It's been a while since I built a gunpla. The Tamiya airbrush compressor broke, along with all my motivation to build kits (i have a disassembled hyaku shiki in the parts bin for 4 months now). One of my most anticipated kits I was expecting was the big chonk Gustav Karl, but after seeing the tons and tons of p-bandai merch, I just find it hard to justify supporting Bandai because the last thing I need is another astray, 00 or Strike/Freedom variant while the more obscure designs are relegated to P-Bandai. Besides, all my money these days are going to Marvel Legends (End Game hype is real), and the excellent Transformers merchandise we've been getting. Let's hope we get more quality releases this year (S Gundam ver 1.5 is just lazy). They did just release MG Dynames but really, I wouldn't be too surprised if the released the Virtue as P-Bandai.
Gustav Karl was a design lifted from the Hathaway's flash manga and it's original design was actually quite slim. It showed up in SD Gundam games where it was redesigned into the chonk we see now and it made a brief cameo in Gundam Unicorn OVA, where it was handily dispatched by a Jesta and in Narrative . where it was defeated by an old pack of Dijehs. For an advanced mass production grunt suit which was supposed to be better than the Jegan, it sure gets defeated easily.
The Gustav Karl's design is very blocky. It's a design that lends itself well to the rest of the Earth Federation fleet. This is the Unicorn version so it's made even chunkier.
It's not only wide from the front, but it's also pretty thick from the side.
Even from the back, the Gustav is just made out of geometric angular shapes.
The kit itself is pretty straight forward, build wise so it's not something that'll blow your mind. Maybe because we're used to seeing the great build process from most modern kits.
Color separation is excellent, with the only main detail missing are the black strips on the calf. You get stickers for these, along with all the tiny pink cameras littered over the body.
Now since we did mention the build process, here's the thing that gets me. Normally Bandai will add an intentional panel line to the design just to be able to hide the seams, but in this case there is no such thing. The ones on the shoulder and forearms are the obvious ones. The rest are luckily relatively out of sight, the the things.
Also I'm not sure if it's just my copy but I was surprised that for a new kit and mold, there's some obvious flash on the kit and some bits are sitting flush like the thruster bits on the legs. And you already know how bad nubs are normally so I'll stop complaining about those.
Overall though, the resulting kit, even unpainted, looks good and true to the design. I don't think I can say anything else
It's a big chunky design which means it's a big and chunky kit. So if you're expecting it to impress you with its articulation, then there's something wrong with you. There are some aspects where it'll impress you though...
Starting with the head. The roundish design and the lack of a tight or high collar piece means the head moves pretty well. The only downside is because it's so fat it can't really look down. I also like the asymmetric position on the vulcans.
The other impressive articulation point is the shoulders. Not the entire arm, but just the shoulders. You can pull out the shoulder which frees up this articulation point and gives you a butterfly joint.It is floppy though. Not just loose but real floppy.
As mentioned, very impressive shoulder range.
Oh did I mention the floppy butterfly joint? And as you can see, the shield arm can move a bit, with the main shield connected to the arm via polycap ball joint.
The blue bits on the shoulder armor can move a bit so it can get out of the way... sort of.
The elbow is double jointed and it does have decent range but the blocky shoulder armor kinda hinders it, as expected.
The waist, as expected is limited. The main waist and crotch are connected in a ball joint, but can only work as a swivel as ithe ball is neither big nor deep enough to support it.There is a diaphragm joint but again, movement is limited.
The skirts can sort of move out of the way but the range of the front skirt is pitiful. Also if you move the back skirt, it'll pop the torso off. Oh, and it has the t joint that allows the hips to move up and down.
The legs are the chunkiest part and combined with the chunky skirt, it is expected that the articulation here is limited. Bandai tried to design it so that it's not 100% crippled. It took a page off the MG Jesta in that you can extend the legs to reveal a second joint.
The boxes on the calf can move up and down to give clearance for the knee bend.
The thruster on the bottom of the box can also swivel up and down.
These joints give the GK a nice knee range despite the bulk.
The ankles are on polycap ball joints at the base of the feet and a swivel at the ankle. The grey armor on the feet are on ball joints.
