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Our first blog post was a primer on what Gundam and Gunpla is all about. We then followed up with a blog post explaining scale. This time we will cover another important aspect of Gunpla which is the different grades of kits available. We name the most popular ones as well as one or two more obscure grades and will highlight the main differences between them.
HG - High Grade[/caption]
High Grade kits predominantly come in 1/144 scale size. There are some exceptions to this rule such as the 1/550 scale HG Dendrobium and some older 1/100 scale HG Gundam Wing kits. Aside from the few exceptions, you can safely associate HG kits with 1/144 scale size. HG kits are fairly simple in design and hence have a low price point with makes them very attractive for people new to the hobby of Gunpla. Having said that, HG kits also remain popular among seasoned modelers because of the vast assortment of mobile suits available in HG. They are relatively cheap for Bandai to manufacture because there is a lot less plastic being used in them, so Bandai is able to trade simple design with a wide variety to chose from. Newer HG kits have proven to be very well built and sometimes pack a surprising number of gimmicks! HG kits usually come with foil type stickers for detailing.
MG - Master Grade[/caption]
The next step up from HG is the Master Grade line. These kits are professional modelers’ favorites because they are larger in size (1/100 scale) which gives them more room to customize and add their own details. MG kits also often have a full inner frame onto which the outer armor parts connect. This inner frame is not available in HG kits. The inner frame allows for greater articulation and often the colors are more accurately translated from the anime mobile suits to the MG kits. The Master Grade line is known to have a variety of sticker types. Some kits have dry transfer sheets while others have water slide decals and sometimes you get foil and regular stickers. (We’ll post a future blog post just on stickers, so don’t worry if none of this is making any sense. ^_^) Since MG kits are 1/100 scale, they allow for a very small figurine of the pilot to be included in many MG kits. These mini figurines are very small and come molded in one color, but that doesn’t stop pro modelers from painting them in impressive detail!
RG - Real Grade[/caption]
The Real Grade line was introduced in 2010 to mark the 30th anniversary of Gunpla. This new line showcases how far Bandai’s design and manufacturing has come over the years. These kits basically take all that is great about 1/100 MG kits and reduces it all into a compact 1/144 scale! You get a full inner frame just like the bigger MG kits, but the frame is rather impressively already partially assembled on the runner! What this means is that the joints are actually already connected for the frame parts… on the runner! I know I probably sound overly excited about this, but trust me, it’s impressive that Bandai was able to pull this off. Another staple of RG kits is an often large sticker sheet full of very small stickers that take an eternity or two to apply, but give a very professional look once done. You also get slight color separation on RG kits which means parts that would be in the exact same color on an HG kit for example, are molded in slightly varying tones. So the dark blue parts of the RG Mk-II Titans are actually very slightly different which adds a realistic feel to the finished kits. Greater articulation that HG kits can be expected due to the inner frame and extra gimmicks are often included too. To top it all off, more recent RG kits started adding pilot figurines in 1/144 scale! Absolute madness. RG kits are a personal favorite of mine!
PG - Perfect Grade[/caption]
Perfect Grade kits are the monsters of Gunpla! These kits come in an impressive 1/60 scale which gives Bandai a lot of room to add features not possible to squeeze in the smaller grades. Some kits have fully articulating finger joints on the hands, and others have an “open hatch” maintenance mode in which the mobile suits many hatches can be opened to reveal the elaborate 1/60 scale inner frame below! The articulation on the newer PG kits is simply stunning. These kits are few and far between. There are less than 20 PG kits released since the launch of the line in 1998. Incidentally, the first PG kit wasn’t even from Gundam! It was the EVA-01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
SD - Super Deformed[/caption]
These ultra cute kits follow no scale at all. They are purposefully deformed, hence the name, to have a huge head compared to their stubby bodies, arms, and legs! They are very easy to build and do not even require side cutters. The parts can simply be pulled off the runners by hand! These kits are designed for a very young audience, but have found their way into the hearts of many modelers. They look really nice when posed next to the same mobile suit in other grades! A usual feature of SD kits is the choice of sticker for the eyes, often with a comical manga style set of eyes and a more serious looking pair. Quick and fun to build!
