Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) (1/6)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) (2/6)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) (3/6)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) (4/6)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) (5/6)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) (6/6)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Detail shots (1/4)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - The Hades Activation state, achieved by swapping the body verniers' seals t

The Hades Activation state, achieved by swapping the body verniers' seals to yellow and replacing the goggles with red clear parts.

Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) weapon loadout

The 180mm cannon is detachable and can be folded up.

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - The spike section on the bottom of the shield can be extended and retracted

The spike section on the bottom of the shield can be extended and retracted via a slide mechanism.

Interior view of the spike shield

Solid articulation on the arms and legs

Forward and backward shoulder articulation

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - The ankle moves in two stages, though the range of motion isn't all that wi

The ankle moves in two stages, though the range of motion isn't all that wide.

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Action pose (1/7)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Action pose (2/7)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Action pose (3/7)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Action pose (4/7)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) - Action pose (5/7)

Action pose

Together with the HGUC GM Sniper II.

This is the HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type), released as a Club G (Premium Bandai) online exclusive. Despite being a limited release, it's a completely new mold kit featuring the MS from Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: Missing Link. In terms of lore, it's a unit built using the GM Sniper II as its base.

The color separation is solid to begin with, and the verniers across the body are handled with seals, so even a straight build looks great. The issue, though, is that the vernier seals are really tiny and hard to apply cleanly, which makes them look a bit out of place. On top of that, if you want to recreate the signature Hades Activation state, you have to swap out all the body vernier seals from gray to yellow — and since that's not easy to do neatly, it's something you'll want to think carefully about as you build. On the bright side, the head comes with both green and red (for the Hades Activation state) clear parts, so swapping those out is no trouble at all.

The main body has solid upper-mid-level articulation, and the joints feel nice and tight — almost on the stiff side, actually. That said, it means any pose you put it in holds firmly, and you can dial in angles quickly and comfortably. For weapons, you get a 90mm bullpup machine gun, a 180mm cannon, a spike shield, and a beam saber. The 180mm cannon mounts on the backpack and can be folded and unfolded by detaching and reattaching it.

It's a high-quality kit with a clean, sharp look and stable, satisfying articulation — but the building experience leaves a little to be desired. The plastic feels oddly stiff, and the gates are on the chunky side, making cleanup a bit more of a chore than usual. That kind of feel is typical of gross injection or clear parts, but these are standard molded parts, so it might just be a material issue. It could be because this isn't a general retail release, but compared to other HGUCs from the same era, the build just feels somehow stiffer and more resistant. To be fair, that's only while you're building it — once it's done, the end result is cool enough that you'll probably forget all about it. ^^;

Either way, this feels like a kit that would've done just fine as a regular retail release, so it's a bit of a shame it had to be a limited. :-)

HGUC Pale Rider (Ground Heavy Equipment Type) | 2015.4 | ¥2,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.