MGUniversal Century

F90 N-Type

An old-school MG body wearing a new, faintly tragic Newtype-use backpack.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

N-Type · 1/100 · 2024

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2024

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit more than I expected to going in.

The Hull Fighter mission pack is genuinely the star of the show here, a small transforming fighter that clips onto the F90's back and turns a fairly plain silhouette into something with real presence, funnels and all. Where it loses points is the body underneath it, which is the same F90 Unit 2 frame Bandai has been reusing since the late 90s, and that frame shows its age the moment you start posing it. If you go into this one for the mission pack gimmick and the lore rather than expecting a modern MG skeleton, you will have a good time.

Best for: F90 mission pack collectors and Universal Century completionists who already know what they are getting into with the older frame

The full review

What it is

This is the Premium Bandai N-Type release, which pairs a fresh Gundam F90 Unit 2 body (rollout color scheme) with an all-new Hull Fighter mission pack, the equipment that turns the plain F90 into the Newtype-use N-Type from the Fastest Formula manga. The headline feature is the beam rifle's six hilt funnels, which detach from the weapon and reconfigure into either funnel mode or a pair of beam sabers, which is a clever bit of parts engineering for what is otherwise a fairly small accessory. Building the Hull Fighter itself is the most fun part of the kit, it clips onto the backpack hardpoint cleanly and folds between mobile suit support mode and stand-alone fighter mode without feeling flimsy.

The catch

The F90 body is the sticking point. This is fundamentally the same 1999-era MG frame Bandai has reused across the whole F90 mission pack line, and it was built as an early tech demo for multi-color plastic injection rather than for pose range. There is no real waist articulation, the ankles only tilt slightly, and more than a few builders report loose arm and shoulder joints straight out of the bag, which is an inconsistency issue as much as a design flaw. You will also want Gundam Markers or paint for the panel lines and some of the color separation, since stickers are doing real work here, particularly on the Hull Fighter's cockpit and intake details.

Who it's for

Buy this if the Fastest Formula manga or the wider F90 mission pack concept already has you hooked, or if you already own other F90 packs and want the N-Type's funnel gimmick and Hull Fighter to round out the collection. It is also a fair pick if you enjoy panel-lining and light detailing work, since the sticker-heavy areas reward that kind of attention. Skip it if you want a modern MG experience with deep hip and waist movement for dynamic posing, the frame just was not built for that, and a newer MG in a similar price band will out-articulate it easily.

The build story

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

The F90 body goes together the way you would expect from an older MG, simple part breakdown, no inner frame to speak of, and joints that are easy to clip in but occasionally loose depending on your particular copy. The Hull Fighter is the more interesting build of the two, with a satisfying click as it locks onto the backpack hardpoint and folds down into its fighter-mode silhouette.

The hilt funnel beam rifle is the best piece of engineering in the box, six funnels that pop off the weapon and can be reassembled into either a floating funnel spread or a pair of beam sabers, which gives the finished figure more posing variety than the frame itself really offers. Because the N-Type only occupies the backpack hardpoint, the arm and leg mounts stay free, so this pack was designed from the start to stack with other F90 mission packs like the S-Type or M-Type.

Lore & trivia

01The F90N Next Type first appeared in the manga Mobile Suit Gundam F90: Fastest Formula, part of Bandai's long-running A to Z project covering the F90's many mission pack variants.
02In the manga's UC 0112 storyline, the Hull Fighter combines with the F90 Unit 2 mid-mission and the pairing ends in tragedy when the pilot is overwhelmed by the Psycho-Frame, giving the otherwise toy-driven mission pack concept real emotional weight.
03The N-Type's Hull Fighter and hilt funnel weapon were both newly molded for this 2024 Premium Bandai release rather than recycled from earlier F90 mission pack kits.
04Because the Hull Fighter only uses the backpack hardpoint, Bandai designed the N-Type to be combinable with nearly every other F90 mission pack already released, keeping the arm and leg mounts free.