HGBuild Fighters

NK-13J Denial Gundam

A hair-particle martial artist that looks incredible standing still and needs a little help standing up at all.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Denial Gundam · 1/144 · 2015

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2015

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a kit that nails its silhouette and then makes you work for the rest.

Junya Inose's melee-focused custom builds into one of the sharper looking suits to come out of Build Fighters Try, all sash-like head particles and layered blue armor, but the balance is genuinely bad out of the box and a couple of joints fight you on the way there. I like it more than I expected to. I just wish Bandai had put a little more weight planning into the feet.

Best for: Build Fighters fans and HG collectors who want a striking martial-arts Gundam and don't mind adjusting a stand or footing to keep it upright

The full review

What it is

The Denial Gundam is Junya's take on the Jigen Haoh school of Gunpla fighting, and the kit captures that with a slim, aggressive frame and a head that sprouts long particle strands instead of a normal antenna. You get two swappable hair effect pieces, a back burst effect, punch and kick effect parts, twin beam sabers, and multiple interchangeable hands for martial arts poses. Snapping it together, the first thing I noticed is how solid the frame feels. This is one of the stiffest HGs I have built, the shoulders and hips lock in with real resistance rather than the usual HG looseness, and the finished suit has genuine presence on a shelf next to bulkier MG kits.

The catch

That stiffness comes at a cost. The shoulder and arm joints need real force to move, enough that I got nervous about snapping a peg, and I would go slow and warm the joints with your fingers before forcing a wide pose. The bigger issue is balance. With the hair effect parts on, the head assembly pulls enough weight backward that the kit will tip over doing an ordinary standing pose, and you will want a display stand or a wider stance to keep it upright. The pale blue parts also carry some large, awkwardly placed gates, so cleanup on those pieces takes patience, and the kit leans on stickers for camera eyes, shoulder detailing, and vent panels rather than molded color.

Who it's for

If you followed Build Fighters Try and want Junya's suit on your shelf, or you just like unconventional silhouettes with a hair-whip gimmick, this is a satisfying build once you know what you are getting into. Go in ready to baby the arm joints during assembly and to either add a stand or accept some careful posing to keep it standing. If you want a first HG or a kit that poses effortlessly out of the box, this is not the easiest starting point. But if you enjoy a kit with actual heft and structural stiffness rather than the loose, wobbly feel some cheaper HGs have, the Denial Gundam rewards that patience with a genuinely cool looking finished piece.

The build story

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

Assembly moves quickly like most HGs, no glue needed, but the light blue and pale blue runners have big gates in visible spots, so plan on patient nub and gate cleanup with a sharp side cutter and some sanding if you want clean seams. The joints themselves snap together with noticeably more resistance than a typical HG, which feels great once assembled but means the first few pose adjustments should be slow and deliberate rather than forced.

Articulation is actually solid on paper, arms rotate close to 360 degrees with a shoulder swivel and double-jointed elbows, and the interchangeable hands cover a good range of martial arts grips. Where it falls short is the effects loadout versus stability trade-off, the hair, burst, and strike effect parts all add flair but shift the center of gravity, so the accessory set that makes this kit distinctive is also what makes it top-heavy. Detail payoff on the armor layering is genuinely good for the price point, it just needs a stand or a patient hand to show it off standing up.

Lore & trivia

01The Denial Gundam belongs to Junya Inose, a member of Team Try Fighters' rival squad in Gundam Build Fighters Try, and is built around the Jigen Haoh school of martial arts.
02It is a modified version of the NK-13 Cathedral Gundam, an original Gunpla built by Meijin Kawaguchi the 2nd, tying the design back to the franchise's recurring Kawaguchi lineage.
03The kit was released as HGBF #037 in May 2015 and includes a dedicated back burst effect part plus separate punch and kick impact effects for action poses.