Sentinel Metamor-force Bariation Ultimate Gravion
The box is much bigger and thicker than the previous Gravion figures released in this series. The box spans 12 x 16.5 x 8 inches in dimension.
The display base comes packed with optional shoulders for Gran Kaiser. This is for allowing it to retroactively work with God Sigma Gravion’s set pieces, as I understand it.
Story
The Gravion fighting robot is created by the mysterious billionaire Klein Sandman in order to counter an incoming invasion by the mechanical aliens known as the Zeravire. Piloted by the Gran Knights, unique individuals that possess a high “G-Factor” which allows them to withstand intense gravitational pressure, the Gravion and its successive upgraded versions fight to save the Earth from total annihilation.
At the serie’s climax, the Earth is faced with imminent destruction at the hands of the Genocidron. The Gran Knights unleash their trump card by combining the Sol Gravion with the God Sigma Gravion. The Ultimate Gravion is born!
Gran Kaiser
The central robot that forms the core of any Gravion mecha.Piloted by 17-year old Touga Tenkuuji, the Gran Kaiser mostly relies on physical attacks and lacks any real offensive weaponry. The Gran Kaiser used for God Gravion, Sol Gravion and now Ultimate Gravion are one and the same unit.
The figure is still the same as the one included with the Sol and God Sigma Gravion set. Sentinel really got some serious mileage out of this mold.
Unfortunately, same as with the God and Sol Gravion figures, the Gran Kaiser still features a somewhat limited shoulder articulation due to the figure’s shoulder pad design.
The mid-torso joint is what makes up for this set’s lack of shoulder movement. So one can still get some pretty good action poses out of the figure.
Sigh… Gran Kaiser still comes with puny “baby hands”. I know these are designed to be small for the transformation sequence but I really wish Sentinel included optional some bigger hands this time around.
Fellows of the Gran Knights, perform the Final Combination!
TRANSFORMATION NOTES
To transform the Gran Kaiser, you don’t really have to follow the manual step by step, as you have to remove the arms entirely at the end. So, go ahead and do that without folding them down first (unlike the previous Gravion releases).
Remember to remove the hip skirts on Gran Kaiser as well.
Normally, you would have to rotate the head around to get the “bigger chin” face for the Gran Kaiser, but you don’t have to here.
Here, you’re required to remove the head entirely, get ready for a challenge, as that peg is tight!
To attach the new shoulders, you’ll have to peg in this black piece first.
This allows the shoulders have a hardpoint for connecting the new pads.
Also remember to pull down the front shoulder plates on Gran Kaiser.
All the other parts are already pre-formed, so there’s no real transformation involved here.
To “complete the look”, you have to put this collar plate down…
…then add this black piece to secure the backpack.
To attach the head, make sure you remove the helmet antennae off first to prevent any accidents, as attaching the head to the ball joint will be VERY TOUGH.
A cool feature with this head is that the neck telescopes up, allowing it to go higher than usual so that the head won’t look buried behind the massive chest panel in some poses.
The Strongest Combination!
ULTIMATE GRAVION!
Born from the combination of Sol Gravion and God Sigma Gravion, the last combination is complete! Ultimate Gravion is the final weapon created by Klein Sandman to fight the Zeravire.
The Ultimate Gravion is only used once in the entire series, at the finale. It immediately unleashed a single, powerful finishing attack against the Genocidron machine, ending the threat of the Zeravire once and for all.
I didn’t have time to break out the other Gravions to place it next to this one, but it is definitely taller by an inch or more due to the “platform shoes” and the additional bulk from the armor pieces.
Too bad we never got to see any other weapon attacks from Ultimate Gravion. It certainly looks like its got more to offer.
The extra hands are very difficult to plug in the first time around. I recommend plugging them in palms facing up, this seems to be the easiest way.
The feet “drills” are actually poseable, the same with the gold fin on Ultimate Gravion’s legs.
The Ultimate Gravion only has one attack and that’s the Choujuu En’ Zan, a powerful slash move that cuts through its opponents, no matter how big or strong they are.
We actually never fully see the sword in the final battle scene, as everything was in a glowing sphere of light.
Choujuu En’ Zan! (Super Heavyweight Flame Emperor Slash!)
Elgo end….
Display base – Yay! Sentinel finally decided to include one for this release. Previous Gravions did not come with any display bases.
To attach the display base, you will have to mount these attachment pieces to Ultimate Gravion’s backpack.
The Good
-Gran Kaiser stands roughly inches and weighs 282 Grams.
-Ultimate Gravion stands roughly 11.75 inches (counting tips of the shoulder pads) and weighs 746 Grams.
-Diecast parts include:
-Gran Kaiser
—Upper torso
—Shoulder pad joints
—Hip skirt plates
—Crotch
—Internal knee joint
—Ankle joint
(None of the add-on parts have any diecast.)
-Great paint job as usual for this line from Sentinel!
-A display base!! Finally! The previous releases of Gravion didn’t come with a display base.
-“Telescoping” neck on Ultimate Gravion for better poses.
The Bad
-No ratchet joints (as usual).
-Parts forming. It’s basically an armor set for Gran Kaiser at this point.
-No diecast parts on anything else outside of Gran Kaiser.
-While the neck does rise up, I do wish it rose a little more, the head still seems buried under the chest plate in some angles.
-Gran Kaiser is still the same figure we got from Sol Gravion. Nothing new has been modified?
-Gran kaiser still comes with “baby hands”…
-Swapping the heads around is HARD!! Get ready to put some real effort in.
-Attaching the extra hands the first time is also chore. It gets easier with repeated connections though.
-No display base attachment to help hold the sword when its not in use.
The Ugly
No real QC problems right out of the box. Just be extra cautious when swapping the heads and the hands.
Overall, I love it! While the transformation is pretty much non-existent with this set, I do love the overall proportions of it (for an idea of how the Ultimate Gravion looks when done with actual transforming parts, check out images of the Modernoid Gravion model sets from Good Smile, the final look is a bit off-putting IMHO).
The Ultimate Gravion looks so good and the sculpt and paint details on the figure show it. While I was worried that the figure couldn’t hold the massive sword due to the lack of any ratchet joints (par for the course for Sentinel releases), there aren’t any issues with it. A very, very impressive looking piece that is quite eye-catching when placed on display on any shelf.
If I had to choose one out of all of the Gravions released, this would be the one to get hands down.
Gold
