OLD Gundam ZZ 1/144 Hamma-Hamma

Release 1986.8

Price ¥800

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Box side view

Runners

OLD 1/144 Hamma-Hamma - Being a large kit, the polycap count has gone up accordingly, and there are also special option parts

Being a large kit, the polycap count has gone up accordingly, and there are also special option parts like wires and springs included.

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack. For a 1/144, it's got a pretty solid, chunky build.

Body detail from the side.

Arm and leg articulation isn't great..

The claw is articulated.

An action pose of sorts

Beam saber pose

Wire and spring parts are included to extend the claw arm.

You have to assemble them repeatedly, threading them together like beads on a string.

The upper section has a spring fitted in the center, so it holds up pretty well.

OLD 1/144 Hamma-Hamma - Claw arm extended pose. Surprisingly, the wire strands hold the weight pretty well. (1/3)

Claw arm extended pose. Surprisingly, the wire strands hold the weight pretty well.

Together with the 1/144 ZZ Gundam.

The 6th entry in the old-release ZZ series is the 1/144 Hamma-Hamma, a large and uniquely distinctive MS. Since it stands over 24 meters tall in lore, it's got a pretty impressive, chunky frame even at 1/144 scale. Not only is it tall, but the wide-spread shoulders and skirt give it an exceptional sense of volume that really sets it apart.

The kit uses just two molded colors — teal and green — but for an old-release kit, they put quite a bit of thought into the color separation, so the straight build ends up looking pretty close to the official colors. In particular, the complex design running from the large shoulders down through the waist pipes and skirt is broken up into numerous parts, managing to nail both the sense of depth and the color separation at the same time.

On top of that, since it's a fairly large and hefty kit, you might worry about joint strength — but even for an old-release, the joints hold their positions surprisingly well. The articulation itself isn't anything to write home about, but at the very least it holds its angles nicely in a few key poses and standing positions.

The highlight of the Hamma-Hamma is the claw arm extension feature, which is pulled off in a pretty realistic way by assembling the long wire parts in a complex, bead-stringing fashion. A spring is placed at the center of the upper extension section to act as a flexible yet sturdy support. Thanks to that, you can display the kit with the claw arm extended horizontally, as seen in the photos above.

Honestly, even with recent kits that have similar features, it's often hard to keep the arm extended horizontally like this — so the fact that this old-release kit pulls it off to this degree is definitely worth praising. ^^

All in all, this is a quality old-release kit that captures the Hamma-Hamma's unique personality really well, and as of 2017 when this review is being posted, it still hasn't received an HGUC release. If you've had your eye on the Hamma-Hamma, this is definitely worth giving a shot. The visuals are striking enough that even a basic paint job would give it more presence than most modern kits — so it'd make a great painting practice piece for Earthnoids too. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.7.14 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.