Gundam

The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with Mobile Suit Gundam, a TV series that defined the "real robot" mecha anime genre by featuring giant robots called mobile suits (including the original titular mecha) in a militaristic setting.

The popularity of the series and its merchandise spawned a franchise that includes 50 TV series, films and OVAs as well as manga, novels and video games, along with a whole industry of plastic model kits known as Gunpla which makes up 90 percent of the Japanese character plastic-model market.

Gundam stands out as one of the most iconic anime series of all time. Anime is actually one of the largest and most influential exports in the Japanese economy. Gundam Wing is particularly popular in Japan because of it's detailed animation and a breakaway from the traditional Gundam timeline.

Nope, there is no connection between them. It basically means that you can watch each one independent from the others, you won't miss out on relevant information to the given selection.

The original 42 episode series is available on Crunchyroll and Funimation. There are also newer Gundam series available on Netflix!

Follow along to learn how easy and accessible this hands-on hobby can be. Good news for beginners: Bandai labels Gunpla by how easy they are to build. Gunpla are classified in two ways—by size and by difficulty. In the Gunpla world, you will hear modelers refer to this as “scale” and “grade.”

There are 5 existing Gunpla kit grades that you can buy in the market. They are the High Grade (HG), Master Grade (MG), Perfect Grade (PG), Real Grade (RG), and the Super Deformed Grade (chibi).

High Grade kits are the most collectible because the line-up of Gundams and mobile suits in this grade, whether it be a protagonist’s or an antagonist’s mobile suit, is vast and High Grades are one of the most affordable grades available aside from the Super Deformed kits.

High Grade kits have two scales: 1/144 which is around 13 cm tall depending on the model. Some models are a little bit taller like Sinanju and Sazabi, while some HG models are somewhat shorter like Exia. 1/144 kits are nice to collect and display because they occupy less space than Master Grade or Perfect Grade kits. The other scale is 1/100 which is around 18cm tall.

You can readily determine that it’s a High Grade kit because it will have the abbreviations “HG” on the box and its box art is in landscape format. As for the 1/100 Scale High Grade kits, you won’t be seeing any HG letters on the box, though you’ll know it’s a 1/100 HG kit if it doesn’t have “MG” or “Master Grade” printed on the box art, and the box art is usually in portrait format. Don’t get confused between 1/100 HG and 1/100 MG kits! First timers might get confused because they look the same.

Now if you want more detail, mechanics and an inner frame skeleton to show off, then Master Grade kits are for you! They are the next level up from HG kits, and while more expensive, the pay-off is worth it due to the kits’ level of detail, included gimmicks, mechanics and some dry rub decals that will greatly improve the awesomeness of your model.

Master Grade kits only have the 1/100 scale which are usually around 18 cm tall.

The big difference between an HG and an MG kit is that MG kits have an inner frame or skeleton mechanic where you put on the armor pieces one by one just like a Samurai warrior would do when preparing for a battle.

Perfect Grade kits are the holy grail of Gunpla model kits! They’re the best of the best in detail, mechanics, and gimmicks, and are the largest highly detailed scale available. PG kits are the most expensive in the market because they have the most number of parts to assemble and their scale size of 1/60. Perfect Grade 1/60 scale kits are around 30 cm tall. They’re the tallest Gundam models that you can build, and take up a lot of display space! So, you must prepare your display area well. In essence, they are Master Grade kits with so much detail they will blow your mind away. They also include decals like MG kits and usually have LED light-up mechanics, too! They cost a lot of money, but as in all Gunpla model kits, they are worth it. Especially when you’re an enthusiastic Gunpla modeler/hobbyist who wants to take their hobby to the next level!

Real Grade If you want a Perfect Grade kit but don’t want to hurt your wallet too much, then this is the kit for you! Real Grade kits are roughly palm sized Perfect Grade kits. This is the latest model grade that Bandai has begun producing, and they are one of a kind! It’s the first model grade that is 1/144 in scale but still has an inner frame just like MG kits. How cool is that?