Yat (Matt/Matthew) Yeung
2024 Arrival, JHS ALT in Iyo City (Futami)
Gundam/Pokémon/League of Legends/Stardew Valley Nerd (cough, cough… specialist*)
Matthew (Yat) Yeung is a first year ALT based in Iyo City, particularly in the small, beautiful beach town of Futami. He usually games quite a lot with family (mainly brothers) and some friends here and there, however outside of that he practices Japanese Martial Arts known as Kobudo. He’s currently a Brown Belt (one away from Black), thus he knows how to use the Bo (staff), Sai (fork daggers), Tonfa (wooden police baton… thing) and Nunchucks.
Hello everyone,
My name is Matthew (Yat) Yeung, hello to those who know me, and nice to meet you with a はじめまして、よろしくお願いいたします to those who do not know me yet. I am a very indoorsy person, however since moving to Japan, particularly, Futami, I’ve been slowly changing it up― not by choice, but because I have no other option if I want to survive (the closest shopping mall for me is at least 20 mins away by JR, which comes once almost every 2-3 hours― inconsistent & inconvenient timing).
Among Japanese pop culture, I am very sure everyone is aware of the big, well-known media, such as One Piece, Dragon Ball, etc. Being lucky enough to be able to grow up with Japanese pop culture has become something I am grateful for, as it entertained me a lot. However, the first ever piece of Japanese media that I encountered as a kid was not what everyone would think about. Usually, it would be among the popular ones like Pokémon, One Piece or Dragon Ball (sorry to those I’ve missed, pretend I included you), but I grew up with something else― Gundam.
W.T.F is Gundam?
For some context, Gundam is still very popular among a different audience in Japanese society, mainly consisting of a more mature, or even senior audience (30+), rather than young people (29≦). At least that’s what I think. In simple words, Gundam are big robots that fight each other. In a more complex manner, from the brilliant mind of Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam originated from the anime Mobile Suit Gundam released in the year 1979, featuring a high tech version of a World War between Earth and Space. The series goes beyond just robots simply slapping each other around and going pew pew pew, it also highlights controversial topics such as human rights, equality, science ethics, and war. A very strange genre of anime to watch among all the action, slice of life and rom-coms people watch today.
So, what makes this anime series more special to me? It is the fact that Gundam, in collaboration with Bandai, started releasing plastic model kits that replicate a smaller but accurate version of what you see on TV, that fit into the palm of your hand. The model kit series eventually opened their own branch, known as Gunpla. The invention of these plastic models has truly connected me with Japanese pop culture.
Plastic in boxes, Boxes in boxes, Boxes wrapped with Plastic
The first release of Gundam as a plastic model kit was in 1998. Back then, they were just simple, easy to build plastic model kits for display. However over time, this branched out into different gradings, sizes, and attention to detail of what they call “accurate” representations and scalings of Gundam. The different Gradings include Entry Grade (EG, 1/144 scale), High Grade (HG 1/144 scale), RE 100 (1/100 scale), Master Grade (MG, 1/100 scale), Perfect Grade (PG, 1/60 scale), Real Grade (RG, 1/144 scale), MEGA size (1/48 scale) and the more recently added Master Grade EX (MGEX, 1/100 scale). Building Gundam would require some crafting materials such as a pair of pliers (or nail clipper… if you have good eyes and steady hands), and optional materials such as hobby knife, sandpaper, thin cement (in case things break), 0.1mm drawing pen etc. (it expands more when you slowly give in to becoming a worshipper of Gundam, lucky enough I’m not there yet.).
Entry Grade (EG)
I, personally, have never bought a single EG but have had friends and others purchase Entry Grade model kits before. As stated in the name, it is the entry level of building Gundam. These types of model kits feature basic flexibility in the kit, with the basic colours and basic features of a Gundam. That being said, some Gundams with a backpack feature would not have it in the EG (unless you buy a “extension part” separately, “each sold separately” am I right hehe). My best example of this would be v(Nu) Gundam, where he lost his iconic backpack funnel feature in the Entry grade level. Ultimately, for those interested in starting the hobby of Gundam, EG is where you would start.
