Gunpla Build Review: Master Grade RX-79 (G) Gundam Ground

It’s been nine months since my first Gunpla review. Since then, I’ve only had time to build one more model and it’s of the same Gundam suit. This time though, I built a Master Grade version of the RX-79 (G) Gundam. Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of The 08th MS Team series and it just seemed natural to me to seek out the main Gundam from that series to build as my first Gunpla kit. Why then would I buy a kit for the same Gundam as my second build? The answer is simple enough. I’m extremely new to Gunpla building and I wanted to build a kid that would help me differentiate between High Grade and Master Grade kits. It seemed to me like the best way of doing that was to build the same Gundam in both grades.

Even though I had recently built an RX-79, I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of the Master Grade version. I simply like this mobile suit, so building it is a treat on its own, but the real delight came in comparing the High Grade kit to the Master Grade. Best of all, I found the Master Grade to be superior in all areas which led to this build being more enjoyable than my first one. Part of that definitively has to do with me being familiar with the building process and knowing the basics. That helped me a lot this time around. 

Gunpla Build Review: HG RX-79 Gundam VS MS-06J Zaku II

A few months ago I decided to watch one of the series that first introduced me to anime, the massively successful and popular Gundam. In doing so I reviewed a few Gundam series. I have a habit of reading about stuff online while I’m reading or watching it. Naturally, I read a lot about Gundam while watching some of the series and I discovered Gunpla which is equally popular as the TV series. For the uninitiated, Gunpla is a portmanteau for Gundam plastic model which is an accurate description of the hobby itself. As a hobby, Gunpla is about assembling plastic models of mobile suits from all the multiple Gundam series. The models are all, as far as I know, articulated in order to allow builders to pose their models and showcase them in unique ways. While all the models are made from plastic pieces, they come in varying degrees of difficulty, size and, of course, mobile suit models.

It didn’t take long for me to get the urge to order my very own Gunpla kit and to give it a go. The problem is that Gunpla building can be very complex, especially for people who (like me) are new to it. I was able to find quite a few helpful links online that offered good introductions to the hobby. My favourite website is Gunpla 101 by Lauren Orsini. Lauren not only did an excellent job introducing the hobby, she also provides additional tips about how to take care of your models once they’re built, things such as cleaning and repairing broken parts. She also talks about customization, which can be a hot topic for Gunpla builders. What I enjoyed the most about Gunpla 101 is that Lauren and her husband are very inclusive with their hobby. There is no sense of elitism or condescension in their passion for what they love. They’re very encouraging to new or aspiring builders. Lauren and her blog have played a big role in getting me started on my journey to discover Gunpla first hand. If you have any interest at all in building, I highly recommend you check out Gunpla 101 as you’ll find a much better introduction to the hobby than I could ever had written. 

Since I was a complete novice I wanted to start with a lower difficulty model and so HG, or High Grade, seemed like a good place to start. I also wanted my first model to be a Gundam from one of my favourite series so I chose the HG RX-79 Gundam VS MS-06J Zaku II kit. The RX-79 is a simple Gundam compared to many models from later series and it came in a dual kit with a Zaku II which also happens to be a classic mobile suit design. I ordered them along with a Tamiya Basic Tool Set which had most of the tools I would need, along with some I would need to use less often. The kit was a good bargain as its price is equal to that of just the most essential tools (side cutters and a hobby knife).

I worked carefully and meticulously by closely following the tips I had read online. I really didn’t want to screw anything up! The first thing I did was unpack the box and made sure that all the runners that came with the kit where included. Runners are the sheets of pressure moulded plastic which hold all of the parts. They come in different colours based on the kind of model you have. Once I had everything accounted for I started to “read” the instruction manual which is all in Japanese. Thankfully the instructions are accompanied by detailed and accurate illustrations of the parts and how they’re meant to connect together.

