I recently hinted at my desire to build the Master Grade Gundam F91.
As I said then, I don’t really think the F91 works at the 1/144th scale. I, mean, technically it does work - it has all its weapons, gimmicks, etc. The problem is that at that size, it is much too fragile, and certain details are almost impossible to paint.
Also, I’m 99% sure the designers had to screw with the shape of the body to get some of the gimmicks to work, so it also doesn’t quite look right.
But what about a Master Grade version? My hunch is at that size, and with that level of detail, Bandai should have no trouble capturing the F91 in all its glory. Granted, it’s still not going to be huge, being a miniature mobile suit and all, but it should be big enough to get the job done.
As luck would have it, the 2.0 Master Grade kit was recently in stock online. And for reasons I won’t go into, I was told to buy myself my own Father’s Day gift.
Happy Father’s Day to me 😁:
My History with Master Grades
Anyone who has perused this website knows that I don’t generally build Master Grades. In fact, I’ve only built two in my lifetime - and if you want to get technical, this is the first one I’ve ever purchased for myself, since the other two were gifts.
It’s not that I have a problem with Master Grades. I mean, how could I? They’re much better than High Grades in just about every respect. I may not prefer them, but I’m not sure how anyone could actively dislike them.
No, my “problem” - if you want to call it that - is that I have a different perspective on Master Grades relative to the majority of the Gunpla community. Basically, I see High Grades as the “default” model kit, whereas I see Master Grades as special kits that you only build occasionally, either because it’s of a mobile suit that’s particularly meaningful to you, or if it just so happens to be such a knockout model that anyone would appreciate it.
This perspective is driven by a number of factors:
- Master Grades are obviously much bigger than High Grades, and for whatever reason I much prefer the size of the latter. In most cases, 1/144th scale works better for me.
- On that note, if you want to make gunpla into a long term hobby, and you only build MGs, you’re going to run out of shelf space pretty darn quick.
MG’s are more expensive than HG’s. While this has always been true, it seems to me that the discrepancy has only gotten worse over time. If I recall correctly, I used to see a lot more MG’s in the $30-$50 range, but nowadays it seems that $50-$60 is the floor, and they only go up from there. I’m not sure if shortages are causing prices to rise, or if retailers were previously more willing to put kits on sale, what (maybe my memory is playing tricks).
In either case, most MG’s are expensive enough that (in my opinion) you really need to think hard about whether or not you want it, lest you waste quite a bit of cash.
Not every mobile suit gets a Master Grade. Unless your tastes veer towards the most popular protagonist and grunt units - or a handful of the more obscure ones - it is almost a certainty that you’ll run into a situation where there’s no Master Grade version of one of your favorite mecha.
In my defense, it seems like the folks at Bandai feel the same way as me. They’ve always made more HG’s than MG’s (though they used to make far more MG’s in past decades), and they tend to emphasize HG’s in all Gunpla-related media. All of the competitors in Build Fighters use High Grades, and there are only a handful of MG models in games like Gundam Breaker 3 (and even then it takes a while to unlock any).
None of these observations are meant to be a knock on Master Grades. I just don’t think they were ever meant to be the bread and butter “build fodder” for any enthusiastic builder. Of course, there always have been (and still are) people who look down on High Grades, and insist on only building Master Grades, but that’s their choice I guess. As for me, I like having the best of both worlds.
About the F91
I talked about the F91 a long time ago, but not with quite the same level of detail that I do nowadays. I also brought it up a little bit when discussing the technical evolutions that lead to the Victory Gundam. But if you would indulge me, I’d like to have a redo of sorts, with a full, better technical overview of the mobile suit.
Which I will wait to do in the next post. It’s Father’s Day weekend, and I’d like to go celebrate take care of my sick wife and kids. See you later!
Other Thoughts
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I'm not going to say that my lack of interest in Master Grades was in any way influenced by the fact that both the MG Wing Zero and MG Epyon were underwhelming. Nor am I going to say that it was influenced by the fact that I have bad memories associated with those two kits - memories so strong that I have the models to my toddlers to play with (and break). But I'm not going to say it wasn't.
Good Riddance - Seriously though - I've read reviews that say both the MG Wing Gundam Proto Zero and the MG Epyon are among the simpler Master Grades out there, and I'm inclined to believe them. They're not bad, but they didn't really blow me away. I've seen Real Grades with more impressive features and details.
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Throughout the build, I'm going to be comparing it to this little S.O.B. -
It probably won't be a fair comparison - in fact, I'm hoping it isn't. If the $50+ Master Grade F91 doesn't blow the pants off the sub-$15 High Grade, I'm going to be cross.
In any case, I think it will be quite educational to have a direct comparison like this, one which shows us exactly how much more parts separation Bandai opts for in an MG, and/or what kinds of corners they cut to pull off a HG.
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Because this is a special kit, I got some more special paint:
I've already had great success with Mr. Super Clear gloss, but now it is time to see if the matte version is just as good. I have a feeling it will, though I'm afraid that it will be so good that I'll want to use it for every build. Considering it's $15 a can at my local shop, I'd probably end up like this if that were to happen:
Better to grit my teeth and use the cheap stuff on everything else.
