HGRegild Century

VGMM-Gf10 Gundam G-Lucifer

A strange, elegant test unit that looks better than it poses.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Gundam G-Lucifer · 1/144 · 2015

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2015

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like the G-Lucifer more for what it is than for how it builds.

This is one of the most distinct silhouettes to come out of G-Reco, all mono-eye and streamlined shoulder plating with a trio of skirt funnels riding the waist like something out of a completely different show. Once it is together it photographs beautifully sitting on its included stand. Ask it to hold a dynamic standing pose on its own feet, though, and the design starts working against you.

Best for: G-Reco fans and collectors who want a striking shelf piece and are fine building around some loose joints

The full review

What it is

This is a 1/144 HG built around the G-Lucifer's gimmick rather than a conventional Gundam frame. The three detachable skirt funnels are the real draw, each one molded with its own row of beam cannon barrels and a center mega cannon, and each gets its own little display stand so you can pose them fanned out around the suit or fired off to the side. The mono-eye head is molded in color rather than stapled on as a sticker, which is a small touch that meant a lot to me while I was building it, since HG kits from this era leaned hard on stickers for anything eye related. Straight off the runners it looks sharp and genuinely alien next to a normal HG.

The catch

The shoulders are the weak point. There is a slot in the shoulder block that looks like it should give a wide range of motion, but the upper arm plastic runs into it fast and caps the swing well short of what the sculpt promises. The arm-to-torso joint is loose enough that the arms will slip out of socket while you are still working a pose, which gets old during a photo session. The feet fold up as part of the suit's flight gimmick, so they do not plant flat the way a normal HG foot does, and a standing display without the stand takes patience. None of this is disastrous, but it is real and every build writeup on this kit mentions it.

Who it's for

I would point this at someone who already likes G-Reco or wants a genuinely different silhouette in their collection rather than another mainline Gundam. The skirt funnel gimmick and the molded mono-eye make it worth the shelf space, and the price is low enough that the articulation compromises sting less. If your priority is a kit that holds an aggressive action pose on its own two feet without a stand, this is not that kit, an RG or a more conventional HG will serve you better. Go in expecting a display piece with a great silhouette and you will come away happy with it.

The build story

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

The build itself goes together cleanly and quickly for an HG, nothing here fights you on the runners, and the skirt funnels are satisfying to snap together and click onto the waist mount. The included clear effect parts for the mega cannons and beam cannons are a nice bonus for anyone who wants a mid-fire display shot rather than a static standing pose.

Where the kit stumbles is articulation carried over from a design built more around a striking silhouette than a poseable frame. The shoulder slot promises range it cannot deliver once the upper arm plastic is in place, and the torso joint runs loose enough that arms want to pop free mid-pose. The flip side is real value in the extras: three individually posable skirt funnels with their own stands and a flight stand for the suit itself, which is a lot of accessory for an HG price point even if the beam saber grip on the hip is looser than I would like.

Lore & trivia

01The G-Lucifer is a prototype testbed built by Venus Globe's G-IT Laboratory and is piloted by Raraiya Akuparl in Gundam Reconguista in G.
02It is one of only three mobile suits across the wider Gundam meta-timeline, alongside the Turn A Gundam and Turn X, capable of deploying the nanomachine-based Moonlight Butterfly system.
03Its main armament is a set of three skirt funnels mounted at the waist, each carrying six beam cannons plus a central mega cannon, doubling as a deployable defensive barrier when arranged in formation.
04The kit was released in March 2015 as HGRC entry number 11 in Bandai's High Grade Reconguista in G lineup.