MGUniversal Century

RGM-89S Stark Jegan

The Federation workhorse gets a special forces upgrade, missile pods and all.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Stark Jegan · 1/100 · 2023

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2023

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the Jegan I actually wanted on my shelf.

Bandai took the reliable MG Jegan frame, threw new armor at the chest, arms, waist and legs, and bolted on a set of shoulder mounted triple missile pods that make it look like it means business. It builds like the dependable kit it is, with one real limitation: the armor bulk that gives it that Stark silhouette also eats into the pose range underneath.

Best for: UC completionists and Jegan fans who want the beefed up special forces variant, not just the standard grunt suit

The full review

What it is

The Stark Jegan takes the RGM-89 Jegan lineage, which by this point Bandai has molded and remolded across HGUC and MG lines for two decades, and dresses it up as the anti-ship assault variant that shows up in Char's Counterattack material and gets its moment in Gundam Unicorn. New head armor, new chest and arm plating, a redesigned waist and leg unit, and those triple missile pod shoulders (a nod to the RGM-86R GM III) give it real presence on a shelf next to a plain Jegan or an RX-78. Both forearms carry weapon racks with opening hatch gimmicks that store the beam sabers and a grenade launcher, which is a nice small touch that rewards fiddling with it after the build is done.

The catch

The extra armor is the whole point of this variant, and it's also the thing that fights you. The base Jegan frame already has a known issue where the thigh armor can pop or strain if you push a deep kneeling pose, and the Stark's bulkier waist and leg plating makes that worse, not better. This was a P-Bandai exclusive release, so pricing runs above a retail MG and you're buying it secondhand or from a reseller rather than off a shelf. Color separation on some of the new armor panels leans on the usual Bandai molded plastic rather than paint, so panel lines and a topcoat do more work here than on a kit with heavier stickers to hide behind.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already like the Jegan as a design and want the version with actual character behind it, the one flying wing man for RX-78s and Nu Gundams instead of just filling out a squad. It's a satisfying, mid-complexity MG build, not a fight, and the shoulder missile pods and forearm weapon racks give you more to do than a standard grunt kit usually offers. Skip it if you want maximum pose range for dynamic display, since the armor bulk works against deep bends, or if you're not willing to pay P-Bandai exclusive pricing for a suit that's still fundamentally a Federation mass production unit under the new plating.

The build story

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

The build itself is straightforward MG territory, runner after runner of a frame Bandai has refined across multiple Jegan releases, so fit is tight and confident rather than fiddly. Nub placement is typical Bandai, mostly on non-visible surfaces, and cleanup is quick. The new Stark specific armor pieces clip onto the existing frame points without any awkward surprises, which says a lot for a kit built on a reused mold.

The triple missile pods are the standout engineering touch, giving the shoulders real bulk and a distinct silhouette rather than just palette swapped armor. The forearm weapon rack gimmick, hatches that open to reveal stored beam sabers and a grenade launcher, is a small detail that photographs well and gives the kit something interactive beyond static posing. Articulation is good through the shoulders, elbows and ankles, less generous at the hips and knees once the Stark armor is on.

Lore & trivia

01The RGM-89S Stark Jegan first appeared in Char's Counterattack Mobile Suit Variations material before getting a proper on screen role in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
02In Gundam Unicorn, a veteran Stark Jegan pilot who fought through the Second Neo Zeon War holds his own against Marida Cruz's funnel armed Kshatriya, a scene often cited as one of the show's best mobile suit moments.
03The shoulder mounted triple missile pods on this kit are a design nod to the RGM-86R GM III, reused here as new tooling rather than a straight part reuse.
04This MG kit reuses the frame and much of the tooling from Bandai's RGM-89D Jegan Type D release, with new armor sculpted specifically for the Stark configuration.