It’s helpful that the illustrations are so detailed but it’s still a little bit tricky because a lot of the pieces look similar. Since the models are, for the most part, symmetrical in design you’ll also have nearly identical left and right side pieces. If you’re following the instructions in order and only cutting off the pieces you need for each step you’ll likely not get your pieces mixed up. They’re numbered, a letter identifier indicates which runner the pieces can be found on and the number will indicated which piece on a particular runner. As such, part B-12 is easy to find but cut too many pieces and you’ll soon be closely examining each piece to try and identify it with the illustrations in the manual. 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. I used my fiancée’s cutting mat, which she uses for scrapbooking and making Christmas cards, as my working surface in order not to damage my desk. The tool kit I purchased had everything I needed and more. My only complaint is that the file that came in the kit is too rough to smooth out the excess plastic on the pieces once you’ve cut them off the runner. I will have to try sandpaper with a small grain as I think that would do a better job. For these models I used the hobby knife to slice away the excess. The problem with using the hobby knife is that it sometimes left white marks on the plastic. The red pieces were particularly bad for this as the slicing action caused the plastic to stretch and it created white markings. The light grey colour used for most of the RX-79 didn’t leave much white markings at all. At this point, I think the only thing I would use the file for is to create battle damage if I ever decided to do custom damage on one of my models.

For this model kit all I did was a straight build or sometimes called a simple build which means I put the pieces of the kit together and I did no extra work. One of the wonderful things about Gunpla models, and I imagine plastic models in general, is that creative builders can endlessly customize their Gunplas. You can do this in many ways. There is the aforementioned battle damage which can be used to make really cool dioramas with multiple models by adding more detail and increasing the realism of the scene. Some people also paint their models in different colour schemes or add colours to an existing colour scheme. One of the simplest ways to customize a Gunpla is to trace in the lines on the pieces with a very fine point marker. The marker is often black but other colours are used based on the colour of a specific model. The goal in doing so is to make the details of the model pop and give a model a more realistic, three dimensional look.

I had a great time putting together my first Gunpla models and I’ll certainly be doing more in the future, but I’ll be taking my time. It’s precision stuff and sometimes there are tricky parts to the build but overall it’s very satisfying. It’s also fun to pose them but I have a feeling HG models aren’t the best at this because of their relatively limited articulation. I’d like to experiment with some minor customizations in the future but I think I’m still a ways away from that. I’ll definitively be tracing lines soon, if not on my next model than the one after that. Here are some pictures of the build along with some commentary. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures. I did my best but it’s clear I need some practice when it comes to photographing my models.

My first leg! It looks pretty sweet.

Some of these pieces are tiny. The parts of the face that are coloured are stickers.

The completed head. The red portion of the crest was a huge pain to do correctly. The crest is a single piece and it pushes into the helmet part of the head but it’s a tiny fit and pushing into the helmet scrapped the red sticker off the crest. I damaged the sticker so much that the colour was being scratched off and I had to add more red with a marker.

My first ever completed Gunpla! RX-79, you look awesome.

The Zaku’s foot looks so much sturdier than the Gundam’s foot. That’s true of the overall design of both mobile suits. The Zaku looks sturdier while the Gundam is sleeker.

Completed Zaku legs in all their sturdy glory.

Another head only shot to give you an idea of the scale size of the models. They’re not very big.

The Zaku nearing completion. The two different shades of green kind of bug me. I like that there is more than one shade of green but there is too much of a different between the two that it’s kind of ugly to look at.

Both Gunplas fully assembled! The different shades of green don’t look as bad now that the Zaku is completed. It could also be the poor lighting, though. I’m glad I went with the pointy head crest on the Zaku. It looks pretty fierce compared to the RX-79 but that could be because the RX-79 just looks so clean. It’s pretty unrealistic considering the way the Gundams were used in The 08th MS Team. I might need to put some mud on there.

Strike a pose! “Shoot the enemy down” is a pretty common Gunpla pose. Look at the legs, that’s basically the maximum amount of movement they’ll allow. Also notice the left arm with the shield is raise in order to keep the whole thing balanced. The backpack kind of messes up the balance but it looks nice so I keep it on.

If you didn’t like how little RX-79’s legs bend, look at the poor Zaku. He barely has any leg movement. Sturdy, yes, but also stiff.

