T5W#434-Top 5 Gunpla I’ve Built in 2023

I have been very, very hard at work with my newly rediscovered love for Gunpla…and my rediscovered I mean it’s been about a year and a half since I started building again.  In 2023 alone, I’ve built over 40 new models…which now that I look at it, I am kind of insane lol. But still, this has been a fun new hobby to rediscover and remind me why I am such a huge Gundam nerd in the first place.  Seeing as how this has been such a huge part of my year and I even dedicated a couple of months to a new Gunpla centric segment on this blog, only makes sense I do another impossible task of selecting 5 winners out of that list of more than 40 for the Top 5 Gunpla I’ve Built in 2023.

 
#5-RX-93-ν2 Hi-ν Gundam (High Grade)

The most recent build on this list, this variant from a novelization of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack, might actually do the unthinkable and outshine the OG Nu Gundam, which is one of my all time favorite Gundams ever.  The funnels set up as wings is probably what sells it for me.  It just looks more majestic and more custom made than the model used by Amuro in the movie.  Yeah it lacks the Nu Gundams’ fiece black and gold paint job but the blue and white grows on ya.  Also i got to do some outdoor shots with it while on a beach trip and that was a fun first for me.
 

#4-XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe (High Grade)

Ask anyone who fell in love with Gundam Wing when it first came stateside, Deathscythe will probably be everyones favorite, it definitely is mine.  So getting to build it was such a rush.  The black armor, the golden highlights, the freaking beam scythe and buster shield, the more this came together, the more excited I became wanting to do action shots with it.  Probably one of the most posable models I’ve worked with to date, you can recreate a bunch of Deathscythes signature moves with little problem.  Don’t be surprised if a more detailed report about my building experience with this one pops up in the Second Season of Gunpla Builder Thursday coming in 2024.
 

#3-RX-77-2 Guncannon (Master Grade)

Master Grades under $50 are a rarity, especially if its attached to an old school model like the original Guncannon.  The more I got into building this sucker, the more I felt like I was building a true mecha from back in the 70’s.  It’s not even that I’m working with Master Grade material on this one.  It’s the shape and simplicity of the joints, the exaggerations of the multi rocket attachement (I’ll admit, the standard shoulder cannons were smaller than I expected).  But probably my favorite feature is that the Guncannon also came with a Core Fighter that could transform AND a Core Interior that fits into the belly of the suit so you can have the Guncannon and Core Fighter together without sacrificing one for the other.  It was an experience that makes me more excited to try more Master Grade builds in 2024.
 

#2-MS-18E Kampfer (High Grade & Master Grade)

While I had to settle for an HG Kampfer at Katsucon, I managed to procure a Master Grade model at a smaller con a few months later.  This was the first time I’d built two of the same Gunpla in two different classes within such a short span of time.  And honestly, it’s a tough call between them.  The HG Kampfer still ranks as one of my all time favorite build and I love pulling it out for action shots with other Gunpla.  But the Master Grade was a fun lesson in how much of a next step up it is compared to High Grade.  The fact that you had to screw in certain joints threw me for a loop.  It was also the second Master Grade I’d worked on after the Deathscythe Hell from Endless Waltz and I could see the improvement in my skills building it.  Big or small, the Kampfer is still my go to Bad Guy Gunpla for its possibility and its immense arsenal.  All in all, it’s just a totally bad ass Gunpla.

 
#1-RX-105 Ξ Gundam (High Grade)

I still cant believe I bought this one.  Despite being a High Grade the Xi, the pronunciation of that symbol, is presented in an enormous box and is one of the most expensive High Grades I’ve ever come across.  I’m not even the biggest fan of the bulkier Gundams from Gundam Hathaway.  However, between SD Gundam Battle Alliance and this Gunpla, I’m starting to come around to it.  The build was surprisingly relaxing and it really felt like I was building something big, bold and different from other Gunpla before it.  Don’t think I got the wing transformation mode down right but doesn’t matter. Heck, this thing comes with twin Double Bladed Beam Sabers and a Beam Rifle and I don’t think they’re needed to show off how massive and intimidating the Xi is. This nearly broke my Otakon spending fund but frak it, it was worth the price and now I want to build it’s sister model, the Penelope.  Add it to the list of 2024 projects, I suppose.