Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining + Decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

MG Perfect Gundam - With all that armor, it looks super chubby from the side~. The shield sticker is really what pushes it ov

With all that armor, it looks super chubby from the side~. The shield sticker is really what pushes it over into toy territory.. OTL

MG Perfect Gundam - The color separation and detail on the backpack side is pretty decent.. The black pipes are rendered in v

The color separation and detail on the backpack side is pretty decent..
The black pipes are rendered in very soft, pliable rubber.

MG Perfect Gundam - Detail on the inside of the shield. It's basically the original RX-78 shield with additional structures a

Detail on the inside of the shield. It's basically the original RX-78 shield with additional structures added inside.

The backpack antenna can extend and retract

Articulation is.. just okay. A case where the outer armor eats up all the articulation the inner body has..;;

MG Perfect Gundam - Perfect Gundam action pose. There really aren't many other poses you can pull off besides something like

Perfect Gundam action pose. There really aren't many other poses you can pull off besides something like this..

MG Perfect Gundam - This is the Plamo Kyoshiro figure included in the box. But he's a little kid, and the figure is pretty bi

This is the Plamo Kyoshiro figure included in the box.
But he's a little kid, and the figure is pretty big, so calling it 1/20 scale seems a bit questionable.

Comparison shot with the RX-78 v1.5.. Chubby Perfect Gundam~

Perdam Special

The real star of the MG Perfect Gundam is the all-new inner body!! Nicknamed the "Perdam."

First, strip it all off!

Simple yet elegant — the Perdam!

MG Perfect Gundam - The structures for attaching the Perfect Gundam's outer armor. There are rotating attachment points hidde

The structures for attaching the Perfect Gundam's outer armor.
There are rotating attachment points hidden on both shoulders, and the arms can extend outward.

There are also rotating attachment points at the crotch and knees.

The beam saber storage on the backpack is also implemented as a retractable design.

Perdam, time to undress! Removing the outer armor.

It's pretty much a full-body frame.

Front torso frame.. Good!

Back frame

The arm frame. The colors are a bit rough, but the ground-type style inner frame itself isn't bad at all.

MG Perfect Gundam - The leg frame is pretty nice too. Though the fact that the frame below the knee is just plain white is a

The leg frame is pretty nice too. Though the fact that the frame below the knee is just plain white is a bit..;;

With the frame exposed, it shows off even better articulation.

MG Perfect Gundam - As you can see, the majority of the outer armor uses the same solid single-piece panels as the MG ground-

As you can see, the majority of the outer armor uses the same solid single-piece panels as the MG ground-type.

This is the arm parts layout that says "no seam lines here!"

MG Perfect Gundam - The four yellow parts that attach to the skirt section each have differently shaped attachment points on

The four yellow parts that attach to the skirt section each have differently shaped attachment points on the back,
so there's absolutely no way to mix them up and put them in the wrong place. You can really see the designer's attention to detail here.

MG Perfect Gundam - Cockpit hatch open. There's no Core Fighter — just the core block rendered as part of the frame. Simple b

Cockpit hatch open. There's no Core Fighter — just the core block rendered as part of the frame.
Simple beauty just radiates from the outer armor..

Why does that deceptively plain, anime-style backpack look so incredibly cool??

Articulation is pretty great too! Pay special attention to the arms!

The ankles are quite flexible. In every direction — up, down, side to side..

MG Perfect Gundam - Sword-drawing action pose! There are no separate weapons for the Perdam inner body, so this is about all

Sword-drawing action pose! There are no separate weapons for the Perdam inner body, so this is about all you can do.. OTL

Excellent arm joints. A convincing sword-drawing pose.

Note the flexibility of the legs and ankles.

The Perdam has no weapons either.. Is this just its best angle or something...?

For some reason though, a kneeling pose just doesn't work very well. It just ends up lying down like this..

Comparison with MG RX-78 v1.5

Front comparison. The Perdam's simplicity really stands out.

Same story from the back. Especially the difference in the backpacks~!

Side profile comparison.

MG Perfect Gundam - The difference in the arms is especially striking. Compared to the skinny, flimsy-looking forearms of the

The difference in the arms is especially striking. Compared to the skinny, flimsy-looking forearms of the early MG,
the Perdam's forearms look thick and sturdy.

MG Perfect Gundam - Head comparison.. The one on the right is the Perdam head, and surprisingly, aside from the camera eye, n

Head comparison.. The one on the right is the Perdam head, and surprisingly, aside from the camera eye, not much has changed.

From the back, they look pretty much the same.

MG RX-78 series group photo

Hey, I'm still a pretty unique Gundam in my own right~!

