Dear God WHAT HAVE I DONE!!?!?!?
Not too long ago, I was a person who loathed the mobile suit designs in Gundam Wing, and I especially had it out for the design of the Wing Gundam.
Fast forward to the present, where I have all these MF’ers on my shelf:
And now I have this …. this THING in my backlog:
My teenage self would be very cross right now.
But hey, as I’ve said before, the modern High Grade and Real Grade model kits being made for Gundam Wing are forcing me to reevaluate my opinion of these designs. These kits all bring out a special something … let’s call it zazz … that I never saw in these mobile suits before.
Nevertheless, Wing Gundam is a tougher nut to crack. It was (is?) tied with the Wing Zero as my least favorite design from the show. A plain old High Grade model kit, even a good one, isn’t going to be enough to change my mind. That’s why I never go this model here:
If I were already a fan, I probably would have gone for this. It’s a decent enough version, but that’s the problem. It is just a recreation. It does nothing to make me reevaluate the design. I need the zazz.
And that, folks, is where the brand new Real Grade version of Wing Gundam enters the picture:
Now that’s what I’m talking about.
I know what you might be thinking - “they don’t look THAT different” - but the devil’s in the details. Let’s break it down.
Why I don’t like OG Wing Gundam
So what exactly is it about the original Wing Gundam design that I don’t like? I think it comes down to two main things:
First, there’s the color scheme. I think it suffers from a severe case of color clash. Here’s a passage that succinctly explains what I mean:
Technically a colour clash is not a particular colour against another colour, its differing shades of colours that work less well together. For instance a bright, clear yellow will work well with a strong purple, but less well with a warm and muted purple as the tones will be different.
Or to put it another way:
Mixing two colours of similar intensity is often cited as a “no no”, and combining two pairs of similarly intense colours is really testing the rule book.
The mobile suit designs in Gundam Wing tend to use colors that are uniformly dark in intensity. This is particularly problematic for Wing Gundam (and Wing Zero), by virtue of it using so many colors. When all of them are so dark and intense, none of them are able to stand out from one another, and the blue/yellow/green trio in the center becomes a particular eyesore.
Second, the shape and proportions of its body parts are all off. I get the distinct sense that the artist(s) wanted Wing Gundam to look less like the militaristic designs of the Universal Century, and instead have more of an ornate, Super Robot vibe. I appreciate that, and I think it’s a good idea in theory (at least for this particular show), but in this case it doesn’t work. It’s too rounded, and its armor is often too short or too small.
Consider the fact that Gundams were among the first Real Robots in history. Suffice to say that they don’t easily translate into the Super Robot style, not unless you go all the way in that direction:
Quite frankly, Wing Gundam doesn’t go all the way, and therein lies the problem.
Looking at the Real Grade version, I feel as if it fixes most of these issues. The most obvious improvement is to the colors. They’re much brighter now, and they don’t clash nearly as much as the original tones.
Second, it doesn’t so much ditch the Super Robot vibes of the design, so much as it translates them to better fit on a Gundam. The chest is a bit more square in shape, the skirt armors are longer, and the shield is sharper and more angular. It’s stylized, but it is still recognizable as a Gundam-style mobile suit.
Third, the model makes some major changes to the wings:
While Mobile suits have long been capable of thrust, the Real Grade Wing Gundam looks capable of actual flight. It’s like they crossed a mecha with a bird. That feels like a very Super Roboty concept, but this new design pulls it off.
I’m excited. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m excited to build the Wing Gundam.
Other Stuff
- I really love how the shield splits in the center to reveal the beam saber. It’s something that happens in the TV show, but not often enough. I also like how they use the gimmick in the new Bird Mode, to make it look like it has a head that can look downward.
- I forgot how expensive Real Grades can be. Or maybe I should say that I’ve been spoiled by the fact that most of the High Grades I go after tend to be on the cheaper end. I don’t regret springing $40 for this one, but I haven’t done that in a while, and if I had to, I’d be building a whole lot less models.