HGUniversal Century

RGM-89BM Jegan Blast Master

Someone bolted three anime's worth of beam cannons onto the humble Jegan, and somehow it works.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Jegan Blast Master · 1/144 · 2018

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This kit is a love letter to Gunpla's kitbash spirit and I had a genuinely good time building it.

It takes the plain old workhorse Jegan and turns it into a walking artillery piece, with the Twin Satellite Cannons doing most of the visual heavy lifting once it's finished. It is not a technically advanced kit and I want to be upfront about that, but the concept sells it every time.

Best for: Build Divers fans and anyone who wants a silly-cool weapons platform without MG money

The full review

What it is

This is the Jegan Blast Master from Gundam Build Divers, Yukki's answer to feeling outclassed by his friends, and the kit leans hard into that story by strapping references to the Strike Freedom's beam cannons, the Double X's Satellite Cannon, and the ZZ's High Mega Cannon onto a base Jegan frame. Building it feels like assembling a kitbash someone else already figured out for you. The Twin Satellite Cannon backpack unit is the star, it towers over the shoulders and makes the whole kit read as a heavy support unit even standing still. I went in expecting a re-skinned Jegan and came out genuinely charmed by how much personality the design has.

The catch

The frame underneath is the 2009-era HGUC Jegan, and it shows. Elbows and knees only bend to about 90 degrees, which is a real limit if you want dynamic firing poses to match all that hardware. The orange lower-torso panels are stickers rather than molded color, because the old mold doesn't have the part separation to do it any other way. The trickiest moment in the build is seating the beam sword and pistol grips into the open-hand parts, there's a small locating nub in the fist that is easy to snap if you force it. At roughly 2,000 yen it also costs more than the plain HGUC Jegan, though you are getting a lot more sprue for the difference.

Who it's for

If you watched Build Divers and wanted Yukki's suit on your shelf, or you just want a chunky, heavily-armed 1/144 kit that doesn't ask for MG money or MG patience, this earns its spot. Skip it if articulation range is your top priority, the dated Jegan limbs will bug you every time you try to pose it aggressively. It's also a poor pick if you want crisp molded color throughout, since that torso sticker is unavoidable. For anyone who just wants a fun, cannon-covered centerpiece kit for a display shelf, it delivers exactly that.

The build story

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

The build itself moves fast since it's sitting on the familiar HGUC Jegan skeleton, so gate cleanup and part fit are straightforward and nothing here fights you. The one fiddly moment is mating the beam sword and beam pistol grips to the swappable open-hand parts, there's a tiny nub inside the fist that locates the weapon and it's easy to crack if you push straight in instead of angling it.

The Twin Satellite Cannons are jointed to the arm unit that connects them to the backpack, so you get some independent aiming even though the core limbs stay limited to a 90 degree bend at elbow and knee. Loadout is generous for an HG: two satellite cannons, two rifles, two beam sabers, and a joint set for the backpack, with the beam sword and pistols removable from the cannon mounts to use as separate handheld weapons. It mounts to any standard action base for display.

Lore & trivia

01The Jegan Blast Master first appeared in Gundam Build Divers, built by the character Yukio Hidaka (Yukki) after episode 17, when he resolved to close the gap between himself and his friend Riku Mikami.
02Its cannon array is a direct homage to other Gundam series: the Calidus-style multi-phase beam cannons recall the Strike Freedom, the Twin Satellite Cannon nods to the Double X, and it also carries a High Mega Cannon in the style of the ZZ Gundam.
03The kit is built on the same frame as the 2009 HGUC RGM-89 Jegan, which is why its joint range is more dated than a modern HG despite releasing in 2018.
04It later crossed over into the mobile game Gundam Breaker Mobile as a playable unit.