But the inner body is way cooler~♡

There have been plenty of kits released based on units outside the original anime, but this time they went completely out of left field and released the Perfect Gundam from the manga. The Perfect Gundam — built by the protagonist of Plamo Kyoshiro by modifying a 1/144 Gundam — has now appeared in 1/100 scale, making it arguably the first over-scale plastic model in Gundam history. ^^;

Since the source material is a manga featuring a young protagonist, the design itself doesn't really carry the kind of setting you'd expect from a Universal Century unit. It doesn't even have a model number.. Between the color scheme and the overall shape, it looking pretty toy-like is almost to be expected. But MG is still MG. Even if the design looks like a toy, when you look closely at every corner, the details are actually quite good. And no matter how toy-like the appearance may be, the color separation is truly meticulous and thorough — as you'd expect from an MG.

The most noteworthy aspect of the Perfect Gundam is, without a doubt, the new RX-78 Gundam that serves as its base. Nicknamed "Perdam" — almost like an abbreviation of Perfect Gundam — this inner body is a completely redesigned new mold, intentionally faithful to the original source material. It almost feels like an enlarged copy of the HGUC RX-78, but it features a full-body inner frame, perfect seam line hiding, and articulation that goes well beyond the basics. One interesting point is that the core block and Core Fighter aren't implemented separately — they're just depicted as part of the inner frame — but since the overall quality is so good, it doesn't really matter. ^^;

The Perdam's greatest charm is, without a doubt, its "simplicity." A plain backpack straight out of the original anime, a body with almost no panel lines, thick and sturdy-looking forearms, a solid and well-proportioned build! After looking at nothing but complex kits, encountering one that's been intentionally designed to be this simple is genuinely refreshing! And beneath that simple exterior lies a full-body inner frame that's more detailed and well-executed than any other First Gundam kit out there!

In particular, the arm section — which had been weak and largely unchanged since the MG RX-78 v1.0 launched back in '95 — has been completely reborn in the Perdam. It's made from solid single-piece parts with no seam lines, excellent articulation, and great proportions. The Perdam's legs are impressive too, but since the v1.5's legs were already such a masterpiece, the Perdam does fall a bit short in terms of leg articulation.

The only downsides are that there are no separate weapons for the Perdam inner body, which feels a bit bare.. and the outer armor attachment is a little on the weak side. The leg armor in particular tends to pop off pretty easily, which is a bit of a bother. The joints could stand to be a bit stiffer too.. They're not loose exactly, but there's a slight sense of unease there.

No matter how generously you try to look at it, the fully armored Perfect Gundam just can't escape looking like a toy — that's unavoidable. ^^; In person it's a bit less noticeable thanks to the hefty bulk and fine details, but even so, this is the poor guy that tends to sit at the top of the dead stock pile at every shop.. T_T Still, for those old-school fans who first encountered the Perfect Gundam through bootleg manga back in the day, it'll bring back some great nostalgia. The fact that the Perfect Gundam has been realized at this level of quality is genuinely moving. Though how many people that actually applies to is another question... ;;

Looking at how the runners are organized, the Perdam inner body parts are either on separate runners from the Perfect Gundam outer armor, or separated by system injection blocks on the same runner with their own labels. In other words, it would be a real waste not to reuse such a well-made inner body, right? This strongly hints at the possibility of future variations like the Heavy Gundam or Full Armor Gundam being released down the line. It's hard to imagine they'd go to all this trouble to create a completely new RX-78 inner body mold without that kind of plan in mind.. But with MG Perfect Gundam's sales being pretty dismal, the future of that lineup feels pretty uncertain.. *cough*;

Anyway, it's a strange kit with two faces — the toy-like Perfect Gundam all armored up, and the completely fresh and original inner body once you strip it all off. It feels like a missed opportunity — if the inner body had been sold separately with a few weapons added, at around ¥2500 as something like a "ver. Animation" or "ver. Simple," it probably would've been quite popular. The inner body draws you in, but then you end up paying ¥4000 because of all that outer armor, which I'm sure left a lot of people agonizing over whether to buy it.. ^^;

MG Perfect Gundam
Category	Rating	Analysis
Seam Lines	★★★★★	A parade of solid single-piece armor. The art of hiding seam lines taken to the extreme.
Molding Color / Color Separation	★★★★★	The color separation is, true to the name, almost perfect!
Proportions	★★★★	A strange harmony between the toy-like outer proportions and the excellent inner body proportions
Articulation	★★★★	Inner body articulation is good! Ankles are good! But it gets restricted once you put the armor on..;
Joint Strength	★★★★	Not super loose, but not stiff either. Leaves a little to be desired.
Internal Frame	★★★★★	An almost full-body frame. The torso frame in particular is top-notch.
Detail	★★★★★	The charm of the simple inner body. Highly detailed frame. Excellent outer armor.
Weapons / Accessories	★★★★	Has everything you need as a Perfect Gundam. Just a shame there are no weapons for the inner body..
Parts Count / Price	★★★☆	294 parts total. Parts per ¥1000: 73.5. Feels a bit pricey for some reason..;
Uniqueness	★★★	A weird one where the inner body draws more attention than the Perfect Gundam itself..
Dalong's Point : 85 pts.

MG Perfect Gundam | 2003. 12 | ¥4,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.