#studio gs

XZM-FE05 Hundred Edge

I have been waiting for this kit to come out since it was revealed in February of 2020. The Hundred is very heavily tied into the history of Gundamfan works, and seeing it physically in front of me is this really… intense feeling? I don’t really know how to describe it.

If you don’t know the Hundred’s history, back in 2009 the circle Kuramochi Zukan released the first in a multi-series work chronicling a fictitious Gundam series that took place in 1997 called “Gundam Beast,” and later “GUNM Beast,” possibly to avoid copyright. The Gundam Hundred was their equivalent to the X or Exia. So 10ish years later, now as Kuramochi Kyoryu, and in conjunction with several other groups, they’ve released the first in their Code Beast model kit line. And after handing the Hundred Edge, I’m really excited to see what else they’re going to release down the line.

The Good: This is a very well designed and solid kit. I went pretty light on the detail work on this one (because I plan on getting a second), so it allowed me to just enjoy the build, and it was a lot of fun to put together. It has above average posability, a decent accessory pool, and a transformation that would make every Gundam flight mode cry. The torso in particular does a lot of very interesting and intuitive movements to achieve its elongated lion version for its beast mode.

It’s also enormous. It’s 1/100 scale, yet it towers above Master Grade Gundams (or at least the one I own), and is over twice the height of a standard High Grade.

The Bad: The POM they use on this kit is much harder than with Gunpla, with the ups and downs you might expect from that. The tail is also notmade of POM (one of the few jointed areas to not incorporate it) and falls apart easily when moved, though is easy to put back together.

Last issue I have is extremely minor, but I’m a little disappointed that the transformation for the arms and legs was greatly simplified in comparison to the original design. The current ones are fine, but I would have liked to have built the original jointage.

On a weird note, there were only two pieces left over after finishing, both on the neon sea green runner used for eyes and scopes and such. They also had accompanying stickers, so I was unsure if I had missed something. After a little research, it looks like they’re actually the barrel and scope for the upcoming “Arma Style” upgrade kit, if you were curious.

The Details: I went very light on details this time around. Black panel lining in narrow areas, black Gundam Marker in thicker ones, metallic green over the few neon green pieces. And it looks good, IMO. The only thing I would consider adding would be a bit of black paint to some of the white and orange pieces on the lower legs.

Overall, I’m very happy that this kit just exists, and doubly happy it’s very good. I definitely recommend it, but I feel like part of the reason I am is because I want to support this line and see more from it, and I hope if you’re reading this you will consider supporting them, too.