“Transferred from old blog”
I know that some of you who visited my blog might be new to Hobby kits and might not understand some of the “terms” I used in some of my entries.
So I’ve decided to write some explanation on the terms used in Gundam kits or “Gunpla”. This way you will understand what I’m trying to say on my entries ^^;
Ok first of all, there has been a lot of variety of these kits released, and the company behind the release is Bandai. What I mean by “variety” is that, Bandai has sorted and made their products into different scales and “Grades”. These “Grades” are really important if you ever decided to buy one, since they will determined the quality and details of the kit, and of course, the price. All these “Grades” are shown on every Gunpla kits boxes 🙂
These “Grades” are divided into 5 groups:
1. Speed Grade (SG)
2. First Grade (FG)
3. High Grade (HG)
4. Master Grade (MG)
5. Perfect Grade (PG)
and one particular grade has another releases, which is High Grade, called:
5. High Grade Universal Century (HGUC), High Grade Gundam SEED (HGGS/HGSEED), & High Grade Gundam 00 (HG00).
There are also other categories released, such as:
6. HCMPro
7. HY2M “Glorius Series”
8. Super Deformed (SD)
These “Grades” and terms will be explained shortly~
Ok, next we will go to scale. We used the term “Scale” for sizes, and these are divided into following groups:
1. 1/550 Scale
2. 1/440 Scale
3. 1/220 Scale
4. 1/144 Scale
5. 1/100 Scale
6. 1/60 Scale
Not all of these scales will be included on all Grades. Most of the scales are exclusive to some of the different Grades mentioned.
All right!! Now to the best part, which is the explanation ^^ We will start with Speed Grade and go down the list together with the scales.
1/220 Scale
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Comes in 2 versions, Speed Grade and HCMPro.
Speed Grade or SG comes in 1/220 scale and was originally made for children. This grade is actually pretty new since its production started in 2007. It comes with minimal parts, stands, and already pre-colored, so it’ll be easy to assemble even for children, but this grade lacks the details and mobility.
HCMPro
HCMPro, unlike Speed Grade, doesn’t requires much construction, but still superior to Speed Grade in terms of details and mobility. It’s more like an action figure and cost more than Speed Grade. Usually it’s already completed and ready for display straight out of the box.
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1/144 Scale
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Comes in 2 versions, First Grade and High Grade.
FIRST GRADE (FG)
First Grade or FG comes in 1/144 scale and was started in 2000. When 1st introduced, there were only 3 kits released. It was later resumed with the release of Gundam 00 in mid-2007. Still this kit requires a lot of painting and lacks the mobility, but superior compared to Speed Grade.
HIGH GRADE (HG)
High Grade or HG comes in 1/144 scale and it’s one of the popular grades that people would buy. This grade was first introduced in 1990. It comes with an “Internal Frame” which allows for poseable action. The details were also great even for a 1/144 scale. It was later given its name for a more advanced HG released such as High Grade Universal Century (HGUC), High Grade Gundam SEED (HGGS), and the most recent High Grade Gundam 00 (HG00). Paintings are still required, but not as much as First Grade kits.
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1/100 Scale
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Comes in 2 versions, No-Grade and Master Grade.
NO-GRADE
This grade comes in 1/100 scale and it doesn’t have any particular symbol unlike other grades. It’s still poseable and quite well-detailed. The recent release for Gundam 00 introduced new technology and it’s close to that of a Master Grade kits, which brought it to a new level. Still, this kit can still be improved with additional paintings. On another note, some of the kit has a special version, such as the “Extra Finish ver.”
MASTER GRADE (MG)
Master Grade or MG comes in 1/100 scale and is shown with the golden shiny “MG” symbol. Master Grade kit is probably the most popular of all the grades. It introduced the first internal “skeleton”, which is known as “Inner Frame System” that no other previous grades has. It is more presentable and allows even more different poseable action. Well detailed and usually comes with either water or dry decals, or even both. Some of the MG kits even requires screwing of bolts. But like previous grades, can be improved with further detailing and paintings. On another note, sometimes Bandai would released a special edition of certain MG kits, which has some extra goodies that no other normal MG kits has.
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1/60 Scale
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It comes in 3 versions, “Real Detail”, HY2M “Glorius Series” and Perfect Grade (PG).
REAL DETAIL
Comes in 1/60 scale. This version is basically a scaled up version of High Grade kits, but with improved details and additional poseable action that usually impossible for a 1/144 scale. Some of the kits has some wiring to do, which allows it to “lighten” up.
HY2M “GLORIOUS SERIES”
HY2M are based on “Zeon Faction” and so far, there has been only 3 kits released for this version. These kits usually comes with LED Gimmicks located on various part of the body.
PERFECT GRADE (PG)
Perfect Grade or PG comes in 1/60 scale and IS (I mean it) the ultimate Gunpla kit Bandai ever released with unmatched sheer quality. First started in 1998, there were only a number of kits released up-to-date (less than 20) because of the amount of work put into it. Its quality and details is as close as the original, or even much better than the anime counterparts. It has a more detailed “Inner Frame System” which much more advanced than that of an MG with a lot of screwing needed, which allows even more actions. Decals are also provided for this grade, and because of its quality, there isn’t a need to paint it, and it will still looks gorgeous. This kit is expensive compared to other grades. Still, these kits is a great addition for Gunpla lovers, which makes PG model a true challenge. Construction can take days to finish.
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Those above are pratically the main “Grades”, but there are still other version such as Super Deformed (SD) that Bandai produced:
SUPER DEFORMED (SD)
Super Deformed or SD kits aren’t based on any particular scales. These kits are famous for their oversized heads and comically proportional build. Despite their small size compared to other scales, these are actually pretty famous among Gunpla lovers. They are particularly famous for their “BB Senshi” series. SD kits are usually easy to construct, but requires some painting to actually “finish” it. Mobility also pretty much affected because of their size.
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This pretty much what the world of Gunpla is. I definitely missing some stuffs here, but this pretty much the main stuffs you need to know. I hope this helps and I apologized for the long post ^^;
Tags: Gunpla
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