Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Various angles

Detail shots

There's a partial skeletal-style frame in the arms and legs.

The 5 Bit Staves mounted on the back can be detached.

You can also detach 2 Bit Staves from the Gunbit Rifle.

All 7 detached Bit Staves can be combined to form the Compo Gunbit Shield.

Add a joint part to the combined Compo Gunbit and you can mount it on the arm.

HG Gundam Lfrith - Weapons lineup. The main body of the Gunbit Rifle is called the Receiver Gun.

Weapons loadout.
The main body of the Gunbit Rifle is called the Receiver Gun.

Open the top and bottom of the Receiver Gun and plug in the beam parts to use it as a Beam Blade.

The Gunbit Rifle / Receiver Gun can also be stored on the center of the backpack.

HG Gundam Lfrith - Watch the orientation when attaching the shoulder parts. The right-side configuration is correct — it's th

Watch the orientation when attaching the shoulder parts.
The right-side configuration is correct — it's the kind of spot where you'll easily snap it in backwards like the left-side example without thinking.

Peel off the included double-sided sticker and you'll see the printed pattern on the inside.

HG Gundam Lfrith - The top one is the glowing chest part provided via in-mold decoration, while for the bottom clear chest pa

The top one is the glowing chest part provided via in-mold decoration,
while for the bottom clear chest part you can choose between two double-sided stickers — black or glowing — to stick on the back.
There's already a nicer-looking in-mold glowing part included, so there doesn't seem to be much reason to bother with the glowing sticker...

So in the end, it comes down to swapping between the normal black chest and the glowing chest.

With no skirt armor, the hip joints have a really free range of motion.

Fairly flexible shoulders.

The waist bends sideways quite a bit too.

The front of the foot moves independently, though it does make the footing feel a bit unstable.

Backpack articulation

HG Gundam Lfrith - Gunbit Rifle action (1/3)

Gunbit Rifle action

Beam Blade action

Natural kneeling pose

HG Gundam Lfrith - Beam saber action (1/3)

Beam saber action

Alongside the EG First Gundam for size comparison.

The HG Gundam Lfrith has been released as the first Gunpla from the 2022 new anime Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. It's the unit that appears in the prologue rather than the main series, and it comes without any polycaps. As you'd expect from the latest release, the overall quality is clean and solid.

First off, in-mold decoration technology has been applied to the distinctive glowing chest part. In-mold decoration is a technique where a printed film is molded together with the plastic during injection, giving it an appearance almost like a vividly painted part. On top of that, you can also express the glowing state by attaching a double-sided sticker to a separate clear chest part, and the normal state can be represented with a black double-sided sticker. Honestly, since there's already a beautifully sculpted glowing chest part done in in-mold, the glowing sticker feels pretty unnecessary.

Being a polycap-less kit, the joints aren't quite as smooth, but they hold their position firmly — it actually feels a lot like building the EG First. That said, there is some concern that repeated posing could loosen them up over time. As for articulation, as you can see in the photos above, the arms and legs bend around freely, and with no skirt armor the hip joints move with a ton of freedom. The waist and shoulders are also fairly flexible beyond just the hips, so posing and locking things in place is stress-free. There is some debate to be had about the C-shaped joints used at the knees and ankles — breakage and loosening are legitimate concerns — but right now they fit together quite tightly, so it doesn't seem like a major issue at the moment.

The basic armament includes the Receiver Gun, and plugging in 2 Bit Staves turns it into the Gunbit Rifle, while plugging in the beam parts turns it into the Beam Blade. Collect all 7 Bit Staves including the 5 on the back and you can form the Compo Gunbit Shield. The connections between the Bit Staves hold together well, so no major issues there.

As you'd expect from a Gunpla tied to a brand-new 2022 anime, the quality is impressively high. Without polycaps, it actually feels like building an EG kit with more refined parts separation. The frame in the arms and legs gives it a similar vibe to the HG Iron-Blooded Orphans series, but the joints feel noticeably more robust, which makes it feel like a step forward.

Anyway, setting aside how the source anime ends up being received down the line, the kit itself is well made — so if the design appeals to you, it's definitely worth picking up. :-)

HG Gundam Lfrith | 2022.8 | ¥1,600

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.