Kit Review
Straight build + Panel lining + Decals
1. Construction
First up, building the head.
If you want the LED light to shine through the eyes, you can't put the eye stickers on —
but then the dark areas look kind of undefined...
The clean solution is to cut out just the green eye portion and apply that, like shown above. ^^
The clear parts behind the eyes that create the lens effect come in two types — green and clear —
and for LED lighting through the eyes, you'll need to use the clear parts.
Great color separation on the head.
The vent holes on the mask are actually drilled through thin, which gives it a really nice sense of depth.
Building the torso.
There are a few parts in the torso area you need to be careful not to break.
First, when assembling the center torso section —
D1 -12there have been a lot of reports of the fixing pin on that part breaking.
I didn't really understand what people meant at first, so I just assembled it normally...
And sure enough, it snapped just like that. T_T (I didn't break it on purpose, I swear.)
Here's why — the left and right fixing pins on part D1-12 are pretty fragile.
When you insert one pin into part J5 first and then try to join it with J4, if the opposite pin doesn't line up perfectly with the hole in J4,
the pressure from both sides squeezes the white D1-12 part and it can snap clean off.
This part is important because it's what locks the waist in place when transforming into activation mode.
When joining J4 and J5, make sure both fixing pins on D1-12 are properly aligned with their holes before pressing them together.
If this is hard to picture, just lay all the parts out in front of you and take a good look — it'll make sense. ^^;
The second part that breaks easily is J12 part J12.
Looking at the manual above, it says in Japanese to insert J12 last.
When you have the cockpit (J11), the pilot (G15), and part J12 all assembled together
and try fitting it into A1-17, something feels off with the balance of force...
So I tried ignoring the instructions to see what would happen, and sure enough, it broke on me too. -_- (see the arrow in the right photo)
Part J12 is structurally very fragile, so if you force it when inserting into A17, it'll break easily —
make absolutely sure to insert J12 last, exactly as the manual says. ^^
The cockpit inserted into the center of the body.
The foil sticker goes on the back of the green clear part to boost its reflectivity.
The shimmering green psycho-frame.
The shoulder joint attachment point is unique — it connects to the back of the torso.
That's probably why the shoulders naturally splay outward.
The parts below the chest ducts come in two color options —
blue for the original color scheme, and white for the DOME-G video version.
Again, to transmit the LED light to the eyes, you need to use the clear neck part instead of the green one.
The hip joint uses a round disc with an offset fixing pin that rotates.
More details on the articulation in the frame review...
Looking at the straight build shot of the rear skirt... you can't help but be impressed by the incredibly precise color separation.
The yellow sections on the side skirts are all color-separated too... as expected!!
Building the backpack.
Even just the backpack alone is packed with gimmicks, features, and armor.
The vernier frame has excellent depth and detail.
The upper-right backpack part comes in two versions — one for holding the beam saber, and one for holding fin funnels —
so you can optionally build it as a double fin funnel backpack, like shown above.
The lower backpack parts are designed to be removed when transforming into activation mode...
but the problem is those parts fall off easily even in normal mode. T_T
Pushing them in firmly helps a bit, but the connection just isn't that secure to begin with.
That said, if you push the verniers all the way up while they're attached, they do stay on reasonably well.
Building the arms.
The cylinder hidden inside the forearm
extends and links up when you bend the elbow.
If you apply the silver foil sticker inside the arm's psycho-frame parts...
they catch the light and shimmer like this.
One of the most jaw-dropping highlights of this kit is the hand parts —
they're single-piece molded parts like you'd only expect from a PG or RG, and the level of quality is the best ever.
The overall proportions are excellent, and the molded color and texture differences between each joint are barely noticeable —
it really looks like a single piece.
Every single finger knuckle, plus the weapon-holding peg on the palm and wrist, all came out as articulated parts.
All three knuckles on every finger, including the thumb, move independently —
the movement is smooth yet the joint strength is solid.
It's truly perfect in every way: looks, functionality, articulation, feel, and joint strength.
Building the legs.
The leg internals look simple but there's a lot going on inside...
The thighs and shins have an extension gimmick built in to expose the psycho-frame.
Bending the knee activates the articulated cylinder.
Would've been even nicer if those were metallic parts though...
Again, apply the silver foil sticker inside the green psycho-frame parts and...
they sparkle and shine when light hits them.
Building the fin funnels.
With this MG Nu Ver.Ka, all six fin funnels go through the exact same assembly process.
The old MG Nu Gundam had slightly different parts depending on position, and the fixing pins meant you had to distinguish top from bottom —
but this time, all six fin funnels are completely symmetrical in every direction.
The newly adopted fin funnel locking gimmick...
it's a totally unexpected and quirky idea.
Normally the fixing pin is stored facing downward,
and when you want to connect adjacent fin funnels, you rotate the pin 180 degrees to flip it upward in whichever direction you need.
Then, as shown above, you slot the serrated pin between the fixing pins of the adjacent fin funnel.
