MGBuild Divers

Qubeley Embellir

A funnel-armed Newtype ace suit dressed up in gloss and mirror foil for the display shelf.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Qubeley Embellir · 1/100 · 2020

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2020

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 is a dress kit first and an engineering showcase second, and once I accepted that I enjoyed it a lot more.

It takes the old MG AMX-004 Qubeley frame, the one Haman Karn made famous, and reruns it through the Build Divers custom lineage in gloss purple and gold plastic with mirror finish decals. The shape is still gorgeous and the funnel gimmick still sells the fantasy of a Newtype ace. Just do not expect modern full inner frame engineering under the finish.

Best for: Zeta Gundam and Build Divers fans who want the Qubeley silhouette in a premium finish for the shelf rather than a poseability showpiece

The full review

What it is

The Qubeley Embellir takes the Qubeley Damned custom design, itself a fan build that started life in a Gundam Hobby Life magazine feature, and reissues it as a proper P-Bandai Master Grade with gloss injection and metallic molded plastic plus a sheet of mirror finish decals on top of the usual water slide sheet. What you get out of the box is genuinely striking. The four independent shoulder binders that made the original Qubeley famous for its AMBAC flight poses are here, the head still has that hooded, faceless menace, and the ten psycommu funnels mount into the rear skirt exactly like the source suit. Building it feels like assembling a familiar classic wearing new clothes, and the payoff on the shelf is real.

The catch

This kit is built on the old AMX-004 Qubeley MG tooling, not a fresh frame, so there is no full inner skeleton. Articulation runs on polycap joints instead, the double jointed knees work well but there is no thigh swivel because of how the thigh armor is shaped, and the overall pose range feels dated next to a modern MG. It is also a P-Bandai exclusive, which means secondary market pricing runs well above a standard retail MG and the mirror decals demand careful, patient application or they show fingerprints and silvering. Treat the funnels and hands as fiddly small parts that reward a slow build.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already love the Qubeley silhouette, want the Build Divers custom color story, and care more about a glossy, mirror-foiled finish on the shelf than chasing the newest engineering. Skip it if you want top tier articulation for dynamic posing, or if you are not willing to pay P-Bandai aftermarket prices for a kit that is fundamentally an older frame in nicer plastic. Newer MG or RG Qubeley releases will serve a poseability-first collector better.

The build story

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

The build itself follows the familiar AMX-004 Qubeley assembly, so if you have built the standard MG version before this will feel like home with a nicer paint job baked into the plastic. Gate placement is typical early 2000s MG design, meaning a few visible seams on the binders and torso that a careful builder will want to clean up, and the funnels are small enough that patience pays off during clipping.

The standout here is the finish, not the frame. Gloss injection plus metallic molding color and the mirror decal sheet turn a familiar shape into something that photographs beautifully under light. Articulation highlights are the double jointed knees and the shoulder binder gimmick, both inherited from the original tooling, while color separation on the body is handled well by the multi-color plastic without leaning too hard on stickers.

Lore & trivia

01The Qubeley Embellir's design lineage traces back to a custom build by NAOKI featured in the Gundam Hobby Life magazine, later reworked into the Qubeley Damned for the Build Divers GBWC storyline before becoming this premium Embellir release.
02The AMX-004 Qubeley it is built from was piloted by Haman Karn in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, where she used its ten psycommu-controlled funnels to outmatch Quattro Bajeena's Hyaku Shiki in combat.
03The Qubeley was one of the first mobile suits to carry miniaturized psycommu funnels, weapons that lack their own onboard power source and must return to their mount to recharge after a set time.
04The kit released in August 2020 as a Premium Bandai exclusive, priced at 5,940 yen at launch.