OLD Victory Gundam 1/144 V Gundam

Release 1993.5

Price ¥500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Box side view

Runners

System injection runners are used here.

OLD 1/144 V Gundam - Some runners are designed so you can stack them together, assemble them while still on the runner, and t

Some runners are designed so you can stack them together, assemble them while still on the runner, and then separate the parts afterward.

Frame-style polycap runner

Clear runner.

OLD 1/144 V Gundam - Background card that stands behind the display stand. The back side has official design art printed on i

Background card that stands behind the display stand. The back side has official design art printed on it.

Parts diagram

OLD 1/144 V Gundam - Manual & card back design art (1/3)

Manual & card back design art

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Clear stand, beam saber, and beam shield

The rifle can be stored on the side skirt.

Shield mounting point on the forearm

A soft parts frame is used.

It's built by constructing a polycap frame skeleton and then adding armor over it.

OLD 1/144 V Gundam - Even at 1/144 scale, the eye seals are applied from the inside, giving a nice sense of depth. There are

Even at 1/144 scale, the eye seals are applied from the inside, giving a nice sense of depth. There are two types of eye seals — pre-cut and cut-it-yourself.

Limb articulation is around 90 degrees

OLD 1/144 V Gundam - Shooting poses (1/2)

OLD 1/144 V Gundam - Shooting poses (2/2)

Firing pose

Beam saber + beam shield action

Aerial pose

You can slot the background card in behind the clear stand.

Background card + action pose

Together with the 1/144 First Gundam.

Together with the HGUC V Gundam released in 2013.

The 1/144 V Gundam series kicked off alongside the 1993 anime Mobile Suit V Gundam, with the main character's V Gundam leading the charge as the first release — a lineup that saw all kinds of new ideas being tried out.

First off, they standardized a shared polycap frame across most of the 1/144 kits, and adopted a system where some runners are split in half and stacked so that multiple parts get assembled all at once. On top of that, a clear runner containing the clear stand and beam parts was included in nearly every kit, and a background card was added behind the stand to let you recreate a simple diorama — all in all, it was bursting with fresh, creative ideas.

And despite the suits being smaller in scale than previous entries due to in-universe reasons, the color separation and proportions actually show real improvement, delivering a pretty impressive look straight from the straight build alone. The kit also comes packed with accessories — a clear stand, background card, and a variety of beam parts — making it great value for the price.

That said, the overall fit does feel a bit loose throughout, and it's especially frustrating how easily the shoulders and shield pop off. The seals are also a bit hit-or-miss size-wise — when you actually apply them, they tend not to fit quite right, which might just come down to the precision being harder to nail at this smaller scale.

Looking at the shared polycap frame used across the 1/144 V series, it's well designed for reuse across multiple kits by simply swapping out the armor. However, as mentioned above, the shoulder joints don't hold very well, and the articulation is pretty average — meaning there's not much difference in how any of the kits actually move.

The transformation gimmick unique to the V Gundam is completely left out, though given the scale, that seems like the obvious call. So while the overall build quality is a step below, this kit is full of creative ideas and offers solid value with a strong personality of its own — it's a fun old-school kit that's well worth building just for the enjoyment of it. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.10.27]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.