Gunpla Build - Master Grade Gundam Sandrock (EW Version)

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Gundam Wing, which Bandai has been put quite a lot of effort into celebrating (whether or not this is because it was, and still is, extremely popular with English speaking fans is left for you to speculate on).

As a result of all this celebrating (including a sweet new tribute animation), suffice to say the show has been on my mind a lot - and now I kind of want to build a kit.

Good thing I’ve got a few Wing Master Grades lying about:

This here is the Endless Waltz redesign of Gundam Sandrock.

An Endless Waltz Refresher

Endless Waltz was an OVA that served as a direct sequel to the Gundam Wing TV show. However, either due to their increased budget, or their desire to sell new model kits, Sunrise had Hajime Katoki redesign all of the mobile suits.

This included the original five Gundams, pre midseason upgrades, despite the fact that none of those particular versions show up in Endless Waltz.

Since they don’t show up in the film, they originally only existed as lineart that was included in a brochure given to audiences during Endless Waltz’s theatrical premiere:

And for quite a few years that was the only place they existed. But that slowly changed over time.

First, there was a model kit. Not five model kits - just one. In 2004, they took the EW redesign of Wing Gundam and made it into a Ver. Ka Master Grade:

Then in 2010, Kadokawa began publishing Glory of the Losers, a manga retelling of Gundam Wing that used all the Endless Waltz mobile suit designs.

And around that same time (and probably not coincidentally), they began releasing Master Grades for all of those designs.

Since Glory of the Losers has no official English release, these MG kits are really the only exposure most fans have to these EW redesigns. That kind of makes me wonder how well known the redesigns are, or if they’re even popular with fans.

About the Model Kit

This is not the first Endless Waltz Master Grade I’ve built. In fact, the very first Master Grades I ever built were of EW Wing Zero:

And EW Epyon:

However, it has been a very long time since I built those, not to mention that I no longer have them¹. That means I can’t use them as a direct point of comparison.

What I remember about them is that they’re pretty decent, but a little simpler (and a little smaller) than other MG’s. The size is to be expected, as Gundam Wing mobile suits are small on average. As for the simplicity of the build, I’m not so sure. Perhaps their designs don’t really lend themselves to needing a ton of intricacy or detail.

Comparing to HG Sandrock

You bet I’m going to do comparisons with this little guy. He’s sturdy enough that I should be able to take him apart without any trouble.

Other Thoughts

Technically - and I mean technically - speaking, this version of Sandrock does not appear in Endless Waltz.

However, it also kinda does? I say that because the version that does appear - Sandrock Custom EW - is basically the same thing in a different paint job:

This is the version of Sandrock EW that most fans prefer, not only because it’s the one they have nostalgic memories for, but also because they prefer the purple color scheme. And I can’t blame them - purple was once the color of royalty, and that feels extremely on brand for Quatre and his mobile suit.

Sadly, however, that version of the Master Grade is only sold through Premium Bandai, and I’m happy to settle for the traditional version.

One more thing - I got some 3rd party waterslides for this one. They were surprisingly difficult to find - I located only one online shop that had any Sandrock decals in stock, 3rd party or otherwise.

But I’m glad I found them. Considering all those decals that go on the shoulder armor alone, I can’t imagine using standard stickers.