HGGundam Build Fighters Try

Petit'gguy Surfacer Grey and Placard

A pocket-sized mascot kit that turns a bottle of hobby primer into the cutest thing on your shelf.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Petit'gguy Surfacer Grey and Placard · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I went in expecting a throwaway novelty and came out genuinely charmed.

This is a fifteen minute build with real ball joints, a working jigsaw base, and a paint can joke that only makes sense once you have actually primed a kit yourself. It will never wow you the way a full mobile suit does, but for what it is asking of your time and money, it delivers more personality per part than almost anything else on my shelf.

Best for: Gunpla builders who want a quick, cheap palate cleanser or a display-shelf mascot next to their main builds

The full review

What it is

This is one of the Petit'gguy mascot kits from Gundam Build Fighters Try, the chibi companion character that shows up alongside the show's real mobile suits. This particular release is a running gag made plastic: it is molded in the same grey as Mr. Surfacer primer, one of the most recognizable bottles in any modeler's paint rack, right down to the blank placard on its chest that you can sticker up with your own text. I built mine on my lunch break and grinned the whole time. It is a small, silly, well made thing, and it knows exactly what it is.

The catch

There is no getting around the scale of ambition here. Part count is low, the color separation leans on a sticker sheet rather than molded plastic for the finer details on the placard, and the whole thing is over almost as soon as you start it. The articulation is real but limited, this is a mascot bobblehead, not an action figure, so do not expect deep knee bends or dynamic combat poses. And the in-joke premise (it is a paint can) will land better if you already know what Mr. Surfacer is, which not every new builder will.

Who it's for

Buy this if you build Gunpla regularly and want a fun five dollar detour between bigger kits, or if you want a shelf mascot with a joke that your hobbyist friends will actually get. It is also a genuinely good first build for a total beginner because the low part count and simple joints make failure almost impossible. Skip it if you are looking for posability, accessories, or bang for your buck in raw plastic, this is a novelty purchase and it never pretends otherwise. As a impulse add to a bigger Amazon or hobby shop order, it is hard to regret.

The build story

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

Gate placement is clean and the plastic is soft enough that cleanup takes seconds, this is designed so a first time builder cannot mess it up. Everything clips together with light hand pressure, no tools required beyond side cutters if you want to be tidy about nub removal.

The ball jointed head, rotating ears, and ball jointed limbs are the real surprise, this tiny kit has more points of articulation than its size suggests. The jigsaw puzzle stand is the other neat touch, it slots into the wider Petit'gguy stand ecosystem so a shelf of these mascots can literally lock together.

Lore & trivia

01Petit'gguy is the recurring mascot character in Gundam Build Fighters Try, playing a role similar to Haro in earlier Gundam Build Fighters entries.
02Bandai released dozens of Petit'gguy color variants tied to real hobby products and pop culture references, this one is molded to match Mr. Surfacer, a primer spray used industry wide by scale modelers.
03The included jigsaw puzzle base is a shared design across the HGPG line, letting builders connect multiple Petit'gguy stands into one long display chain.