XXXG-01SR2 Gundam Sandrock Custom EW
The desert Gundam trades its shamshirs for a cloak and a paint job, and mostly wins the trade.
MechaGrade Score
Gundam Sandrock Custom · 1/100 · 2017
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I like this kit a lot more than I expected to going in.
It is an early 2000s MG frame wearing a genuinely striking purple, gray, and white coat, and the twin heat shotels give it a completely different personality than the plain Sandrock. The catch is that it is a P-Bandai reissue of an older mold, so the engineering shows its age next to modern MG standards, and the cloak that makes the box art pop also eats into your posing options once it is clipped on.
Best for: Gundam Wing fans who want the definitive Quatre-in-Endless-Waltz look and don't mind hunting a secondary market listing to get it
What it is
This is the Endless Waltz repaint and reissue of the MG Sandrock Custom, built around the same 20-runner frame as the standard MG Sandrock but dressed in the movie's purple, gray, and white scheme instead of the TV series colors. The moment I had the torso and legs together I could feel the older engineering, wide skirt armor, double jointed knees, a waist that spins freely, but it still builds into a Gundam with real presence, especially once the twin heat shotels and the big fabric-look cloak go on. The color separation is strong for a kit this old, and I did not reach for a paint pen once for the main color blocks.
The catch
The stability is the honest weakness here. Every panel of skirt armor is its own moving part, which sounds great for articulation until you notice the hips and waist feel a little loose in practice, a complaint that follows the whole Wing MG lineup and not just this release. The cloak looks fantastic on the shelf but it is large, mostly flat, undetailed plastic on the inside, and once it is draped over the shoulders your pose options drop off fast, so I ended up building it as two display options rather than one finished figure. It is also a P-Bandai exclusive from a limited print run, so expect to pay well above original retail on the aftermarket, and tight knee pegs during assembly are worth test-fitting before you commit glue or paint.
Who it's for
Buy this one if you already love the Gundam Wing designs and want the Endless Waltz color scheme with a proper display cloak and dual shotels rather than the plainer TV-series Sandrock. It rewards patient posing and a little extra time on the skirt joints. Skip it if you want a kit that holds a dynamic pose out of the box with no fuss, or if you are chasing modern MG snap-tight engineering, the base MG Sandrock frame underneath this reissue is a 2003-era kit and it feels like one the moment you start comparing joints to anything from the last decade.
The build story
What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.
The 20 runners make this a longer sit than an HG, and most of that time goes into the skirt armor and shotel assemblies rather than the core frame. Nub placement is dated in a few spots on the limb shells, so I kept a sanding stick close by for cleanup. The knee pegs run tight against the inner frame during test fits, worth doing slowly rather than forcing them, since a couple of builders online reported the same friction point.
Where the kit earns its keep is the frame's range: double jointed elbows and knees, a two-point ball jointed neck, and a waist that rotates a full 360 degrees. The front, side, and rear skirt plates all lift for leg clearance, which is the right idea even if the tradeoff is some looseness at rest. The heat shotels swap between sheathed and ignited states with the included clear effect parts, and that alone makes this a more interesting shelf piece than the plain Sandrock it is based on.
Lore & trivia
- 01Gundam Sandrock is piloted by Quatre Raberba Winner, heir to the Winner Corporation, and the Sandrock Custom is the upgraded desert-warfare version he flies by the time of the Endless Waltz movie.
- 02The Custom variant replaces the original single shamshir blade with twin heat shotels, a design change carried over faithfully into this kit's weapon loadout.
- 03This release is a Premium Bandai exclusive that reuses the 2003-era MG Sandrock frame under a new Endless Waltz color scheme and display cloak rather than an all-new engineering pass.
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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A transforming prototype MS that gives an HG the kind of gimmick usually reserved for MG price tags.
XXXG-01SR2 Gundam Sandrock Custom EW
The desert Gundam's upgrade finally gets the small-scale treatment its heat shotels deserve.
ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos Adapt
Same battered soul, a whole new frame under the patchwork armor.