Final pose for the camera. Bro-bots!

One of the things I enjoyed about building Gunpla is that it forced me to pay attention to the design of the mobile suits. On the surface that might appear to be a silly statement because anybody who’s ever seen an episode with an RX-79 and a Zaku II can name several ways in which they defer in design. However, building them has given me deeper and more detailed insight into their differences and similarities. In other works, I’m not just looking at heads, the colours and the most distinctive design features of mobile suits. I’m looking at the entire thing. I spotlighted the legs above but most parts of these two mobiles suits are different from each other. I like both these models for two different reasons. The Zaku II is just a classic design and it has many unique features. The shoulder shield on one side and the spiked shoulder armour on the other are some of the better examples. It’s also looks very functional and militaristic with exception to the tubes which I think are impractical and obviously weak points of the otherwise sturdy armoured look of the Zaku. 

I also really like the RX-79. It’s an updated version of the original RX-78 Gundam but it has sharper edges and more defined detailing. It looks sleek but it also looks functional. The classic blue and white (or light grey) colours with red and yellow accents are put to good use. In my opinion this is just a nicer version of the original Gundam design but I’ll be quick to point out that might because I’m comparing  the RX-79 model to the mental image I have of the RX-78 which is what I looked like in the 1979 anime. By that I mean the RX-78 looks much softer, with rounded edges and less details which make it look like a weaker mobile suit. I could go on writing about Gunpla and this particular kit because it was just so much fun to build and it also provided some interesting thoughts on the realistic elements of mobile suit design. For anyone else who might be interested in trying out Gunpla building, I’d recommend this kit as I think it served very well as a beginner kit. HG models are challenging without being too difficult and they offer a suitably detailed model once it’s completely assembled. I’d also recommend trying to find two-in-one kits as this was affordable compared to other kits. Gunpla building is a great way to be more hands on with your Gundam fandom and I recommend giving it a try.

Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G review

I’ve been on a Gundam kick lately. It seems like every once in a while my reading and TV watching habits get directed to a particular series and I immerse myself in it for a few weeks. Back in May I had a Star Wars kick where I was reading and watching a lot but it’s since died down and now I’ve moved on to other things. I’m been reading Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series but when I’m not in that book, I’ve been rewatching some of the Gundam series and learning new things about the series. I’ve discovered the world of Gunpla, a portmanteau of Gundam Plastic model kit. This is, in short, a whole different genre of Gundam fandom that I was, at best, marginally aware of before. It turns out it’s a hobby that is as old as the Gundam franchise. I’ve just ordered my first kits the other day and while it’s something I would like to blog about, I’ll have to wait until the kits have arrived and I’ve built them to do so but for now, I’d like to review a delightful Gundam OVA called Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G.

The show was created in celebration the 30^th anniversary of the release of RX-78-2 Gundam, the first ever Gunpla. Since then, Gundam model kits have been as popular a hobby as watching the anime has been. The idea to create an Original Video Animation (OVA) series that would focus on Gunpla builders is an inspired idea. It’s anime metafiction and the idea to celebrate Gunpla, which is itself inspired by a franchise which began with an anime series, by making an anime of its own is a neat way of combining both elements of fandom. It just makes sense. It’s also surprisingly good.

The battle cockpit! It's very lifelike and I think it works well as a simulation.

The plot is very simple, and it needs to be because as most OVAs, Gunpla Builders Beginning G is a very short series. Comprised of 3 episodes that amount to approximately 40 minutes of television (if you don’t count the opening sequences and the end credits), the series doesn’t waste its time. A teenager named Haru Irei is visiting the 1/1 scale RX-78-2 in Odaiba, Japan (a real life size model) with his father and his friend, Kenta Sakazaki. Haru is noticeably awed by the majesty of seeing a life sized Gundam model and his father suggests they buy a model kit at a nearby stand. Kenta is enthusiastic as he’s a Gunpla builder himself.  Missing out on grabbing the last kit of a 1/144 High Grade RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. G30th, Haru ends up bringing home a GPB-X80 Beginning Gundam model kit home, hence the title of the series. So far the numbers and names of the kits seem pretty confusing, especially to newcomers, but for viewers who are familiar with Gunpla it will all make sense. Thankfully, it’s not necessary to know the ins and outs of Gunpla to enjoy the show. Besides, since the series is based on a real-world hobby, viewers can search online for any answers to any questions they might have on Gunpla building. So far everything in the show is a dramatization of what could have been someone’s real life experience but because this is a Gundam series, it’s not complete until there giant robot action. In the anime universe, Gunpla builders can partake in virtual battles in which they pilot the very same Gunplas they build.

