Gundam grades explained
Grade is the single most important word in Gunpla. Before a suit, before a color, before anything, the grade decides how big the kit is, how much it costs, how long it takes, and how much detail you get. I have built across all of them, so here is the whole ladder in plain English, with an honest kit to start with at every rung.
The grades at a glance
The six grades a new builder actually chooses between. Prices are rough US street prices and move with the suit and the release.
| Grade | Scale | Typical price | Build time | Skill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EG Entry Grade | 1/144 | around $8 to $16 | under an hour to about 90 minutes | Total beginner |
| HG High Grade | 1/144 | around $10 to $30 | one to three hours | Beginner friendly |
| RG Real Grade | 1/144 | around $25 to $45 | three to six hours | Intermediate |
| MG Master Grade | 1/100 | around $40 to $75 | four to ten hours | Intermediate |
| PG Perfect Grade | 1/60 | around $180 to $350 | a full weekend, often 15 to 40 hours | Advanced |
| SD Super Deformed | Non-scale | around $5 to $12 | under an hour | Total beginner |
Entry Grade
1/144 · around $8 to $16 · under an hour to about 90 minutes
The friendliest build in the hobby. Low part count, tabs you can twist apart by hand in a pinch, and full color separation straight off the runners, so it looks finished with zero stickers and zero paint.
Who it is for: Someone building their very first kit, or a gift for a kid. Also a great palette-cleanser for veterans between big projects.
Where I would start
Entry Grade RX-78-2 Gundam. The kit that defined the line. It poses well, reads as a real Gundam on the shelf rather than a toy, and asks almost nothing of you to look right.
High Grade
1/144 · around $10 to $30 · one to three hours
The everyday Gunpla. Quick to finish, forgiving to build, and available in more mobile suits than any other line by a wide margin. Older kits lean on stickers for color; modern ones separate most of it in plastic.
Who it is for: Almost everyone, almost always. Your first kit, your tenth, and the grade you buy on a whim.
Where I would start
HG RX-78-2 Gundam (Revive Ver.). The modern reissue of the original hero suit. Clean color separation, solid articulation, and cheap enough to buy without a second thought.
Real Grade
1/144 · around $25 to $45 · three to six hours
Master Grade detail shrunk into the High Grade footprint. A pre-built inner frame, near-complete color separation, and realistic decals, all in the palm of your hand. The parts are tiny and the runners are dense.
Who it is for: A builder on their third or fourth kit who wants maximum detail without paint or a big shelf. Not a first kit.
Where I would start
RG RX-78-2 Gundam 2.0. The 2024 re-tool that fixed the fragility complaints of the early Real Grades. It is the modern showcase for everything the line does well.
Master Grade
1/100 · around $40 to $75 · four to ten hours
The enthusiast home. Big enough to feel substantial, almost always with a full inner frame, and sized to reward panel lining, paint, and a proper top coat. Quality varies across a long-running line.
Who it is for: The builder who wants room to grow: to detail, to paint, to take their time. The grade most long-term hobbyists settle into.
Where I would start
MG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.3.0. The most advanced Master Grade take on the original suit, with a fully realized inner frame and articulation that still holds up. A benchmark build.
Perfect Grade
1/60 · around $180 to $350 · a full weekend, often 15 to 40 hours
The flagship. Huge, heavy, and engineering-driven, frequently with articulated fingers, internal LED wiring, and transformation gimmicks no smaller grade attempts. Finishing one is an event.
Who it is for: An experienced builder with a grail suit and the budget to do it justice. A shelf anchor, not a casual pickup.
Where I would start
PG RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. The showcase Perfect Grade: a full transformation from Unicorn to Destroy mode with a matching LED set, and the kit most people picture when they picture a PG.
Super Deformed
Non-scale · around $5 to $12 · under an hour
The fun house. Suits squashed into a big-headed, stubby-limbed chibi shape. Cheap, fast, and full of personality, and a superb testing ground for a technique you do not want to try on an expensive kit first.
Who it is for: Anyone who wants a guaranteed win in under an hour, or a low-stakes kit to learn painting and detailing on.
Where I would start
Browse the SD and MGSD hub. The plain SD sub-lines rotate fast and there is no single evergreen pick, so start at the hub. If you want the SD look with a real internal build, jump to MGSD in the tier below.
Beyond the big five
Once you know the core grades, these four specialist lines start to make sense. You do not need any of them to begin, but they fill real gaps: a deep cut here, an extreme showpiece there, and a chibi that builds like a full kit.
