Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Various angles

Detail shots

For weapons, you get 2 beam sabers, a beam rifle, a shield, and the Tomenosuke Heat Hawk.

Shield interior detail

Two types of hands are included.

Separate head parts are included for both the face cover deployed and non-deployed states.

A separate nose section for the Core Fighter is included — just detach the backpack and attach it.

Core Fighter

There's a hole on the underside of the Core Fighter, so you can mount it on a stand.

Excellent limb articulation

The shoulders have fairly flexible articulation, with both forward/backward and up/down movement built in.

HG GQuuuuuuX - The waist is pretty flexible too. (1/3)

The waist is pretty flexible too.

HG GQuuuuuuX - You can pull the hip joint down slightly to get a wider range of motion, but this can leave it at an awkward a

You can pull the hip joint down slightly to get a wider range of motion,
but this can leave it at an awkward angle where it doesn't hold position very well.
If you want a solid, stable hip joint for posing, it's probably better to keep it pushed all the way up.

HG GQuuuuuuX - Ankle tilt range. The feet have a pretty unique shape, but if you get the angle right, ground contact isn't re

Ankle tilt range.
The feet have a pretty unique shape, but if you get the angle right, ground contact isn't really a problem.

HG GQuuuuuuX - Beam rifle firing pose (1/3)

Beam rifle firing pose

Flight pose

HG GQuuuuuuX - Heat Hawk + kick pose (1/4)

HG GQuuuuuuX - Heat Hawk + kick pose (2/4)

Heat Hawk + kick pose

Beam saber pose

HG GQuuuuuuX - Pose using the head with face mask non-deployed (1/3)

Pose using the head with face mask non-deployed

Together with the HGUC First Gundam Revive.
The design concepts are pretty much polar opposites.

The GQuuuuuuX from the 2025 series "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX" has been released as an HG kit. It caused quite a stir right from the start with its wildly unconventional design — definitely a love-it-or-hate-it situation. With Ikuto Yamashita, the designer behind Evangelion, handling the mecha design, it ended up feeling like something right in between Eva and Gundam.

First off, the overall concept is quite different from previous HG kits. Since the original design has such a complex color scheme, the parts are broken up in an almost brutal fashion. In terms of part size and assembly feel, it's very reminiscent of building an RG — and thanks to that, even a straight build delivers a really colorful result. Some seals are used here and there, but most of the key colors are cleanly handled through color separation.

The joint structure uses the polycap-less approach that's been trending lately, and the articulation is tuned to feel incredibly smooth. The HGCE SEED Freedom kits had a somewhat stiff feel overall that made posing a bit uncomfortable, but this kit actually feels even smoother than polycap joints. And yet it still delivers solid joint strength, so it really nails both articulation and stability at the same time. A lot of that smooth feel seems to come from the softer plastic material used, which also makes the assembly process feel nice and satisfying.

For weapons, you get 2 beam sabers, a beam rifle, a shield, and the Tomenosuke Heat Hawk. The head is provided as a choice between face mask deployed and non-deployed versions. It would've been a pain if it were a parts-swap system, but thankfully two complete heads are included so you can just swap them out easily. One thing to watch out for — when pulling off the head, the entire neck sometimes comes out with it, so you'll want to be careful with how much force you use. On top of that, a separate Core Fighter nose section is included, which you can combine with the backpack to recreate the Core Fighter.

Overall this is a very satisfying kit — the highlights are the impressive color separation, smooth assembly and articulation, and solid joint strength. The one thing to keep in mind is that while you can pull the hip joint down slightly to extend the range of motion, it can end up a bit unstable at certain angles, so just be aware of that. Also, the RG-level fine parts breakdown is a defining feature of this kit, but that'll be a love-it-or-hate-it thing too. If you love the intricate parts of RG kits you'll probably be thrilled, but if you have large hands or your eyesight isn't what it used to be (...) and small parts are a struggle, that could be a real downside.

So setting aside whether you love or hate the striking design, this kit ventures into new territory as an RG-style HG. If you enjoy intricate parts breakdown and don't have any issues with the design, this is a top-quality modern HG that I'd highly recommend. :-)

HG GQuuuuuuX | 2025.1 | ¥2,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.