HGCosmic Era

ZGMF-X19AK Gundam Justice Knight

An Infinite Justice frame dressed up as a knight, and the armor swap actually pays off in the hand.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

Gundam Justice Knight · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a smart reuse of the Infinite Justice skeleton that ends up being its own kit in the hand, not a reskin.

The torso, arms, and legs come from the older Cosmic Era tooling, but the new knight armor, cape backpack, and groin joint gimmick change how it poses enough that I stopped thinking about the donor kit halfway through the build. It is not going to blow anyone away in a case with painted MGs, but for an HG built straight from the box it holds its own.

Best for: SEED Destiny fans who want an Infinite Justice variant that poses like a knight, and builders who want a fun no-polycap HG

The full review

What it is

The Justice Knight is Kazami's custom Gunpla from Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE, and Bandai leaned into that origin by keeping the Infinite Justice's proven frame underneath while wrapping it in new armor plates, a cape style Knight Wing backpack, and a full knight loadout. There are no polycaps anywhere in this kit, which was new for an HG at this price point, and it shows in how snug the joints feel fresh off the runners. I liked that the groin block has its own spread gimmick built in specifically so the legs can open wider than a standard Infinite Justice, and it makes a real difference in wide stance poses.

The catch

Out of the box the color scheme reads a little flat, mostly white and blue armor over the Infinite Justice frame colors, and more than one builder has said it wants paint or panel lining to really pop. The Galatine sword and the Raitei shot lancer are both fairly plain sculpts on their own, nothing as detailed as the weapons on the base Infinite Justice kit. Some of the added shoulder and hip armor also gets in the way of a few poses, clipping against the frame before the joint reaches its full range, so you will find angles the bare frame could hit that the armored knight cannot.

Who it's for

Grab this if you already like the Infinite Justice and want a version that handles differently on the shelf, or if you are a Build Divers Re:RISE fan who wants Kazami's actual Gunpla rather than a background prop. It is also a genuinely good pick if you want to practice paint or weathering on an HG since the flat stock colors give you an easy canvas. Skip it if you specifically want the cleanest, most screen accurate Infinite Justice, since the base HGCE release still wins on line accuracy and weapon detail.

The build story

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

Builders have flagged the plastic as noticeably soft, which made gate cutting and cleanup easier than a lot of HGs in this price range, and the waist assembly uses a slightly different technique than the usual Bandai ball joint stack. Ten runners is a manageable count for a single evening build, and nothing in the kit fights you the way loose HG polycap joints sometimes do, mostly because there are none here to loosen up over time.

The frame sharing with Infinite Justice means the articulation baseline was already solid, and the extra groin spread gimmick stacks on top of that rather than replacing it, so hip movement in particular ends up better than the donor kit. Color separation leans on molded plastic more than stickers for the main armor, though smaller knight details still rely on stickers. Loading the sword, lancer, shield, and cape backpack on simultaneously without any of them fighting for the same mounting point is the kind of accessory planning that a lot of gimmick HGs get wrong.

Lore & trivia

01The Gundam Justice Knight is Kazami's personal Gunpla in Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE, built around a shot lancer as its signature weapon and tuned by him for easier handling than the base Infinite Justice.
02The kit reuses the torso, arm, and leg frame from the Infinite Justice Gundam, with new armor, a cape style Knight Wing backpack, and weapons layered on top.
03It was the fourth release in the HGBD:R (Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE) High Grade line, arriving in October 2019.
04In the show's second season Kazami moves on from the Justice Knight to a more heavily armed successor unit, the Aegis Knight.