Because of the pin design, the connection point isn't fixed to a specific position, which is nice since you can freely choose where to link the fin funnels —
but the critical downside is that the connection is weak and they come apart easily. T_T
They hold together okay if left alone, but the slightest movement and they start popping apart.
Straight build complete...
This kit comes with one more unusual color-reproduction seal on top of the regular stickers and decals.
Probably because its main purpose is to complete the color scheme, the seal material is really nice.
It has a slightly thick, soft rubber-like feel, so it flexes and sticks well to curved surfaces,
and the matte-ish finish looks almost like it's been painted.
Before and after applying the color seals.
You can definitely see the difference, right?
The gray area seals are also incredibly high quality,
matching seamlessly with the actual gray molded parts.
2. Mechanic Frame (Frame Shots)
Outer armor removal shot
Internal frame.
A complete full-body frame.
Torso frame.
Back and backpack frame
Back frame with the backpack removed.
Arm frame
Leg frame
The three-dimensional depth of the leg frame seen from the rear is absolutely stunning..
Articulation on the frame
Articulated cylinders at the knees and elbows.
One issue though — if you bend the knee too far, the cylinder tends to pop out.
The ankle joint connection is unique —
a fixing pin connects to the back of the foot, allowing for quite a wide left/right rotation range.
Shoulder range of motion in frame state
The neck section rises up like that, allowing the head to tilt back quite far.
The one-piece hand that never gets old no matter how many times you look at it...
It looks natural even when making a fist.
The Nu Gundam Ver.Ka uses an asymmetric rotating hip joint..
As you can see, it does rotate in all directions,
but the positional change of the hip fixing pin isn't that significant, so it doesn't really do much -_-
On top of that, the connection between the fixing pin and the leg polycap is too tight,
so when you rotate the leg, instead of the polycap turning, the hip rotation plate just spins instead.
I tried various articulation experiments later on, and either way, it's a hip gimmick that doesn't really help with articulation at all ;;
You can get a kneeling pose, but
the hip articulation is pretty average and the thighs are short, so the body has to lean back quite a bit.
Frame action pose
The inside of the skirts are all handled with separate parts.
Hmm.. One thing that was a bit surprising is that there's almost no molding on the inside of the armor panels.
Only one or two parts have just a tiny bit — it's a shame that detail was skipped on such a major kit.
3. Detail & Weapon
Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
It's a big one, as you'd expect from Nu Gundam.
Since it's an RG-style kit with the armor broken up into individual pieces, I went with a light gray for the panel lining.
Upper body and fin funnels
Back section with all fin funnels / bazooka mounted.
All weapons removed to get a better look at the body itself.
Upper body detail.
Head section
Back and backpack / rear skirt section.
Arm section
Leg section
Center cockpit hatch open.
The neck gets in the way though, so it won't open any further than this..
Instead, the center red section can be opened in a sliding fashion.
Yellow parts are inserted inside all the verniers on the backpack and legs to achieve color separation.. Impressive!
The movable gripping claws on the bottom of the feet.
In addition to the standard front/rear yellow claws, two blue claws are also articulated.
All weapons are included as a full set.
Each weapon comes with a peg for securing it in the palm..
Interestingly, the hand also has its own movable securing peg built in..
The way it works is that the weapon's peg and the hand's peg interlock by slotting into the hole on the opposite side.
It's a double-lock pin system I've never seen in a Gunpla before, and thanks to it, the grip strength is absolutely fantastic ^^
As per the design specs, one beam saber is stored in the forearm, and the storage gimmick is really nicely done.
The beam rifle is a fairly standard shape, not too different from before.
The latest Nu Gundam bazooka, with the barrel realized using a slide mold pipe..
I really like how they carefully handled the color separation all the way down to the blue square section in the middle.
When used as a weapon, the barrel length can be extended in a sliding fashion.
The shield emblem recreated with waterslide decals
Inside view of the shield
The shield only attaches to the outer side of the forearm..
but the mounting point is on a ball joint so it can move to some degree, allowing the shield to rotate about 60 degrees left/right as shown in the upper right photo.
The fin funnels all fold as per the design specs, and they hold their position reasonably well.
Best of all, every single yellow part has proper color separation — love it..
All six fin funnels are identical, and they're designed so they can attach in any orientation without a top or bottom.
There are as many as 10 positions where you can insert the fixing pin,
allowing for a wide variety of placement options — so the functionality is great.. but it's a shame the holding strength isn't quite there T_T
You can pull out the head unit from the back and then insert a separately sold LED unit into the bottom.
Once you position the LED unit like this and plug it back into the body..
The eyes and the camera eye on top of the head light up.
But since only the eye area lights up, it doesn't seem to make that big of an impact. ;
The included 1/100 Amuro figure.
4. Action
Articulation. It folds up nicely, but if you raise the hip joint just a little too much,
the front skirt keeps popping off;;
The shoulder joint extension holds up well even with the armor on.
The wrist joints are also very flexible, allowing positioning at almost any angle.
A quick pose standing on the floor.
The MG Nu Gundam Ver.Ka is a kit that's not great for floor poses — the foot contact is a bit iffy and the center of gravity is top-heavy..
