RGFuture Century

GF13-017NJII God Gundam

An MG's worth of engineering crammed into a 1/144 footprint, and it mostly holds together.

MechaGrade Score

4.2/5

God Gundam · 1/144 · 2025

GradeRG

Scale1/144

Released2025

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I think this is one of the best RG kits Bandai has put out, and I say that as someone who came in skeptical of a martial artist Gundam surviving RG-scale joints.

The shoulders telescope, the neck actually cranes forward, the hips have a slide mechanism under the waist armor, and none of it feels like a gimmick bolted on for the box art. It genuinely poses like the suit fights, not just stands.

Best for: RG collectors and G Gundam fans who want real martial-arts posability without stepping up to MG size or price

The full review

What it is

This is Bandai chasing the widest range of motion in RG history and actually landing it. The double-jointed elbows and knees, the three-axis neck, the telescoping shoulders, all of it is in service of getting God Gundam into its signature folded-arm stance and low fighting crouches instead of the stiff parade-rest most 1/144 kits settle for. Molded color coverage is strong for the scale too, red, blue, gold, and white are all separate plastic rather than paint, so the suit reads correctly right off the runners. Handling it feels closer to a small MG than a typical RG, which for a kit built around a boxer's body is exactly the point.

The catch

The trade-off for that articulation is small, thin parts, and builders consistently warn to go slow with the shoulder and knee assemblies since a few pieces are genuinely prone to snapping if you force a pose. The included dry-transfer stickers cover the finer gold trim but read as a step down from the foil stickers older RGs shipped with, so panel accents can look a little flat unless you hunt down the aftermarket water-slide decal sheet made specifically for this kit. Runner gates are also placed on visible surfaces in a few spots, which means cleanup matters more here than on a kit you can get away with rushing.

Who it's for

If you already like RG scale and want a kit that actually earns a dynamic action pose instead of a straight-on shelf stance, this is close to a must-build. It rewards patience during assembly and pays that patience back with a suit that holds its own martial-arts poses without sagging. Skip it if you want a relaxed first build or you're rough on small parts, an HG or the older HGFC God Gundam will survive careless hands better. But if you're comfortable working carefully at 1/144 scale, this is the version of God Gundam I would point people toward first.

The build story

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

Assembly plays like a scaled-down MG rather than a standard RG snap-together, the inner frame goes together first and every joint has a purpose rather than just filling space. Gate placement asks for real cleanup attention on the shoulder and shin pieces, and I'd recommend a sharp side cutter and a bit of patience over rushing the small parts, since that's where builders report breakage.

The articulation is the headline and it delivers, double-jointed elbows and knees, a rotating waist, and toe articulation in the feet all work together so the finished kit can actually throw a punch or crouch low rather than just standing at attention. It ships with Burning Finger and Burning Slash effect parts plus a PET sun-ring accessory for the Core Fighter, a nice bonus loadout for a kit already carrying twice the piece count of its HG counterpart.

Lore & trivia

01In the English dub of Mobile Fighter G Gundam, God Gundam's name was changed to Burning Gundam to avoid any objection to the word 'God' in a toy and show name.
02God Gundam and its predecessor Shining Gundam run on an emotional energy system, meaning Domon Kasshu's rising emotions directly power the suit, though he can only let loose its full strength while staying in control of himself.
03Series director Yasuhiro Imagawa built G Gundam around wuxia influences, with Domon and his teacher Master Asia both martial artists and Master Asia's name drawn from a figure in Jin Yong's wuxia novels.