Gundam

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gerbera Tetra (Final) 2022-05-14

Let’s get right to it.

First off, I decided to use the black backdrop again. My rudimentary understanding of photography lighting told me that a kit as bright and shiny as this one would look overly bright near the top, and overly covered in shadow on the bottom, which is not necessarily what you’d want. But in this case, that’s exactly what I was going for. I feel like this is the way mobile suits are often drawn when in outer space - and since the Gerbera Tetra fights exclusively in space, I thought it might be a neat visual effect.

Second, I think this model kit is a High Grade masterpiece:

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gerbera Tetra (Part 1) 2022-05-11

I’ve been intimidated by this build. I originally attempted to build it back in November, but I gave up almost immediately. It has a lot of pieces for a High Grade, and some of them are quite large. And most of them have a lot of surface details. I assumed it was going to take a lot of time to both plan and execute all the painting and detailing, and I wasn’t in the right headspace for that.

Here now, in the Spring of 2022, I am in a better place mentally, but early on this build was still an exercise in frustration. Over the years my family has gifted me many bottles of pink paint, and I’ve been waiting for this build to use them. Unfortunately I discovered that only a few of them were actually viable. Rather than panic or overthink it, I grabbed those colors and just used them. No planning, no thinking, just gut.

Doing so felt liberating, and the final result is, at the very least, good enough.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First we have to start from the beginning.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gerbera Tetra (Second Intro) 2022-05-10

So now we know the history of how the Gerbera Tetra was designed. We know a little about what its purpose was. But what exactly was the mobile suit like? What technologies was it equipped with? And how, if at all, did it differ from its original design as a Gundam?

Let’s talk about all of that, and more, in this (unusual) second introductory post.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gerbera Tetra (First Intro) 2022-05-09

Before we start talking about the Gerbera Tetra itself, we need to go over a little bit of history, to explain how it is it came into existence in the first place.

The Rise of Anaheim Electronics

Prior to the One Year War, Anaheim Electronics was a massive corporate conglomerate that made all sorts of products. One thing they did not make, however, was mobile suits.

That soon changed postwar. Seeing the rise of mobile suits as a business opportunity, the company scooped both the Zeonic Company and the Zimmad Company. These, of course, were the two main producers of mobile suits for now-defeated Principality of Zeon.

Gunpla Build - High Grade Gerbera Tetra 2022-05-08

Third and final completed build of Home Alone 2022 is the High Grade Gerbera Tetra, from Stardust Memory:

I have a lot to say, probably more than is necessary for a mobile suit that gets as little screen time as this one does. However there is a decent amount of lore that’s been built up around it over the years, and I find it fun to read about and consider. So get ready for multiple introductory/background posts before we get to the build itself.

Gunpla - About Color Variants 2022-05-06

Custom color schemes are a time honored tradition among model kit builders. Whether you’re trying to improve on the existing palette, or you simply want to see how it looks in your favorite custom colors, a good repainting can breathe new life into a tried and true model.

But recolors are not exclusively within the purview of hobbyists. Bandai themselves can and will issue official color variants. Sometimes these are purely promotional, such as the models themed after 7-Eleven and Japanese baseball teams: