. The neck allows for 10° of tilt, 30° of vertical movement and 360° of rotation, although the design of the back of the head and the fact the backpack is partially integrated into the top of the torso near the neck makes turning the head a little difficult.

The paint job on the torso is surprisingly good considering the small scale of this action figure and its many cramped areas and sharp corners, which can make it difficult to paint. The chest vents are the most impressive, painted in yellow/orange with minutely fine black slits painted in with little or no bleeding or smudging. The torso itself is the source of the action figure’s greatest flaw: its backpack. The backpack is very large - it almost reaching the back of the knees -and is molded directly into the figure, which makes it incredibly strong, durable and heavy. The backpack’s weight is so great in fact that it makes the GuAIZ R top heavy, and I don’t need to go into detail about how frustrating that is. The torso’s ball-joint allows for 10° of lateral tilt and 5° forward tilt, as well as 330° of rotation.

The shoulders are attached to the torso using a standard horizontal recessed peg-and-clip system that allows for 10° of forward/backward articulation. The upper arms can also twist 360°. The elbows have double hinge-joints that can move 165° forward and thanks to the design of the intermediary piece eliminates any possible backward elbow movement. The forearms also features a unique twist-joint that allows the forearm-mounted rectangular slot to rotate 360°, an innovative design that makes posing the shield much easier. Be warned though, the forearm twist-joint is stronger than the upper arm’s and can cause problems with adjusting the arms. The hands attach to the forearm-mounted ball-joints and feature 10° of overall articulation.

At the hips the legs can move 45° outwards, 85° forward and 20° backward because of the large rear skirt, though thankfully the railguns have little impact on leg articulation. The knees feature double hinge-joints with a intermediary piece and can move 150° backwards and approximately 5° forward, again due to the large rear skirt. The feet are attached to the legs using a single ball-joint mounted on the end of a short rod protruding beneath the ankle armor. There are two sharp-looking sections of armor that flank the feet on both sides and limit articulation to 10° of lateral movement while the single ball-joint allots 15-20° of horizontal movement. To make things worse, the feet have a separate heel that slopes inward towards the toe, a design reminiscent of the MSiA Hyaku Shiki. For those of you who have been victims of owning that action figure, you can certainly relate to what I’m talking about with its inability to stand straight up, let alone hold a pose of any kind. The combination of the top-heavy backpack, limited ankle articulation and poor foot design makes the GuAIZ R one of the hardest MSiA action figures to pose.

MMI-M20S "Pollux IX" railguns- In my opinion the single most redeeming feature of the MSiA GuAIZ R. The railguns attach to the waist-mounted ball-joints using two protrusions with cylindrical cavities in the center and can move 20-30° overall in place, which helps with aiming the guns. The barrels fold upwards easily enough and lock into firing position, although the weapons do tend to sag after extensive use. Additionally, because of the overlarge backpack, the back half of the railguns are almost impossible to deploy and often times must be forced (Not the sort of thing I recommend though).

MA-M12G beam rifle- The beam rifle is as long as the GuAIZ R is tall and features a large targeting scope. The rifle is made using traditional PVC materials and despite the weapons large size and thick build, it can bend if it’s not properly handled. The weapon fits well in the trigger finger handsets, but the short, stubby arms and the rifle’s stock makes posing impractical at best.

MA-MV05 composite shield- The second most redeeming feature, the shield attaches to the forearm using a combination of a ball-jointed rectangular peg that couples with an adjoining cavity along with a beam-mounted handle. This arrangement provides strength and stability to the large shield that would not have been possible without one or the other. The ball-jointed peg tends to wear out after just a little use, becoming increasingly slack.