Gunpla Build - High Grade Jupitive Gundam (Final)

Sorry for the fakeout, but now it’s really time to talk about the Jupitive Gundam.

This might be my favorite looking Planet Armor so far. The Jupitive Gundam has such a crisp, clean color scheme, and so much surface detail running across its body. It feels like the most intricate of the three armors I’ve built so far, even if it shares most of its armor parts with its siblings.

But it’s those extra/exclusive parts that push it over the edge. But wide, intricate shoulder armor, the big, powerful thrusters, and those wrist mounted Manifer Bits that allow it pack heat even without holding a weapon.

Just standing like this, without a rifle or a shield, the Jupitive Gundam looks like it could put up a solid fight. That’s the sign of a good looking Gunpla.

But not everything about this kit is rosy.

Not Enough Hands

The Jupitive Gundam suffers from the same problem as its siblings, one of which is the fact that two closed fist holding hands just isn’t enough.

I’m not asking for much here Bandai. Even a single open palmed left hand would do wonders for posing. In the case of the Jupitive Gundam here, it would make it a heck of a lot easier to hold its primary weapon in two hands.

Instead, as it stands, my fears came true. The Beam Gatling Gun is too large in real life. It looks ridiculous in one handed action poses, and without a side grip, there’s no way to hold it in two hands. Similar to the Earthree, you can kind of fake a two handed pose like so:

But it doesn’t really work for dynamic action shots. Instead, I found myself looking for angles that make the gun look not quite so big, like so:

Or you can just skip the action shots entirely and stick with resting poses, in which case the gun looks fine:

But the point is that I shouldn’t have to try and get clever (or have to compromise) like this in order to make the model look good when posing with its signature weapon. That’s unacceptable.

I don’t understand why they do this. It’s like they’re saying “Here’s a highly detailed model with advanced joints and gimmicks. Now treat it like a statue because its hands are frozen in place and it has no way to express itself.“

Of all the ways to cut costs, I don’t think this is the solution.

Long Legs

Another problem is that the legs on these Planet Armors are too long and lanky. I never know what to do with them in midair action poses. Even in standing poses they sometimes pose a problem on account not always feeling very stable. I don’t think they’ve ever actually toppled over, but it feels like they’re constantly on the verge of doing so.

(Sometimes) Taking Less Photos

In any case, I decided to do two things in response to these issues. The first was to focus on taking photos where the Jupitive is usings its other weapons and gimmicks. The second was to not force myself to try and take a ton of photos.

I’ve talked about this in the past, but it still holds true today - I still backdate posts sometimes, and it’s usually because I’m still slow to sit down and actually take photos. I feel like I have to have the time, energy, and the right mental headspace, and getting all of those stars to align at once is challenging and rare.

But maybe it wouldn’t be quite as challenging if I made it easier on myself. That is, I’ve convinced myself that there is some minimum threshold of photos I need to take, and that there is some sort of minimal level of effort and creativity that I need to put into coming up with unique and interesting poses. I’m intimidated by my own lofty ideals, and then when I muster up the courage I need, I end up falling short of them (the recent photos of the Earthree Gundam, for example, are pitiful in retrospect). That leaves me feeling like a failure.

Together these thoughts creates a negative feedback loop. It’s gotten to the point where I have had two occasions where I had a backlog of finished kits waiting to be photographed.

Something has to change. Right here, and right now. My plan is to not apply some universal standard to all builds. If I have a lot of fun taking photos of a certain kit, that’s fantastic. But if I don’t, I’ll simply take less photos. If I wind up with only one or two that are worth posting, then so be it. It’s the only way I’ll be able to finish things up in a timely manner.

So, to reiterate - I’ve only taken a handful of photos of the Jupitive Gundam. Its’ the best I can do for now.

The Rest of the Photos

Here’s the Jupitive with its Manifer Bits attached to its shoulders:

It only does this briefly in the show, but it’s kind of a neat idea to turn them into pivotable turrets that can aim and fire independently from the hands and arms.

Here it is with the Manifer Bits deployed:

They look really good out there flying around. They’re big enough to be noticeable, but not too big as to be distracting.

Here it is with the Multi Container Bits deployed in shield mode:

It’s fine I guess. The whole idea of floating shields doesn’t really work that well in still images.

Finally, here it is using the Multi Container Bit as a makeshift beam saber:

I appreciate that the kit comes with a short little blade just for use like this. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from using any of the other included beam effect parts, but this little short blade makes it look and feel like the desperation move that it is (or at least that’s how it is depicted in the show).

Conclusion

The Jupitive Gundam is a great looking High Grade, with some neat gimmicks and a less than great primary weapon. That’s all there is to say about it really.

Other Thoughts

I really wanted to use a black background since the Jupitive fights in space. But the black background that comes with my light box is extremely shiny. If you’ve seen any of my old posts where I use it, you probably know that I have a hard time getting the lighting just right.

For this build, I opted instead to use the matte black squares that you’re supposed to use on the sides of the lightbox. I think the lighting was slightly improved by using them, but a bunch of the shots came out blurry. I’m going to have to play around to figure out how to adjust the camera settings for this kind of background.

As for how the photoshoot went, I had a much better time limiting myself to this handful of photos. I got it done without feeling exhausted, or stressed, or frustrated. Nor do I feel bad that I don’t have as many shots to share as usual. Hopefully this bodes well for the future.