RE/100 - Reborn One Hundred[/caption]
There are a few other that are worth mentioning real quick. The first is the Reborn-One Hundred (RE/100) which brings together HG build simplicity with MG scale size. Bandai is using the RE/100 line to release kits that were not previously available in 1/100 scale.
[caption id="attachment_49" align="alignright" width="150"]
AG - Advanced Grade[/caption]
Another is the Advanced Grade (AG) line which is a bit of a misnomer. There is very little that is advanced about the AG line as a plastic model! The scale is 1/144 and the kits are all from the Gundam AGE anime series, but there is almost no articulation except for the head and arms which pivot at the shoulders only! This line was used to be compatible with a video game in which players can introduce their own mobile suits into the game to combat opponents. This can be done by placing the AG kit or a bundled card onto a reader on the arcade machine.
[caption id="attachment_50" align="alignleft" width="240"]
MEGA SIZE MODEL[/caption]
Another interesting grade is the MegaSize range which tower in at a 1/48 scale size! Although you would be excused to assume that MegaSize models must be better than PG because they are bigger, this simply isn’t the case. What these kits gain in size, they lose in articulation and even detail. MegaSize kits also have a unique system of snapping together full runners before cutting the parts off!
The last grade worth mentioning is the one that preceded them all… No Grade! Yes, that’s right. Before the first graded kit, Bandai used to release kits that simply had the scale mentioned on them without any grade designation. These kits used to require a lot of work to bring out the best in them, but more recent kits have seen a notable jump in their quality.
So which grade is your preferred one? If you’ve never built any kit before, we’d love to hear which one seems like a grade you’d love to try. Let us know in the comments below!
What are Grades?
Grades were introduced by Bandai, the manufacturer of Gundam plastic model kits, and assigned to kits to designate the quality of kit to be expect. Often, grade is also synonymous with scale as we will see shortly. Different grades have different features and we will start by highlighting the most popular grades and talking a bit about each. Here we go!High Grade (HG)
[caption id="attachment_44" align="alignleft" width="300"]
HG - High Grade[/caption]
High Grade kits predominantly come in 1/144 scale size. There are some exceptions to this rule such as the 1/550 scale HG Dendrobium and some older 1/100 scale HG Gundam Wing kits. Aside from the few exceptions, you can safely associate HG kits with 1/144 scale size. HG kits are fairly simple in design and hence have a low price point with makes them very attractive for people new to the hobby of Gunpla. Having said that, HG kits also remain popular among seasoned modelers because of the vast assortment of mobile suits available in HG. They are relatively cheap for Bandai to manufacture because there is a lot less plastic being used in them, so Bandai is able to trade simple design with a wide variety to chose from. Newer HG kits have proven to be very well built and sometimes pack a surprising number of gimmicks! HG kits usually come with foil type stickers for detailing.
Master Grade (MG)
[caption id="attachment_45" align="alignleft" width="300"]
MG - Master Grade[/caption]
The next step up from HG is the Master Grade line. These kits are professional modelers’ favorites because they are larger in size (1/100 scale) which gives them more room to customize and add their own details. MG kits also often have a full inner frame onto which the outer armor parts connect. This inner frame is not available in HG kits. The inner frame allows for greater articulation and often the colors are more accurately translated from the anime mobile suits to the MG kits. The Master Grade line is known to have a variety of sticker types. Some kits have dry transfer sheets while others have water slide decals and sometimes you get foil and regular stickers. (We’ll post a future blog post just on stickers, so don’t worry if none of this is making any sense. ^_^) Since MG kits are 1/100 scale, they allow for a very small figurine of the pilot to be included in many MG kits. These mini figurines are very small and come molded in one color, but that doesn’t stop pro modelers from painting them in impressive detail!
