XXXG-01S Shenlong Gundam (w/ Liaoya Unit)
The most limber Wing Gundam gets a bonus sword and still can't stop losing its grip on its own toys.
MechaGrade Score
Shenlong Gundam (w/ Liaoya Unit) · 1/100 · 2019
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This is the easiest of the Wing MGs to build and it shows in how confident the whole kit feels in your hands, right up until you try to pose it aggressively and a peg pops loose.
I built the base Shenlong shape years ago and this Liaoya reissue adds the manga-exclusive blade without changing the core experience, which is still one of the loosest, most martial-arts-capable frames Bandai made for this line. It is a genuinely fun sit at the workbench. It just needs you to accept a little bit of part-retention gambling as the price of admission.
Best for: Wing series fans who want Wufei's Gundam with full range of motion and don't mind babysitting a couple of loose joints
What it is
Shenlong is built around Master O's philosophy of a mobile suit that fights like a martial artist, and Bandai's MG genuinely delivers on that promise. The double-jointed limbs, swiveling thighs, and doubly-hinged ankles let you throw low stances and sharp kicks that most kits in this scale simply cannot hold. The Liaoya Unit version bundles in the manga-only beam sword from Glory of the Losers plus new water-slide decals, so you get the familiar Dragon Fang forearm claw and beam trident alongside a blade nobody else gets. Assembly itself was the smoothest of the Wing EW kits I've put together, minimal fuss, logical steps, satisfying clicks.
The catch
The looseness that makes this kit so posable cuts both ways. The Dragon Fang unit doesn't seat tightly in its arm slot and pops off during dynamic posing more often than I'd like, the beam trident's backpack mount has the same problem, and the plain straight shoulder peg will work itself loose after repeated arm twisting. The feet also don't flex flat enough for really wide stances, so some poses fight you a little. None of this is a dealbreaker, but expect to reseat parts mid-photo-session. This is also a Premium Bandai exclusive, so once secondary market stock dries up there's no guarantee of a reissue.
Who it's for
Get this if you already love the Wing cast and want the definitive close-combat Gundam with an extra weapon nobody else's Shenlong has. It rewards people who enjoy dynamic, martial-arts-style photography over static shelf display, and it's a good pick for builders who don't mind a little maintenance between poses. Skip it if you want something that locks rock solid straight out of the box and never budges, or if you're not particularly attached to the Gundam Wing continuity, since the premium exclusive pricing is a real markup over a standard-release MG for what is fundamentally the same base kit plus one sword and some decals.
The build story
What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.
Assembly is about as low-friction as the Wing EW lineup gets. Gates are placed sensibly, the runners (fourteen of them across the standard frame, shield, and weapon sprues) go together with logical sequencing, and the inner frame snaps onto its polycap joints without a fight. A little cement on the skirt armor pieces is worth it if you plan to pose the hips hard, but nothing here demands advanced technique.
The engineering payoff is the articulation, full inner frame support under color-separated outer armor, no sticker reliance for the main color scheme, and joints built specifically to let the suit fold into low martial-arts stances other kits can't reach. The Dragon Fang's five-section movable claw is a neat gimmick on its own. Where the kit loses points is retention: the same slim pegs that enable that motion range are the ones that let weapons and even the shoulder joint work themselves loose, so the accessory loadout looks great in hand but needs occasional reseating to survive a full posing session.
Lore & trivia
- 01Shenlong Gundam (also called Nataku) was designed in-universe by Master O of the L5 colonies, whose specialty in drive systems is reflected in the suit having the highest close-combat fighting ability of the five original Gundams
- 02The Dragon Fang and flamethrower combo is canonically named 'Dragon Fang Fire,' a grapple-and-burn attack meant to evoke Chinese martial arts styling
- 03The Liaoya Unit and its extra beam sword originate from the manga Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: Glory of the Losers rather than the TV series, making this MG version exclusive to that storyline
- 04Pilot Chang Wufei's name plays on the Chinese word for 'five' (he's the fifth Gundam pilot) and references Zhang Fei, a general from the Three Kingdoms era
What other builders say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and builder discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
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