Yes… It’s time for Gunpla!
Just last year, I got into Gunpla. Yes, Gundam and its universe. I’ve always known about Gunpla and model building, but it never really caught my interest despite my years of painting miniatures. I guess what finally got me started was social media bombarding me with videos of Gunpla and Gundam. At first, I wasn’t too keen. But then, one video changed everything—it was a clip of someone scribing and customizing their Gundam. The technique, the precision, the process of creating those crisp panel lines… that was what really hooked me.
To top it off, one of my clients happened to be into Gunpla, and he explained the whole process—scribing, customizing, the different model grades. Inspired, I dove deeper, watching more videos, learning about the tools, techniques, and methods of customization. That was it. I knew I was going into Gunpla.
Now, the world of Gunpla and Gundam is massive, with rich lore and timelines—much like Warhammer 40,000. As I read more about Gundam’s different universes, I realized it had multiple timelines, just like Warhammer 40K, Horus Heresy, and Age of Sigmar. So, my collector’s rules kicked in—I had to decide which timeline I was going to focus on. (I wrote a short post on my rule of collecting, check it out here. And, wow it’s been that that long already.)
And that’s when I realized something: I never really liked the traditional Gundam designs. What caught my attention were the mecha that didn’t have a humanoid or human-like head. Enter the infamous Zaku. The more I researched, the more I saw how deep the Zaku lore went. That was it—I decided I was going to collect only Zaku from the Universal Century (UC) timeline. And I’d stick to the High Grade (HG) series.
At first, the Real Grade (RG) series caught my eye, but after learning that they had intricate inner skeletons that would later be covered up by armor, I decided to pass. HG was the way to go. But along the way, I found myself liking another mecha—not a Gundam, but a design from the Earth Federation Forces. Guess what? Ha! The GM caught my attention. So, I added one more rule to my collection: RGM suits.
As with any collecting hobby, my collection quickly outgrew my ability to build. Haha! What people call the “pile of shame” in the hobby world? Yeah, mine became a full-blown pile of collections within a few months. One thing about Gunpla collecting is that Bandai’s HG kits are cheap—compared to Warhammer, a single 40K character model can buy you three HG kits! But Bandai’s kits are also limited in production. Once they sell out, it can take a long time before they get reprinted and restocked. So, whenever I spot a Zaku or a mecha I like, I grab it immediately. No hesitation.
And that, my friends, is how Gunpla entered my life alongside miniature painting. My first kit? The humble GM79.
