After years of pining and sixty bucks, here finally is the 7-Eleven Gundam:
Yeah, it’s not blowing my mind like I thought it would.
I don’t mean to brag, but aside from the shield, I feel like I really nailed this one. I mean, it looks pretty darn close to this promotional image:
But for some reason, it feels less colorful in person. To be sure, the colors are all there, but it feels like they get overwhelmed by the extremely white arms and lower body.
As an experiment, I tried placing the model next to a black background, to see if maybe that would change the lighting, and thus change the color profile:
Sure enough, that does look much better. The colors pop more, and the white looks much more stark. So I’ll say that the 7-Eleven color scheme does look very good, provided the conditions are right.
G30 Gundam Assessment
Now let’s review the kit not as the 7-Eleven Gundam, but as the High Grade G30 Gundam.
Appearance
In terms of appearance, I find the G30 underwhelming. The Real Grade Gundam does a much better job of replicating the look of the G30 Gundam statue. Case in point:
It isn’t just the difference in colors and part separation. The head of G30 looks quite a bit different, as do some of the armor parts. It is almost its own unique variation on the RX78-2 design. That doesn’t work in its favor. When you have a model that’s a perfect replica of the statue, and another model that’s a great replica of the 1979 design, the G30 design feels like the odd mecha out.
Articulation
In a word, the articulation is bad. All of it.
To start, the forward knee bend is trash:
The back bend isn’t awful, but it isn’t amazing either:
The ab crunch is almost nonexistent:
And as I mentioned earlier, the arm can only bend to 90 degrees:
Which means it cannot grab its beam saber from behind without losing the hand:
Let’s try a split:
Nope! The side skirts barely move out of the way before being caught on the torso.
Now for one final comparison. When I reviewed the Revive Gundam, I gushed about the it’s ability to pull off The Final Shot. In case you don’t remember what that looks like:
In contrast, this is the best that the G30 can do:
That is as high as it goes …
Issues
This kit has a raft of issues. The biggest concern is that the elbow joints have no friction. If you try to raise the arm up at the elbow, it is going to fall back down:
Your only options are to keep the elbow straight, or do a 90 degree bend so the forearm is parallel to the ground.
That, or you have to find a way to rest part of the weapon on the body to keep it in place:
By my count, I have built 21 1/144th scale kits, 2 1/100th scale kits, one humanoid Star Wars kit, one Bearguy, one Haropla, and one SD Gundam kit. None of them struggle to keep their arms up like this kit does. I am utterly stunned and bewildered. Is this by design? Was this a manufacturing defect? Has the kit somehow deteriorated over time? Or did I screw something up?
But wait, there’s more! There are other problems to behold!
One of the beam sabers continuously falls out of the backpack.
And the right holding hand constantly falls apart when holding anything. I ended up using super glue on it to keep it in place.
And the shield is liable to fall off its mount:
Conclusion
As the 7-Eleven Gundam, I’d say this kit is good enough, if a bit underwhelming. However, as the High Grade G30 Gundam, this kit is absolute trash.
It’s also one of the oldest models I have in my collection. That might serve as a sort of defense. Oh, it’s just old, you can’t hold that against it. But it turns out I have one other kit that’s a year older - namely, the High Grade Kampfer, released in 2008:
I may have done a poor job detailing and painting the poor Kampfer, but the model itself is rock solid. Great articulation (relative to its shape), lots of accessories, and no stability problems. Nothing about it makes it stand out as being any better or worse than any other kit in my collection, despite its age.
I know it is only a sample size of one, but if the Kampfer was that good in 2008, then the G30 Gundam has no excuse for being so bad in 2009. Maybe I’m just grumpy after having spent so much money on it, but I’m just not in the mood to make excuses. If not for the 7-Eleven colors (and even then), I’d consider this kit a complete and utter bust.