HGPost Disaster

ASW-G-01 Gundam Bael

A sea of unbroken white plastic that rewards anyone willing to pick up a panel liner.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Gundam Bael · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best-posing HG kits Bandai put out during the Iron-Blooded Orphans run, and I mean that as a builder who has fought plenty of stiff HGs.

The double-jointed knees, the ball-socket ankles, and that posable wing backpack make it genuinely fun to shelf-pose once assembled. My real hesitation is how much of the kit's presence depends on you doing extra work it doesn't do for you out of the box.

Best for: IBO fans and pose-first builders who don't mind reaching for a panel liner before they call it finished

The full review

What it is

Gundam Bael is the suit McGillis Fareed takes up near the end of Iron-Blooded Orphans, and Bandai built the HG around a simple idea: give it the articulation to actually sell that late-series desperation. It delivers. The neck, torso, waist, elbows, and ankles all move further than I expected from an affordable 1/144, and the wing units on the back stay posable after you snap them on, so you can go from a folded, resting stance to a full flared-out pose without any tools. Assembly is quick and friendly, no glue or paint required for a screen-accurate look straight off the runners, which is exactly what an HG in this price band should offer.

The catch

The plastic is almost entirely white, and the kit's color separation stops at the V-fin and the Gjallarhorn shoulder emblem, both of which lean on stickers that a lot of builders find fiddly to place and a little flat once applied. There are no molded panel lines, so the finished kit looks blank until you add your own, which is more work than some HG buyers expect to sign up for. A few contact points, especially the backskirt armor and the sword-holder mount, are undersized compared to other IBO kits and builders report them working loose or popping off during posing. None of this breaks the kit, but it does mean the sword-swinging photo you want takes some patience.

Who it's for

If you're building toward Iron-Blooded Orphans completeness, or you specifically want a Gundam that can hold a dramatic late-series pose without upgrading to MG, this is worth the shelf space. It also works fine as a first panel-lining project since there's so much open white surface to practice on. Skip it if you want a kit that looks finished right out of the bag with zero extra effort, or if loose accessory joints are a dealbreaker for you. Builders chasing maximum detail payoff for the price should look at the FM version instead, which pushes further on frame and articulation for a bigger investment.

The build story

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

The build itself is fast and friendly, in line with other HG IBO kits, so if you've built one of McGillis's or Gaelio's earlier suits the runner layout and snap-fit logic will feel familiar. Cleanup is minimal and nub placement is reasonable, though a couple of reviewers flagged some swirl marks on the twin swords that show up under raised light. Nothing here is beyond a beginner, and the whole thing goes together in an evening without needing a nipper collection.

Where the kit earns its keep is articulation. The double-sided ball-joint neck, pivoting torso, shoulder risers, and 120-degree elbow bend combine with those double-jointed knees and swiveling ankles to let you hit genuine action poses, not just the stock standing shot. It comes armed with two swords stored in a posable waist sheath, so you can pull them into a mid-swing pose instead of a static hold. For the price point, the part count is modest but every part is doing work toward pose range rather than static detail, which is the right trade for what this kit is.

Lore & trivia

01Gundam Bael originally belonged to Agnika Kaieru, the founder of Gjallarhorn, before McGillis Fareed seized it during his coup to claim legitimacy as the organization's new leader.
02McGillis pilots Bael in his final confrontation with Gaelio Bauduin, a duel that ends with both of their mobile suits disabled and crashed onto the Arianrhod fleet's flagship.
03The kit was released in March 2017 as HGIBO release number 36, partway through the second season of Iron-Blooded Orphans airing in Japan.
04Bandai also produced this suit as a Full Mechanics (FM) kit, giving builders a higher-detail alternative to the HG for the same mobile suit.