Anyone who has seen mecha anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann will agree that its content just screams toys and figures. We've had our eyes on Konami's Gurren Lagann Vol. 1 figure collection, and now we've finally got a chance to get our hands on them. I've ripped open all the little boxes to give you my impressions of these trading figures.

These figures, a group of five (plus one limited), hit the Japanese market in March. From what I can tell, these were hot and moved very fast, and it seems that they've since disappeared from internet availability. My guess is that plenty of Gurren Lagann fans snapped up a full-box pre-order when they were first listed in late 2007. 

Hit the jump to read more on these trading figures.

A randomly packed box of ten figures from Volume 1 goes for about 6,800 yen. You can bet that the five base figures will be somewhere in that box, but you have to be pretty lucky to get the sixth: special swimsuit Yoko. Unfortunately, I didn't.

The first thing I noticed about these non-scale, PVC figures is their size; they're all quite big for trading figures. The tallest of these five, Kamina and Yoko, come in at a bit more than 12cm in height. All of the figures come with a black circular or oval display base. 

Kamina is the tallest, and he comes with an insanely long sword. It's double-packed in its own cardboard sleeve, as its made of breakable plastic. But his sword doesn't beat Yoko's gun in size. It's also packed in a cardboard sleeve, and it comes in two pieces. Combined, it's actually longer than Yoko is tall. She's the best looking of the bunch in her standard hotpants and flame bikini outfit. 

Nia is the only figure that dosen't physically mount to the display base, and that's probably because she is posed sitting. She's the most colorful of the bunch, with her multicolored hair and eyes. Her cloak is also removable. She looks so helpless, but we know better.

Gurren Lagann is a pretty big figure. It comes in several pieces, and when assembled, it has some heft. It is posed in a cool sort of taunting pose, with its left arm extended. At first, I was a bit confused on why its fist was removable. I didn't put two and two together (pun) until I opened Simon. He comes with two different right arms. One enables him to hold his drill. It wasn't until I saw a little black connector piece fall out of Gurren Lagann's box that I realized that Simon's drill can be attached to its arm. Naturally, I boxed the little fist back up. 

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this figure set. Simon and Yoko are very nicely detailed. I love both of Kamina and Yoko's large (though potentially breakable) weapons. Both Nia's cloak and Gurren Lagann's shields and feet sport nifty metallic paint. There is a bit of red bleeding into the black/grey parts on Gurren Lagann, but it's minimal, and the pose is so good that you won't care.

I recommend Konami's Gurren Lagann Vol. 1 trading figures, and wish you the best of luck in finding some of your own.