MGUniversal Century

ORX-013 Gundam Mk-V

A P-Bandai deep cut that rewards Sentinel fans with a genuinely massive, genuinely clever build.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Gundam Mk-V · 1/100 · 2021

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2021

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I think this is one of the more underrated MG releases of the last few years, and almost nobody outside the Sentinel crowd knows it exists.

It is a P-Bandai exclusive, so it is not sitting on a Gundam Base shelf, but the size and the engineering behind that backpack make it worth tracking down. This is a kit that rewards patience during the build and pays it back with real shelf presence once it is standing there in full Federation white and blue.

Best for: Sentinel and UC deep-lore fans who want a big, mechanically interesting MG and don't mind hunting down a P-Bandai exclusive

The full review

What it is

The Mk-V is one of the physically larger MG kits I have put together, and it wears that size well. It is built as a scaled-up descendant of the Psycho Gundam line, and Bandai leaned into that with a backpack rig that actually deploys the Incom remote weapons on lead wire rather than just molding them in a fixed pose. Popping those units out and repositioning the backpack to fire the beam cannons is the single best moment of the build, it is the kind of gimmick that makes an MG feel like more than a poseable statue. Color separation on the white, blue, and yellow accents is handled almost entirely in the plastic, which kept my paint pen out of most of the build.

The catch

This is a P-Bandai online exclusive, so pricing runs well above a standard retail MG and availability comes and goes with reissues, budget for that before you go looking. The size that gives it presence also makes it a slower build than a typical MG, there is a lot of surface here to clip, sand, and panel line if you want it looking its best. Shoulder movement is more limited than newer MG shoulder designs, it swings forward and back and lifts a bit rather than giving you the full ball-joint range some builders expect from a modern kit, and the waist rotation is similarly modest at around 45 degrees.

Who it's for

If you already know what the Gundam Sentinel side story is and have been waiting for an excuse to build its signature suit, this is an easy recommendation, the Incom deployment gimmick alone justifies the price for that audience. It is also a good pick for anyone who wants a big-frame MG with a real mechanical trick rather than another straightforward humanoid Gundam. I would steer newer builders or anyone on a tight budget elsewhere first, the P-Bandai premium and the shoulder articulation ceiling mean this kit is best appreciated once you already have a few standard-line MGs under your belt and know what you are trading for that size and gimmick.

The build story

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

Runner cleanup is straightforward Bandai MG fare, standard gate placement and nub sizes, but there is simply more plastic here than most MG kits so budget extra time for trimming and test-fitting the bigger torso and skirt armor pieces. Fit across the frame is solid with no notable looseness reported, the ball-and-socket neck and peg-and-socket arm joints lock in cleanly.

The headline feature is the backpack mechanism, the Incom units store flush against the back and deploy on lead wire, and shifting the backpack lets you reproduce the beam cannon firing pose from the source material. Elbow bend reaches a useful 130 degrees and the manipulator hands swivel on ball joints with a poseable thumb, so hand-to-weapon posing works well even though the shoulders themselves are the more conservative swing-and-lift type rather than full ball joints.

Lore & trivia

01The Mk-V originates from Gundam Sentinel, a UC 0088 side story, and was developed by the Augusta Newtype Research Institute as a refined successor to the MRX-009 Psycho Gundam.
02Its Quasi-Psycommu system let a standard, non-Newtype pilot operate the suit and control its wire-guided Incom remote weapons, something the original Psycho Gundam could not do without an enhanced pilot.
03Three Mk-V prototypes were completed, but the Gryps Conflict ended before any saw combat, in the Sentinel story one was instead handed to a defecting Federation officer for New Desides.
04This MG release has been reissued more than once through Bandai's Premium/P-Bandai online shop rather than getting a standard retail run.