Speed Grade 1/200 G Gundam

Release 2008.3

Price ¥933

Runner shots

Speed Grade G Gundam - As with the others, most of the runners come pre-painted. (1/6)

Speed Grade G Gundam - As with the others, most of the runners come pre-painted. (2/6)

Speed Grade G Gundam - As with the others, most of the runners come pre-painted. (3/6)

Speed Grade G Gundam - As with the others, most of the runners come pre-painted. (4/6)

As with the others, most of the runners come pre-painted.

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Displayed on the stand with the unit name engraved in intaglio

Weapons loadout

An honest 90-degree articulation

Speed Grade G Gundam - The forearm armor for the Sekiha Tenkyoken can be repositioned by unplugging and re-inserting the atta

The forearm armor for the Sekiha Tenkyoken can be repositioned by unplugging and re-inserting the attachment point.

The chest Energy Multiplier deployment is recreated via a parts-swap.

Wing articulation

Speed Grade G Gundam - Action poses (1/7)

Speed Grade G Gundam - Action poses (2/7)

Speed Grade G Gundam - Action poses (3/7)

Speed Grade G Gundam - Action poses (4/7)

Speed Grade G Gundam - Action poses (5/7)

Action poses

Together with the HGFC G Gundam.

Together with the Speed Grade Wing Gundam.

Group shot of all four Speed Grade kits

<SG Common Notes>
The SG (Speed Grade) lineup launched in 2007, with a total of four kits released through 2008. The concept is to assemble precisely pre-painted parts at a 1/200 scale and quickly finish a Gunpla with a high-quality look.

To achieve this, most parts are supplied already painted on the runner, so even with simple assembly you get figure-level color reproduction. Once finished, the painted feel actually makes it look more like a figure than a plastic model — though in terms of construction, it's definitely still a Gunpla you have to put together piece by piece.

These pre-painted runners aren't typically handled at the Shizuoka factory, so SG kits were produced at a factory in China — which is probably why they were offered at a pretty affordable price of under ¥1,000 given what you get. All kits also come with a stand that has the unit name engraved in intaglio, and when not in use, the support leg tucks away into the underside of the stand. Despite the small size, each kit comes generously packed with various weapon accessories as well.

That said, the lineup sat in an awkward middle ground — not quite a figure, not quite a proper Gunpla — so it never really caught on with the mainstream crowd. On top of that, the nature of pre-painted kits makes mass production tricky, and in the end the line met its fate after just four releases before being discontinued.
------------------------

The fourth and final kit in the SG series is G Gundam, released in a box just like the Zeta that came out alongside it, priced at ¥933. It's still loaded with an impressive array of pre-painted parts, and in particular, the optional parts are the most generous of any kit in the series.

Articulation is still limited to about 90 degrees with stiff joints throughout, and the joints are even tighter than the other kits — tight enough to make posing genuinely frustrating. There are plenty of optional parts included, but most of them don't hold their position well, which makes getting a good pose a bit of a chore. The head antenna in particular keeps falling off, so you'll probably want to glue it in place.

Still, for such a small kit, it does pull off the Sekiha Tenkyoken forearm gimmick and the chest Energy Multiplier deployment, and the side skirts come in two versions — one with the beam saber mounted and one without — so the generous feature set is definitely a plus.

The overall quality is a step below the First and Zeta in the same series, though it's a notch above the Wing Gundam — and either way, considering it comes in at under ¥1,000, it's a pretty interesting little kit that's worth having some fun with. :-)

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.