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EB-06r Graze Ritter (Carta Corps)

A blue-and-red parade suit that gives you two builds and a loose shoulder for the price of one.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Graze Ritter (Carta Corps) · 1/144 · 2018

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely good value HG that trips over its own shoulder armor.

Carta's Graze Ritter hands you enough plastic to build both the Ground Type and Space Type variants from the same box, and the deep blue with red trim reads far nicer in hand than the renders suggest. I like it a lot for what it gives you at this price point, I just wish Bandai had tightened up two or three connection points before shipping it.

Best for: IBO fans who want a display-ready commander suit and don't mind some post-build fussing

The full review

What it is

Carta's Graze Ritter is the commander reskin of Gjallarhorn's standard Graze, and this kit leans hard into that ceremonial angle. You get the double-sided shoulder shields, the head crest, the Knight Blade, the Battle Axe, and the 120mm rifle, plus swappable thigh thrusters and back boosters so you can build either the ground-based Ritter or the space-type loadout without buying a second kit. Snapping it together is easy and satisfying, the Graze frame underneath is the same simple, forgiving IBO skeleton that's been in half a dozen other releases, and the blue-and-red color separation comes almost entirely from molded plastic rather than stickers. Popping the shoulder shields into place for the first time is a genuinely nice moment.

The catch

The two complaints that keep coming up from builders are real. The shoulder armor pieces that give this kit its regal silhouette have a tendency to pop loose during posing and are a minor pain to click back into place every time. The optional ground-type thigh thrusters also fit noticeably loose on the hip joint, which undercuts an otherwise solid stance in wide poses. The Graze frame itself has never been the sturdiest in the IBO lineup, so if you handle this kit roughly you'll feel some flex you wouldn't get from an MG-caliber inner structure. None of this is a dealbreaker, but budget a little patience for reseating parts.

Who it's for

If you're building out an Iron-Blooded Orphans shelf, or you just like the idea of a peacekeeper-blue commander unit standing next to your standard Grazes, this is an easy recommendation at HG pricing. The two-in-one Ground/Space build option makes it feel like better value than a typical single-loadout HG. Skip it if you want a rock-solid pose-and-forget display piece with zero fiddling, the loose thigh armor and shoulder shields mean this kit rewards builders who don't mind occasionally reseating a part rather than those who want to build once and never touch it again.

The build story

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

Assembly is classic no-stress HG snap-fit. The Graze frame underneath has been reused across the IBO line for a reason, it goes together fast with no glue needed and gate placement is forgiving enough that cleanup is quick. Where this kit adds work is the ceremonial add-ons: the head crest, shoulder shields, and hip armor all layer onto the base frame, and while that's what gives the finished kit its presence, it's also where the fit gets inconsistent. The shoulder shields in particular don't lock in with much confidence.

Articulation follows the standard IBO formula, a double ball-socket neck, torso that can flex forward and back, and shoulders that swing and raise, which is respectable for the grade even if it's not going to wow anyone used to MG-level range. The real win here is the accessory and variant value: you're getting a full commander weapon set and two distinct display configurations (space and ground) for HG money, which is more part-count-per-dollar than most single-configuration HGs in the line.

Lore & trivia

01Carta's Graze Ritter belongs to Carta Issue, commander of Gjallarhorn's Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet in Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.
02The suit's blue paint scheme and red accents were specifically chosen to distinguish Carta's personal machine from the white-marked Graze Ritters used by her subordinate pilots.
03The Knight Blade included in the kit was designed in-universe as the Graze Ritter's signature close-combat weapon, styled for ceremonial use as well as combat.
04The kit lets builders swap thigh-mounted thrusters for back-mounted boosters, replicating the suit's actual in-fiction distinction between its ground-type and space-type configurations.