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The Witch from Mercury Weapon Display Base

The clear plastic scaffolding that finally lets Aerial's bits actually float.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

The Witch from Mercury Weapon Display Base · 1/144 · 2023

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2023

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I'll say it plainly, this is not a kit you build for fun, it's a tool you buy to solve a problem.

If you own any HG Witch from Mercury kit with GUND-bits, funnels, or the Gambit shield, this base is the only official way to display them off the suit's body, and it does that job well. On its own merit as a build it's forgettable. As a display solution it's genuinely useful and I was glad to have it.

Best for: Witch from Mercury builders who already own Aerial, Aerial Rebuild, or another GUND-bit kit and want the bits floating instead of stuck to the frame

The full review

What it is

This is a general-purpose display stand molded entirely in clear plastic, built to hold GUND-bits, funnels, and drones away from the mobile suit so you can recreate that hovering swarm look from the show. The box gives you two pentagonal base plates, three long support arms, three short arms, and a pile of small joint connectors, plus poles that mate to standard 3mm action base pegs. Snapping it together took me maybe fifteen minutes and there's no real design to admire, it's scaffolding. What sold me is what it does once assembled, my Aerial's bits finally looked like they were doing something instead of parked on a shelf next to the suit.

The catch

One base only arms enough joints for about six bits, so if you want to float a full complement like Aerial's complete GUND-bit shield you need a second set, and that doubles the cost of what is essentially a plastic frame. Every piece is clear polystyrene, which looks good in photos but shows scuffs and stress marks almost immediately, the pivot joints especially scrape white the first time you rotate them. The connectors are tiny and plentiful, I lost track of a couple on my desk and had to go hunting. This is compatible with most 3mm-peg accessories including older funnel effects, but it is not a kit that rewards careful building, there's no engineering here to get excited about.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already have a Witch from Mercury kit with detachable bits or funnels sitting flat and unused, it will change how that kit displays on your shelf for not much money. Skip it if you don't own a compatible kit yet, it has zero value as a standalone piece, and skip it if you already have another action-base-plus-effect-parts solution that does the same job. If you do want the full swarm effect, budget for two sets from the start rather than realizing you're short arms after the fact.

The build story

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

There's no runner-clipping challenge here in the usual Gunpla sense, it's a handful of clear parts and connectors that snap onto the two pentagonal base plates. Nub cleanup is minimal since most parts are simple struts and joints. The whole thing goes together in well under half an hour and instructions are straightforward, the only real friction is keeping track of which small joint fits which arm length.

The functional idea is solid: three long arms, three short arms, and six poles give you varied heights and angles so bits don't all sit at the same level, which is what makes the swarm look convincing. It's compatible with more than just this HG line, funnel effect parts and other 3mm-peg accessories slot in fine. The catch is scale, one set caps out around six supported points, so anyone chasing the full on-screen bit count needs to double up.

Lore & trivia

01GUND-bits are the defensive remote weapon system built into Gundam Aerial's shield, designed to intercept missiles and deflect beams rather than attack, a deliberate contrast to the offensive funnels seen in earlier Universal Century Gundam shows.
02The engineers who developed the GUND Format technology in the show were mostly women, which is where the series title's 'witch' framing comes from.
03This display base was released in 2023 as a general accessory for the Witch from Mercury HG line rather than tied to one specific suit, so it's meant to be reused across the show's GUND-bit-equipped kits.