Gunpla Build - Altron Gundam Photos

I hate when this happens. You build a kit, you’re feeling optimistic about it, and then it’s finished and your interest drops off a cliff.

There’s something off about this model. I’ve been struggling a lot to try and explain what it is. So much so that I ended up going down a rabbit hole looking into the concepts of Gestalt Psychology to try and better understand my thoughts.

So here’s my explanation. It’s, like if you say you’re so cres … alright, if you’re like … crescent … if you’re so crescent …

In all seriousness though, here’s my actual explanation.

In general, the five Gundam Wing Gundams are tall¹, lean, and even kind of lanky. It’s not like your typical five person team, where you have a small fragile one, and a big stocky one, etc. Instead they have the “Hero Gundam” silhouette, as if they’re all heroes in their own story (which, to be fair, they kinda are).

And that’s perfectly fine, except for the fact that this particular rendition of Altron fails to convey that idea at all.

There’s just … a lot wrong with it. Let’s start with the “big” things and move on down from there.

It’s Boxy

This model’s legs are way too short, and its wings more wide than long. This has major consequences for its overall shape.

Look at this: if you put a bounding rectangle around the entire body, it ends up looking very square:

For comparison, here’s the same bounding rectangle around Shenlong. It’s much more tall and narrow, which is what you’d expect from a mobile suit with typical “Hero Gundam” proportions:

Now, having a square shape isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If I’m understanding this Gestalt Psychology stuff, a square shape signifies groundedness and stability. That’s exactly what you want for something like, say, The O, a “final boss”-type mobile suit that acts as a figurative wall for our heroes.

But it’s not the right shape for a Gundam. We (or at least I) see this thing, and we/I immediately recognize that something is wrong with it, because its overall shape defies all of my expectations.

So then you zoom in and look closer at all the finer details, but that only makes the problem worse. For example, when tucked away and “at rest”, the arms are way too short and stubby. Now to be fair, this was also an issue for Shenlong, but it feels more pronounced here.

And then you move down to the legs, and they’re way too wide. Altron has all sorts of thrusters and stuff attached to its legs, but I don’t think they’re supposed to be quite this pronounced.

For the sake of comparison, Jiyan Altron has similar accoutrements, but they don’t look bad at all, because they’re far, far more slim:

Knowing this, I actually went so far as to get a ruler and take some measurements. At its widest, the leg of the Jiyan Altron is under 2 centimeters (I’d say it’s roughly … 1.7? 1.8?) Meanwhile, at its widest, the leg of the HG Altron is over 2cm (I’d say roughly 2.2).

I dunno, that seems like a lot.

Now, the stubby arms and the wide legs don’t quite contribute to its square silhouette, but they convey the same general idea. Put it all together, and they create the impression that this Altron is short and stocky when it’s supposed to be long and lanky.

And on top of all this, there’s also the matter of there being too much detail concentrated near the upper torso. Between the chest, the large shoulders, the wings, etc, there’s a lot going on, and there’s no clear through line that your eyes can move along as you scan it. Rather, your eyes get there and just … stop, because they don’t know where to go.

The HG Altron vacillates between being visually offputting and being a visual dead end, and neither of those are places you want to me. I just don’t like looking at it, period.

Still, I tried to push on and take at least a few action shots.

Action Shots

Yeah, it didn’t go well …

The port for the Action Base connector is somehow too wide. Even after lining it with some super glue to tighten it up, it still kept falling off, because the connection wasn’t secure. I tried a Simple Stand, Action Base 1, an AB 2. None of them worked better or worse than the others.

And then body parts started falling off. And the arms kept popping out of the shoulder.

So I gave up. I’m calling this one a wash.

That’s it. Photoshoot’s over. Everyone go home!

Conclusion

Sometimes you just run into a bad kit. This was one of them. Best thing to do is move on and hope the next one is better.

If there’s one silver lining to all this, it’s that the deep dive into Gestalt Psychology might help me better form my thoughts and feelings on why I do (and don’t) like certain mobile suit designs.

(Well, that, and the fact that I got this thing with reward points, so it didn’t cost me anything)