HGGundam Build Divers / Gundam Build Fighters Try

Petit'gguy Chara'gguy Momo

A pocket-sized mascot kit that swaps its own face for a character's, and somehow that's the whole appeal.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Petit'gguy Chara'gguy Momo · 1/144 · 2018

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This one is a novelty piece and I mean that as a compliment.

It is not trying to be a mobile suit, it is a display gag built around a single clever gimmick: pop the stock Petit'gguy head off and drop in Momo's head instead, and suddenly your desk mascot has a ponytail and a face. It is cheap, it builds in under twenty minutes, and it made me grin more than kits three times its price. Just do not go in expecting a real build.

Best for: Gundam Build Divers fans and shelf-decoration collectors who want a cheap, fast, charming desk piece rather than a serious build

The full review

What it is

This is the Chara'gguy Momo release in the HGPG (High Grade Petit'gguy) line, a spinoff of the round mascot robots that first showed up running around the background of Gundam Build Fighters Try. The gimmick here is the swap head, you get the standard blank Petit'gguy face and a second head sculpted to look like Momoka Yashiro from Gundam Build Divers, ponytail and all, plus a little jigsaw display stand that connects to other Petit'gguy stands. I built one on a slow evening while half watching TV and it was genuinely relaxing, no stress, no tricky alignment, just snap it together and suddenly there is a tiny anime girl mascot sitting on my shelf.

The catch

Be honest with yourself about what this is before buying it. Articulation is minimal, the head rotates and tilts slightly on a ball joint, the ears rotate, the stubby limbs rotate and tilt a little, and that is the entire pose range. There is no inner frame, no real engineering to admire, and several small parts rely on paint or Gundam Markers to look finished rather than molded color, so out of the box some of the character detailing reads flat. It is also tiny, so if you want a display piece with presence on its own, this will get lost unless you group it with other Petit'gguy or Haropla figures.

Who it's for

Buy this if you are already invested in Gundam Build Divers, want a low-stakes palate cleanser between bigger builds, or you collect the Petit'gguy line and like the idea of characters riding around inside the mascot's face. It is a great starter kit for a kid or a total beginner too, since there is basically no way to mess it up. Skip it if you want a kit that rewards careful building, tests your skills, or holds a serious pose, because none of that is on offer here, and skip it if you do not already have an attachment to Momo or the Build Divers cast, since the character connection is most of the value.

The build story

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

There is no real gate cleanup to speak of here, the parts are few, hollow in places, and forgiving, so this is closer to a snap toy than a traditional Gunpla build. Fit is loose in a good way, nothing fights you, and the head swap mechanism clicks in cleanly without ever feeling like it will pop off during normal handling.

The clever part is entirely conceptual rather than mechanical, you are not getting an inner frame or clever joint engineering, you are getting a cute swap-head idea executed simply. Part count and accessory value are low even for the price band, this is a mascot kit first and a model kit second, and the value case rests almost entirely on how much you like the Petit'gguy concept and the Momo character.

Lore & trivia

01Petit'gguy started life as background mascot robots in Gundam Build Fighters Try before Bandai spun them into their own HGPG kit line.
02The Chara'gguy sub-line lets each Petit'gguy wear a swap-in head sculpted to resemble a specific character, in this case Momoka "Momo" Yashiro from Gundam Build Divers.
03This kit released in May 2018 and includes a Momo head, a designated jigsaw display base, and a joint part so it can link up with other Petit'gguy and Haropla stands.