High Grade (HG)
The most popular released grading of all Gundam kits. It features a 1/144 scale of the original Gundam, with the majority of the features visible on the model kit, such as backpack features, extra weapons and some booster features. Up until now, every unit that has been shown in the anime has had a HG release in the past 25 years, and some even getting version 2.0, with more flexibility and features. Within recent years, Bandai has included more features, including light particle effects, explosion effects, beam effects etc. to the HG kits, allowing us Gundam fans to pose them with even more style than ever before. Unlike EG, HG has more stickers that give more detail, as well as some metallic gloss to the Gundam in some cases.
One of my favourites would have to be a kit I bought in 2019 from Gundam Base Tokyo― the Clear Colour ZGMF-X4S2 Destiny Gundam. It includes a “butterfly wing effect” as well as a hand “pulse blast” effect. This is the second release of HG Destiny Gundam.
HG is considered the most frequently bought grading among the Gunpla community, as it is (reasonably… I think) cheap, fun to build, easy to customise (we’ll talk later about this) and delivers an accurate display of what the Gundam will look like. The majority of the limited editions all come in High Grade. 1/144 may sound considerably small, given that these models are suppose to be gigantic in real life (but due to physics it’s impossible to make it real… for now), however some kits are just… too big to get a different grading… (HG 1/144 Scale NZ-999 Neo Zeong)
Given that you decided to start building, EG and HG would be a great start. I would recommend starting with the original Gundam, RX-78-2 Gundam or the MS-06 Zaku II units. These two are respectively the original two releases in 1998, and considered very easy to build.
Re 1/100
This is a very interesting grading among all the grades. It features the size of a Master Grade, but not the same attention to detail to a Master Grade. RE 1/100 usually is known as Full Mechanics. It is basically a HG, scaled up, with slightly more features and that’s all. It is commonly overshadowed by how good Master Grade is, making the Full Mechanics grading somewhat inferior, and unpopular. Some kits however are only found in Full Mechanics, but not in Master Grade (MG), example being the more recent Aerial Gundam Full Mechanics from The Witch from Mercury anime series.
Master Grade (MG)
The most requested grading releases yet and Bandai just says no (OOF). MG as I’ve explained briefly previously, is the 1/100 scale accurate version of what the Gundam would look like. Like High Grade, it features almost 90% of the detail of the original one from the anime, including any extra weapons and such. Master Grade in comparison to High Grade, looks much more premium in most cases, but it comes at a cost (money wise and metaphor wise). MG has screws (sometimes), which is one feature I do not particularly like. Screws usually “lock” a piece in place securely, however when mistakes are made, it becomes a huge pain― it’s like a hit or miss thing.
Other than that, the complexity of a MG is higher than that of a HG. With increased flexibility comes increased parts, increased parts means more time consumed on one section. This is only a small price to pay given that you will end up with a majestic looking Mobile Suit, and it is worth every penny spent (most of the time). One of my favourites at the moment would be the Gundam-base limited Luminous Crystal Body Unicorn Gundam. Although lacking in terms of actual weapons like shields and guns, this particular MG features unique parts that were never manufactured before, as well as an accurate depiction of an anime scene in U.C. Re: 0096 Unicorn Gundam (Go watch it, it’s pretty good).
Master Grade Ver. Ka
I know I didn’t include this in the first few paragraphs, but I must include MG Ver. Ka. Ver. Ka is an abbreviation of Version Katoki, which came from the Gundam Model Kit designer Hajime Katoki. MG Ver. Ka usually features even more accurate features such as extra water decal/stickers, and more premium model design on model kits. Ver. Ka is usually much more expensive than a regular MG, and extra parts can be sold separately to provide extra accurate displays of gundam features. One example of separate parts would be the MSN-04 Sazabi MG Ver. Ka funnel extension set, which allows you to attach “launch” effects of some Funnel drones attached to the back. As much as I want a MG Ver. Ka, I am still aware of how much I spend money, but it will eventually be within my grasp…. hopefully.
Perfect Grade (PG) and Real Grade (RG)
I have decided to merge these two grades together for a few reasons. One, they are basically the same, the only differences being scaling and price. Two, depending on how diehard you are, choosing between PG and RG would be pretty easy. Finally, PG = Screws. Screws = Bad.
