HGGundam Build Fighters Try: Island Wars

The Northern Pod

A pocket-change parts box that turns your spare Impulse Gundam into someone else's finale weapon.

MechaGrade Score

3.1/5

The Northern Pod · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit for exactly what it is and not one bit more: a cheap, clever accessory set, not a mobile suit.

It gives you two GM-style heads and two big fliers that clip together into a backpack, a blade, or a battering-ram nose cone, which is precisely how Gyanko's team used it against the Try Fighters in Island Wars. On its own in the box it is a curiosity. Paired with an HG Force Impulse Gundam it becomes something genuinely fun to fiddle with.

Best for: Force Impulse Gundam owners and Build Fighters fans who want to recreate the Island Wars finale on the cheap

The full review

What it is

The Northern Pod is HGBC number 027, a support unit release rather than a stand-alone robot, and it is priced like one, around 600 yen at launch. Inside you get two new GM-type heads and a pair of chunky flier units that peg together into a backpack, or split apart into the blade and shield-like ram pieces the Northern Pod uses on screen. I went in expecting filler and came out surprised at how much shape-shifting these few runners allow. Clipped onto an HG Force Impulse Gundam it genuinely reads as a different, meaner-looking suit, which is the whole point of a Build Custom release.

The catch

This is not a kit you build in isolation and set on a shelf as its own display piece. There is no body, no legs, no core. Everything here exists to graft onto a suit you already own, mainly the HG Revive Force Impulse Gundam, so if you do not have that kit or a compatible frame handy, half the appeal disappears immediately. Stickers cover the color work rather than molded plastic, which is normal for a support-unit release at this price but still means careful application if you want it to look sharp. And because it is parts, not a posable figure, there is nothing here in the way of articulation to speak of.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already have a Force Impulse Gundam and want an inexpensive way to build the antagonist look from Island Wars, or if you like collecting the weirder corners of the Build Fighters parts catalog. Skip it if you are looking for your next full build or a first kit, because there is no mobile suit inside the box, just support pieces. As an add-on for around the price of a coffee it earns its keep. As a review subject on its own merits it is a fun oddity rather than an essential purchase.

The build story

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

There is not much of a build here in the traditional sense. You are clipping together two fliers and two heads off a small runner set, and the gate placement is unremarkable because there is so little sprue to begin with. What takes the time is deciding how you want to configure the pieces, since the same parts serve as a backpack in one arrangement and a bladed ram in another, and getting the stickers placed cleanly on such small surfaces takes a steadier hand than the part count would suggest.

The real engineering interest is in the reconfiguration itself. Bandai got legitimate mileage out of a handful of parts by designing the fliers to peg together two different ways, mirroring the on-screen transformation Gyanko's team used to turn a backpack unit into a ramming weapon. There are no accessories beyond the fliers and heads, and no articulation to rate since nothing here is a posable figure on its own, but for the price it delivers real value if you already own the suit it is built to attach to.

Lore & trivia

01The Northern Pod is HGBC release number 027 and launched in Japan on August 4, 2016 at a retail price of about 648 yen.
02In Gundam Build Fighters Try: Island Wars, the Northern Pod is the support mecha used by Gyanko's team, who convert an Impulse Gundam's core parts and backpack into it for a firebird-like ramming attack in the championship battle.
03The set's two head sculpts are new GM-type molds designed specifically to pair with the HG Revive Force Impulse Gundam, letting builders recreate the Impulse GM units piloted by the Song Dynasty Vase Team rather than the standard Impulse Gundam.