HGGundam Build Fighters Try

Petit'gguy Sodapop Blue and Ice Candy

A translucent blue bear with a half-eaten popsicle, and somehow that's exactly enough.

MechaGrade Score

3.5/5

Petit'gguy Sodapop Blue and Ice Candy · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I'll say it plainly, this is not a kit you buy to test your building chops, you buy it because a see-through blue bear clutching an ice candy pop is a genuinely funny little object to own.

It goes together in well under an hour, the ball joints give it more personality-posing range than a mascot kit has any right to have, and the semi-clear soda blue plastic actually looks good on a shelf next to bigger, more serious builds. It is a snack, not a meal, and it knows it.

Best for: Gunpla builders who want a quick, cheerful palate-cleanser kit or Build Fighters Try fans collecting the Petit'gguy color lineup

The full review

What it is

This is one of the small HGPG Petit'gguy kits, the bear-shaped mascot mecha from the KUMA-F Beargguy Family that pops up throughout Gundam Build Fighters Try. This colorway is the soda-pop-blue variant with a translucent shell and a molded half-eaten ice candy accessory, plus a foil sticker to fake the popsicle stick. I went in expecting a five-minute toy and came out charmed. The head, ears, and each limb sit on individual ball joints, so you can tilt the head, splay the arms, and give it a genuine sitting pose on the included jigsaw stand instead of the stiff standing default most mascot kits settle for.

The catch

There is no getting around how small this kit is, the part count is low and the build is over fast, so if you want a project that eats an evening, this is the wrong pick entirely. The accessories are limited to the ice candy piece and the stand, there is no weapon loadout or alternate parts to speak of, and the single foil sticker for the popsicle stick is the one bit of decoration you have to apply carefully since foil stickers show fingerprints and misalignment more than regular ones. The peg holes for compatible weapons from other Petit'gguy kits are also unused unless you own more of the line.

Who it's for

Grab this if you want a fun, fast, cheap build to break up a run of bigger MG or PG projects, or if you are collecting the Build Fighters Try Petit'gguy color variants and want this one in the lineup. It also makes a genuinely good starter kit for a kid or a first-timer since there is nothing fiddly about it and the payoff is immediate and cute. Skip it if you are looking for real engineering, real articulation range for dynamic posing, or a kit that will hold your attention for more than a single sitting, because that is simply not what this line is trying to be.

The build story

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

The build is over almost as soon as it starts, gates are small and clean up fast, and nothing here demands panel lining or seam work since the whole point is the smooth, toy-like blue shell. The one thing to slow down for is the foil sticker on the popsicle stick, foil shows every fingerprint and crease so it is worth applying with tweezers rather than fingers.

The real engineering surprise is the joint work, each ear, the head, and all four limbs get their own ball joint, which is more articulation than a kit this size usually bothers with. It is enough to turn a static mascot pose into something with actual character, whether that is a lean, a tilt, or a proper sit on the jigsaw stand. Part-count value is low in an absolute sense but fair for the mascot-kit price band it sits in.

Lore & trivia

01The Petit'gguy line is part of the KUMA-F Beargguy Family, the mascot mecha lineage tied to the Beargguy line seen across Gundam Build Fighters and its sequels.
02In Gundam Build Fighters Try, the Petit'GGuy is written as a small detachable unit and a gift from the character Yuuma, serving as a stand-in fighter when the larger Mamagguy unit is unable to battle.
03The kits ship with a jigsaw-piece-shaped display stand designed to physically connect to the stands of other Petit'gguy releases, letting collectors link multiple color variants together on one shelf.