I suppose that after three posts worth of chatter, I should probably get around to actually building a model kit or something.
We’ve heard from the Collective Internet about how Super Special Awesome this build is, but now it’s time to take a look ourselves and put it to the test.
But first - I forgot to snap a photo of the runners. Thankfully someone else did, and I’m going to borrow their photo:
A couple of observations:
- This photo shows all the runners for the mobile suit itself, but not the Action Base 5. I’d say that’s a pretty healthy spread for a High Grade.
- There’s a single green part which is for the eyes and the head camera. Right below it is an alternate clear version of the same part, which I guess is there in case you want to paint them in instead (though there’s nothing stopping you from painting the green one)
Let’s get started.
Weapons
The Beam Shotgun assembles as usual, but somehow they managed to make almost all the seamlines invisible. There’s one running along the top front half of the gun, but that’s really it.
As you can see, I did a bit of extra detailing. I used to go nuts with adding color and chrome plating to my weapons, but in recent years I’ve dialed back and kept things simpler. This time I tried to find a happy middle ground, and I’m happy with how it came out.
As for the Beam Tomahawk, the handle itself is made out of both grey and white plastic, and there’s quite a lot of surface detail. However I found that it doesn’t look too good with heavy panel lines, so I kept it simple instead. Let that massive beam effect part do all the talking.
Head
It didn’t take very long to come across a part of this build that’s less than stellar. Here is how the head looks straight out of the box:
I’ve seen worse, but I’ve also definitely seen better. It’s clear that it’s missing a whole bunch of color, even if you were to panel line it.
Now here is how it is supposed to look:
As you can see, it’s supposed to have green lines running along its cranium, grey vulcan cannons, and grey face vents. And if you really want it to look correct, it’s supposed to have little red stripes running along its rear V-Fin.
(side note - there’s no groove or panel line or anything for these red stripes. You just have to grab your smallest brush and paint a thin line as best you can)
Credit where it’s due - it uses no stickers for the eyes or the cameras, something that wouldn’t really become common until many years later, when Bandai relaunched their Entry Grade line. There is also only one tiny seamline in the back. All very impressive stuff, but the fact that it requires so much color correction dampens the impact of this impressive engineering.
Upper Torso
The red plastic on the torso is very clearly glossier than any of the other plastic in the box; clearly this was intentional. I decided I wouldn’t topcoat it, in hopes that it would add a nice bit of contrast:
It doesn’t look bad, but the effect is not quite as pronounced as I would thought it would be.
There actually isn’t a ton of inner framing in the chest, but it’s still got some cool things inside, include a weird hinge joint that lets it easily rock side to side.
Let’s flip it around and look at the backpack:
It’s a pretty simple design - one that I think is highgly reminiscent of the Grandaddy Gundam, which is a little weird considering it’s really a Zeon design with a Gundam head. But whatever.
As you can (hopefully) see, I used some weathering compound on the backpack, to mostly good effect.
Lower Torso
The lower torso is fairly monochrome, so you’d best do some panel lining:
Looking around back, the rear skirt is made of two parts layered on top of one another, and it very much resembles the Sazabi in its shape:
I added a bit of chrome plating to plus it up.
Legs
When people gush about the inner framing on the Moon Gundam, it’s probably the legs that they’re thinking of. It’s the one area where the frame is really, truly impressive, as good as any modern Real Grade:
It’s got a Master Grade-esque sliding knee joint, pipes and cabling and other surface detail, and even hidden vents. The only thing that’s kind of weird about it is that the feet are permanently connected to the leg frame, rather than using a classic ball joint.
The exterior is no slouch either:
You’ve got white plastic, grey plastic, and hidden thrusters in both the sides and the back. And aside from that little red stripe on the ankle, you could theoretically color the entire thing in with a single panel lining marker. Top marks all around.
Sadly, I can’t say the same about the feet. There’s nothing remarkable about them, no toe bend or anything.
Arms
The arms themselves have some nice inner framing, but not the shoulders. They’re the usual “two half pieces stuck together” construction, with a cover on top to hide the seamlines.
