OLD Victory Gundam 1/100 V Gundam

Release 1993.4

Price ¥1,500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

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

Box side view

Runners

Runners with system inserts applied.

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - System insert runner close-up (1/3)

System insert runner close-up

Clear runners

Soft polycap runner including head antennae

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - Parts diagram (1/5)

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - Parts diagram (2/5)

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - Parts diagram (3/5)

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build + waterslide decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Separate Core Fighter and transformation joint parts are included.

Core Fighter

Core Fighter underside, complete with landing gear.

Beam weapon parts.

Shield mount

Arm and leg articulation. The knee barely bends due to the transformation gimmick.

Articulated fingers

The shoulder barely raises to the side.

The transformation mechanism inside the neck is loose, so the head keeps falling backward.

Beam rifle firing pose

Beam weapon action

To transform, separate the body sections as shown above.

Tuck the head in and fold the skirt section back as shown above.

Transform the arms as shown above and attach them to the upper body.

Top Fighter transformation complete

Underside

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - The legs transform as shown above. When you push the thigh inward, it automatically links up to open the

The legs transform as shown above. When you push the thigh inward, it automatically links up to open the knee and rear cover.

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - Now you combine it with the Core Fighter and the separate joint parts. When plugging the legs into the j

Now you combine it with the Core Fighter and the separate joint parts. When plugging the legs into the joint parts, there are dedicated locking pins to help align the angle.

Bottom Fighter transformation complete

Underside

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - Top Fighter and Bottom Fighter. An extra cockpit part for the Top Fighter is included, so you can displa

Top Fighter and Bottom Fighter. An extra cockpit part for the Top Fighter is included, so you can display both at the same time.

Leftover parts after transformation.

Together with the 1/144 V Gundam.

OLD 1/100 V Gundam - Together with the 1/100 First Gundam. Same scale, but the MS miniaturization trend means it's noticeably

Together with the 1/100 First Gundam. Same scale, but the MS miniaturization trend means it's noticeably smaller.

Together with the 1/100 Gundam F91.

Together with the MG V Gundam Ver.Ka released in 2009.

The first release in the old 1/100 V Gundam series is the main protagonist's suit, the V Gundam itself. The big feature here is that the transformation gimmick — which was left out in the 1/144 version — is fully reproduced. To pull it off, a separately configurable Core Fighter and nose section are included in addition to the main kit.

First off, even for an old kit, the proportions and color separation are really impressive. With the system inserts applied, the straight build alone does a great job of nailing the design colors. That said, articulation takes a serious hit because of the transformation gimmick — the knees barely bend at all, and the shoulders can hardly raise to the side, so you're pretty limited in what poses you can pull off in MS mode.

The transformation gimmick is well done, coming close to a full transformation with minimal parts swapping, and the stability in fighter mode is decent enough. In MS mode, though, there are a few annoying stability issues — overall joint strength is fine, but the shoulders have a weird tendency to pop off, and the neck transformation mechanism is loose enough that the head just flops backward on its own. The grip is solid, but strangely the rifle keeps slipping out of the hand and dropping.

Set aside the impressive transformation gimmick, and the articulation and stability in MS mode are honestly a bit of a mess. It was an era when the engineering for transformation mechanisms just wasn't quite there yet, so I suppose that's to be expected. Still, with its great proportions, system insert color separation, and transformation gimmick all going for it, this old kit is definitely worth building at least once just for the fun of it. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.12.20]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.