Best Bandai Model Kit: From HG to PG, Ranked by Build

The MGEX Strike Freedom is the most impressive kit I've ever built, and the most fragile. The HG Aerial is the best first kit on the market. The PG Unicorn is the one I still haven't started because I'm afraid of what I'll do to it. I've spent 25 years building these things, and I've broken enough parts to know exactly which ones are worth your money.

The HG Gundam Aerial is the best Bandai model kit for most people, because it delivers a flawless snap-fit build in 2 to 3 hours for under $25, and it teaches you the one skill you need to make any kit look great.

Pros and Cons

HG Gundam Aerial (Witch from Mercury)

Pros:

• Excellent color separation, no paint needed
• Everything snaps together perfectly, no glue required
• Articulation is genuinely surprising for the price
• Tolerates a beginner's mistakes

Cons:

• Looks flat without panel-lining
• Needs a top coat to stop the plastic shine

MGEX Strike Freedom

Pros:

• Gold plating is stunning out of the box
• Inner frame is a marvel of engineering
• Display presence is unmatched

Cons:

• Wing joints break with minimal force
• Gold finish scratches in visible places
• Gold inner frame gets completely covered by armor
• $180 to $250 price tag

Compared to

The HG Aerial sits in a completely different universe from the MGEX Strike Freedom, and that's the point. The Aerial costs $22 and takes an afternoon. The MGEX costs $180 and took me two and a half days. The Aerial survives being dropped by an eight-year-old. The MGEX broke when I pivoted a wing with "not that much force."

Between the HG lines, the Aerial beats the HG Lfrith Ur on price and the HG Calibarn on build simplicity. The Calibarn has a better gimmick with its broom, but the Aerial's shell unit gimmick is simpler and the kit is more forgiving. The HG Aerial Rebuild is a direct upgrade in terms of shelf presence, but it costs more and doesn't improve the build experience.

The PG Unicorn sits above all of them. It's a 30-hour build with a transformation gimmick that engineers still talk about. But at $250, you're paying for the experience, not the result. The HG Aerial gives you 90 percent of the satisfaction for 10 percent of the price.

Design

The HG Aerial's design is the best thing Bandai has done in years. The color separation is so good that the kit looks painted straight out of the box. I built mine without any paint and it looks like it came out of a showroom in Japan. The shell unit gimmick, where the GUND bits pop out of the shield, works perfectly and doesn't compromise the articulation.

The MGEX Strike Freedom's design is a different story. The gold inner frame is genuinely incredible. I spent hours on mine, carefully painting every piece, and then I covered it all up with armor. The instructions don't tell you which parts will be hidden. I learned that the hard way. The gold plating scratches if you look at it wrong. Multiple buyers report the same wear in the same places. Handle it once, carefully, and then never touch it again.

The PG Unicorn's design is the stuff of legends. The inner frame is an articulated skeleton that transforms with the armor. I've seen the build logs. I know what I'm in for. That's why it's still in my backlog.

Build Experience

The HG Aerial is the best build experience I've had in years. Every part fits perfectly. I didn't need glue for a single piece. The build took me about 2 hours, and a beginner will take 3 to 4. The runners are well-separated so you're not hunting for parts. The nubs are mostly hidden, so you don't need to sand down visible marks.

The MGEX Strike Freedom is a two-and-a-half-day commitment. The inner frame assembly is a masterpiece. The etching stickers are so small I needed a magnifying glass, and I still got several slightly crooked. The gold plating scratches if you handle it carelessly. I learned that the hard way. One verified buyer wrote in March, "I spent two and a half days on this kit and then broke a wing posing it." That's the MGEX experience in one sentence.

The Rolife greenhouse, which I reviewed separately, took 18 hours over a week. Most of that time was spent on hundreds of tiny paper flowers that wouldn't stick to wire with super glue. I had to figure out a technique through trial and error. The included plastic tweezers are useless. I switched to metal ones almost immediately. The result is stunning, but I will never touch another plant-heavy kit again.

Durability

The HG Aerial is nearly indestructible. My friend bought one for his eight-year-old grandson, and the kid assembled it mostly by himself. Everything stayed together. He had a blast. That's the mark of a great kit: it meets you where you are.

The MGEX Strike Freedom is the opposite. I broke a wing joint while posing it with minimal force. I superglued it in a fixed position and now display it slightly differently than intended. I still love it. But I'll never pose it again. The gold finish scratches in visible places. Some buyers say the MGEX is the pinnacle of Gunpla engineering. Others say the gold inner frame being hidden is a design failure. Both are true.

The PG Unicorn's durability is unknown to me because I haven't built it yet. But I know the PG Phenex has the same gold-plating fragility issues as the MGEX Strike Freedom. That's why it's still in my cart.

Value

At $22, the HG Aerial is the best value in Gunpla. At $180, the MGEX Strike Freedom is worth it for experts. At $250, I don't think any model is that good.

The HG Aerial costs about $11 per hour of build time for a beginner. That's cheaper than a movie ticket, and you get a display piece you'll keep for years. The MGEX Strike Freedom costs $9 per hour for the build alone, before you factor in the display piece. But the fragility means you'll spend more time fixing than posing.

The PG Unicorn costs $250 and takes 30 hours. That's about $8 per hour. But the experience is the point. The build is the journey. I've had it in my shopping cart for months now, along with the PG Gundam Astray Red Frame and the white PG RX-0. They sit there, waiting. I haven't pulled the trigger yet, partly because of the price and partly because I know the gold-plated Phenex will scratch.

Should you buy it?

If you're a beginner, buy the HG Aerial. It's the perfect first kit. It's cheap, forgiving, and looks great with just panel-lining. I've seen what happens when someone's first build is a nightmare. They never touch another kit again. The Aerial is the exact opposite.

If you're an expert, the MGEX Strike Freedom is worth it at $180. The inner frame is incredible, the gold plating is stunning, and the display presence is unmatched. But you need to know what you're getting into. The wings will break if you pose them wrong. I broke one. The gold will scratch. I scratched mine. The inner frame gets covered. I spent hours on it.

If you're somewhere in between, grab the HG Aerial and a panel-lining pen. You'll get 90 percent of the satisfaction for 10 percent of the price.

What I'm testing next

I'm currently working through my backlog of Witch from Mercury kits, panel-lining and top-coating each one for a display shelf that's running out of space. I'm also in the middle of a decision about the PG Phenex. I know the gold finish will scratch, I know the build will be enormous, and I know I'll love it anyway. I'll update this review when I finally pull the trigger.