Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Detail shots

Outer armor removed & frame shots

HG Grimgerde - Can't really call it a full-body frame shot since the forearms don't come apart, but the overall frame sculpti

Can't really call it a full-body frame shot since the forearms don't come apart,
but the overall frame sculpting looks great.

Weapons —
from left: Valkyria Rifle, Valkyria Blade, Valkyria Shield.

HG Grimgerde - The blade can be mounted inside the shield — it can be fixed in two positions: stowed inside, or flipped forwa

The blade can be mounted inside the shield —
it can be fixed in two positions: stowed inside, or flipped forward in a protruding position.

The rifle's magazine can be detached and repositioned — either on top or on the side.

It can also be mounted on the rear skirt like this.

Insane articulation on display here!

HG Grimgerde - Super dynamic rifle firing poses (1/3)

Super dynamic rifle firing poses

Blade attack poses

Blade attack poses 2

HG Grimgerde - Attack poses with the blade stowed inside the shield (1/3)

Attack poses with the blade stowed inside the shield

Together with HG Barbatos.

Grimgerde, which showed up at the end of episode 19 of Iron-Blooded Orphans and was paired up with Barbatos, has been released in HG scale. Red mobile suits have always carried a certain special meaning in the Gundam universe, and on top of that it's piloted by a masked character... it definitely feels like they're recycling that "three times faster" aura every single series, but regardless, they must have considered this a pretty significant unit — because it came out with a really premium, satisfying feel to it.

As you can tell from the review photos, this thing has absolutely insane articulation. There's nothing blocking the hip joints, and the waist is slim enough that the legs can move in just about any direction you want. The shoulder joints are also multi-stage and flex smoothly, letting you pull off pretty much any pose. And what really gets me is that even with all that movement going on all over the body, there are almost no parts that feel loose or pop off. ^^

Great articulation and solid joint strength are kind of like two rabbits you can't catch at the same time — kits with a wide range of motion often end up falling apart or shedding parts as you move them around. But with the HG Grimgerde, it feels like they've almost perfectly caught both rabbits. On top of that, kits with a lot of joints can often be tricky to lock into a pose, but this one has a design and structure that makes it surprisingly easy to get just the angle you want.

For weapons, you get the Valkyria Rifle, two Valkyria Blades, and the Valkyria Shield. The blades can be stowed inside the shield, or rotated and plugged in facing forward so the shield and blade work together as an offensive combo. As for the rifle, you can rotate the magazine 90 degrees and mount it on the rear skirt for storage.

These weapons all have "Valkyria" in their names, and I'm sure a lot of people will think of the transforming mecha from Macross first. Valkyrie refers to the daughters of the gods in Norse mythology — and as it turns out, one of their names is "Grimgerde," which is probably where all this comes from.

To wrap it up, this is an HG kit that nails overall proportions, articulation, and joint strength — all at an A++ level. Just looking at the design, it might seem like another generic suit you've seen plenty of times in 00, but once you actually build it, wait, really?? — that's the kind of kit it is, where your impression completely flips. Especially in terms of articulation, the feel of movement, and the joint strength that backs it all up, this is the kind of "articulation king" kit that only comes along once every few years. I think it's going to stand as the most well-executed kit in the HG Iron-Blooded Orphans lineup. :-)

HG Grimgerde | 2016.2 | ¥1,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.