OLD Limited Model 1/144 Jenice Custom

Release 1996.9

Price ¥800

It's a small box with a slide-out opening.

OLD 1/144 Jenice Custom - LM model Gunpla 6-kit group box shot (1/4)

OLD 1/144 Jenice Custom - LM model Gunpla 6-kit group box shot (2/4)

LM model Gunpla 6-kit group box shot

Runners

Runners viewed from the bottom. Like resin, the inside of the parts is filled to some degree.

Waterslide decals

Parts diagram

Manual

Box art scan.

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

The parts are thick, so it's got a nice solid weight to it.

Some parts are molded as completely solid chunks, just like resin.

OLD 1/144 Jenice Custom - Weapons included are a machine gun and a heat hawk. Compared to other LM kits, the weapon selection

Weapons included are a machine gun and a heat hawk. Compared to other LM kits, the weapon selection is actually pretty generous (?).

Arm and leg articulation. The hip joint has a very limited range of motion.

OLD 1/144 Jenice Custom - The foot contact with the ground isn't great either, so it ends up standing at a bit of a tilt like

The foot contact with the ground isn't great either, so it ends up standing at a bit of a tilt like this.

Backpack binder articulation

OLD 1/144 Jenice Custom - Some action poses (1/4)

OLD 1/144 Jenice Custom - Some action poses (2/4)

Some action poses

Together with the LM Daughtress Custom.

--- LM (Limited Model) General Overview -----------------
The LM series is a lineup of plastic model kits released experimentally between 1996 and 1997. It targeted products that were a bit awkward to release as regular retail kits at the time. The lineup is a mix of over 20 different products spanning Gundam, Evangelion, Escaflowne, and more — and of those, a total of 6 Gundam-related kits were released.

In terms of construction, these kits sit somewhere between resin and injection-molded plastic. The parts come on runners, but the insides are either fully or partially solid. That gives the finished model a satisfying heft, but most parts have to be glued together. On top of that, there's no color separation — everything is molded in a single color — so painting is a must, and the detail is pretty rough, meaning you'll need to do some extra work. In a lot of ways, it really shows its old-school roots.

The name might make it sound like a simple limited edition release, but it's more accurately classified as a limited-production regular retail kit. Since it hasn't been reprinted, it's not even listed in Bandai's official Gunpla catalog, and it's become quite a rare find on the secondhand market. Some kits in the lineup were later released as proper injection-molded Gunpla, but others remain the only Gunpla ever made of their respective mobile suits — making this a truly classic lineup among classics.
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This kit is the 1/144 Jenice Custom, released in 1996 as LM No. 9. Along with its predecessor the Daughtress Custom, it's a mass-production mobile suit from Gundam X — and up until 2021, a full 25 years later, it remained the only Jenice Gunpla ever made.

Just like the previous kits in the lineup, it's rough and hefty, requires 100% glue assembly, and sports that old-school proportioning. The foot stability is particularly bad — without some modification, even getting it to stand upright looks like a struggle. Articulation is limited too, and the joint strength is all over the place, with some joints being stiff and others loose, which makes for a frustrating balance. On the plus side, it does come with two weapons — a machine gun and a heat hawk — which is actually rare for an LM kit. But as you can see, there aren't really that many poses you can pull off with it.

Judging this kit by any standard of quality would honestly be a bit of a headache. It's a low-profile mobile suit that never had much of a fanbase, but there's something meaningful about the fact that it got a kit at all. :-)
[ Updated at 2021.11.27 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.