This kit is the Genesic GaoGaiGar Gold Ver. released as part of the Amakunitech series. It's based on the previously released Amakunitech Genesic GaoGaiGarwith gold plated parts applied — no new tooling whatsoever, just a straight-up plated version.
So the structural features, gimmicks, and accessories are all identical to the original. The quality of the gold coating that covers most of the body is pretty impressive — it's smoother, more uniform, and richer in color than your average Bandai gold coating. Thanks to that, even a straight build gives you an incredibly flashy and premium-looking result. Honestly, this might be the best gold coating effect I've seen out of any plated kit I've built so far.
That said, there's one major caveat: the increased assembly difficulty due to the coating, and the problem of excessively tight joints. Generally speaking, when a coating is applied over plastic, the tolerances tighten up and things tend to get stiff — but the issue with this kit is that in many cases the coating has been applied (unnecessarily) to the inside of parts as well, meaning both the pegs and the holes end up thicker than they should be.
When that happens, it goes beyond just stiff movement — there's a very real risk that parts simply won't go together at all, and you could end up breaking something. The most obvious examples are the articulation pegs on the elbows and wings. The coating is so thick that there's almost no clearance, so the peg gets stuck halfway in and won't go any further, which can lead to breakage. The easiest fix is to lightly sand down the pegs before assembling.
Even outside of those cases, there are plenty of situations where parts just don't want to snap together properly. If you don't sand the pegs first, parts either won't close all the way or require an absurd amount of force to connect. That said, not every peg is like this — it seems like the real chaos happens when both the peg and the hole have been coated. Most of them will eventually connect if you press down with enough force (-_-), but I've listed the parts that really do need sanding at the bottom of the review.
In the end, the coating wasn't done with assembly in mind, which makes this one of the most frustratingly difficult builds I've encountered. If you carefully inspect the plated surfaces and sand down the pegs as you go, it's manageable — but the fact that you have to stress over every single connection is undeniably a source of frustration.
And then there's the price — a whopping ¥34,000. The original kit was already expensive at ¥13,500, and this one blows past most PGs into Andromeda-tier pricing, which is a serious barrier to entry. Sure, it's as big and impressive as an MG Sazabi, with excellent detail and a top-tier gold coating on top of that, so the price hike makes sense — but the sheer absolute cost being a wall you have to climb is just unavoidable.
It's an expensive kit with a tough build, but the finished look absolutely demolishes every other gold plated kit out there. (Excluding the MG First Gundam 2.0 Gold Coating Limited Editionwhich is coated in actual gold.) Either way, if you're a fan of flashy gold plated kits, this is definitely one worth taking on at least once. :-)
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* Parts that absolutely require sanding
If you don't sand the pegs before assembling, there's a 99.8% chance of either a failed connection or snapping something during posing.
Elbow articulation pegs on both arms
Articulation pegs for deploying both wings
* Parts that should ideally be sanded
Parts that won't seat fully and will give you a headache if you don't sand the pegs down first...
Armor parts on both sides of the calves on both legs (4 spots total)
Parts on both sides of the backpack
Main parts connection points on both shoulders
Amakunitech Genesic GaoGaiGar Gold Ver. | 2025.6 | ¥34,000
AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.