Like the head, and the skirt armor, the shoulders have some wonderful surface detail, but it requires a good deal of panel lining and color correction to make it look decent.
And that’s not just on the outside either, but the inside as well:
That little grey and yellow insert is a nice idea, but because it isn’t flush with the rest of the shoulder, it looks kind of cheap and tacky, like they just crammed one piece of plastic into another (because that’s exactly what they did)
Moving onto the arms, there’s this big opening in the wrists where the Butterfly Edge weapon is stored:
Something about this doesn’t look right to me. It’s too big relative to the size of the arm.
On a more positive note, at least we get a bunch of different holding hands:
Psychoplates
These are simple in construction, but there’s a lot of detailing work to be done:
I don’t know why there are all these yellow bits on tips of each plate, but you’ll have to paint them in if you want them color accurate.
Flip it around to the other side, and there are also a lot of panel lines on the front of each plate:
As for assembly, it’s similar to the fin funnels on the Real Grade Nu Gundam. Each plate has a J-Hook that locks into a notch in its neighboring plate.
One consequence of this design is that the plates aren’t interchangeable. They each have a very specific order in the chain, which makes taking them apart and putting them back together a bit of a pain.
Conclusion
So - is this the King of the High Grades?
If you asked me before I started the build, I would have told you “yes” without question, because I had already bought into all the hype surrounding this model. That was a mistake on my part. Even when you know logically not to follow the crowd and to think for yourself, it’s still dangerously easy to get swept up in all the hype, especially when everyone seems to be saying the same positive things.
Anyway, now that I’ve finished the model and seen it all for myself, I can tell you that my answer is “no”.
It really boils down to one thing - if you’re going to call something the King of all models in a given Grade, I expect the entire thing, from top to bottom, to surpass any and all expectations for that Grade.
And that’s simply not the case for the Moon Gundam. Yes, the legs are still probably the best I’ve ever seen on an HG. But then there are other parts of the body (like the shoulders and feet, and to a lesser extent the lower torso) that are really no different in engineering than any bog standard High Grade. And then there are areas (like the head) that have impressive engineering, but the impact is dampened by the lack of color accuracy.
But maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Instead of asking “is this the King of High Grades?”, maybe we should be asking “was this better than other Gunpla from 2018?” To which I would answer …. maybe …. ?!?!?
I perused my shelves to see if I had any other High Grades from 2018, and it turns out that I do. In fact, they’re two of my favorite HG’s in my collection - the Gundam Ground Type:
And the Dijeh:
These are both excellent models, and not just because I love the designs. They both do a phenomenal job of hiding seamlines, they have excellent color accuracy, and the Dijeh in particular has some great panel lines that add a ton of depth and dimension.
I suppose if I had to choose, I’d say the Moon Gundam is still better than both of these kits, if for no other reason than the design of its legs. But in terms of overall quality, I don’t think either of the two are that far behind. It’s possible that 2018 was simply a good year for Bandai’s engineering department, but the point is that the Moon Gundam wasn’t smoking everything even when it was brand new.
Now, how does it compare to even newer HGs? Does it still hold up? Yes … mostly.
The thing is, we’ve certainly seen changes to High Grade engineering over the last seven years, but not all of those changes are necessarily improvements. For example, I don’t think you’ll even convince me that C-Clip joints are a better path forward.
That means that, for the most part, the engineering on the Moon Gundam still feels at least as good as - and in some cases better than - a lot of newer kits.
But if you were to compare it against the very best of the bunch, that’s where the comparison gets dicey.
Are the legs on the Moon Gundam still more impressive than anything on Aerial? Sure. But does Aerial have better overall color separation and parts separation? I think it does.
All of this is to say that yes, Moon Gundam is an excellent build. But the idea that it is or even was the undisputed King is typical Internet hyperbole. And even if I’m the only builder to ever come out and say that, at least I got my truth out.
And besides, all the best engineering in the world only means so much if the model doesn’t look good. But we’ll have to make that determination after I take some photos.