Full Mechanics
1/100 · around $40 to $60 · four to eight hours
A 1/100 kit with the visual detail of a Master Grade but no full inner frame, so you get the size and presence for less money and less build time. Mostly built around the newest TV series suits.
Who it is for: A builder who loves the 1/100 scale and detail but does not care about a hidden internal skeleton.
Where I would start
Full Mechanics Gundam Aerial. The kit that made the line's case: a striking 1/100 rendition of the Witch from Mercury lead suit with color separation that rivals kits well above its price.
Reborn One Hundred
1/100 · around $50 to $100 · five to ten hours
1/100 kits of the deeper-cut suits that would never justify a full Master Grade tool. Simplified internals, big presence, and access to mecha the mainstream lines skip entirely.
Who it is for: The collector chasing obscure Universal Century designs, or anyone who wants a large kit of a suit the MG line ignored.
Where I would start
RE/100 Gundam Mk-III. A clean example of what the line exists to do: a large, well-proportioned kit of a suit you will not find in any other grade.
Master Grade Extreme
1/100 · around $90 to $200 · ten to twenty hours
Master Grade taken to an extreme: dense engineering, extensive built-in LED lighting, and part counts that push toward Perfect Grade territory in a 1/100 footprint.
Who it is for: The experienced builder who wants a showpiece without stepping all the way up to a full 1/60 Perfect Grade.
Where I would start
MGEX Unicorn Gundam Ver.Ka. The line's signature build, wrapping the whole psychoframe in individually lit segments. It is the reason the MGEX label exists.
Master Grade Super Deformed
Non-scale · around $30 to $50 · two to four hours
A chibi silhouette wrapped around genuine Master Grade internal engineering. It looks like a cute SD but articulates and builds like a real full-size kit, which is a genuinely new trick.
Who it is for: Anyone who loves the SD proportions but wants a deeper, more satisfying build than a plain SD gives.
Where I would start
MGSD Freedom Gundam. The kit that launched the line and proved the concept: a chibi Freedom that fans out its wings and poses like a full Master Grade.
Frequently asked questions
What do the Gundam grades mean?
A grade is Bandai's label for a whole line of Gunpla built to a shared standard of scale, detail, and complexity. The main ones are Entry Grade and High Grade at 1/144, Real Grade at 1/144 with far more detail, Master Grade at 1/100, and Perfect Grade at 1/60. Super Deformed kits are non-scale chibi builds. The grade tells you roughly how big, how expensive, and how involved a kit will be before you even know which suit it is.
What is the best Gundam grade for a beginner?
Entry Grade or High Grade. Entry Grade is engineered specifically for first-time builders, with a low part count and color separation that needs no stickers or paint. High Grade is nearly as easy, costs about the same, and gives you the widest choice of mobile suits by far. Both build clean with nothing more than a cheap pair of side cutters.
What is the difference between HG and RG?
Both are 1/144 scale, so they end up about the same height, but Real Grade packs in a pre-assembled inner frame, near-complete color separation, and realistic decals that High Grade leaves out. The tradeoff is that RG parts are tiny and the build is fiddlier. HG is the easy everyday kit; RG is the detail showcase in the same footprint.
Is Master Grade or Perfect Grade better?
Neither is strictly better; they solve different problems. Master Grade at 1/100 is the enthusiast sweet spot: big enough to detail and paint, affordable enough to buy regularly. Perfect Grade at 1/60 is a flagship centerpiece with LEDs and advanced engineering, but it costs several times as much and takes far longer to build. Most builders live in MG and buy a PG only for a grail suit.
What are P-Bandai grades like MGEX, RE/100, and Full Mechanics?
They are specialist lines rather than separate difficulty tiers. Full Mechanics and RE/100 are 1/100 kits with simplified internals, one leaning on the newest TV suits and the other on obscure deep cuts. MGEX is an extreme, heavily lit take on Master Grade. MGSD wraps real Master Grade engineering in a chibi Super Deformed body. You do not need any of them to start, and they are best understood once you know the core grades.
Do I need paint or special tools to build Gunpla?
No. Every grade snaps together without glue and looks good straight from the box thanks to molded-in color. The only tool worth buying up front is a cheap pair of hobby side cutters to remove parts cleanly. Panel lining, decals, paint, and a top coat are optional upgrades you can add whenever you want to push a kit further.
Where to go next
Pick a grade and browse every kit we track, or read the buying guides before you order.