MGCorrect Century

WD-M01 ∀ Gundam (Moonlight Butterfly Ver.)

A 2007 engineering marvel dressed up in pearl and holo foil for its most dramatic scene.

MechaGrade Score

4.2/5

∀ Gundam (Moonlight Butterfly Ver.) · 1/100 · 2015

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2015

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best-engineered MG kits I have put together, and the Moonlight Butterfly treatment gives it a reason to actually sit out on the shelf instead of the closet.

The base mold is old by MG standards but the articulation still humbles kits released a decade later. The pearl and metallic molding on this version is the real upgrade, not a gimmick reprint. If you can find one at a fair price, it earns its spot.

Best for: Turn A fans and MG collectors who want the definitive display version of a genuinely great-engineered kit

The full review

What it is

The ∀ Gundam frame underneath this kit is the same one Bandai nailed back in 2007, and it still holds up. What changes here is the finish: this version comes molded in pearl and metallic plastic with a redesigned effect unit so the wing-shaped Moonlight Butterfly nanomachine swarm can be posed fanned out behind the suit on a 3-axis joint. Building it, I kept stopping to just move the legs, because this kit does something almost no other Gundam kit does, the legs fold and bend inward at angles that would look broken on anything else and instead look exactly like the show's animation. It is a genuinely fun, confident build.

The catch

The looseness is the real complaint here and it shows up in a few specific joints, the shoulder armor, the side skirts, the neck, and the waist all run loose out of the box on many copies, so you will be posing around some wobble rather than fighting for it. The shoulder joint design itself is a little awkward to work with during assembly even if it poses fine after. This is also a Premium Bandai release, meaning it comes and goes and usually costs more than a standard MG when you can find it, and the Moonlight Butterfly effect parts are commonly sold as a separate add-on rather than bundled in, so check exactly what a listing includes before buying.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already love Turn A Gundam or you want a genuine centerpiece kit with unusual, striking pearl and metallic plastic that photographs beautifully under any light. It also rewards anyone who wants to see how far MG articulation had already come by 2007, before frame technology became the norm. Skip it if you want a cheap or easy-to-find kit, this one requires patience on the secondary market and a tolerance for a little joint looseness. If your priority is budget or convenience over presence, a newer MG with a full inner frame will serve you better.

The build story

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

Assembly itself is straightforward, the instruction booklet runs about 10 pages and most of the kit goes together in big, confident part groups rather than fiddly small ones. Where it gets interesting is the panel line work, this kit has some of the heaviest panel line detail for its size of any MG I have built, so budget real time for that step if you want the finished look to pop.

The articulation is the headline. The hip and leg engineering lets the legs bend inward at angles other kits simply cannot manage, which opens up poses straight out of the show. Color separation on the base mold is handled well through parts engineering rather than stickers, and this Moonlight Butterfly version pushes that further with pearl and metallic plastic plus new holographically finished effect parts for the wing spread, which move on their own 3-axis joint for free posing.

Lore & trivia

01The ∀ Gundam's Moonlight Butterfly is an in-universe nanomachine weapon capable of disintegrating technology and matter across a vast area, effectively turning it to sand.
02In the show's Dark History, a past activation of the Moonlight Butterfly is what ends Earth's prior civilization and forces the Moonrace into retreat, marking the start of the Correct Century.
03This version's effect parts reproduce that scene directly, using holographically processed wing pieces to imitate the swarm's glittering light under moonlight.
04The base WD-M01 ∀ Gundam MG kit originally released in 2007, with this pearl and metallic Moonlight Butterfly version arriving later as a Premium Bandai exclusive.