Gunpla Build - Hello Kitty Gundam

I’ve been looking for this thing for a long time, and somehow it unexpectedly fell into my lap:

It’s been 5 years since I got the Hello Kitty Zakus for my kids, and ever since I’ve been looking for HK Gundam to complete the set. I assumed that perhaps they weren’t going to reprint them ever again, but thankfully that turned out not to be the case.

A Difference in Quality

Those Zaku kits were really nice. Like, really nice. The Zaku’s themselves are made out of a nice, shiny plastic, and they have a ton of detail. The head has a visible monoeye track, and the heat hawk has a colored blade. And then there were the extra little niceties, like the monoeye sticker you could put on Hello Kitty’s little plastic apple, or the clear visor you could put on her Zaku helmet:

Sadly, the Gundam version does not feel quite as nice in comparison.

*Obligatory runner layout, because I love how some of them are shaped like Hello Kitty herself*

The SD Gundam model itself feels much more like a standard SD kit, with all the flaws that that entails. It’s got sections that are hollow and/or unfinished in areas that they don’t expect you to look (like the feet and the backs of the legs), and it also has abysmal color accuracy (unless you apply stickers or paint, of course).

HK herself is the same as she was in the Zaku kits, except now she’s in her original color scheme. As for the Gundam, this is what it looks like out of the box with just a few decals applied. It’s … rough

Speaking of which, while I don’t love the big, wraparound stickers that are often included in SD (and sometimes High Grade) kits, I still tend to try and use them with SD’s. They often have nice little surface details on them, and they’re usually easier to deal with than trying to paint such small surfaces.

True, they don’t always look great, but I’ve found over time that if you’re careful, even the worst ones can ended up looking decent enough. And besides, once I’m done with this, the only thing anyone’s going to focus on is the big, cute Hello Kitty head I’m going to slap on top.

Also, even with using the stickers, there is still some need for painting on this kit. Things like the details on the head, the beam saber blades (which are molded into the grey backpack), and optionally some details in the legs if you so choose. It’s not a ton, but it was still more than I expected.

Here is my finished version:

There were a few things I got “lazy” with: I didn’t paint the inside of the shield, or the bottoms of the feet. Those are two areas no one is going to see when it’s on the shelf, so I didn’t deem it necessary (though maybe one day I’ll go back and correct them).

While it may not be as high quality out-of-the-box as the Zakus, it still looks pretty solid once it’s finished. I wouldn’t buy this on its own, but as the basis for Hello Kitty it’s sufficient.

Speaking of HK, it sure is convenient that her classic colors are the same as the Gundam’s. It’s happy coincidence (probably) driven by the fact that primary colors are a good choice for a children’s character:

Sadly though, she’s lacking any of those little extras that she got in the Zaku kits. There’s no extra stickers to put on her apple, or anything like the Zaku visor to put on her Gundam helmet. I guess we do get an alternate backpack that’s much more “cute” looking, for when you make her into Gundam, but that doesn’t have the same kind of punch.

Why Does the Zaku have more Stuff?

Apologies if this sounds too conspiracy-brained, but I wonder if this is a case where they felt like they needed to add a little extra something to the Zaku kits to entice people to buy those. HK + Gundam is a perfect fit. They’re both pop culture icons, they’re both seen as being “good” by their fans, and their colors match.

But dressing HK up as a Zeon mobile suit might seem a bit iffy to some folks, so maybe Bandai wanted to sweeten the pot to get them to reconsider.

Here you can see the alternate backpack with the tiny little beam saber handles. Though now that I think about it, they’re not small to be cute, but so that they don’t get in the way of HK’s head

Still, for these faults, the finished model is just as cute as I expected her to be, and I kinda feel that at the end of the day that’s what matters. Whatever I may think about the SD Gundam body, ultimately I have no regrets about this thing.

Conclusion

I find it interesting just how much of a variance in quality there can be within the EX-Standard product line. I’d have bought the EX-Standard Zaku on its own in a heartbeat. If feels like someone put a lot of love into the design, and made sure it looks and feels just as detailed and, well, nice as any other Gunpla.

But the Grandaddy Gundam instead feels more like your typical EX-Standard. Rather than try and figure out how to properly and respectfully adapt a tall, intricate, colorful (and existing) design into SD form, they just threw together as barebones a representation as possible and called it a day.

*Three other EX-Standards, and one that’s from an older line, but roughly the same level of quality. None of them blow my mind*

I guess what I don’t understand is why or how the Zaku bucks this trend. This is a thing I’ve been pondering in general for a long time now. Why is it that some Gunpla seem to go the extra mile, while others don’t go far enough?

*This little dude is sexy (and he knows it)*

Maybe one day I’ll figure it out, but until then it’s going to wrack my brain more than I care to admit 🙃.