To complete strangers, the Gundam franchise must be a very confounding beast. There have been so many entries to the lineup over the last 32 years that it’s pretty hard to know what’s what. I’ve had people tell me that they aren’t watching Gundam 00 because they haven’t watched the old school series, not knowing that there’s no story continuity between 00 and, say, the original Mobile Suit Gundam. To be honest, I can’t blame them, because as far as the designs for the main Gundams go, they’re pretty similar. More often than not, they all have little yellow and/or white pointy things on their heads, a red chin, blue torso, white legs, red feet and waist, and to someone who isn’t familiar with Gundam, those similarities are often enough to obscure whatever distinction that remain.
Needless to say, with a franchise as long-running as Gundam, it’s hard to stand out. However, this isn’t to say that it’s impossible. Asides from the original RX-78-2 (which has become a culture icon of sorts), there are a few others that has earned special mentions. The RX-93 Nu Gundam constitutes as one of those.
The Nu Gundam represents the culmination of early Universal Century MS technology before miniaturization trend started later on in the timeline. As the result, the Nu Gundam is one of the largest Gundam (not counting Psycho Gundam series, of course) in the Gundam franchise. However, the Nu Gundam’s mighty size is not its main distinguishing point; rather, much of its fame derives from its pilot Amuro Ray, the protagonist of the original series, as well as the film Char’s Counterattack in which the Nu Gundam appears. The film marked the end of the long-standing rivalry between Amuro and the fan-favourite antagonist Char Aznable. It also had remarkable production value, and thus it boasts animation quality that is still revered by fans to this day, 23 years after the film’s release.
Numerous models and toys of the Nu Gundam exist, and the HGUC version was released in 2008. Back then I had been eyeing the MG Nu Gundam for quite some time, and news of a newer and cheaper model of the iconic suit very much pleased me. The HGUC Nu Gundam certainly had a lot to live up to, and given the constraints of the HGUC kits in general, it’s a pretty good offering.