Kit Review

Straight build + Partial paint + Panel lining + Decals

The universal yardstick — size comparison with a cigarette pack.

A clean rear view with no weapons equipped.

Outer armor removed. Quite a lot of pieces come off.

Frame shot — front.

Frame shot — rear.

Frame for the chest and head area.

Backpack frame.

Arm frame. A little plain..

Leg frame. The frame extends all the way down into the feet.

The inside of the leg outer armor has molded detail.

Cockpit hatch open. Thick mesh pipes on the sides add a nice realistic touch.

MG Kämpfer - Close-up of the head. The chin moves slightly. It's not actually designed to articulate, but due to how it's fix

Close-up of the head. The chin moves slightly.
It's not actually designed to articulate, but due to how it's fixed structurally, that little movement is possible. :-)

MG Kämpfer - The parts breakdown on the shoulder is impressive.. Color separation is perfect! The outer shoulder section can

The parts breakdown on the shoulder is impressive.. Color separation is perfect!
The outer shoulder section can even move somewhat independently.

MG Kämpfer - The highlight of the MG Kämpfer! The color separation on all those verniers is done really well — it's quite a d

The highlight of the MG Kämpfer! The color separation on all those verniers is done really well — it's quite a dazzling sight~

Close-up of the upper body. Quite a unique-looking MS.
Check out the verniers on the chest and crotch area.

Each shoulder has three verniers..

The elongated verniers on the rear end can extend and retract in length.

The Kämpfer's arsenal is incredibly rich.

The Kämpfer's shotguns have a detachable shoulder stock on the rear. (Two sets are included.)

When you remove the shoulder stock, the back end looks bare, so there's a cover piece to fill it in.

Left side shows it bare with the stock removed. Right side shows it with the cover on. Thoughtful design. ^^

The two Giant Bazookas (officially called "Giant Baz", but anyway..) can be mounted on the back.

MG Kämpfer - The Giant Bazookas attach to the back via this locking mechanism.. but the connection between the two locking pa

The Giant Bazookas attach to the back via this locking mechanism..
The connection between the two locking parts is a bit weak so they fall off easily. And if you're not careful, you'll lose them.. T_T

The Sturm Faust, like other kits, lets you choose between two different parts to plug into the rear end.

MG Kämpfer - The Kämpfer's icon, the Chain Mine.. the thing that blew apart the NT-1's Chobham Armor in the 0080 anime. It us

The Kämpfer's icon, the Chain Mine.. the thing that blew apart the NT-1's Chobham Armor in the 0080 anime.
It uses a coated wire with a metal core inside, so you can bend and hold it in any shape you want.

MG Kämpfer - Hands include two pairs: articulated rock-paper-scissors hands and fixed flat hands. The detail and proportions

Hands include two pairs: articulated rock-paper-scissors hands and fixed flat hands.
The detail and proportions on the fixed flat hands are excellent.

MG Kämpfer - The beam saber storage location is pretty unusual.. they slot gently into holes on the sides of the legs. (Easy

The beam saber storage location is pretty unusual.. they slot gently into holes on the sides of the legs.
(Easy to put in, but a bit tricky to pull out;)

MG Kämpfer - The beam saber part pulled from the leg is only a half-piece, so you connect it with another part on the outside

The beam saber part pulled from the leg is only a half-piece,
so you connect it with another part on the outside first, then attach the soft beam saber piece.

The shotgun can be mounted on the rear end.

The Sturm Faust can also be mounted beside the knee using a dedicated attachment piece.

Kämpfer in full-armed configuration.

Full-armed mode almost always looks better from the back..

MG Kämpfer - Articulation. The arms are decent enough.. but the knee articulation is just ridiculous~ It could clearly bend f

Articulation. The arms are decent enough..
But the knee articulation is just ridiculous~ It could clearly bend further, but the verniers on the rear end get in the way and block the leg from bending. OTL

MG Kämpfer - Full-armed action~ Looks awesome. View it in the larger photo for the full effect. (It really does look quite di

Full-armed action~ Looks awesome.
View it in the larger photo for the full effect. (It really does look quite different when you see it bigger!)

Double shotguns! The pressure of twin guns.

The pressure of twin bazookas.

Dual Sturm Fausts too..

Dual beam sabers too! This guy fights with two of everything.

Beam saber action pose. Really gives off a Japanese samurai vibe.

Nice pose~

That creepily long Chain Mine..

Still, the Chain Mine is definitely the Kämpfer's signature weapon.

Together with the MG NT-1. The Kämpfer looks noticeably bulkier.

MG Kämpfer - Just for the vibe.. a shot with the MG Ingram, designed by the same person. No matter how you look at it, the Kä

Just for the vibe.. a shot with the MG Ingram, designed by the same person.
No matter how you look at it, the Kämpfer really does look like a Brocken Custom. ^^;

A kit that wins on uniqueness — the MG Kämpfer!

The Kämpfer from 0080 is one of the most distinctive MS in the Gundam universe, and now it's out as an MG. Its design breaks sharply from the typical Zeon style — honestly, the silhouette looks more like something out of Patlabor. (Especially the Brocken!) And that makes sense, because the mechanical designer for 0080 was none other than Patlabor's own Yutaka Izubuchi. So of course they'd look similar..

This MG Kämpfer, refined a bit further under Kadoki's touch, carries a somewhat steep price tag of ¥4,000. The kit size and the contents when you open the box both leave you a little puzzled at that price.. It's a ¥4,000-sized box, but it's thin and the contents don't look all that plentiful. Feels more like a ¥3,500 kit in terms of volume...??

