Model Kit Review: High Grade Gyancelot

Welcome back to another gunpla review. As the title suggested, I am going to be reviewing a recently released High Grade gunpla, the HG Gyancelot, from the recently released Gundam Build Fighters Try OVA-like episode, the Island Wars. The kit was released on early August 2016 with ¥1800 or around Rp225,000 to Rp235,000 in Indonesia. Without further ado, let’s get on with the review!

Box & Runners

The kit comes with typical HG box and Build Fighters series design in terms of its layout.

The size is similar to the HG Lightning Zeta Gundam that I’ve just reviewed weeks ago. Nothing too special, the sides of the box shows the features of the kit as always.

The kit comes with 14 plastic runners including a set of polycaps and a sheet of foil stickers. Most of the plastic runners come small in size, some only carrying one or two parts.

The first runner is the A-plate which comes with a soft grey in terms of its color. Most of the parts will be used for the kit’s arms, legs and torso. You will notice that there will be some leftovers from the runner as the plate itself was taken from the recently released HG Gyan Revive. Nothing beats free leftover parts from your new gunpla, no?

The second runner is the B1-Plate which comes with your typical gundam dark grey for its parts. Most of them will be used for joints of the kit and even the inner details for the skirts and the awesome shield. This runner is also taken from the HG Gyan Revive; another parts for leftover. This runner also the second and last full-sized plate from the entire package as other plates are either partial copy just come small in quantity.

Just like what I said before, the B2-Plate is essentially a partial copy of the B1-Plate. Most of the parts will be making the joints for the kit’s legs and arms.

Adding another color to the mix, the C1-Plate comes with a nice deep blue color, a bit darker from your typical gundam-blue color. Leftover parts, again, could be found from this runner as the plate was another hand-me-down from the HG Gyan Revive. Most of the parts will be used to build the torso, skirting armor and feet.

The C2-Plate is not a copy of the C1 but instead it comes with only one clear yellow part for the beam saber effect. The part is quite thick for your typical beam saber as it seems to be specialized only for the Gyancelot and the Gyan.

The D1, again, comes only with one part with dark red in color. The part is nicely molded and detailed, and it will be used to build the shield of the kit.

The D2-Plate comes with only three parts in total with ugly yellow color. The parts will be used for the kit’s armaments including the shield and the unique beam saber.

The E1-Plate brings back the soft grey that the A-plate has shown us. All of the parts here are new and unique to the Gyancelot and all of them are used to build the head and add some parts to the kit’s shoulders, legs and backpack.

The E2-Plate is a partial copy of the E1 while only carrying five parts in total for the kit’s legs and shoulders.

   

The F1-Plate brought back the deep blue to the desk while carrying new parts which are, again, unique to the Gyancelot. All of them will be used to build the head, torso, feet and backpack of the kit.

The F2-Plate is only a partial copy of the F1 and carres parts for the kit’s feet and backpack.

The G-Plate comes with the plastic gold color for the Gyancelot’s signature Lance. I advise you to paint these parts either with spray can or brush for better visual results.

The H-Plate comes with lighter clear yellow for the kit’s unique “Hair” and cape.

A set of your typical polycap is also included along with a sheet of foil stickers filled with nightmare…I mean shiny gold trims but hard to apply decals.

The manual is your typical Build Fighters series layout. The kit, or at least the one that I got, also comes with a brochure and a survey paper—completely in Japanese—from Bandai as well as additional “bonus” for the package.

Work in Progress

Unless you guys have plan to add something or change something from the kit, I don’t think the HG offers any harmful difficulties in terms of its building process. The building feels efficient and thoroughly well designed, well fitting for a truly 2016 high grade.

As many as five parts were used to build the kit’s head. A sticker will be used for the mono eye and the end result looks sharp and majestic.

The torso were comprised of 10 parts in addition to three polycaps for the arm and waist joints. You could use the gold stickers to add the details on the torso if you want, but I decided to paint it myself just for kicks—even though the end result is not as perfect as I hoped. There are some bad nubs as well on the sides of the chest. Sand paper might be required to clean them up. There is also an additional with sticker for the abdomen but I didn’t put it on as it didn’t add that much of a difference overall, in my opinion of course.

The waist is comprised of 10 parts as well including three polycaps for the connection to the torso and the side skirts. Bandai even add some inner-frame like the details for the front and back skirt for this kit. Nothing flashy in terms of color but you can add some lining for the tick mars located all over the armor.

