Wasn't gonna open this until I allocated a cabinet space for this, but curiosity got the best of me. So here we go!
Having compare to my GX-68 GGG side by side, moving the joints, checking how sturdy things are, it becomes very obvious that GX-104 GFG is the better figure. Have to give Bandai some credit where credit is due.
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Combined GFG overall is more sturdy, joints are tighter and the figure can balance a whole lot easier. In comparison, the older GGG has a pretty loose waist swivel, hip ratchets can't take too much of its weight (though my Star Parts made it worse) and the ankles easily lean forward or backwards. All those ratchets on the GGG shoulders and elbows are VERY soft, almost function as friction joints with just the clicks as sound effects, without helping much in locking the pose. GFG has more precise ratchets and the clicks lock better.
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Gaofar actually has good proportions (for something that transforms and not just to look good), and a very nice head. Too bad the feet are very small, and ankle rocker is very limited. You can get him to stand well enough, but only at a very limited angle, and make sure you don't knock it by accident. he will fall. Phantom Gao though, is not great. Serves its purpose, but I wouldn't call it good looking or display in this mode. Way too chunky. But I think Bandai made a good compromise here, to focus on a better looking Gaofar and a combined GFG, and sacrificed the Phantom Gao mode. What really missed the mark here is the hip design. The hip front to back movement is SUPER stiff, so making GFG or Gaofar do high kicks is going to take some force, but at least it help to keep the heavy figure stand well without the top half leaning backwards even with a big backpack. Most of us read about the hip needing extra care to avoid stress. In hand, it is actually fairly easy to handle it. HOWEVER, once combined, when you try to pose GFG hip spreading the legs for an "A stance", rather than swinging the hip ratchets sideway, half the time you end up loosening/twisting the thigh swivel instead(where you don't want to stress). That swivel is looser than the actual hip ratchet joint, so you are more likely to move the swivel unintentionally. This design made you mess with the weak spot, even if you just want to move the whole leg at the hip. One of the big fumble in this release and a lingering annoyance, even if this spot doesn't break on you.
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Liner Gao II is quite nice. Good diecast in the inner shoulders and elbows, so the ship mode actually feels heavy. Ratchets are pretty good here overall. Tricky to pull the arms out, since they didn't make a notch you can grab with your finger nail. You need the given tool to help pull the arms out. Nice gimmick to push down on a table to get the supporting thrusters to scatter out like in the show. It goes inside Gaofar's chest not that smooth during GFG combination, but locks well in place after you wiggle its way through.
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Drill Gao II is another big fumble in this release. Ankle is pretty sturdy, has good rocker range, heavy with diecast (mostly on feet). But man....the knee connection to combine GFG sucks! There are still those skinny rectangular spring loaded nubs on both sides. But instead on Gaigar's knee (like those in CM's as well), they are now on both inner sides of the Drill Gao II instead. But the springs are weak, really weak, barely has any resistence. There is the main 3rd locking mechanism from the front knee (locate right behind the drills, backside of the red block), but even that is not locking all the secure. So the entire heavy lower leg is solely depending on this front lock to hold it from falling (those side spring loaded nubs are barely doing anything), and that is simply not enough. Because of this, I have to be very conscious of holding the figure by grabbing the knees, making sure that lock is not coming loose causing the lower legs to fall off. Also, those awesome working tank tracks on the back leg, looks like there are fitment issues on each piece (possibly sprue marks not trimmed clean enough, which you can see them) causing them getting stuck most of the time. Even though it wasn't perfectly smooth when moving them on GGG, they are definitely much smoother than the ones on GFG. The drills on the knee has a cool mechanic when you spin them, with 2 sections rotate clockwise, while the other two rotate counter clockwise simultaneously. But they don't rotate smooth at all, and once you rotate them a bit, the details alignment go out of sync, so they no longer line up straight LOL. Once I rotate both of my drills, their details (small fins) are now slightly crooked forever. What a shame, ruining some of their best feature having fitment issues where you need near perfect clearance or alignment for the mechanism to work.
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Stealth Gao III is also quite nice. Very light, hide all the necessary parts pretty clean, and hook onto Gaofar quite nicely, locking very secure on GFG's back. Even the black vents that go onto GFG's waist sit more secure than GGG's lion mane. Not much issue on this one, nicely done.
- GFG's head is very nicely sculpted, much sharper details and more defined than GGG's, but man, was it a bit too big (bigger than both SOC GGG's and POSE+ GGG's quite a bit). The non-transforming head is not hard to put on, and the face was shortened a little to give it an even more handsome/meaner face (though very subtle). HOWEVER, why not shrink that head a bit?! It no longer needs to fit Gaofar's head inside, so why is it the exact same size as the transforming head?! Sigh....
- GFG's 2 big chest plate has some degree of movement, which can help a little on the look. But raising too high will expose the hollow armpit behind (right above the waist black vents), so you only have so much play with what you can do with them. There are also a big hole on each knee (Gaofar's knee) in GFG form, which I did not expect to see. Though don't think there is some way to cover those up.
- GFG's articulated hands indeed has gazillion sprue marks on the under side. It is really as bad as those online photos shown. But then, when I look at my GGG's articulated hand. It was the same thing LOL. Guess we held figures to higher standard these days, and didn't noticed it as an issue back then. They are also quite oversized, messing up the proportion a bit (on both GFG & GGG, since they are identical).
- The plastic finish on this release is also very odd. Mostly noticeable on Gaofar, with the plastic not looking very polish or shiny like most SOCs do, but with some areas look less glossy or even satin, has some very fine scratch marks and inconsistency you would expect from cheaper plastic toys. Looks more raw and rough.
I have not tried the display stand (though I used the old black one before almost identical in design) and have not tried some of the accessories. So this impression is mainly on the main figure. All in all, I like the GFG, but not wowed by it. It improved on a bunch of things that are no longer that great on the GGG (think our expectations got higher now), but then introduced new issues like the hip design, big head, not very secure knee lock, and some fit and finish issues on the cool gimmicks. It is still the best gokin combiner GFG in the market right now, and a better figure than GX-68 GGG (though you trade the cool Galion mode with a not so great Phantom Gao). It is a good release, but with some design issues you have to live with.
P.S. POSE+ GGG still the best out of these 3 in terms of design and execution (also fully painted, so no yellowing), even though it is the lightest at about 1000g. GFG is about 1250g, while my Star GGG is around 1600g.
Throwing this in just for fun. With these small tweaks that wouldn't have affected the transformation/combination or the overall functionality, this SOC GFG would have looked so much better, enough to give POSE+ GGG a run for its money aesthetically. Oh well...