MGUniversal Century

F90 Gundam F90

A tiny prototype suit turned into a proper Master Grade, hardpoints and all.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Gundam F90 · 1/100 · 2019

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2019

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This kit takes a mobile suit that was basically a footnote sketch for the mission pack toy line and gives it real engineering weight.

I came away impressed that a design this old (the concept dates back to a 2006 Shizuoka Hobby Show announcement) got such a modern, fully-jointed frame. The hardpoint gimmick actually works instead of being a marketing bullet point, and the finished suit poses with a confidence that belies how small and simple the F90 looks on the box art.

Best for: UC completionists and mission-pack collectors who want the base F90 built right before adding the separate P-Bandai mission pack kits

The full review

What it is

The F90 is a downsized prototype Gundam built around 11 hardpoints that were meant to accept swappable mission packs, and this MG treats that gimmick as the whole point of the engineering rather than an afterthought. Building it, I liked how deliberately Bandai worked the frame around those attachment points instead of hiding them. The waist and hip joints swing forward and back on real hinges, the shoulders lift and rotate independently of the arm swing, and the double-jointed elbows and knees give you a deeper crouch and a tighter fist-pump than kits from this era usually manage. There is even a chest panel that opens to show a small cockpit and pilot figure, a nice touch on a suit that could have shipped as a plain shell.

The catch

This is a P-Bandai exclusive, so you are paying online-shop pricing and shipping instead of grabbing it off a hobby shop shelf, and the mission packs that make the F90 concept interesting are sold separately as their own kits. The waist rotation is capped at roughly 45 degrees because the skirt armor and frame get in each other's way, which limits some dynamic poses more than I expected going in. Bandai leans on stickers and paint markers for a chunk of the color separation and panel lines rather than molding it all in, so the finished look depends on how much detailing work you put in yourself.

Who it's for

Get this one if you already care about the F90 line or the Formula Project story and want the base suit as a proper display piece with working hardpoints, not just a static reference model. It also makes sense if you are planning to pick up one or more mission packs later and want a frame built to take them. Skip it if you want a suit that looks finished straight off the runners with no sticker work, or if paying P-Bandai import pricing for a relatively small, lesser-known UC suit does not appeal to you. For most general Gunpla shoppers there are more famous MG suits that give a bigger shelf-presence return per dollar.

The build story

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

Runner cleanup is standard MG fare with fine gate placement, but the hardpoint hinges and skirt armor sub-assemblies take more careful test-fitting than a typical kit because they all have to swing clear of each other once the legs are on. Nothing here fights you, it just rewards going slower on the waist and hip block before you commit to final assembly.

The frame engineering is the star. Shoulders that lift and swing independently, thighs that raise and rotate on their own axis, and a hip joint built to dodge the skirt armor all add up to a suit that holds deep, expressive poses better than its slim profile suggests. Weapon loadout covers a beam rifle, beam sabers, and a shield, with swappable finger parts so it can grip any of them cleanly.

Lore & trivia

01F90 stands for Formula 90, the in-universe Formula Project designation for a line of compact, modular prototype mobile suits.
02The suit stands about 14.8 meters tall, noticeably smaller than the 18-meter RX-78-2 Gundam, thanks to a lightweight micro-honeycomb structure used in its frame and armor.
03Its defining feature is a set of hardpoints across the body built to accept any of roughly 26 different mission packs, letting the same base suit be reconfigured for different roles.
04This MG kit traces back to a concept first shown at the 45th Shizuoka Hobby Show in 2006, reaching retail as a Master Grade over a decade later.