Real Grade (RG)
[caption id="attachment_46" align="alignleft" width="254"]
RG - Real Grade[/caption]
The Real Grade line was introduced in 2010 to mark the 30th anniversary of Gunpla. This new line showcases how far Bandai’s design and manufacturing has come over the years. These kits basically take all that is great about 1/100 MG kits and reduces it all into a compact 1/144 scale! You get a full inner frame just like the bigger MG kits, but the frame is rather impressively already partially assembled on the runner! What this means is that the joints are actually already connected for the frame parts… on the runner! I know I probably sound overly excited about this, but trust me, it’s impressive that Bandai was able to pull this off. Another staple of RG kits is an often large sticker sheet full of very small stickers that take an eternity or two to apply, but give a very professional look once done. You also get slight color separation on RG kits which means parts that would be in the exact same color on an HG kit for example, are molded in slightly varying tones. So the dark blue parts of the RG Mk-II Titans are actually very slightly different which adds a realistic feel to the finished kits. Greater articulation that HG kits can be expected due to the inner frame and extra gimmicks are often included too. To top it all off, more recent RG kits started adding pilot figurines in 1/144 scale! Absolute madness. RG kits are a personal favorite of mine!
Perfect Grade (PG)
[caption id="attachment_47" align="alignleft" width="240"]
PG - Perfect Grade[/caption]
Perfect Grade kits are the monsters of Gunpla! These kits come in an impressive 1/60 scale which gives Bandai a lot of room to add features not possible to squeeze in the smaller grades. Some kits have fully articulating finger joints on the hands, and others have an “open hatch” maintenance mode in which the mobile suits many hatches can be opened to reveal the elaborate 1/60 scale inner frame below! The articulation on the newer PG kits is simply stunning. These kits are few and far between. There are less than 20 PG kits released since the launch of the line in 1998. Incidentally, the first PG kit wasn’t even from Gundam! It was the EVA-01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Super Deformed (SD)
[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignleft" width="300"]
SD - Super Deformed[/caption]
These ultra cute kits follow no scale at all. They are purposefully deformed, hence the name, to have a huge head compared to their stubby bodies, arms, and legs! They are very easy to build and do not even require side cutters. The parts can simply be pulled off the runners by hand! These kits are designed for a very young audience, but have found their way into the hearts of many modelers. They look really nice when posed next to the same mobile suit in other grades! A usual feature of SD kits is the choice of sticker for the eyes, often with a comical manga style set of eyes and a more serious looking pair. Quick and fun to build!
Other grades
[caption id="attachment_51" align="alignleft" width="186"]
RE/100 - Reborn One Hundred[/caption]
There are a few other that are worth mentioning real quick. The first is the Reborn-One Hundred (RE/100) which brings together HG build simplicity with MG scale size. Bandai is using the RE/100 line to release kits that were not previously available in 1/100 scale.
[caption id="attachment_49" align="alignright" width="150"] AG - Advanced Grade[/caption]
Another is the Advanced Grade (AG) line which is a bit of a misnomer. There is very little that is advanced about the AG line as a plastic model! The scale is 1/144 and the kits are all from the Gundam AGE anime series, but there is almost no articulation except for the head and arms which pivot at the shoulders only! This line was used to be compatible with a video game in which players can introduce their own mobile suits into the game to combat opponents. This can be done by placing the AG kit or a bundled card onto a reader on the arcade machine.
[caption id="attachment_50" align="alignleft" width="240"]
MEGA SIZE MODEL[/caption]
Another interesting grade is the MegaSize range which tower in at a 1/48 scale size! Although you would be excused to assume that MegaSize models must be better than PG because they are bigger, this simply isn’t the case. What these kits gain in size, they lose in articulation and even detail. MegaSize kits also have a unique system of snapping together full runners before cutting the parts off!
The last grade worth mentioning is the one that preceded them all… No Grade! Yes, that’s right. Before the first graded kit, Bandai used to release kits that simply had the scale mentioned on them without any grade designation. These kits used to require a lot of work to bring out the best in them, but more recent kits have seen a notable jump in their quality.
So which grade is your preferred one? If you’ve never built any kit before, we’d love to hear which one seems like a grade you’d love to try. Let us know in the comments below!