Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack. For an HG, this kit has a pretty solid presence.

Upper body front and rear shots

HG Ahead - They really put a lot of care into the center of the torso.. It uses a triple-layer structure — a black part on th

They really put a lot of care into the center of the torso..
A black part on the inside, with a clear part layered on top of that,
then a chest armor piece with holes over it — a triple-layer structure that gives it a really great sense of depth.
They could've just slapped a black sticker on it and nobody would've complained.. Nice work!

A unique head that looks like it has four eyes.
Somehow reminds me of Appleseed..

Arms and weapons.
The simplest shield I've seen in a while..

HG Ahead - The legs. The wide-stance design makes the proportions look a little off.. but the more you look at it, the more i

The legs.
The wide-stance design makes the proportions look a little off..
But the more you look at it, the more it grows on you;

The nicely detailed ducts on the back

It can be equipped with a pack that carries the Automaton unmanned killing machines.

Left is the standard duct, right is the Automaton carrier mounted on the rear.

HG Ahead - You can split or combine the barrel to switch between two configurations: the GN Submachine Gun and the GN Beam Ri

You can split or combine the barrel to switch between two configurations: the GN Submachine Gun and the GN Beam Rifle.

The GN Submachine Gun has folding handles on both sides.

Like other GN-drive kits, the back of the weapon can also be pegged onto the forearm.

The GN Submachine Gun can also be mounted on the thigh.

HG Ahead - Articulation. With no skirt armor, the legs can swing up freely, and the knees bend all the way — so the range of

Articulation.
With no skirt armor, the legs can swing up freely, and the knees bend all the way —
so the range of motion is pretty solid.
The structure is similar to the HG Tieren, but the articulation isn't quite as good as the Tieren.

Shoulder forward/backward and up/down movement

The waist is quite flexible, which really helps when posing for action shots.

The hip joints are flexible too, so the legs spread wide with no trouble.

It's a bit awkward, but you can pull off a rough power-stance pose.

The ducts on the back also move on double joints.

The lower forearm rotates 360 degrees, so you can freely choose where to position the shield.

Action poses. Since this unit mainly fights in the air, it looks a little out of place on the ground.

Stand on!

GN Submachine Gun action poses

Beam saber action.
The articulation is pretty good, so you can get some really dynamic poses out of it.

HG Ahead - Putting it on a stand definitely helps offset that wide-stance look... (1/5)

HG Ahead - Putting it on a stand definitely helps offset that wide-stance look... (2/5)

HG Ahead - Putting it on a stand definitely helps offset that wide-stance look... (3/5)

Putting it on a stand definitely helps offset that wide-stance look...

GN Beam Rifle action

Together with the Arrows-use GN-X III in a similar color scheme.
Looks like Arrows units are basically red.

Together with the HG 00 Gundam.
As you can see, the Ahead is quite a big unit.

This is the Ahead, the main unit of the Arrows organization that's been very active from the start of 00 Season 2. In the show, its performance is said to rival the Gundams from Season 1. It's the one that trashes the Exia right at the beginning of Season 2.

Honestly, when I first saw it in the anime.. I thought the proportions were really weird, but once I actually built the kit..

The proportions are genuinely strange;;; (classic Dalong-speak)

I couldn't help thinking, who on earth designed a streamlined MS with this kind of wide-stance look! But oddly enough, once you build it, it actually looks pretty good. The molded colors are really soft and nice, the joints are super solid and feel great to handle — though honestly, just looking at the design alone, I still think it's a bit much. And yet, strangely, it just feels right..

The articulation is excellent, so when you put it on a stand it really looks like it's flying around.. and above all, every single joint is rock solid, which means you can handle it without any worries — making it a really enjoyable kit to review too. Anyway, it's one of those kits that turns out way better than it looks on paper.

Especially the chest area.. it's a spot where a few black stickers would've been perfectly fine, but instead they went with a triple-layer structure of backing plate → clear part → armor, which looks incredibly premium. It's a level of detail you'd rarely see even on an MG.

Feature-wise, to recreate the scene from the show where it deploys the Automatons — its unmanned killing machines — an Automaton carrier and two Automatons are included, and they're actually pretty cute (^^) Even if they're pretty brutal in the show..

There are some units that don't look great in the initial design or in the anime, but really win you over once they come out as a kit — and the Ahead is a perfect example of that. I'd especially recommend it to anyone who likes a kit with a big, imposing build. Its specs put it at over 20 meters, so the kit itself is quite large for an HG. And that red molded color is just killer..

Anyway, don't write it off just because the design looks a little weird! ^^
Personally, I'm even more excited for the Bushido Custom that's coming out soon.

HG Ahead | 2008. 11 | ¥1,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.