The ankle tilt range is impressive, as it needs to be so it can bend in a position to support the weight shifts when you pose it.
And now, for the complaints. We've already tackled the floppy butterfly joints and how the waist pops out of the socket if you swivel up the back skirt. The other 2 issues are the hips. The heavy legs are connected to the hips via ball joints. There's a traditional universal joint in there but the connection to the hips are on polycap ball joints and mine are loose and floppy. And not because I posed it, as it was already floppy as soon as I put it together. I even washed it to get rid of the oily mold release but this should have been the plastic on plastic ball joint like how the shoulders are connected to the torso. The great ankle range is also a downside as the polycap ball joint there are pretty loose. It's very annoying to move around as the legs and hips will just shift around. Even standing shots here took a bit of time because it'll micro adjust itself. And because the front skirt range is limited, it can't kneel... or sit like in the Unicorn OVA scene.
The Gustav Karl is the successor of the Jegan, so it uses Jegan's basic accessories. Starting with the grenade launcher. The grenades are thankfully a separate piece so no need to paint here.
She side skirts house a beam sabre. And I mean a single beam sabre as you only get one. It's not exactly on a swivel but it frictions just right at the base of the skirt that it looks like it's opening. You get 2 pink beams.
The shield arm gets an alternate extended piece.
The extended piece allows you to swivel it to the front. Pretty cool look.
And you maybe expecting some chunky machine gun to go with it right? Something that maybe looks like the Geara Doga's rifle, or like the Jesta machine gun... or a giant Carl Gustaf? but nope. you get Jegan's beam rifle... and that's it. You may want to look at other guns if you want something proportional.
I really wish it came with a chunkier gun, but as it is, it's like a Dom armed with a small machine gun. Have you seen a Dom armed with just a machine gun? It looks downright funny.
The drinking game word for this review is chunk. And these pics will show you just how physically massive the Gustav is.
Here it is next to a Zaku.
Here it is next to the Unicorn Gundam. It feels out of place besides these sleek UC suits, and it was clearly designed to fit in more with the chunkier suits of Hathaway's flash. Have you seen how massive the Penelope and Xi gundams?
And here it is with one of it's main rival, the Jesta. Size doesn't matter eh
One reason I think we're getting a Gustav Karl is not because of Unicorn OVA itself, but due to it's appearance on the Narrative OVA and eventual Hathaway's flash animation. It'll mean Bandai can shove in variations of the Gustav on these shows and sell these to you. Maybe a release using the original colors or an slight remold with better weapons. As it is, I'm quite happy that we're getting an obscure design at retail since chances are it'll be either a p-bandai (AoZ kits, the newly announced MG F90) or not made at all (where's the supposedly RG Gouf or RE 1/100 Chaos Gundam). It's not perfect, but it's got plenty of shelf presence just standing there. Just... invest in a better hand held weapon.
Good:
- Obscure design made real
- it's yuuuge and chunky
- great parts separation
Bad:
- Loose hips and ankles... limited front skirts and a waist that just does not want to stay pegged in
- pathetic weapons
 |
| He sucks at boycotting products though |
Gustav Karl was a design lifted from the Hathaway's flash manga and it's original design was actually quite slim. It showed up in SD Gundam games where it was redesigned into the chonk we see now and it made a brief cameo in Gundam Unicorn OVA, where it was handily dispatched by a Jesta and in Narrative . where it was defeated by an old pack of Dijehs. For an advanced mass production grunt suit which was supposed to be better than the Jegan, it sure gets defeated easily.
Aesthetics
The Gustav Karl's design is very blocky. It's a design that lends itself well to the rest of the Earth Federation fleet. This is the Unicorn version so it's made even chunkier.
 |
| CHUNK! |
 |
| THICC! |
 |
| GEOMETRY! |
Color separation is excellent, with the only main detail missing are the black strips on the calf. You get stickers for these, along with all the tiny pink cameras littered over the body.
Now since we did mention the build process, here's the thing that gets me. Normally Bandai will add an intentional panel line to the design just to be able to hide the seams, but in this case there is no such thing. The ones on the shoulder and forearms are the obvious ones. The rest are luckily relatively out of sight, the the things.
