HGBuild Fighters

RX-END Gundam The End

A cloaked, fanged monster of a kit that turns a gimmick suit into a genuinely fun build.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

RX-END Gundam The End · 1/144 · 2015

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2015

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the most inventive kits Bandai has put out at the HG price point, and I mean that as an unqualified compliment.

The whole suit is built around theatrics, the arm mounted Fist the End units, the hidden Ikkaku mech, the opening devil faces, and somehow none of it feels like a gimmick tacked onto a normal Gundam. It plays like a toy that happens to also be a serious display piece.

Best for: Build Fighters fans and anyone who wants a display piece built entirely around one wild transformation gimmick

The full review

What it is

Gundam The End is Saga Adou's signature machine from Build Fighters Try, and the kit does not undersell how strange the source design is. Two huge arm mounted units called Fist the End dominate the silhouette, each hiding a devil face lifted straight from the old JDG-00X Devil Gundam, and each capable of opening its mouth for the Dead End Finger attack. Underneath the chest armor there is a second, fully separate little mobile suit called Ikkaku that pops out as its own piece. Building it, I kept finding another swap-part mode I had not expected, Guard Form, Attack Form, the Akumaguy face reveal. It rewards curiosity more than almost any other HG I have put together.

The catch

This is a parts heavy, sticker reliant kit, and Bandai leans on a single foil sticker sheet across roughly a dozen runners to cover a lot of the color separation rather than molding it in, so expect real sticker time before it looks right. The cloak and the oversized Fist the End arms add bulk and some real weight to the shoulders, and a few builders note the shoulder joints get tested holding those units out in dynamic poses. The Ikkaku insert and the multiple face swapped modes mean extra small parts to track and occasionally re-fit, so this is not a quick weeknight build the way a lot of HGs are.

Who it's for

If you liked Build Fighters Try or just want a Gunpla that looks unlike anything else on the shelf, buy this one without hesitation, the presence it has fully assembled with the cloak draped and the Fist the Ends extended is unmatched at this price. If you want a clean weeknight snap together or you dislike sticker work, this will frustrate you more than a standard HG protagonist suit would. Newer builders should go in patient rather than rushed, this rewards someone willing to dry fit the swap parts and take the sticker application seriously.

The build story

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

The build itself moves at a good pace runner to runner, nothing here is fiddly in the way tiny RG parts are, but there are more of them than you expect from an HG because of the cloak, the twin Fist the End arms, and the separate Ikkaku unit. Gate placement is standard HG fare and cleanup is easy, the time sink is patience with the foil stickers rather than technical difficulty.

Where the kit earns its score is engineering the gimmick without breaking the pose-ability. The Dead End Finger face swap on each Fist the End works cleanly, the cloak can be worn closed for the stealthy default look or opened out for full range of arm motion, and the Ikkaku piece tucked under the chest armor is a legitimately surprising bit of design for an HG price point. Weapon loadout includes the two Dead End Shot revolvers plus the fang effect parts, giving you real accessory variety for posing.

Lore & trivia

01Gundam The End is piloted by Saga Adou, known in the Gunpla Academy as Dead End Saga, in Gundam Build Fighters Try
02The devil faces built into the Fist the End arm units are a direct design nod to the JDG-00X Devil Gundam from the original Gundam Build Fighters
03The suit mixes visual references across Gundam continuities, including a Deathscythe Hell style cloak, GN Fang inspired ranged weapons, and a pseudo Unicorn Gundam element worked into the chest
04The kit ships with 13 runners and a single foil sticker sheet for its color separation