Gundam Mercurius as it sold in the ’90s (left) and its current box top (right). Note the “skill level.”  Today, Gunpla building is easier than ever. You can buy Gunpla kits and tools online and have them shipped to your doorstep, no matter where you live in the world. However, it wasn’t always like this. Once, Gunpla were considered toys for kids and advertised with the now-archaic “skill level” marketing. Now, Andres shares how he joined the hobby more than 30 years ago.  Although I was born just a month before the original Gundam series began airing in ’79, it would be nearly 20 ye ..read more

Do you have a dream Gunpla kit that you’re afraid to build because you’re afraid of messing it up? We say just go for it! But if you’re still nervous, Megaplamo has an idea for you: try using some new techniques on a cheap kit first, then revisit your aspirational kit once you’re more confident. Here is what he suggests: As a kid, I remember walking into my local Hobby Town and seeing the original MG Zeta on the shelf. It was beautiful, the box art was like a siren song. I had never encountered a Master Grade, but I had experience with the 1/144 kits you could find at Walmart, so how bad coul ..read more

HG 1/144 Destroy Gundam This year, we’re doing things a little differently at Gunpla 101. For the last 10 years, I have written a monthly update of Gunpla pre-orders and new releases. In that time, we’ve seen the Gunpla Year in Review go from 2016’s 100+ Gunpla kits released in a calendar year, to 2023’s all time low of 32 new model kits.  There are several reasons for this decline. For one thing, the global pandemic delayed production and shipping schedules, and they have yet to recover. One of the biggest factors is that Bandai Hobby has shifted how it produces Gunpla kits. Half or more ..read more

HG Typhoeus Gundam Chimera This guide marks a major milestone for Gunpla 101: our TENTH year-in-review post in a row! Gunpla 101 has been around for an entire decade! John and I started Gunpla 101 in May 2014. I was writing more and more often about my Gunpla hobby for my primary blog, Otaku Journalist, and I realized that these posts needed their own home. Even though I was a beginner, people were writing to me for Gunpla advice even back then, so we decided to make a whole website out of it! I do most of the writing and editing here, but if it weren’t for John’s input, my imposter syndrome w ..read more

Here at Gunpla 101, we believe that there’s no wrong way to build Gunpla. That said, there are tried and true techniques that can make Gunpla more enjoyable to build or more impressive when they’re finished. Here, Megaplamo shares some of the hobby guides that have helped him master the basics in order to develop his unique model-making style. Check out these recommendations to level up your Gunpla building!  When I first started building Gunpla, I really only had the instruction book that came with the kit. I had to figure out a lot of things by trial and error—mostly by error. Over tim ..read more

I’d like to give a special shoutout to “Anonymous Reader” for leaving a comment on last month’s shopping guide after I vented about scalpers and mused whether this TEN-year-old blog series is still useful. After a lot of thought, I think I’ll pivot to one single, yearly post on all the kits that are coming out, and focus a lot harder on the Good Stuff, that is, the tutorials, kit reviews, and features that make up the heart and soul of Gunpla 101.  I mentioned that I post these shopping guides in order to keep up the SEO, but as long as I publish ANYTHING monthly, it’ll do the trick. And ..read more

Here at Gunpla 101, we’ve already shared the basics on primer in Gunpla Primer 101. But just how necessary is the primer step for hobby painting? In this tutorial, Megaplamo gives you 6 good reasons to never skip it—and has the pics of perfectly primed parts to prove it.  Have you ever wondered why experienced Gunpla builders are always recommending that you prime before you paint? It may seem like an unnecessary and tedious step, but it actually can have an enormous effect on your final results. In this article, I’m going to convince you that you should never skip the primer step again ..read more

Before I put together this month’s post, I was reading occasional Gunpla 101 contributor Jonlyn’s rant about scalpers and the effect they have had on fandom spaces. Here at Gunpla 101, they have had a direct impact on our monthly release posts—when Bandai stopped sharing their official release calendar to deter scalpers, it became WAY harder for us to determine which new kits were coming out every month so we could write about them.  This, combined with the undeniable fact that Bandai is opting to make most of its new releases Premium Bandai exclusives means that the Gunpla Pre-order and ..read more

Not content to be a buzzword in the tech world, the Metaverse has entered the Gundam multiverse as well. Gundam Build Metaverse will be a three-episode series to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Gundam Build series—wait, has it already been ten years?? No need to subscribe to any streaming service to watch it; it’ll be available for free on Gundam.info and Gundam.info’s official YouTube channel. As the hype builds for the Gundam metaverse, the sun appears to be setting on the Gundam Breaker Battlogue sub-franchise. Fans were rightfully skeptical of a Kickstarter to fund Gundam Breaker ..read more

A month after Gundam: The Witch From Mercury concluded, history is already being rewritten. Leading ladies Suletta and Miorine may have (spoiler alert!) spent the finale living together and sporting matching wedding bands, but now an official statement from Bandai Namco Filmworks says the nature of the pair’s relationship ought to be left up to interpretation. We’re huge Gundam fans, obviously, but we don’t always agree with the franchise’s leadership. It’s not surprising that a lot of fans are disappointed in this choice, including us! In happier news, the Gundam SEED FREEDOM anime film has ..read more