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MD-0031 Dilanza Standard Type / MD-0031L Lauda's Dilanza

A heavyweight brawler kit that builds fast and still gives you a real pose-friendly frame underneath.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Dilanza Standard Type / MD-0031L Lauda's Dilanza · 1/144 · 2022

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2022

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely satisfying HG for how little friction it puts up.

Bandai reused the Guel's Dilanza tooling and only swapped the head, backpack, shoulder shields, and rear skirt, and that decision pays off because the underlying frame was already solid. You get two builds in one box (the plain Standard Type or Lauda's personal machine) without buying two kits, and the assembly never turns into a chore.

Best for: Witch from Mercury fans who want Lauda's axe-wielding bruiser on the shelf without fighting a complicated build

The full review

What it is

The Dilanza is Jeturk Heavy Machinery's bulked-up answer to a standard mobile suit, and the kit leans into that read: big shoulder shields, a heavier torso block, and a stance that reads as a brawler rather than a duelist. Building it is quick and low-stress. The runners are laid out so the parts basically tell you where they go, and I had the Standard Type version finished in under an hour without once reaching for a reference sheet. The purple chest accent that would have been a sticker a few years back is molded in color here, which is a small thing that makes the finished kit look noticeably more expensive than its price band suggests.

The catch

The elbows and knees run on c-clip joints rather than simple peg-and-hole connections, and c-clips are the one spot where HG engineering tends to loosen with repeated poses over time, so don't expect these joints to hold up to years of hard swapping. You also get one box, one figure: build Standard Type or Lauda's Dilanza, and the parts for whichever you skip sit in a bag as spares, which feels a little wasteful if you were hoping to eventually build both without buying a second kit. Foil seals cover the shield and sensor detailing rather than paint or molded color, so panel accents are sticker-dependent in a way the rest of the kit mostly isn't.

Who it's for

This is a strong pick for anyone building through the Witch from Mercury HG line who wants variety on the shelf without a fussy build sitting between them and a finished suit. The dual-build format is genuinely appealing if you're undecided between the plain grunt suit and Lauda's custom, since you can pick at the very end of assembly instead of at checkout. Skip it if c-clip longevity is a dealbreaker for you or if you specifically want both versions built and displayed side by side, since this box only gets you one at a time.

The build story

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

Gate placement is clean and the parts are keyed well enough that this goes together fast, no test-fitting required before cementing a plan in your head. The heavier shoulder and torso pieces snap together with enough friction that nothing feels flimsy in hand, and the backpack thrusters and hover-unit details pack in a surprising amount of shape for a kit this size. The only slowdown is deciding, before you start clipping, whether you are building the Standard Type or Lauda's custom, since the two share most of the frame but split on head, backpack, and shield parts.

The neck is a genuine double-jointed ball-and-socket setup, so the head tilts and swivels in ways plenty of HGs in this price range don't bother with, and the torso adds a front and side tilt on top of that. Combined with the double-jointed elbows, you can get real dynamic axe-swing poses out of Lauda's build rather than the stiff, forward-facing stance a lot of bulky HG suits settle for. Accessories cover both loadouts: beam rifle and beam torch for the standard build, plus the large heat axe that's Lauda's signature weapon, and both the rifle and torch tuck under the shoulder armor for storage when not in hand.

Lore & trivia

01The Dilanza is a general-purpose mobile suit built by Jeturk Heavy Machinery, designed around a heavyweight, high-durability profile that trades some mobility for output and armor, compensated for with stronger thrusters and hover units.
02Lauda's Dilanza is a personal tune of the standard frame built to match his piloting style, distinguished by its large heat axe, his weapon of choice in the Asticassia School of Technology's dueling system.
03This kit was released in November 2022 as part of the HGTWFM line and reuses the majority of its frame tooling from the earlier Guel's Dilanza kit, with new head, backpack, shoulder shield, and rear skirt parts.