Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack — the universal benchmark. This guy is definitely on the larger side.

Action pose with the only included weapon, the beam saber

The arm-mounted unit can be used like a weapon this way.

The arm-mounted weapon can extend and retract in length.

It can also be placed on the included stand in MS mode.

MS with the dedicated Booster attached

Trans~formation
(Transformation)

First, the upper body lifts up Zeta-style...

HGUC Gaplant - The lower body also rotates 180 degrees and folds toward the front of the body. (You'll need to compare with t

The lower body also rotates 180 degrees and folds toward the front of the body.
(You'll need to compare with the photo above to see the difference.)

Transformed into Mobile Armor mode.

Underside

Hmm... looking at it from above, the arm positioning feels a bit awkward.

The Gaplant's dedicated Booster. This thing is over 20cm long on its own.

Gaplant in Mobile Armor mode with the Booster attached.

With the Booster attached, it's secured using two stands, and the total length is well over 30cm.

A shot together with the Zeta's Waverider! The Gaplant is definitely bulkier even in flight mode.

Together with the RX-78, the standard MS size reference. You can really see just how massive the Gaplant is.

Comparison with the Zeta series. It's almost neck-and-neck in size with the Dio...

Straight build photo before panel lining

The Gaplant, one of the many appealing transforming MSes from Zeta Gundam, has gotten the HGUC treatment. Following the Dio, it's really great to see more supporting-role units getting released one after another.

Like many of the MSes from the Zeta series, the Gaplant is on the larger side by default. It's nearly as bulky as the Dio, and with the dedicated Booster — which is over 20cm long — included, the box is the largest of any HGUC kit. (Well, setting aside the Den'an Zon, of course... ^^;)

The imposing bulk is well captured, the color separation is excellent, and the molded colors actually look quite nice in person. Articulation is somewhat limited since it's a transforming kit, but the proportions are solid enough that even a slight action pose looks great. The only downside is that the only included weapon is a single beam saber — a bit sparse.

The transformation system is very well thought out and nearly perfectly recreates the in-universe transformation sequence. With the included Booster attached, it becomes a massive unit stretching well over 30cm in length — which is probably why the transformed form is called a Mobile Armor. (For those who may not know, MA — Mobile Armor — is the designation given to large-scale combat units, as opposed to MS.)

The joints are generally stiff and sturdy, but... as you can see in the photos, the shoulder design is inherently limited, so they feel a bit loose. On top of that, since the arms carry those huge flight weapons, the arms tend to droop downward in MS mode. Seems like there's not much that can be done about it.

Also, after transforming into flight mode, the limbs don't really lock into place anywhere specific, so getting them positioned properly is a bit tricky. Compared to the previous Zeta kit — which went with a disassemble-and-reassemble approach to achieve a rock-solid Waverider — this feels a little lacking. The Bawoo's flight transformation from back in the day was solid too... so this is a bit of a disappointment for the Gaplant. That said, it's not floppy like an octopus — once you get it into position it won't just fall apart on you. ^^; It's more that finding the right position in the first place is a bit ambiguous.

One more thing — cameras tend to struggle with blue-greens, and the Gaplant is a kit with a strong green tint. But when you photograph it, the green somehow disappears and it just comes out looking plain blue. It's similar to what happened with the MG Kämpfer, and other people who've photographed it have mentioned the same thing. So just keep in mind that the actual molded color has a richer, deeper green tint than what the photos show. (The color itself looks great in person.)

A massive MA that feels anything but 1/144 scale, a transformation that perfectly recreates the source material, and an imposing presence — in every way, this is clearly top-tier HGUC quality. ^^ If you're a Zeta series fan, this is a must-buy!

HGUC Gaplant | 2003.11 | ¥2,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.