OLD Char's Counter Attack 1/100 Nu Gundam

Release 1988.10

Price ¥2,500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Box side view (1/3)

Box side view

Runners

Die-cast parts, elegantly packaged in one corner of the box.

Stickers, bolts, and a small screwdriver are also included.

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Parts diagram (1/7)

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Parts diagram (2/7)

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Parts diagram (3/7)

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Parts diagram (4/7)

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Parts diagram (5/7)

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Rear view with fin funnels removed

Die-cast parts are placed at the shoulders, hip joints, and ankle+knee joints.

Not just the torso and legs — the arms are also joined together with bolts.

Articulated fingers with the same structure as the 1/144.

The vernier covers on the back of the legs are articulated.

As expected of a 1/100, the cockpit hatch opens too.

Standard weapons. Color separation is better than the 1/144.

Even the bullets and the inside of the shield have color separation.

The grip strength holding the rifle is much better than the MG.

Fin funnels

All 6 are articulated and can be connected in sequence using soft joint parts.

Numbers are molded into the ends of the fin funnels so you can attach them in the right order.

A cover part can be removed to make room for the hinge when the fin funnel is folded.

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Part numbers are also molded on the inside of the parts so you don't get confused when assembling multi

Part numbers are also molded on the inside of the parts so you don't get confused when assembling multiple fin funnels.

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - The joint parts also have "ue" (up) and "shita" (down) marked in Japanese so you won't mix up the orien

The joint parts also have "ue" (up) and "shita" (down) marked in Japanese so you won't mix up the orientation. (Of course, you'd need to be able to read Japanese...)

The fin funnel hinges don't hold very well and tend to pop off easily — a bit of a downside..

Limb articulation is about average.

The waist can rotate too.

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - Beam Rifle Firing Pose (1/3)

Beam rifle firing pose

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - A pretty natural-looking draw pose is achievable. (1/3)

A pretty natural-looking draw pose is achievable.

Beam saber action

Bazooka action

Together with the 1/144 Nu Gundam + fin funnels.

Together with the 1/100 RX-78 Gundam. What an incredible leap forward in just 8 years..

Together with the MG Nu Gundam released in 2000.

Together with the MG Nu Gundam Ver.Ka released in 2012.

OLD 1/100 Nu Gundam - 1988 - 2000 - 2012: the 24-year evolution of the 1/100 Nu Gundam. Come to think of it, each version cam

1988 - 2000 - 2012: the 24-year evolution of the 1/100 Nu Gundam. Come to think of it, each version came out exactly 12 years apart — so does that mean another version is coming in 2024? ^^;

The last kit in the old-school Char's Counterattack series is a legend from '88 — the 1/100 Nu Gundam. Even knowing it came out in 1988, the quality is still jaw-dropping today, and it was truly a revolutionary Gunpla for its time. I first built it around 1992, and I still vividly remember staying up all night putting it together, completely blown away by how far Gunpla had come. I built it again after that, and then a third time in 2017 while doing this old-kit review — and it still manages to impress.

When you open the box, the die-cast parts for the major joints are beautifully packaged inside, immediately making it clear this is in a different class from anything that came before. The shoulders, hip joints, and leg frame parts are all provided as solid, hefty die-cast pieces. This maximizes the durability of the key joints that take the most stress, and the overall center of gravity is concentrated down in the legs.

Thanks to that heavy, low-center-of-gravity weight in the lower body, the kit stands perfectly upright without so much as a 0.1-degree lean — even with the fin funnels attached. On top of that, the joint strength throughout the whole body is incredibly solid, with absolutely no wobble to speak of. It offers a level of stability you simply can't get from the MG Nu Gundam or the Nu Ver.Ka, and in terms of durability and sturdiness, it still holds the title of the toughest Gunpla ever built.

On top of that, between the system injection, color separation, and stickers, the color accuracy right out of a straight build is nearly perfect. The proportions are on par with an MG, so the fact that you could build a large, great-looking Nu Gundam without any painting was a big deal at the time. The clear parts used for the eyes were especially impressive — commonplace now, but back then it felt genuinely premium. And as a bonus, this was the first Gunpla ever to feature an opening cockpit hatch, which made it quite the talking point in a number of ways.

The assembly process is similar to the Char's Counterattack 1/144 series — it uses a number of bolts to join parts together, with the rest being snap-fit with no glue needed. It's a bit of a hassle, but thanks to the bolts, the larger parts lock together really solidly.

The articulation is, as you'd expect from an '80s kit, a bit limited compared to an MG. That said, the joint strength is excellent and the poses hold really well, so whatever position you put it in, it stays put. The fin funnels do have a tendency to pop off since the connection points aren't the most secure — but honestly, that's an issue with the MG version too. (A proud tradition, apparently…)

Anyway, even building it nearly 30 years later, this is a legendary, top-tier Gunpla that holds up remarkably well. Looking at the comparison shots with the MG, it really doesn't feel dated at all. The rock-solid build quality in particular is just jaw-dropping — no amount of praise would be too much. It's a little disappointing that recent MGs, as detailed as they are, just don't give you that same sense of sturdiness you get from the 1/100 Nu Gundam. And on top of all that, this quality for just ¥2500? That's just magic! :-)
[ Updated at 2017.8.26 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.