Moving back up to the arms and shoulders of the kit, each comprised of 19 parts including two polycap for the connection to the torso and the hands. You could, again, apply the sticker for the gold trims at the kit’s shoulders yet I chose to paint it again myself with similar mediocre to bad result. I also change the color of the hands for additional color variation. Panel lining is also available at the top of the shoulder and several tick marks at the arms.

The backpack of this kit were built by as many as nine parts with no polycap. Another sticker could be applied on the tail of the backpack. I chose to paint the part myself in addition to adding some details to the backpacks for added variation.

Moving down to the legs and the feet, each comprised of 19 parts with four polycaps for the connection in the knee, to the waist and the feet. Another gold stickers will be used at the feet if you choose while lining is available through several tick marks at the front, back of the legs and some lines on each feet.

The lance comprised of six parts which will build the staff and two separate head; one opened and one closed. Nothing too special except the ugly yellow that you will be getting if you are not planning to do something about it.

The sword and shield required nine parts, three of which were used only to build the connection for the shield. The detail for the shield is remarkable while nothing too special can be seen from the sword.

Parts, Articulations & Gimmicks

After hours of building what we will get is a regal rendition of the classic yet blocky Gyan with some additional flare, including the gold details which you could either cover with stickers or paint with some real gold.

The kit, in general, is quite sizeable; towering over my custom Dom R35 and even a bit taller than Kauruko Sazaki a.k.a Gyanko’s R-Gya gya. Color separation is decent whether you chose to put the gold stickers on or even paint them all like I did. However, the balance of the kit could become a problem due its height, especially when all the armaments and effect parts are attached. It could stand on its own but an action base could help a lot if say you want to get more adventurous with its poses.

The kit’s head could go up quite well, down amazingly while side to side is a bit limited due to the design of the head and the height of the collar. No mono eye gimmick was found.

The shoulders are attached on a separate connection so they can be moved independently from the arms though the range is quite limited due to its bulky design. The arms can be stretched upward at around 90 plus degree; it was limited due to the shoulders yet again. The shoulder can bend for almost 180 degree along with arm swivels at the top while the hands are connected through ball joints.

The backpack, or back packs, could be moved separately with nice range of movement as both were attached via ball joints. The tail piece can also be moved upward and downward through a hinge.

The torso could also rotate and moved forward and backward for crunches with limited range of motion. I apologize for the lack of images for this part of articulation.

The skirts are quite articulate for an HG. The front can be moved forward with limited movement while the side and back ones can by moved quite well.

The legs are connected to the waist through a universal joint so movement is hardly limited unless it was hindered by the skirting armor. The kit can do split easily while the knee can bend for more than 90 degree. The toe can also be moved for more dynamic poses.

All the armaments can be installed to the kit quite easily with secure grip on each and every weapons available. Additional hand part with a wrist joint is also available, especially to be used with the beam sabre, to achieve more dynamic poses. It is too bad that there are no place for us to store the weapons except the kit’s own box.

Another flare that this kit has is the effect parts which can be installed to the head and the backpack to create the beam “hair” and cape for the Gyancelot. Both looks amazing and add much flare to the kit overall.

Conclusion

Similar with HG Lightning Z Gundam, this Gyancelor will also be getting 7.5 for its overall grading. I was going to give it 8 but the stickers brought the grades down easily. If you are capable of painting the details, it is indeed better to just paint the details by yourself. The stickers are shinier in terms of colors yet I believe that they won’t stay long--even with some help from good sticker applying technique or layers of top coat—and will not look as good as when it painted. Its design can also be a problem for some who doesn’t have any interest towards Zeonic mobile suit and the knight-based flare is also a double edge sword as not all people do cherish the concept like I do.

For the good points, the accessories for this kit is quite good as well for its price; a lance with two spear heads, an awesome shield, a beam sabre, additional hand and cool looking effect part. The articulation is also a good point for the kit as for a Zeonic mobile suit, the kit is capable of a lot of movement and even leg-splits as well. The size and the aforementioned gold trims of the kit also add more points for the Gyancelot’s charm and shelf presence between your collections.

That’s all for the review of the Gyancelot. I will come back soon with another review of Minato Sakai’s creation…not the Super Fumina but the ZZII. See you then!