Kit Review

Straight build +
panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body close-up

Head section.
The forehead has a clear part fitted over a seal.

HG Seraphim Gundam - The arms are quite short due to the transformation gimmick. The back of the hands being done in clear pa

The arms are quite short due to the transformation gimmick.
The back of the hands being done in clear parts is a nice unique touch.

The legs look a bit scrawny..

The ankles are thin and the feet are tiny, so it's a bit tricky to get it to stand on its own. ^^;

Three beam sabers are included.

Articulation.
Thanks to the transformation gimmick, only the leg articulation looks decent.

Stand-on action!

HG Seraphim Gundam - Beam saber action (1/3)

Beam saber action

Double beam saber action

HG Seraphim Gundam - Action pose using the HG Seravee Gundam's GN Bazooka (1/4)

HG Seraphim Gundam - Action pose using the HG Seravee Gundam's GN Bazooka (2/4)

Action pose using the HG Seravee Gundam's GN Bazooka

To combine with the HG Seravee Gundam, you need to remove the head/hands/knees.

The removed knee parts are rotated and reattached facing downward.

Remove the cover from the back and place it over where the head was removed.

The face section opens and closes by sliding up and down.

Fold the arms back and rotate them upward,
then fold the legs back too..

HG Seraphim Gundam - Backpack mode(?) complete (1/3)

Backpack mode(?) complete

HG Seraphim Gundam - Comparison of the fixed backpack included with the HG Seravee (left) and the backpack formed by transfor

Comparison of the fixed backpack included with the HG Seravee (left) and the backpack formed by transforming the HG Seraphim (right).
They look pretty similar — nicely done!

The Seraphim Gundam's (right) knee ducts are noticeably smaller.

The ends of the Seraphim Gundam's arms are just open polycap holes, which looks a bit rough..

HG Seraphim Gundam - The wrist section of the HG Seravee Gundam's backpack and the HG Seraphim Gundam's wrist section are com

The wrist section of the HG Seravee Gundam's backpack and the HG Seraphim Gundam's wrist section are compatible,
so you can swap them.

HG Seraphim Gundam - The HG Seraphim Gundam combined with the HG Seravee Gundam. It fits together seamlessly~ (1/3)

The HG Seraphim Gundam combined with the HG Seravee Gundam.
It fits together seamlessly~

HG Seraphim Gundam - The GN Cannons on the shoulders — formed by the Seraphim's arms — have a limited range of motion, which

The GN Cannons on the shoulders — formed by the Seraphim's arms — have a limited range of motion, which makes posing them a bit awkward.

HG Seraphim Gundam - HG Seravee + Seraphim Gundam action poses. (1/4)

HG Seraphim Gundam - HG Seravee + Seraphim Gundam action poses. (2/4)

HG Seravee + Seraphim Gundam action poses.

Siamese twins(?) action

Simultaneous action!

It's almost exactly the same size as the GN Archer's MS mode, which was already on the small side.

Next to the bulky 00 Raiser, it really does look tiny.

HG Seraphim Gundam - Alongside the HG Nadleeh Gundam, the predecessor to Season 1's hidden unit. Nadleeh was already small, b

Alongside the HG Nadleeh Gundam, the predecessor to Season 1's hidden unit.
Nadleeh was already small, but the Seraphim is even smaller..

If Season 1 had Gundam Virtue and Gundam Nadleeh,
then Season 2 has Seravee Gundam and Seraphim Gundam. Both are Tieria's units —
but unlike Season 1's setup where the hidden unit was concealed inside the armor,
in Season 2 the Seraphim Gundam is attached to the Seravee Gundam like a backpack.
The HG Seravee Gundam came with this backpack as a fixed, non-transforming piece,
but just like the HG Nadleeh situation, the Seraphim Gundam has now been released as a separate kit.

As you'd expect given its in-universe specs, this thing is tiny.
As you can see in the photos above, it's about the same size as the GN Archer,
and actually smaller than Season 1's Nadleeh, which was already considered small.
Since it has to transform into a backpack, there were probably inherent size limitations,
and its official in-universe height reflects that accordingly.

The backpack transformation mode is pretty smooth overall, but it does require removing the head, hands, and knee parts before transforming. The resulting backpack structure looks very similar in silhouette to the fixed backpack that came with the HG Seravee, though there are quite a few differences in the finer details. That said, despite those differences, when you attach Seraphim's transformed backpack onto Seravee's back, it doesn't look out of place at all.

I was a little worried about joint strength given all the transformation gimmicks, but true to form for a top-tier HG with a fully updated polycap lineup, every single joint is nice and tight with no looseness anywhere. The one exception — separate from the polycaps — is the yellow horn on the chest, which doesn't hold very well and tends to pop off easily. No matter how I look at it, that seems like a bit of a design oversight.

On top of that, thanks to the transformation design, the feet are incredibly tiny — putting the RX-78 2.0 to shame — which makes it a bit tricky to stand the kit upright. It can stand, but it feels like a light breeze would knock it right over.

Overall it's an excellent kit that really captures the character of Seraphim Gundam well, but for an HG kit that only comes with two small runners, ¥1000 feels a little steep. Something around ¥800 seems like it would've been just right — that's the one thing that leaves me a bit disappointed.

With Seraphim, all of the Celestial Being Gundams have now been released at the HG grade. As a series, it's shown noticeably higher quality than Season 1, and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of quality the remaining A-Laws and Federation mobile suits will bring. ^^

HG Seraphim Gundam | 2009. 2 | ¥1,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.