Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body and head

Back section and the newly added Hyper D Rifle

Legs. A new design that's different from the J type as well.

Leftover parts.

Articulation is the same as the other Beginning kits.

HG Beginning D Gundam - Hyper D Rifle action (1/4)

HG Beginning D Gundam - Hyper D Rifle action (2/4)

Hyper D Rifle action

HG Beginning D Gundam - Kneeling beam saber action (1/4)

HG Beginning D Gundam - Kneeling beam saber action (2/4)

Kneeling beam saber action

HG Beginning D Gundam - Triple beam saber action unique to the Beginning series (1/4)

HG Beginning D Gundam - Triple beam saber action unique to the Beginning series (2/4)

Triple beam saber action unique to the Beginning series

HG Beginning D Gundam - Beginning beam rifle action (1/4)

HG Beginning D Gundam - Beginning beam rifle action (2/4)

Beginning beam rifle action

Together with Beginning J Gundam.

HG Beginning D Gundam - The head, upper body front, front/rear skirts, and the entire shoulder and arm design are all differe

The head, upper body front, front/rear skirts, and the entire shoulder and arm design are all different.

The legs are different too, except for the thighs and feet themselves.

And the back-mounted weapons are different too.

The Beginning trio together

This kit is the Beginning D Gundam, released at the same time as the HG Beginning J Gundam. Unlike the J type with its long Strike Sword-style blade, the D type sports a freshly redesigned look centered around a new weapon called the Hyper D Rifle. And while the J type had splashes of red here and there, the D type leans heavily into a blue color scheme.

Since the structure is identical, the quality is on par with the normal Beginning and Beginning J — decent joint strength, articulation that's actually pretty good, and color separation that's impressive for an HG kit, even if it does rely on quite a few stickers.

Looking closely at the design, it's obviously different from the normal version, and quite a few more parts have been redesigned compared to the J type than you might expect. The head, shoulders, arms, legs, torso front, and skirts are all shaped differently from the J type — but as you can see in the photo of all three Beginning Gundams together, they have this funny way of looking oddly similar to each other ^^; A lot was changed, but it doesn't quite feel like the differences jump out at you, you know?

That said, the fact that they made changes across so many areas to set this variation apart is genuinely commendable — it's definitely a step above a lazy color variant. Just like the J type, if you like the design, this is a perfectly solid Gunpla build with no major complaints. Nothing that'll blow your mind, but it gets the job done just fine. :-)

HG Beginning D Gundam | 2011.12 | ¥1,600

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.