Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Detail shots

Weapons loadout

A cleverly designed minigun.

The handle and sight scope are articulated.

You can also remove the existing magazine, then rotate the spare magazine mounted on the side to load it.

Minigun with only one magazine attached

The minigun magazines can also be stored on the mount rack on the rear skirt.

Even the blade portion of the small heat knife has color separation.
That's a rare treat at 1/144 scale.

HGUC GM Spartan - Two wired anti-MS missiles are stored on the shoulders, and two beam sabers are stored in the forearms. Y

Two wired anti-MS missiles are stored on the shoulders, and two beam sabers are stored in the forearms.
You can swap their positions, but the forearm parts tend to fall off easily during posing.

HGUC GM Spartan - Even the tiny smoke discharger on the left side of the head has been meticulously color-separated and scu

Even the tiny smoke discharger on the left side of the head has been meticulously color-separated and sculpted.

You can pull out the Minovsky particle dispersal pod mounted on the backpack to expose it.

A total of five hands are included.

Leftover parts

The limb articulation is more average than you'd expect.

HGUC GM Spartan - There's a gimmick where the hip joints rotate relative to the front-facing direction, but the rotation ra

There's a gimmick where the hip joints rotate relative to the front-facing direction, but
the rotation range is narrow so it doesn't help all that much.

Shoulder forward/backward articulation and waist articulation

HGUC GM Spartan - The top of the foot pivots forward once more around the front of the foot, allowing the ankle to bend for

The top of the foot pivots forward once more around the front of the foot, allowing the ankle to bend forward significantly.
This is the first kit I've seen with this level of forward ankle articulation.

Pre-firing pose

HGUC GM Spartan - Two-handed minigun firing pose (1/4)

HGUC GM Spartan - Two-handed minigun firing pose (2/4)

Two-handed minigun firing pose

Aerial pose

HGUC GM Spartan - Heat knife draw pose (1/3)

Heat knife draw pose

Heat knife action.
The great ankle bend angle really gives the poses a special feel.

Beam saber action

Double beam saber action

Together with the HGUC GM Sleggar's ride, which was a newly tooled kit.

This kit is the HGUC GM Spartan, released as a Club G (Premium Bandai) online exclusive. The GM Spartan is a unit that appeared in the "F.M.S" feature of the "Monthly Bandai Making Journal" published in 1989 — so it's a kit that got "unearthed" (?) after more than 30 years.

Some of the joint runners are reused from the HGUC GM Sniper II, but all the remaining parts are newly tooled. Every single exterior part feels fresh, giving it a definite "brand new release" vibe. The molding is especially sharp and detailed for an HG kit, so despite its small size you get a real sense of depth and dimension. Small but solid — it came out really well.

The new weapons include a minigun and a heat knife, with the heat knife featuring color separation all the way to the blade. There's also a fun gimmick where the minigun's magazine can be swapped out — a spare magazine sits folded sideways at the rear of the minigun, and you can stand it upright 90 degrees to recreate a magazine change. The two minigun magazines can also be stored on the mount rack on the rear skirt, and the backpack has a gimmick that lets you expose the Minovsky particle dispersal pod.

The basic limb articulation is more average than you'd expect, but the ankles use a new joint design that flexes forward quite smoothly. The top of the foot pivots forward once more around the front of the foot, achieving a level of forward ankle bend unlike anything I've seen before. This ankle joint enables all kinds of dynamic poses, and the joint strength is solid so it holds position well — though it is stiff to the point of being a bit uncomfortable to work with, so you'll want to move it carefully with an eye on potential breakage. (Still way better than having it be loose, of course.)

Another thing to watch out for is that the beam saber mounts on the forearms tend to fall off easily during posing. As for the swap-out hands, the wrist ball joints are extremely stiff, so there's a real risk of snapping them when posing or swapping. Try not to twist the wrist to pull it out or move it too aggressively — handle with care.

To sum it all up in one line: average articulation plus surprisingly great ankle mobility, joints that are stiff but sturdy, and overall detail that ranks among the best in the HGUC lineup — this is a definite new-release "GM." It'll especially hit the sweet spot for fans of military-flavored sci-fi. After a long time, this feels like a genuinely fresh kit that's come to shake up a Gunpla scene that's been getting a little too loose. :-)

HGUC GM Spartan | 2022.12 | ¥2,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.