HGBuild Divers

YG-III Gundam G-Else (Before)

The G-Self's moody cousin, done up in white and purple before it ever goes full villain.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

YG-III Gundam G-Else (Before) · 1/144 · 2020

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2020

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely good HG wearing a base kit that is starting to show its age.

The Grow Up Arm and Grow Up Leg gimmicks are the whole reason to own this over a plain G-Self, and they deliver real posing value once they're on. I like it a lot, but I will not pretend the sticker count doesn't sting, and the shoulder armor fighting the head is a real design compromise, not a nitpick.

Best for: Build Divers fans and G-Self completionists who don't mind stickers and want the pre-villain color story

The full review

What it is

The G-Else (Before) is the white-and-purple version of Zen's signature suit from Gundam Build Divers Break, built on the same YG-111 Gundam G-Self frame that's been reused across the Build Divers line since 2019. What sets it apart from a plain G-Self is the added hardware: a beam rifle, a pair of Grow Up Arms, and Grow Up Legs that snap onto the limb tips and can be repositioned to function like external funnels or extra display points. Assembly is straightforward, standard HG snap-fit with clean part breakdown, and the finished suit has a clean, heroic read that stands apart from the sea of white-and-blue Gundams on a shelf.

The catch

The elephant in the room is stickers. This kit ships with somewhere around 39 foil stickers to pull off the purple accent work, and that is a lot of fiddly application for a kit at this price point, especially since the purple never shows up as molded plastic. Builders also flag that the shoulder armor gets in the way of head rotation once the Grow Up parts are mounted, and the Grow Up Arm attachment points can work loose with repeated handling or aggressive posing. None of this is a dealbreaker, but if you hate stickers or want a kit you can pose hard without babying it, go in with eyes open.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already like the G-Self silhouette and want the Build Divers Break spin on it, or if you're chasing the full Before/After G-Else pair for a display comparison. The Grow Up Arm and Leg gimmicks genuinely add posing options you don't get from the base G-Self, and the finished color scheme looks sharp under any lighting. Skip it if stickers are a hard no for you, or if you just want a straightforward G-Self without the extra assembly and sticker labor, in which case the plain HGBD G-Self is the better first buy and this becomes the kit you add once you're already invested in the line.

The build story

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

This is a snap-fit HG build with no unusual tooling, and gate placement is standard for the line, nothing that fights you during cleanup. Where the build gets slower is the sticker work: the purple accents on the mask, side armor, and Grow Up parts are foil stickers rather than molded plastic, so budget extra time and patience for clean application if you care about the finished look. Everything else clicks together the way you'd expect from a modern HG on this frame.

The G-Self frame underneath is the real engineering story here, giving the G-Else the same wide range of motion the base suit is known for, and the Grow Up Leg's 3mm peg hole means it can double as a display mount or funnel-style prop rather than just sitting flush on the limb. Joints are tight enough that the finished kit holds dynamic poses unsupported, which matters a lot given how top-heavy the shoulder armor and Grow Up parts make the silhouette. The rifle and beam effect parts round out the loadout without feeling like an afterthought.

Lore & trivia

01The G-Else is the signature mobile suit of Zen, one of the leads in the Gundam Build Divers Break side story that ran alongside Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise.
02It's built on the YG-111 Gundam G-Self frame, the same suit from Mobile Suit Gundam Reconguista in G, repurposed for the Build Divers setting.
03The kit exists in two official color releases, a white-and-purple 'Before' scheme and a black-and-pink 'After' scheme, tracking a story-driven transformation for the character.
04The Grow Up Arm and Grow Up Leg parts are original additions for this kit and aren't present on the standard HGBD G-Self release.