T_T
Kneeling bazooka firing pose.
Even the slightest raise of the hip joint causes the front skirt to fall off, making it a bit tricky to hold poses.
Looks like this is definitely a kit that needs to be on a stand.
A dedicated stand is included.
The alpha-shaped base at the bottom is a part that was previously sold separately.
It lets you attach a clear support arm and six fin funnel holders to it.
Each of the six fin funnel holders can move at three joints.
But they're way too stiff to really call "poseable" — you basically have to pull them out and reinsert them to change the angle.
So adjusting the angle isn't easy, but on the flip side, the hold is solid enough
that the fin funnels don't droop down once attached.
The six fin funnel holders can be inserted into any of 12 positions — six holes on the left and six on the right of the support column.
So you can freely arrange them however you like, such as three on each side, or one on one side and five on the other.
The stand is designed to lock onto both the back of the body and the backpack simultaneously.
So once the kit is on the stand, it's not going anywhere.
It's a really well-thought-out locking mechanism, clearly designed with the weight of large back parts like the fin funnels in mind.
Beam saber action pose on the stand.
By swapping out the backpack parts, you can achieve a double fin funnel configuration with fin funnels on both sides, as shown above.
Double fin funnel loadout.
Looks pretty cool, doesn't it? ^^
Double fin funnel — aerial firing pose for the box art
5. Psycho Frame & Fin Funnel Action
First, lift the locking cover on the back to extend the waist and expose the green psycho-frame.
After that, push the locking cover back down and the waist stays locked in the extended position.
The gimmick itself works great, but that part can break easily, so be careful during assembly. (See the beginning of the review.)
Slide the chest duct cover forward to expose the psycho-frame.
The two covers in the center of the front skirt are simply removed entirely.
Slide the shoulders outward to expose the psycho-frame.
The slide gimmick is nice and smooth, so the transformation is easy. ^^
Pull the forearm out and it extends slightly to expose the psycho-frame —
but unlike the shoulders, this one is very stiff, so be extra careful not to knock off your waterslide decals (T_T) while extending it.
Pull out the lower armor on the inner side of the forearm and the armor on the opposite side moves in tandem,
exposing the psycho-frame.
Remove the vernier covers on the bottom of the backpack entirely,
then lift the covers on both upper sides and push the white sections down.
Open the locking cover on the back of the thigh, then remove the lower side armor of the thigh completely.
Pull the thigh out to extend it and the psycho-frame is exposed in a Y-shape.
Close the locking cover on the back again and it locks in the extended position.
The MG Unicorn's gimmicks like these tended to feel pretty stiff, but the MG Nu Gundam Ver. Ka is smooth. ^^
Open the two-stage verniers on the back of the lower leg and remove the rear leg armor entirely.
Then pull the locking pin-like piece on the inside outward, and you'll be able to extend the leg.
Then pull the leg as shown above — it spreads apart slightly and the psycho-frame is exposed.
After that, press the locking pin hidden on the back of the leg and it locks in that position.
Remove the middle knee piece and push the inner foot armor upward to expose the psycho-frame.
Psycho-frame activation mode transformation complete!
Once you switch to activation mode, you're left with all these armor pieces as shown above.
Psycho-frame on the front and back of the upper body
Close-up of the psycho-frame on the waist, chest, and shoulders
Transformed backpack
Close-up of the psycho-frame on the forearms and thighs
Close-up of the psycho-frame on the legs and feet
Now let's equip the weapons in activation mode too...
Pose on the stand with some fin funnels deployed
Beam saber firing pose with all six fin funnels deployed
Beam saber action pose with the six fin funnels in a different arrangement
6. Comparison
Side by side with the MG Nu Gundam, which is now the old version.
There's exactly a 12-year gap between them — though the old version was a classic in its own right.
Front and back comparison of the base bodies.
The proportional changes are immediately obvious —
the head is smaller and the torso is slimmer.
The old MG Nu Gundam was already teased for having a big head...
and the MG Nu Gundam Ver. Ka has definitely brought it down to size.
The difference in detail on the arms and legs is pretty significant...
Looking at it this way, the old MG Nu Gundam had pretty simple exterior detail, almost HGUC-level.
The beam rifles don't feel all that different from each other.
The bazookas have a similar style,
but the Nu Gundam Ver. Ka has superior color separation, and the bazooka itself is molded in one shot using a slide mold.
The shield has become more refined in detail.
The inside of the shields look pretty similar though.
The fin funnels are noticeably smaller in size. (The Nu Gundam Ver. Ka is in the back.)
Unlike the old MG Nu Gundam which used stickers,
the Nu Gundam Ver. Ka's yellow areas are perfectly achieved through color separation...
The fin funnel mounting system has changed completely —
the Ver. Ka is far superior in terms of functionality, but the old MG Nu Gundam seems to have the edge when it comes to how securely they stay on.
Compared to the MG Unicorn, the size difference is very apparent.
A comparison of both in their "awakened" (?) modes.
Compared to the Unicorn where the psycho-frame is fully exposed, the Nu Gundam's psycho-frame isn't quite as visible.