HGGundam Build Fighters Try

Petit'gguy Stray Black & Cat Cos

A ten dollar bear that wants to be a cat, and honestly, it pulls it off.

MechaGrade Score

3.1/5

Petit'gguy Stray Black & Cat Cos · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

I like this kit for exactly what it is and nothing more, a pocket sized novelty that takes twenty minutes and makes me smile.

It is not a mobile suit review in any real sense, there is no articulation to speak of and no engineering to admire, but the swap between plain bear and cat cosplay is a genuinely cute gimmick that works. If you go in expecting a shelf mascot instead of a display centerpiece, this one earns its spot.

Best for: Gunpla builders who want a cheap, no glue, no paint palate cleanser between bigger kits, or anyone building out a Petit'gguy shelf

The full review

What it is

This is the tenth release in Bandai's HGPG Petit'gguy line, a spinoff of the Beargguy mascot from Gundam Build Fighters Try, sold in the cat costume theme (Stray Black colorway). In the box you get the base bear body plus a swap set of cat ears, a tail, and a mouth piece, so you build it once and can flip between plain Petit'gguy and Cat Cos looks by changing a handful of parts. It snaps together in well under half an hour with a nipper and nothing else, no cement, no paint required to get a finished, screen accurate looking little guy standing on his included stand.

The catch

Do not go in expecting a real kit experience. There is essentially no articulation, this is a chibi mascot figure built from a handful of oversized snap fit parts, not an inner framed suit. The cat tail is the one build note that keeps coming up, the attachment nub needs a clean, careful trim or the tail will not seat flush, and once it is on it tends to snag on display bases and needs to be angled off to the side. Color separation leans on a small sticker sheet rather than molded parts for a couple of face and costume details, so it is not the deep color split you would get from a mainline HG.

Who it's for

This is for the builder who wants something fast, cheap, and charming to keep on the shelf next to their real kits, or someone easing a younger or newer builder into the hobby with zero tools and zero risk. It is also a natural pickup for anyone already collecting the wider Petit'gguy and Beargguy line, since the swappable costume parts are the whole appeal of that sub line. If you are shopping for articulation, part count, or engineering to sink an evening into, skip this one and put the nine dollars toward an HG proper, this kit is a treat, not a project.

The build story

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

The build itself is closer to a fast desk toy than a Gunpla project, a small handful of chunky snap fit parts come together with a nipper and nothing else, and most builders are done inside twenty to thirty minutes. The one spot that trips people up is the cat tail attachment point, the connecting nub needs a clean trim or the tail sits proud instead of flush, and it is worth doing that cleanup slowly rather than forcing the fit.

The whole point of the kit is the costume swap gimmick, pull the ears, tail, and mouth piece and you go from plain bear Petit'gguy to Cat Cos, and both looks read clearly on the shelf even from a normal viewing distance. Molded color covers most of the figure, with a small sticker sheet handling a couple of finer face and costume details, and the included display stand means it stands up cleanly with no extra parts to buy.

Lore & trivia

01Petit'gguy is a miniature spinoff of the Beargguy mascot mobile suit line introduced in Gundam Build Fighters Try, where the small bear buddy is paired with a larger Mamagguy unit and can detach to fight on its own.
02The HGPG numbering line is built around swappable costume and color themes rather than combat loadouts, and this Stray Black & Cat Cos release is entry number ten in that series.
03Bandai markets the whole Petit'gguy line as tool minimal on purpose, most releases including this one are designed to snap together with just a nipper and need no cement or paint to look complete.