Also I'm not sure if it's just my copy but I was surprised that for a new kit and mold, there's some obvious flash on the kit and some bits are sitting flush like the thruster bits on the legs. And you already know how bad nubs are normally so I'll stop complaining about those.
 |
| ah yes, defeat |
Overall though, the resulting kit, even unpainted, looks good and true to the design. I don't think I can say anything else
Articulation
It's a big chunky design which means it's a big and chunky kit. So if you're expecting it to impress you with its articulation, then there's something wrong with you. There are some aspects where it'll impress you though...
Starting with the head. The roundish design and the lack of a tight or high collar piece means the head moves pretty well. The only downside is because it's so fat it can't really look down. I also like the asymmetric position on the vulcans.
The other impressive articulation point is the shoulders. Not the entire arm, but just the shoulders. You can pull out the shoulder which frees up this articulation point and gives you a butterfly joint.It is floppy though. Not just loose but real floppy.
 |
| what you see here is the shoulder just flopping down as the intention was only to show that it can be pulled out |
 |
| he can barely do that with his age |
Oh did I mention the floppy butterfly joint? And as you can see, the shield arm can move a bit, with the main shield connected to the arm via polycap ball joint.
The blue bits on the shoulder armor can move a bit so it can get out of the way... sort of.
The elbow is double jointed and it does have decent range but the blocky shoulder armor kinda hinders it, as expected.
The waist, as expected is limited. The main waist and crotch are connected in a ball joint, but can only work as a swivel as ithe ball is neither big nor deep enough to support it.There is a diaphragm joint but again, movement is limited.
 |
| His gut also has the same level of articulation as this kit |
The skirts can sort of move out of the way but the range of the front skirt is pitiful. Also if you move the back skirt, it'll pop the torso off. Oh, and it has the t joint that allows the hips to move up and down.
 |
| he wishes his butt is as well defined as this instead of the jello that he has IRL |
 |
| that's the full range of the skirt |
The boxes on the calf can move up and down to give clearance for the knee bend.
The thruster on the bottom of the box can also swivel up and down.
These joints give the GK a nice knee range despite the bulk.
The ankles are on polycap ball joints at the base of the feet and a swivel at the ankle. The grey armor on the feet are on ball joints.
The ankle tilt range is impressive, as it needs to be so it can bend in a position to support the weight shifts when you pose it.
 |
| it has more range than him |
 |
| He wants articulation and complains how shifty it is because of it |
Weapons and Extras
She side skirts house a beam sabre. And I mean a single beam sabre as you only get one. It's not exactly on a swivel but it frictions just right at the base of the skirt that it looks like it's opening. You get 2 pink beams.
The shield arm gets an alternate extended piece.
The extended piece allows you to swivel it to the front. Pretty cool look.
And you maybe expecting some chunky machine gun to go with it right? Something that maybe looks like the Geara Doga's rifle, or like the Jesta machine gun... or a giant Carl Gustaf? but nope. you get Jegan's beam rifle... and that's it. You may want to look at other guns if you want something proportional.
I really wish it came with a chunkier gun, but as it is, it's like a Dom armed with a small machine gun. Have you seen a Dom armed with just a machine gun? It looks downright funny.
Size Comparison
Here it is next to a Zaku.
 |
| Shaq and his girlfried |
And here it is with one of it's main rival, the Jesta. Size doesn't matter eh
Summary
One reason I think we're getting a Gustav Karl is not because of Unicorn OVA itself, but due to it's appearance on the Narrative OVA and eventual Hathaway's flash animation. It'll mean Bandai can shove in variations of the Gustav on these shows and sell these to you. Maybe a release using the original colors or an slight remold with better weapons. As it is, I'm quite happy that we're getting an obscure design at retail since chances are it'll be either a p-bandai (AoZ kits, the newly announced MG F90) or not made at all (where's the supposedly RG Gouf or RE 1/100 Chaos Gundam). It's not perfect, but it's got plenty of shelf presence just standing there. Just... invest in a better hand held weapon.
Good:
- Obscure design made real
- it's yuuuge and chunky
- great parts separation
Bad:
- Loose hips and ankles... limited front skirts and a waist that just does not want to stay pegged in
- pathetic weapons
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