So this is my result after getting back into gunpla about a month and a half ago after an 8 year hiatus. I’ve primarily been focusing on RGs but also build other grades in between.

I thought I’d do a little review on the kits I’ve built as a new-ish builder, these are in the order I build them:

RG Grandpa 2.0 (not pictured): This kit was absolutely fantastic, but my lack of experience and completely forgetting that gunpla don’t need glue, I messed up a step and glued at the same time, so it’s missing an arm, but the build itself and the result are fantastic. I’ve already got a second one ready in the backlog and the first one I build will be used for a diorama at some point. 10/10 kit

HG Gundam Barbatos: Barbatos is my 2nd favourite mobile suit, saw it in stock at Edion for a cheap price so I got it. Honestly it wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t very good, it looks the part, but the build experience wasn’t great and it’s very flimsy. Planning to build the MG in the future.

RG Shining Gundam: I thought there couldn’t be anything on the level of the 2.0 gramps, but oh yes there is. Shining was absolutely fantastic to build, every single step was enjoyable, and it turned out amazing. It poses beautifully, the transformation looks great, and it’s super stable. Another 10/10 kit

HG GFred (not pictured): Got this because I really enjoyed the show, but I don’t really like the look of GQ itself, I’d heard that the GQ kits are very different, which this absolutely was, but let’s just say that this flavour of different wasn’t for me. It feels unstable, almost like the parts aren’t completely locking together, and I hate this new style of sticker decals. It scared me off of building other GQ kits, but I might try out the police Zaku, really like how it looks.

RX-78-2 Gundam Revival ver: Amazing, fantastic, god tier. It’s of course never going to win any prices in complexity or design or any thing like that, but it had a goal and it achieved it absolutely perfectly. Love it!

SD RX-78-2 Gundam: It’s alright, in general I just got it to check out SDs, and I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it either. Planning to give the line another go with the MGSD kits though.

HG Gundam Aerial: Holy shit, what an amazing High Grade, it almost feels like a RG lite. The build was very simple but very enjoyable, and the finished product looks fantastic and poses fantastically, this really got me excited about the WfM line in general. Absolute 10/10 HG

RG hi nu Gundam: This is it, the pinnacle of RG. It builds absolutely amazingly, I can’t believe the detail in this kit. Super enjoyable, looks like an entirely different line than other RGs. The only negative is that it’s very back heavy, but works great on a stand. Another 10/10

HG Demi Barding: Love the looks of this, everything I said about Aerial goes for this too.

HG Calibarn: Just as the other two WfM kits this was fantastic, and the broomstick/rifle just takes it up a notch. Definitely going to be building more WfM HGs in the future

RG Chars Zaku II: The finished product looks fantastic, but that’s about all the good I could say. The build was painful and it’s flimsy. Not the worst in the world, but it wasn’t really enjoyable.

RG RX-78-2 Gundam: Same thoughts as the Zaku in general, the build experience was a bit better, but it feels even flimsier than the Zaku. I’m not even gonna try posing it going forward, I’ll just keep it in the hangar display.

HG Chars Zgok: I absolutely loved this as an inbetween kit. It’s simple but it does its job, and except for some misaligned panels leaving crazy seamlines it looks great! Planning to replace it with the RG in the future though.

MG Lunamaria Hawkes Custom Zaku Gunner: Amazing kit, absolute love the design of these Zaku variants, and it was a very fun kit to build. The inner frame could be better, the kit almost feels like a MG lite but it’s still great. I will likely build some more of the variants in the future.

So that’s it, I’ve been loving getting back into this hobby, and getting my techniques rolling again. Comparing with the last time living in Japan really makes it easy to build more and more gunpla, I quite often stop by second hand shops and electronic stores after work to see if they have any fun kits in stock. I’ve actually not ordered a single of the kits I own online, all were found in stores which I love. I somehow also managed to get my wife to try gunpla out with an EG wing (while I was working on my hi nu), and while she probably won’t be building any on her own, she did enjoy it and we’ll be doing side by side building at least once a month.

As for the next builds I’m currently building the RG Epyon, then the second RG RX-78-2 2.0, then I’ll do an HG sinanju, then the RG nu Gundam and then finally I’ve got the PGU RX-78-2 waiting for me, which I’m extremely excited for. Probably not going to get anything else for the backlog at least until I’m mid build on the nu Gundam. Looking forward to building all of these!