HGUniversal Century

MSN-04II Nightingale

Char's final mobile suit, built at HG price and scaled up to genuinely intimidate the shelf.

MechaGrade Score

4.2/5

Nightingale · 1/144 · 2021

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2021

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best HG kits Bandai has put out in years, and I say that as someone who went in expecting a simple Sazabi reskin.

The Nightingale earns its size, its accessories, and its price. You get a psycho-frame beast with ten separate funnels, an opening abdominal cannon, and a shield that all snap together with real Bandai polish, not corner-cutting.

Best for: HG builders who want an MG-scale spectacle and Char Aznable fans who need the definitive Nightingale on the shelf

The full review

What it is

The Nightingale is Char's last mobile suit from Beltorchika's Children, the psycho-frame monster that stands in for a Sazabi upgrade with mobile-armor-tier firepower. Even in 1/144 this thing sprawls, the finished model runs well over a foot wide once the funnel binders and rear skirt are spread out, and it does not read like an HG. The abdominal armor splits open to expose the mega particle cannon, the head hatch lifts to show the mono-eye and cockpit detail, and all ten funnels pop off the shoulder binders individually. Building it felt like getting MG-level theater without the MG-level runner count.

The catch

The lower body does not move as freely as the upper half. The skirt armor and legs are bulky by design, so deep dynamic poses are harder to pull off than the wide-open arms and funnel spread would suggest, and you will lean on the display stand for anything ambitious. There is no stand included, which stings on a kit this heavy and this posed-for-drama. Bandai leans on Char-symbol decals for some of the finer red accents rather than molding every last panel in color, so careful sticker application matters if you want the clean look promo shots show.

Who it's for

Grab this if you want a genuine centerpiece for a UC shelf without stepping up to MG or PG money, or if you are a Char completionist who already has the Sazabi and Hi-nu and wants the set finished. Skip it if you mainly care about hyper-articulated dynamic posing, the frame and joints are solid but the bulk works against extreme stances. New builders will be fine here too, the undergated red armor keeps visible seams low and the assembly logic is straightforward despite the part count.

The build story

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

Assembly moves fast for the part count because Bandai undergated most of the large red hull pieces, so nub cleanup on the visible armor is lighter than you'd expect from something this size. The frame under the chest and abdomen goes together cleanly and the abdominal cannon's opening mechanism has enough resistance to hold its position without flopping.

Articulation is a mixed bag by design: the shoulder binders rotate and fold with real range, the elbows and knees are double-jointed for two-axis movement, and the foot knuckles articulate well for a suit this bulky. The rifle, abdominal cannon, shield with mounted beam tomahawk, twin beam sabers, hidden forearm sabers, and ten funnels add up to a genuinely stacked loadout for an HG price point, and the color separation on the main hull needs minimal painting to look finished.

Lore & trivia

01The Nightingale was designed exclusively for Char Aznable and built around a psycho-frame, giving an MS-class machine capabilities that blur into mobile-armor territory.
02It first appears in the novel Beltorchika's Children, the source material later adapted into the Char's Counterattack film continuity that this kit's box art draws from.
03In the story it faces off against Amuro Ray's RGZ-91 Re-GZ and is treated as a rough power match for the RX-93-nu2 Hi-nu Gundam during the fighting over Axis.
04The kit released in July 2021 as HGUC number 240, decades after the Nightingale's original 1988 print debut, giving it a much later and more detailed plastic treatment than most of its UC-era contemporaries.