My guess is that the fact it can't be reused for any variation played a part in that. But more than that, once you actually build the kit.. you get the feeling that they put a lot of care into designing something that can't be reused at all, and you start to think maybe the higher price makes sense after all. Thinking about why it's ¥4,000, I'd say it comes down to roughly these three things:

First, take note of the dozen or so verniers spread across the entire body. Even before the Kämpfer's release, Bandai was emphasizing that the vernier design was a highlight, and building it confirms they really did put a lot of thought into them. Every vernier (except the ones on the soles of the feet..) has its inner section broken out as a separate orange part, so even in a straight build, looking up from below, the verniers really pop in a dazzling way. This gives the straight build a surprisingly colorful, lively look — and of course it makes painting easier too. ^^ When it comes to verniers, this kit is absolutely in a class of its own.

Second, the weapons loadout is seriously generous. Two shotguns with detachable shoulder stocks, two Giant Bazookas, two Sturm Fausts, two beam sabers (everything comes in pairs!) — and a fully realized Chain Mine on top of all that! Lay it all out on the floor and it's genuinely overwhelming. This is what true full-option really looks like. Everything except the Chain Mine can be mounted on the body all at once. And the Chain Mine in particular is done really well — using a metal-core coated wire so you can pose and fix that long, complex shape however you like.

Third, the kit itself is just so unique. The design is completely unlike any existing Federation or Zeon MS, and accordingly, the joint layout, armor placement, and assembly process are all a bit unusual too. And yet, for this weird thing that can't be reused for anything else.. they went ahead and expressed it with remarkable thoroughness and attention to detail. Presumably that high development cost is what drove the price up.

The Kämpfer's molded color is faithful to the design specs, but this is a kit where personal taste varies quite a bit. In the photos above it might just look like a plain blue, but in person it's more of a navy blue with a slight greenish tint. As it happens, this is also one of the colors that digital cameras struggle with the most. So it ends up looking bluer in photos than it does in real life — I tried three different digital cameras (Kodak, Nikon, Sanyo) and they all had the same problem, and other people's photos online all come out the same flat blue too. It's a color that just refuses to photograph accurately no matter what you do, so please keep in mind that there's quite a gap between the real color and what you see in photos.

Articulation has one pretty frustrating point.. when you try to bend the knees, the large verniers on the back of the legs get in the way and you can't even reach 90 degrees;; The joints themselves can clearly bend further, but the design of the kit physically limits leg articulation quite a lot. On the other hand, arm articulation is pretty good, and since there are no skirts, the legs spread forward, backward, and sideways quite freely — so action poses are thankfully still reasonably natural. ^^;

If you look closely, the MG Kämpfer's knees and main joints are identical to those of the Gouf. The joint section literally uses the same runners as the MG Gouf/Gouf Custom. The MG Gouf's knee joints use a screw-tightening system, and those screws tend to loosen up — which drew a lot of criticism for weak knee joints. The Kämpfer inherits the same issue. T_T They're not completely floppy, but they're not stiff either, so the knees feel a bit unstable when you stand it up. The arms are super stiff, but the lower body feels a little lacking, which is a shame.. ugh. They should've just used stiff polycaps~

Being able to hang all those weapons on the body at once gives the fully-armed look a real sense of presence.. but the way those weapons stay attached is a bit iffy. The bazookas that mount on the back — a signature Kämpfer feature — have a locking mechanism that's too loose and they fall off easily. Not just falling off, but the locking parts themselves are easy to lose. (If you look carefully at the photos above.. one of the bazooka mounting covers went missing during a move. T_T) The shotgun mounting point on the rear end is also a bit loose.. The grip strength isn't great in general, but the shotgun handle is shaped smartly enough that at least the shotguns stay in the hands well. Small mercies. ^^;

In the end.. the biggest appeal of this MG Kämpfer is definitely "Uniqueness, freshness" I think. If you've gotten tired of the same old MS lineup, this MG Kämpfer is a real breath of fresh air. It's clearly a Gundam-universe MS in terms of quality and the unit itself, but the experience of building it has something genuinely unique about it. And as you work through the gimmicks, internal frame, verniers and so on, you realize this kit is far from a cheap effort. You really do come away feeling like — wow, they put a lot of thought into this one.

Looking at the overall quality in terms of detail and gimmicks, it's clearly a pretty premium product.. but the unusual style, somewhat iffy attachment points, and steep price make it a bit of a tough call. If you're a Kämpfer fan, it's an easy strong recommendation, and it's also worth picking up if you're into Izubuchi's Patlabor aesthetic. And especially recommended when you're just tired of the usual stuff and want to build something different!

MG MS-18E Kämpfer
Category	Rating	Analysis
Seam Lines	★★★★★	Almost perfectly hidden seam lines. Looks like they put a ton of effort into this..
Molding Color / Color Separation	★★★★☆	Perfect color separation. The vernier color separation is impressive. The molded colors are a bit debatable, though..
Proportions	★★★★☆	The proportions are a bit hunched over, but it seems faithful to the Kämpfer's original look.
Articulation	★★★☆	The arms are decent, but the legs are a bit... ;; The thighs are good though, so it poses well.
Joint Strength	★★★☆	The arms are pretty stiff, but the knees and legs feel a bit iffy.. The weapons don't hold very securely either.
Internal Frame	★★★★	The arm, leg, and torso frames. Pretty average, nothing special.
Detail	★★★★★	The attempt to bring out the detail across the whole body is very impressive.
Weapons / Accessories	★★★★★	When it comes to weapon variety, it's among the best in the MG lineup! Almost too many to keep track of.
Parts Count / Price	★★★★	361 parts total. Parts per ¥1000: 90.3. The price feels a little steep..
Uniqueness	★★★★★	In terms of uniqueness, nothing else comes close! Makes you wonder if it's really a Gundam-universe MS..
Dalong's Point : 88 pts.

MG Kämpfer | 2001.1 | ¥4,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.