HGPost Disaster

IPP-66305 Hugo

A background space unit that turns out to have more personality in plastic than it ever got on screen.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Hugo · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I went into this one expecting a forgettable mob kit and came out liking it more than most of the season 2 Dawn Horizon lineup.

The duck bill feet and reverse leg joints actually read as a design choice once it is built, not just a weird anime shape, and the twin scimitars plus wire claws give you two totally different play styles out of one box. It will not blow anyone away next to a hero unit, but for a background suit it earns its shelf space.

Best for: IBO completionists and HG builders who want an oddball space-frame silhouette without paying MG money

The full review

What it is

This is the HG version of one of the enemy suits the Dawn Horizon Corps twins and Sandoval Reuters flew against Tekkadan in season 2, and Bandai clearly had fun with the brief. The head mounted cockpit, lightweight frame, and those duck bill feet that only work in zero gravity all come through in the kit shape, so it does not look like a generic recolor. Snapping it together, the reverse jointed legs fold in a way that actually looks purposeful mid pose, and the twin Engetsuto scimitars give it a clean melee silhouette. The shot anchor claws on their wire rods are the surprise, they are genuinely fun to pose grabbing at something.

The catch

It is a budget mob unit kit and it shows in a few places. Some of the finer color separation leans on the sticker sheet rather than molded plastic, so panel accents and a few trim details are stickers, not parts. The polycap joints in the knees and ankles are on the looser side once you have posed the kit a few times, which matters more here because of the reverse leg geometry putting odd stress on those joints. Elbow bend tops out around 100 degrees and knee bend around 80, which is fine for HG but you will feel the limit if you try anything dynamic. The wire rods on the claws are also thin enough that I would not want to display it long term with them fully extended.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you are working through the IBO High Grade line, want a genuinely different silhouette from the usual Gundam frame kits, or just like the idea of a suit that looks like it was built for zero gravity rather than retrofitted for it. Skip it if you want a hero unit centerpiece or need rock solid long term joint tension, since the polycaps will loosen with heavy posing over time. As an inexpensive, quick weekend build with two distinct weapon types, it earns a spot in a mob unit display case more than it earns a spot as your one showcase piece.

The build story

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

The build itself is fast and low fuss, typical HG gate placement with nubs that clean up easily and no unusual part fit issues going together. The reverse leg assembly is the one section worth slowing down for since the knee and ankle stack in an order that is easy to get backwards on a first pass, but once it clicks the leg folds convincingly.

Where the kit earns its keep is articulation variety rather than raw range, the double ball socket neck and 360 degree waist rotation let you sell the space combat angle this suit is built for, and the shot anchor claws on flexible wire rods are a genuinely different accessory feel from the usual beam saber and rifle loadout. Color separation on the main frame is solid molded plastic, it is only the finer trim where stickers step in.

Lore & trivia

01The Hugo is a Calamity War era mobile suit built around mobility over armor, with a head mounted cockpit and a lightweight frame meant for space combat rather than ground deployment
02Its duck bill shaped feet cannot properly support the suit under gravity, which is why it is depicted strictly as a space use unit in Iron-Blooded Orphans
03In the anime, three Hugo units were fielded by the Dawn Horizon Corps in a season 2 space battle against Tekkadan, one flown by leader Sandoval Reuters and two by the Corps' twin executives
04The kit includes an extension adapter compatible with Bandai's Action Base display stands, sold separately