HGUniversal Century

AMS-123X Varguil

The Neo Zeon prototype that became a Gundam, sold here in its raw, funnel-armed original form.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Varguil · 1/144 · 2020

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2020

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is a P-Bandai exclusive that punches well above its HG price point, and I came away impressed by how much personality Bandai packed into a plain-looking frame.

The six ejectable funnels and the butterfly edge weapon give it a loadout most HG kits twice its price would envy. The catch is that this is the Varguil before its Gundam-head refit, so if you only know the tricolor Moon Gundam from the cover art, this one looks a lot more like a stock Zeon mobile suit, which is exactly the point.

Best for: UC completionists and Zeon-suit fans who want the funnel-armed prototype form rather than the finished tricolor Moon Gundam

The full review

What it is

The Varguil is the Neo Zeon-developed base unit that later gets a Gundam-type head and a fresh paint job to become the title suit of Mobile Suit Moon Gundam, and this kit gives you that earlier, more classically Zeon-styled form, funnels and all. Building it felt like watching a slow reveal. The torso and legs go together in a fairly plain, blocky way at first, then the backpack with its six deployable funnel binders and the butterfly edge combat blade get attached and the whole kit suddenly reads as a serious newtype-use mobile suit. The beam rifle in particular is molded cleanly enough that I didn't feel the usual urge to hunt down seam lines on it before shelving it.

The catch

Bandai skipped polycaps entirely here, so every joint is plastic on plastic, which keeps costs down but means the frame can feel a little dry and squeaky compared to a typical HG, and a few joints loosen faster with repeated posing than I'd like. The kit leans on marking stickers rather than molded color for a chunk of its Zeon insignia and panel accents, so colorists doing a No Grade-into-HG level of detail will want to swap those for decals. Being a Premium Bandai release also means it comes and goes in limited print runs (it has been reissued a few times, including a clear color version), so pricing and availability swing more than a standard retail HG.

Who it's for

If you already like the funnel-suit archetype, the double-jointed knee articulation, or you're chasing the full roster of Mobile Suit Moon Gundam kits, this is worth tracking down even at import pricing. It also rewards anyone who enjoys converting or repainting toward the eventual white and blue Moon Gundam look, since this is effectively the unpainted starting point for that project. Builders who want an easy weeknight snap-together kit, or who only care about the finished Gundam-head version straight out of the box, should look at the actual HGUC Moon Gundam kit instead and treat this one as the deep-cut companion piece.

The build story

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

The build starts unassuming, a fairly plain Zeon-style torso and limb set that goes together quickly with light gate marks that clean up in a few passes. It picks up once the backpack, funnel binders, and butterfly edge attach, at which point the silhouette turns from generic mobile suit into something that actually looks like a newtype flagship. The all-plastic joints mean no polycap swelling issues down the line, but they also mean less initial tension in the joints than kits that use the standard polycap pin system.

Where it earns its price is the accessory spread: six individually removable funnels for that classic newtype swarm display, a butterfly edge combat weapon, a beam tomahawk, and a well-molded beam rifle, all packed into a 1/144 HG body. Articulation holds up for dynamic funnel-deployment poses thanks to the double-jointed elbows and knees, and the ball-jointed neck lets the head track targets convincingly for photos even though this version doesn't wear the later Gundam-style head unit.

Lore & trivia

01The Varguil is the original, pre-conversion form of the title suit from the manga Mobile Suit Moon Gundam, which later receives a Gundam-type head and a white, blue, and red repaint to become the Moon Gundam.
02In the story it is designed as one of Neo Zeon's Newtype-exclusive machines and is piloted by Ensign Agos Lagarto, a Cyber-Newtype raised in Neo Zeon's Newtype Labs.
03The kit was released through Premium Bandai as an HGUC and has seen multiple reissues, including a clear color version sold at The Gundam Base.
04It carries a six-funnel backpack array along with a butterfly edge blade, beam tomahawk, and beam rifle, an unusually heavy weapons loadout for a standard HG release.