HGGundam Build Divers / Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE

Petit'gguy Chara'gguy Sarah

A pocket-sized, no-glue tribute to GBN's quietest character, and one of the friendliest snap kits Bandai makes.

MechaGrade Score

3.5/5

Petit'gguy Chara'gguy Sarah · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a palate cleanser kit, and it is exactly as good as a palate cleanser kit should be.

I built it in about twenty minutes with zero tools and came away smiling. It will never wow anyone with engineering, but that was never the assignment, and it nails what it sets out to do.

Best for: Gundam Build Divers fans and anyone who wants a fast, satisfying snap-fit break between bigger MG or PG builds

The full review

What it is

This is number 22 in Bandai's Chara'gguy line, which takes the round little Petit'gguy mascot body and dresses it up as a specific character, in this case Sarah from Gundam Build Divers, tucked into a soft Beargguy-style costume with her own ribbon and back hair sculpt. Five small runners snap together with no glue and almost no tool work, and you get a genuine choice to make along the way: a kind face or a smiling face, plus a spare head so the whole thing reverts to a plain Petit'gguy if you want it back in mascot form later. It sits about three inches tall on a puzzle-piece base that clicks into other Petit'gguy stands. I went in expecting a throwaway novelty and came out charmed.

The catch

Don't go in expecting a real mobile suit kit. There is no inner frame, the articulation is a handful of ball joints (head, ears, limbs) with a small tilt range, and the whole thing is built around cuteness rather than posing dynamics. Parts are tiny, so tweezers help even though the gates are simple to clean. It is also a character-specific piece from a less mainstream corner of the Build Divers cast, so if you don't know who Sarah is, the appeal drops fast, and secondary market prices on this specific number have crept up since it's been out of regular reprint rotation.

Who it's for

Grab this if you already like the Petit'gguy line, you're a Build Divers or Re:RISE fan who wants Sarah on your shelf, or you just want a fifteen minute build to reset between long MG sessions. Skip it if you want articulation you can actually pose in an action shot, or if the character means nothing to you, because the price premium on these Chara'gguy figures over a plain Petit'gguy is really a fandom tax. For what it is, a cute, quick, well-detailed mascot kit, it delivers.

The build story

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

The five runners clip together cleanly with the light, springy snap-fit tension Bandai uses across the whole Petit'gguy family, no cement or panel lining needed. Nub placement is unobtrusive and cleanup, if you bother at all, takes a couple of minutes with a hobby knife. The trickiest part is just handling pieces this small without losing one.

The swap-in face parts and the extra plain Petit'gguy head are the standout feature, giving the kit more display flexibility than its size suggests. The connectable puzzle-base is a nice touch if you're collecting the wider Petit'gguy line, and the arm and back pegs accept accessories and weapons from other kits in the family, so it's more of a display system than a one-off figure.

Lore & trivia

01Sarah is introduced in Gundam Build Divers as an EL Diver, the first electronic lifeform confirmed to exist inside GBN, and her mind is later transferred into a real physical Gunpla called the HER-SELF Mobile Doll.
02This kit is number 22 in Bandai's ongoing Chara'gguy sub-line, which reskins the standard Petit'gguy mascot body with sculpted hair and costume details for specific Build Divers cast members.
03The kit's Beargguy-inspired costume nods to Sarah's on-screen relationship with Momoka, who treats her like a little sister and is shown feeding her during the Beargguy Festival episode.