I personally am not a big fan of PG (because I don’t have space most of the time, and I want to keep my money…), but ever since Bandai opened the new grading known as Real Grade, there wasn’t much of a point for me to get a Perfect Grade. Perfect Grade and Real Grade have a common feature, it is where they have an inner skeleton frame, then after building the frame the outer armour is slowly attached onto the frame. Perfect Grades usually come in a 70cm x 20cm x 40cm box (27.5 inches x 7.9 inches x 15.7 inches in freedom units), while the Real Grade can either sometimes come in a MG size Box (1/100 scale, think of the box being like A3 sized paper with a depth of 15cm-ish) or a HG size box (1/144 scale, think of A4 sized paper with depth around 10 cm+)
The RG, as the name implies, is trying to depict the gundam 100% based on the anime, with the maximum flexibility and once again, majority of the features present in the model kit. Bandai only started to release RG during the year of 2010, with the celebration of the Gundam 30th Anniversary in 2009. Up till today, RG only has 40 releases excluding limited editions and special releases, with number 41 and 42 on the way. It quickly grew in popularity, as many of the fan favourite mobile suits made their way onto the RG roster, such as the famous Char’s Zaku II, Hi-v(Nu) Gundam and Astray Gold Frame Amatsu mina.
In terms of favourites, up until today the Trans-Am Clear Colour 00 QAN[T] is still my number one, mainly because of the very unique build experience, as well as the nice combination of colours included in this specific kit I purchased in Tokyo in 2023. Beyond my own recommendation of model kits, beginners would find it very hard to stay in pace with RG, as it tends to take a lot of time and patience.
The Others, MGEX (1/100) and MEGA size (1/48)
MEGA size and MGEX are mainly sold as gimmicks to some fan favourite kits, such as the original RX-78-2 Gundam MEGA size. These two gradings have only received 4 and 2 kits respectively, and are also reasonably expensive. Among the 6 kits that exist here, there would only be one I would make an investment into, and that would be the MGEX ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam, which features RG levels of detail in the size of an MG. It also comes with a free Gundam stand inside the box so it’s a small bonus.
Development, Time and Perseverance
Now with the details out of the way, it’s time to get to the hardest part of all of this Gunpla hobby, building the whole thing. Like many forms of art, motivation plays a big role in whether you want to start a build or not, but unlike art, it’s not a free form or freedom of expression until your piece is complete.
In the entire process of building Gunpla, you have to go through a few phases. One: Motivation to build, Two: Finding time to build, Three: Enduring through the long process of building, Four (optional): Adding finer detail such as panel lining (the process of applying black marker lines to make the gundam stand out) and stickers, Five (optional): Full customization such as repainting, applying plastic cement to seal the visible cracks, or a process we call ageing (making the gundam look battle damaged). Generally, the more time spent on a Gundam would return with greater results, and also a higher return of satisfaction.
The entire building process of a Gundam sounds like a big “waste of time” some might say, as it does just simply seem like I’m playing with plastic. However, I like to see this metaphorically. Gundam is like you, me and every person in this world (for those who’ve watched Gundam 00, this is a slight reference xD).
At first there is nothing, then we make our first move, and cut out our little bits and pieces of life. Our job is to put this whole thing together, but this process takes time. The lesson I have learnt from Gundam is that it is not an easy process. Throughout this building process some bits might break (I HAVE BROKEN TOO MANY), and there are two ways to solve it, either with Plastic thin cement, or just let go. Me being a low-key perfectionist I will always choose the thin cement, thus we can put it back together, and keep building, just like us as people, where we break, is where we stand up and keep going. Once you reach the end, you will be armed with a backpack, a weapon, a shield and a functional body. That is us, we can protect ourselves, defend ourselves, we carry the lessons learned, and we apply this through our body.
I know this may all sound a bit overwhelming to some, maybe even frightening how much Gundam is relevant to us as people. Truth is, I treat this as more than just a mere hobby, it’s a way to recover and relax. Building Gundam is like a form of meditation, it allows you to just simply put everything down for one day, and make something truly amazing, just like being yourself.
「逃げれば一つ、進めば二つ」
Leave a Reply