It’s been a year and a half since I last built a Gundam Model Kit. I think that’s the longest span of time I’ve had between builds, and truth be told, I expected it to be even longer. There just aren’t any Real Grade kits I am jonesing to build, and I still don’t think I have the talent - and I definitely don’t have the shelf space - to try a Master or Perfect Grade. As for trying a High Grade kit, I’ve contemplated it, but there’s an overwhelming amount of them, and I am very easily affected by the paradox of choice.
This is a roundabout way of saying that Gunpla Chronicles 5 is brought to you by my wife. I recently had to housesit while she went on a family vacation, and she came back with a model kit for me.
To be honest, she could have brought me any kit, of any grade, and I would have loved it. Mrs. Wolfe knows I like Gundam, but I don’t obsess over it, so she doesn’t know all that much about it. The fact that she not only tried to find me a kit, but also tried to find one she thought I would like, means more to me than I could possibly describe with mere words.
That being said, the kit she found just happens to be an excellent choice, for a number of reasons. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you the High Grade Gundam Tryon 3:
Where do I begin with this thing? There’s just so much to say before I even start the build. First things first: I had never seen this Gundam before, which forced me to do a ton of research on it. Here is what I discovered…
The Tryon 3 comes from a very recent show named “Gundam Build Fighters Try”. Like its predecessor, “Gundam Build Fighters”, it is about a group of plucky teens who love Gundam shows and Gundam kits, and by way of some techno-magic, are able to make them fight in tournaments.
On top of that, the show has a hook to try and convince fans to watch what is, quite literally, a long form commercial for real life toys. Build Fighters is jam packed full of callbacks to older Gundam shows. This is especially true of the show’s mobile suits. Since the story centers around Gunpla enthusiasts, the characters are all big on applying personal customizations to their builds. Thus the models they build and compete with are variations on existing classic mobile suits.
This brings us to the Tryon 3. For those of who are unfamiliar with the model, can you guess what suit it is based on? I’ll admit that when my wife first sent a photo of the box, I could not. It turns out that it is based on the Double Zeta Gundam, which now seems so obvious that I can’t believe that I missed it. Here’s a side by side comparison to drive home the point.
In my defense, the Tryon 3 is quite a deviation from the Double Zeta in a number of ways. The color scheme is an entirely different mix of the primary colors, it has a lion’s face on its chest, and it carries a gigantic freaking sword. And that’s all on top of the fact that the suit is built by combining three smaller, animal based mecha, which is simply unheard of in the Gundam universe. The gimmick of the Tryon 3, then, is that it is Gundam filtered through an old school Super Robot show. This has made it quite a favorite among fans, and I tend to agree. I love both Super Robot and Real Robot style shows for different reasons, but seeing them come together is both a surprise and a treat.
So that’s the history of the mobile suit itself. There’s also quite a bit to say about the actual kit. For instance, the box is big. Look how it stacks up next to the box for the Real Grade Zeta.
This doesn’t make sense at first. HG kits aren’t supposed to be as complicated as the other grades. Are there really so many pieces in there? The answer is yes, actually. It turns out that the Tryon is one example of Bandai’s practice of recycling pieces. Basically, since the Tryon is based on the Double Zeta, Bandai designed the kit to use as many pieces as possible from an existing High Grade Double Zeta. This allowed them to reuse existing molds, which in turn meant they had to design and create a minimum number of new molds for the Tryon-specific pieces. This is an obvious cost cutting measure, and the tradeoff for consumers is that the kit comes with a whole bunch of Double Zeta pieces which aren’t used to build the Tryon. This is why the box is so big.
Anyway, my research suggests that this is a fairly common practice, one that irks a lot of fans. Since I’ve only ever built Real Grade kits - which are all brand new in their design - I’ve been completely isolated from it until now. And while it is kind of annoying, I also have to give Bandai props for being able to take these old pieces and use them to make a combining mecha. This is clearly not how they were designed to be used, and yet they somehow make it work. I’ve often seen builders discuss how they use old pieces to customize their models, but I never understood how they managed to pull it off. The Tryon 3 is an official example of this practice in action, and I hope that by building it, the art of customization will make a lot more sense to me.
I realize this post has already gone on for a while, but I have a few more remarks before I wrap it up:
This is my first time building a High Grade, and while they’re supposed to be the “easiest” to complete, I’m not taking any chances. I am going to approach this build with just as much care and patience as I always have.
I watched some video reviews of the kit, which revealed that the Tryon 3 is a bit taller and bigger than other High Grades, which is kind of surprising.
I am going to try and build the animal forms first, and then combine them into the final product. After the disaster I experienced with the Zeta Gundam, I’m more than a little nervous about trying it, but I just can’t help myself.
I read my entries for Gunpla Chronicles 4. I don’t know what was going on in my life at the time, but I was cranky when I wrote it. I can’t tell you what format Gunpla Chronicles 5 will take on (or what length it will be), but I promise it will be far more cheerful.