One of the downsides of the show is that its short length doesn’t give it nearly enough time to develop characters. Haru is the typical hero and his character arc is predictable. In a single year he goes from complete novice to achieving the rank of Gunpla Meister. My favourite character is Kenta, his best friend. He’s just incredibly supportive and non-judgemental. He’s just happy to see his friend happy and to share a hobby he loves. Unfortunately, Rina, the female friend, is woefully underdeveloped and she’s a poor character overall. She’s focused on how cute she can make her Gunpla and is seemingly unaware of anything else related to the hobby. She acts like quite the airhead and she only starts to show her capable side in the last few minute of the show. There’s nothing wrong with liking things that are cute or being goofy but that’s all we see from Rina and it makes for a one dimensional character. Likewise, the antagonists are pretty lame and one of them even rides around on a horse. Why? Who knows but it’s really lame.

I was pretty impressed with how much information the show provided about the Gunpla battles, most of which was done via character exposition during the battles. There are a lot of rules and information to know about the Gunpla battle simulations. Things such as the scale size of your model count for how big it will appear in the simulation. Kenta’s 1/144 size mobile suit fights against a 1/550 and it’s hilariously tiny. The quality of the build also matters. A Gunpla that wasn’t assembled well will be weaker and more fragile than an expertly build mobile suit. Additionally, fragile or hastily added customization will result in a weaker Gunpla. The most surprising aspect of Gunpla battling is that the model matters more than the pilot. Sure, without any piloting skills you will be useless in battle but even an inexperienced Gunpla builder like Haru can beat an experienced opponent because his Gunpla was built with care. Likewise, Haru is nigh-invincible in the last battle but it’s not due to his growth as a pilot, instead his mobile suit’s newfound power is the result of adding new parts to his Beginning Gunpla.

Bearguy's flute beam. Yup, you read that right. 

To say any more about the show would spoil it, as I mentioned it’s very short but in its short length, it manages to include quite a bit of story and an impressive amount of action. The graphics are very good and the battles are good too but they’re too quick and unless they feature the main characters they do not provide us an insight as to what the pilots are doing. It’s literally just robots destroying each other and that’s a shame because losing the human element (especially in a show where the pilots built their own models to battle with) is unfortunate. Sure, these battles are very short and are probably there to display mindless action but the very presence of mindless actions diminishes the quality of the show by diminishing the show’s themes.

Naturally, shows like this only exist to try and grow the fanbase for the Gundam metaseries and Gunpla building. It’s very commercial and it would have been so even if Bandai didn’t release a new grade of Gunpla models, called the HGBC or High Grade Build Custom, shortly after the OVA's release. The new grade of models as well as this OVA broadcast a few philosophies about Gunpla building and I’m sure it is something that real world Gunpla fans can relate to. Mostly, it’s about having fun and enjoying the creative process. It’s also important not to worry about screwing up. You can always disassemble your Gunpla and smooth out the kinks. Aside from breaking a piece, you can fix most anything else. Customization is also another way to have more fun with your Gunplas.

Overall, it’s a very enjoyable 40 minutes of television. The show packs quite a bit of story and action in so few episodes. I’d prefer that as show try and condense as much story as possible in each episode than something that drags on and on. I think we have plenty of 40+ episodes Gundam series, it’s refreshing to see something so self-contained. Yet, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the concept of this OVA series was developed into a full fledge series made up of two 25 episode long seasons, the first of which has already aired. It’s an intriguing idea and I’m excited to watch Gundam Build Fighters.