HGGundam Build Fighters (with weapon designs rooted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00)

24th Century Weapons

Two small runners that quietly fix everything wrong with your Cherudim Saga's loadout.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Century Weapons · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I'll say this plainly: this isn't a mobile suit kit, it's an arsenal, and judged as one it's a genuinely useful little box.

You're paying a few dollars for a GN long rifle, a GN short rifle, and a buster sword that your Cherudim Gundam Saga Type.GBF never shipped with, plus repeats of the pistol, submachine gun, and assault carbine you already own. The buster sword is the reason people buy this, and it earns its keep.

Best for: Cherudim Gundam Saga Type.GBF owners who want the GNX-IV-style buster sword and rifle variants without hunting a whole separate kit

The full review

What it is

This is a 1/144 HGBC weapons expansion, two runners, no mobile suit included, built around giving your Cherudim Gundam Saga Type.GBF (or other compatible HG 00-era frames) the armaments it was missing. You get a GN beam pistol, GN assault carbine, GN long rifle, GN short rifle, and the piece everyone actually wants, a buster sword lifted from the GNX-IV design language seen in Gundam 00's side stories and films. Snapping it together took me about fifteen minutes total. There's nothing to pose here on its own, but handing your Saga a proper blade instead of just guns changes the whole silhouette on the shelf.

The catch

It's genuinely tiny, 648 yen new and closer to a stocking-stuffer than a kit, and if you don't already own a Cherudim Gundam Saga Type.GBF or a hand-compatible HG from the 00 line, there's nothing here for you. Three of the six weapons duplicate what the base Saga kit already includes, so you're really paying for the long rifle, short rifle, and sword. The buster sword's mount is ball-jointed and its fit depends entirely on which specific kit you're plugging it into, so grip security varies. Molded color is plain GN-green and grey plastic with no stickers, which is fine for weapons but means no extra detail painting is baked in.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already have a Cherudim Gundam Saga Type.GBF and want it holding a sword instead of just guns, or if you're chasing the GNX-IV look from the 00 films and don't want to track down a whole separate kit for one weapon. Skip it if you don't own a compatible 00-era HG frame, since half the point is filling gaps in a kit you already built, and skip it if you were hoping for a stand-alone build, because there's no suit here at all. For anyone deep enough into Gundam 00 customs to know what a GNX-IV is, this is an easy, cheap yes.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

There's no real assembly curve here, this is snap-together weapon parts off two runners with none of the gate placement or nub cleanup concerns you'd worry about on an actual mobile suit kit. Everything pops off clean and slots into standard 3mm and 5mm grip pegs, so if you've built any HG from the last decade you already know the drill.

The interesting part is entirely in what these weapons let your existing kit do. The GN long and short rifle barrels can combine into a beam rifle configuration, and the buster sword sits on a ball joint so it can angle for a two-handed grip or a hip-mounted storage pose depending on the host kit's frame. There's no articulation to speak of on the weapons themselves beyond that ball joint, the value is entirely about expanding what your Saga (or compatible suit) can hold and how it reads on the shelf.

Lore & trivia

01This is HGBC (High Grade Build Custom) entry #032 in Bandai's weapons and option-parts line, not a mobile suit kit.
02It was released in November 2017 for 648 yen and comes with only two runners, no suit included.
03The buster sword and rifle designs trace back to the GNX-IV Advanced GN-X armaments seen in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 side material, repurposed here for the Gundam Build Fighters-era Cherudim Gundam Saga Type.GBF.