This is an attempt at a followup to my review of the Entry Grade Gundam. That previous post was hardly my best work. I spent three nights in a row working on it, and at the end of each night I ended up falling asleep at my desk. I just couldn’t figure out how to put my thoughts into a cohesive argument, and my dislike of the model meant there was only so much time I wanted to spend on it. I had other things I wanted to do with my free time, and this review was blocking them all. So after three nights, I cut my losses and published what I had.
Now I’m back to try one more time. Not with a full review, but to at least try and mount my main argument more cleanly. I think that it might be easier with a fresh start in a fresh post.
To reiterate something I said earlier, I don’t think this is the best model kit that Bandai can make for seven bucks.
For example, the model’s joints are entirely based the joint system used in the High Grade Leo. But the Leo doesn’t have exposed shoulder joints - so why does the Entry Grade Gundam have them? My guess is that the folks on Bandai insisted on making sure the model could pull off the classic “Final Shot” pose. After all, if the joints are exposed, then nothing can get in their way, and they can achieve full rotation.
And yet The Final Shot is a pose that small scale kits like this simply could not pull off until recently. I doubt veteran builders would care if it was missing on an Entry Grade model, nor do I think that newbies would either. I think both groups of builders would prefer that the model look accurate.
I forgot to mention this in the review, but the big chunky arm guard on the shield is another visual flaw. It is extremely visible when strapped to the arm, and it gets in the way when the shield is attached to the backpack - it has to be aligned perfectly vertically, and it cannot move from side to side. This makes it look awkward and unnatural.
I already said a lot about the lack of detail in the foot (behind the ankle guard), but I want elaborate. The realy reason why it is a problem is because the ankle guard is attached via a front facing ball joint, which is the wrong type of joint for this situation:
This particular joint does not provide a whole lot of vertical movement, which in turn means the ankle guard cannot be repositioned as needed to cover up the inside of the foot.
This is a problem that shouldn’t exist. Not even an ancient kit like this GM Command suffers from it. It too has a visible joint:
But since the ankle guard moves, you’ll never notice:
One easy solution to this problem would be to use a side facing ball joint, like the one used on the HG Heavyarms:
This would allow vertical movement, and it would be as simple as repositioning the existing ball joint.
So many aspects of this design make no sense, because they are problems that Bandai has existing solutions to. And I just don’t see any of them being cost prohibitive. So what’s going on?
In the original review, I made a conspiratorial accusation against Bandai. I alleged that they made this kit as an effective (but deliberately flawed) hook, one that would convince new builders to buy more and better kits. This accusation was unfair of me.
I guess I just don’t see this being worth it, even as a seven dollar build. It doesn’t give you a good enough impression of what small scale kits are capable of, and I find it baffling to see people not just accepting its flaws, but raving about the quality of the model. I should know better - this is the Internet after all. I’m just not buying into the hype as much as I expected to.