HGBuild Divers

AGP-X1/E3 Alus Earthree Gundam

The Core Gundam's evil twin gets the same clever combining trick, just painted like it means business.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

Alus Earthree Gundam · 1/144 · 2020

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2020

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely smart little kit wearing a villain costume.

The Alus Core Gundam docks into its Earthree armor exactly like the original Earthree Gundam did, and that combining gimmick is still the whole reason to buy in. I like that Bandai didn't cut corners on the recolor, the dark grey and red actually reads as its own suit on the shelf, not a reskin. The catch is the same one every Core Gundam release has: no ab crunch, so the posing ceiling is lower than the price tag suggests.

Best for: Build Divers fans who want the Alus/evil-mirror version of Earthree and like a kit with an actual engineering trick built in

The full review

What it is

This kit is a straight recolor of the HGBD Core Gundam and Earthree Armor system dressed up as Alus's corrupted mirror-suit, dark grey and red instead of Hiroto's blue and white. You build the small Core Gundam first, a compact inner-suit with its own face and proportions, then dock it into the Earthree Armor shell, which locks around it and roughly doubles the height. Snapping that armor shut and watching a small, plain robot become a taller, weapon-loaded Gundam is a legitimately satisfying moment, it is the best part of owning this kit and the reason the combining system has stuck around across multiple Build Divers releases.

The catch

The core weakness carries over from every kit sharing this mold: there is no ab crunch, so torso posing tops out at twist and lean, no forward hunch for dynamic action shots. Parts run small, small enough that builders with bigger hands report fumbling pieces and risking stress marks on tight fittings during Core Gundam assembly. The shield's connection to the Core form is a plain straight handle, a little awkward to hold naturally, though it converts into the beam rifle grip once you build up to Earthree form. None of this is a dealbreaker, but at HG price you're trading some posing range for the transformation gimmick.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already like the Build Divers Re:RISE combining system and want the Alus version specifically, whether for the show accuracy or just because the darker colorway looks better in your display case than the original Earthree. It's also a fine entry point if you want to try a transforming HG without spending MG money. Skip it if ab-crunch posing matters to you for dynamic display, or if you have larger hands and get frustrated by fiddly small parts, since the Core Gundam half of this kit is genuinely tiny.

The build story

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

Assembly leans easy overall. Runner connections on this mold are thin, so nub removal is quick and gate marks stay minimal, the kind of kit where a little cleanup goes a long way toward a clean finish. The tradeoff shows up in part size, the Core Gundam sub-assembly is genuinely small, and builders with bigger hands report needing extra care to avoid stress-marking tight-fitting pieces.

The standout is the combining system itself. The Core Gundam holds up on its own with poseability comparable to the combined form, then the Earthree Armor docks over it and stays locked in place through normal handling and posing, no loose rattling around. You get two beam sabers, a Core Spray Gun, a shield, and effect parts for the beam blasts, plus the Uraven-style beam rifle in Earthree form. Color separation on the Alus recolor comes through in molded plastic rather than stickers, which keeps the build simple and the finished kit looking right without painting.

Lore & trivia

01The AGP-X1/E3 Alus Earthree Gundam is Alus's dark mirror version of the Earthree Gundam, built by combining the Alus Core Gundam (also called Eldora Core Gundam) with an Earth Armor styled after the original Earthree's
02Its beam rifle is modeled on the Uraven Gundam's weapon and shares the Earthree's 'Burst Shooting' high-precision sniping ability
03The suit and its Core Gundam base share the same combining Planets-style system as Hiroto Kuga's original Earthree Gundam, making the armor cross-compatible with other Core Gundam releases from the line
04The kit released in April 2020 as HGBD:R kit number 022 in the Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE lineup