Kit Review

Straight build + panel lining + partial painting

The universal yardstick — size comparison with a cigarette pack.

The legs look way too skinny.

Upper body close-up. Partial painting in dark gray on the chest and crotch areas.

HG Gaia Gundam - The rifle is molded in a single flat black color, which looks really rough, so I painted the whole thing in

The rifle is molded in a single flat black color, which looks really rough, so I painted the whole thing in gray/yellow/white to match the official colors.
The red edges on the shield also need partial painting, but I handled the yellow center part with the included stickers.

HG Gaia Gundam - The side skirts' red, the white and dark gray on the back of the arms, and both sides of the arms are all pa

The side skirts' red, the white and dark gray on the back of the arms, and both sides of the arms are all partial painting points.
The forearm area should be painted in the light mauve used on the main body, but when I tried to mix the color, it ended up turning into something weird. -_-;

The verniers on the back of the wing section are also partially painted red.

HG Gaia Gundam - Arm articulation is pretty average, but thanks to the transformation mechanism, the legs can fold almost com

Arm articulation is pretty average, but thanks to the transformation mechanism, the legs can fold almost completely.
That said, the legs don't spread sideways very far, so they're surprisingly not all that flexible.

Action pose

The legs fold up nicely, so getting into a kneeling pose is a breeze..

The legs split well front and back. Sideways though? Forget it

Beam saber action pose

With all that stuff hanging off it, looking up from below it actually looks pretty decent..

MA Transformation

Maybe it's a scale limitation.. the arm section is designed as a detachable swap-out option.

You need to swap out the connector to secure the shield.

Deployment complete ;;

Rotate the head 180 degrees so it faces backward, then flip the dog head up to cover the face.

The heel folds back completely.

Beam material is inserted into the wing section. The wings themselves become a kind of beam sword.

Then just bend the body forward and the dog MA mode is done!

The rifle is designed to mount on the right shoulder.

Viewed from the side, the leg shape feels a bit awkward..

The underside. Nicely covered by the shield.

Spread the wings and raise the tail..

It's pretty intimidating in its own way.

Together with the HG Zaku Warrior and Chaos Gundam.

Straight build front view (with seals applied)

Straight build MA mode

The jet-black Gaia Gundam has been released as a 1/144 HG. Like the BuCUE from Gundam SEED, it's an MS that can transform into a four-legged animal-shaped MA — though "transform" might be too strong a word; "just lying down" feels more accurate. ^^; Once you transform it into dog mode, you get this "wait, is this a dog??" feeling. And the name Gaia Gundam even sounds kinda like it — (= "Gae-ya?" Gundam, which sounds like "Is it a dog?" in Korean)

Gaia Gundam has a pretty complex color separation, and even for an HG, there are quite a few areas where the color separation just isn't there. (See photos) The chest, crotch (?), forearms, shield, wings, rear legs — if you want to match the official colors, there's a ton of work to do on this kit. The beam rifle in particular is molded in solid black, completely unlike the official color scheme, so you have to paint the whole thing before it looks right. On the flip side, the straight build does look reasonably colorful as-is, but if you want to do partial painting, this kit requires way more work than just about any other HG out there. You might honestly be better off just doing a full paint job.

One interesting thing is that — probably thanks to the transformation mechanism — the legs achieve a full 180-degree fold. However, the legs themselves barely rotate and don't spread sideways, so pulling off really dynamic poses is pretty tough. It's more like the knees just fold nicely enough to get a natural kneeling pose. On top of that, the legs are so slim they look almost frail, which is a bit sad to look at.. ;;

Transforming into MA mode is fairly simple, but the arms don't transform — you have to detach them and swap in dedicated dog-paw parts instead. For the most part, you just crouch the body forward and it pretty much becomes a dog shape just like that, so it's not difficult at all. The front of the body can be covered with the shield, so the dog's belly is handled cleanly. In MA mode, the wing-like sections on the back can have separate soft-material beam parts inserted, allowing you to recreate them as beam swords. You can also raise the tail straight up! (Yep, it was totally a DOG all along!)

The large shoulder plates and shield feel a bit loose and tend to fall off, but the kit itself is generally stiff overall, so holding poses isn't a problem. Transformation kits that go into a crouching form can be a real pain if the joints are weak, so it's a relief that these are solid.

Overall.. it's not a bad quality kit, but it's not exactly the most stylish-looking one either. The cute dog mode looks way better than the MS mode with its spindly legs and cluttered look. Personally, I always wished the BuCUE from Gundam SEED had gotten an HG release.. and Gaia Gundam kind of fills that void for me. The complex color combination requiring a lot of partial painting is also a bit of a hassle (especially the rifle..) — but if you're into that adorable dog mode, this is definitely a kit worth recommending. ^^

HG Gaia Gundam | 2005. 1 | ¥1,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.