Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Various angles (1/6)

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Various angles (2/6)

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Various angles (3/6)

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Various angles (4/6)

Various angles

Detail shots

For weapons, you get two Aura Shots and an Aura Sword.

The Aura Shot mounts on the forearm

Like the HG Sirbine, only 2 types of hands are included.

HG Dunbine Dunbine - The body features a new half-mirror coating technology. It replicates the setting where you can't see inside fr

The body features a new half-mirror coating technology.
It replicates the setting where you can't see inside from the outside, but you can see outside from the inside.
It feels a lot like car window tinting.

The shoulder pipes are nicely recreated using lead wire.

Excellent limb articulation

Forward/backward shoulder articulation

The neck has quite a good range of forward and backward movement.

Waist articulation

Toe articulation

Backpack and wing articulation

Natural kneeling pose

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Aura Sword pose 1 (1/3)

Aura Sword pose 1

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Aura Sword pose 2 (1/3)

Aura Sword pose 2

Kick pose

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Aura Sword + Aura Shot pose (1/3)

Aura Sword + Aura Shot pose

Pose with Aura Shots mounted on both arms

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Together with the Premium Bandai online exclusive HG Sirbine. The Sirbine's official height is 9m compared to D

Together with the Premium Bandai online exclusive HG Sirbine.
The Sirbine's official height is 9m compared to Dunbine's 6.8m, so there's quite a noticeable size difference.

HG Dunbine Dunbine - Together with the 1/35 MG Dunbine released back in 2000. There's a gap of over 20 years between them, but the v

Together with the 1/35 MG Dunbine released back in 2000.
There's a gap of over 20 years between them, but the visuals and proportions are surprisingly similar.

Group shot of HG kits for the old-school fans.

This kit is the 1/72 HG Dunbine released as a Premium Bandai online exclusive. Following the HG Sirbinereleased as a Premium Bandai exclusive in 2021, this is the second entry in the HG Dunbine series — and ironically, the main protagonist's unit from the original show ended up coming out second rather than first.

First off, it comes in a compact size fitting for a small HG-class kit — right in line with the HG Dragonar, Vifam, and Votoms kits that brought those older mecha back to life. The body is built on a polycap-less structure with clean color separation and solid proportions. Overall articulation and joint strength are excellent, but just like the HG Sirbine, the four movable wings tend to pop off easily during posing. Also, the segmented rotating arm joints look a bit fragile compared to how stiff they are, so you'll want to be careful not to break them.

For weapons, you get an Aura Sword and two Aura Shots, and the Aura Shots can be mounted on both forearms. The articulation is good enough that you can pull off all kinds of dynamic poses with just the Aura Sword alone. Another notable feature is the half-mirror coated front body cover — it comes out looking just like tinted car windows, where you can barely see what's inside, and it works really well.

Overall it's a well-made HG kit with great quality, but it's hard not to compare it to the HG Sirbine. If you were happy with how the HG Sirbine turned out, there's a chance you might be a little disappointed with the HG Dunbine. For starters, the Sirbine and Dunbine have official heights of 9m and 6.8m respectively, making Dunbine significantly smaller — and as you can see in the comparison photos above, the size difference is so dramatic you'd almost wonder if they're really the same scale.

Second, unlike the HG Sirbine which showed A-grade joint strength — smooth yet holding poses firmly — the HG Dunbine has joints that feel stiff relative to its size, with less of that smooth feel. The arm joints in particular are thin enough to raise concerns about breakage, which makes posing feel a little uncomfortable. And lastly, compared to the Sirbine which had a strong medieval knight vibe, the Dunbine stays true to the original and just looks very much like a bug (...). Objectively speaking, the Sirbine — being the later design — does come across as a bit more refined.

Because of that, people who aren't familiar with Dunbine might find the design pretty divisive. It's really a kit aimed at old-school fans who've known Dunbine for a long time. That said, there's real significance in the fact that Dunbine has finally gotten a modern HG kit at all. Sure, it's inevitably going to be compared to the HG Sirbine, but the base quality itself is above average and it's a solid kit. All things considered, if you're an old-school fan, it's definitely worth opening your wallet for. :-)

HG Dunbine | 2023.11 | ¥3,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.