Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body front and back

A samurai-style face. Honestly, it's hard to call it handsome..;;

A wire-threaded cord is used to represent something like a headband.

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - Just like the original Ahead, the triple-layered chest detail is pretty impressive for an HG ki

Just like the original Ahead, the triple-layered chest detail is pretty impressive for an HG kit.

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - With the Bushido version, the rear verniers have been upgraded. Red ones are 3x faster, after a

With the Bushido version, the rear verniers have been upgraded.
Red ones are 3x faster, after all...

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - The shield, shoulders, and thighs changed in the Bushido version. (1/3)

The shield, shoulders, and thighs changed in the Bushido version.

The legs themselves are identical to the Ahead.

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - The 2 GN beam sabers can be stored under the left shoulder, beside the left thigh, and inside t

The 2 GN beam sabers can be stored under the left shoulder, beside the left thigh, and inside the shield.

Interestingly, the beam parts of the GN beam sabers are rendered in completely clear parts.

Articulation is decent..

The added backpack moves around quite freely too.

A convincing sword-drawing pose..

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - But the sword-drawing pose for the GN beam saber mounted under the shoulder just doesn't work o

But the sword-drawing pose for the GN beam saber mounted under the shoulder just doesn't work out..;

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - Two-handed grip pose. The arms are short but the shoulders are wide, so getting a two-handed gr

Two-handed grip pose.
The arms are short but the shoulders are wide, so getting a two-handed grip is a real struggle.

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - GN beam saber action (1/3)

GN beam saber action

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - Trans-Am! (1/2)

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - Trans-Am! (2/2)

Stand on!

GN beam saber action

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - There are 2 GN beam sabers — a long one and a short one. (1/3)

There are 2 GN beam sabers — a long one and a short one.

The HG A-Laws trio.
The GN-X III looks quite small here..

Together with the original Ahead.

Check out the various changes that came with the Bushido custom.

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead - Together with the HG 00 Gundam. In the show they didn't seem all that different in size, but st

Together with the HG 00 Gundam.
In the show they didn't seem all that different in size,
but standing them side by side, the difference in bulk is pretty significant.

Graham's new mobile suit — the Ahead Mr. Bushido's version — has been released. Graham made quite an impression in Season 1 of 00, and this is his stylish new ride. Compared to the standard Ahead, various parts have been customized including the head, chest, backpack, and shoulders, giving it a Japanese samurai-inspired design.

The base body is the same as the original Ahead, but all the extra bits added on give it a pretty different feel overall. The wire strand on the back of the head depicted like a headband is a fun touch. ^^ Like other Season 2 HG kits, the fully revised polycaps give it really solid joint strength, and the articulation is decent enough to pull off some pretty nice action poses. That said, due to the Ahead's wide-stance structure, the proportions do feel a bit awkward somehow.. Still, it definitely looks more impressive than the bare-bones wide-stance original Ahead, and thanks to the great joints, it holds poses really well.

That said, probably because of all the extra bits hanging off it, there are a few places where things don't stay put very well. The wire strand on the back of the head tends to pop off since it doesn't lock in securely, and the GN beam sabers added under the shoulder and on the thigh also have weak retention and keep falling out. On top of that, the shoulder armor on both sides — which was already a bit of an issue on the original Ahead — also tends to come off pretty easily. If they'd paid a little more attention to these small details, this could've been a really top-notch kit, but these issues do knock it down a notch..

The samurai-inspired design will probably be a love-it-or-hate-it thing, but it's Graham's machine — and he's got quite a fanbase — and the design is clean yet distinctive, so it does feel like a slightly more appealing kit than the original Ahead. :-)

HG Mr. Bushido's Ahead | 2008. 12 | ¥1,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.