XVX-016 Gundam Aerial [Permet Score Six] – A Review
If you follow my blog, you’d see that I’d recently started in the one MGSD Freedom kit.
You also probably noticed that this Isn’t a review of that kit.
Well… here’s the thing. The MGSD is very much an MG kit. I wanted to just do a nice quickie build and there’s nothing better than an HG to scratch that itch without eating up a majority of my time.
So I popped over to my Leaning Tower of Gunpla, snatched the second newest kit off the top and snapped it up. Here’s my review of the P-Bandai exclusive HG Gundam Aerial [Permet Score Six].
I’m not going to mince words… the Aerial is just a very solid kit. It snapped up easy, the color separation is excellent and it has only a few flaws in when it comes to the use of C-clip style attachments on the ankles. It’s very much a New Kit and it holds up very well.
Comparing my build to reviews of the regular Aerial from others, I can honestly say that this is a kit for folks that want the alternate colors. If you’re the person who like things like the Trans-Am active versions of the Gundam 00 kits, the powered down version of the Gundam SEED kits or the Many many alternate color versions Bandai like to make of other kits… this is for You. If you want an Aerial for your collection… this is a pass.
With that out of the way, it’s on to the rest of the build!
In the box were the expected runners for the Aerial kit. Nothing really new or surprising from what you could find in the basic version. The only extra piece is the Not-A-Base nameplate that was added for display. It’s a Really nice clear blue nameplate with plenty of holes for displaying the shield bits… if you have the extra pieces for that. There’s not much the “Runner" it comes on so you can use that for plastic to make your own. There also isn’t any parts/pieces for a proper base. It is just a nameplate… but I’ll get to all that at the end.
The colors of this kit are neat. The standard Aerial is the classic Gundam color scheme – White, Blue, Red and that odd slightly orange-y Yellow with Dark Grey for the “metal” bits. For the Permet Score Six, Bandai tweaked things a bit but not in an extreme way. The white is a bit greyer. The blue and red parts are a bit more subdued and sneaking toward an almost royal tone. The orange-y yellow is the thing that’s changed the most out of the classic batch. It’s now a kinda’ fluorescent yellow-green with a metallic sparkle to it. Same kind of change was made to the dark grey parts. They printed those in the standard metallic Gun Metal Grey that Bandai uses for their “metal” parts.
The big noticeable change from the standard Aerial (and what makes it a Permet Score Six version) is in the clear parts. The Red and Smoked Clear bits are now Blue and Clear with little Blue Sparkly bits respectively.
So how was the build? It was relatively smooth. This was going to be a bog standard straight build but I did come across a small issue. On the Aerial are little bits on the chest that a normally done up in that smoked clear. Since those are now done in the a clear plastic with bits of sparkly blue pieces in it, it goes from being a noticeable part of the chest design to looking like you forgot a piece.
The quick fix I came up with was to use a mix I was going to use on another project of florescent blue and glow-in-the-dark blue acrylic paint. Since these are nearly completely clear parts, I just dropped a little bit of the paint on the back to make it visible without ruining the original sparkly blue effect that Bandai was going for in the plastics.
This brings me to a bit of an odd part when it comes to the big “Special Piece” that is kind of the trademark for the ‘Witch from Mercury’ line - the embedded decal.
On the standard Aerial, this is a nice clear with the glowing red Permet effect embedded in the back. This is actually a plus considering the clear plastics on those parts are a smoked color. This lets you see the colors clearer than if you used the reversed metallic stickers on the chest pieces. With this version of the Aerial, the plastics don’t have the extra added smoked color. In fact, it barely has anything beyond a smattering of blue sparkles. Using the special reversed metallic stickers on the plastic works just the same as the special gimmick piece only with that extra sparkle to it.
For mine, I’m going to keep the stickered plastic parts installed on the kit and keep the gimmick parts on hand elsewhere as this is actually a viable option for this version of the Aerial.
Overall, this is a solid kit. I love the slight color changes Bandai made but I’m also one of those builders who actively seeks out Alt Colored kits. As of the writing of this review, I have an RX-78 Mk2 on my pile that’s done in the “Real Type” colors. I like having kits that are slightly changed from the originals. I also paint my kits from time to time so that’s not a terrible surprise. What makes it so I wouldn’t outright recommend folks buy this kit over the regular Aerial is what’s not there.
There’s nothing that screams Premium Bandai in this P-Bandai kit.
Here are the changes in a nutshell:
- A Slightly shifted color scheme.
- Almost completely clear plastics.
- Blacklight reactive green effect parts for the beam sabers and the gun.
- A clear blue nameplate that could be used as a base.
- A sticker sheet with some nice tech/warning decals, the title in black on white (Possibly for the nameplate for some reason?) and a whole set of large logos for the various factions from the show.
That’s it. That’s not really “P-Bandai”. That’s like a Gundam Base Exclusive – enough changes to make the trip worth it but nothing to terribly amazing that the average builder would feel like they’re missing it from their collection. Hell, even the box art (as beautiful as it is) is the standard style for a regular release. P-Bandai box art is nice but monochrome and generally clear kits or have extra parts and pieces or are straight up kits you can’t get elsewhere like the GP00 Engage Zero or a basic RG Astray Blue Frame that isn’t tricked out with more blades than a knife shop.
If this kit came with Anything extra – A pair of open hands like the ones that come with the (sold separately) Mirasoul Flight Unit, posts to make the Not-A-Stand Nameplate into an actually usable stand, maybe some waterslide decals (?) – then I’d say it’s a valid option and it’d feel more like a P-Bandai release. As it stands… the best I can say is buy it if you want the Aerial in with blue Permet parts. If not, you can totally buy the regular Aerial kit and not miss anything important.
Still! This was fun build. If alt colors are your jam and you don’t mind paying the P-Bandai tax, I say go for it. If you’re like me and you have “Plans”, this is kind of a must buy so you can have the whole family looking proper. = )
