I'm sure I've mentioned before that the Build Fighters shows didn't do much for me. I mean, they're fine. They're entertaining. They're not horrible. And it is genuinely interesting to see the gunpla tournament premise play out. But, I dunno... I guess I expect higher stakes from my Gundam shows.
But - I can't deny that they've given us some very interesting gunpla designs to build. Some very cool, and some just very weird. I think this week's HGBF Beargguy III (San) falls into the latter category.
I honestly can't say I ever really felt the need for a weird robo-bear... But when I saw this thing on-screen I knew I had to track it down. And thankfully this isn't one of those obscure/rare kits that's hard to find at a reasonable price.
This kit is predominantly yellow with some off-white/cream-colored accents. Frankly - all that yellow just looks weird.
Since this is based on the old HGUC Acguy kit we've got a big runner of ABS plastic for the inner-frame... And, again, it's yellow.
Even the polycaps are yellow!
Well, most of the polycaps are yellow... There's a separate runner of "polycaps" in a translucent white, but they don't feel like normal polycap material. Very stiff and solid.
We get a red/pink runner for the bow... And it's a very soft, flexible, slippery, shiny plastic. It's labeled "PS" like everything else, but it does not feel like normal PS plastic. Cleaning up the nub-marks on this was kind of annoying.
Since this is based on the HGUC Acguy the build is pretty simple. The torso is just a very simple block with no articulation. The arms and legs are very stubby and simple. The whole thing builds very quickly.
We get an extensive sheet of stickers for the eyes... But not really a great faceplate to use most of them on.
We get two faceplates - one has recesses for the "happy" eyes shown here, and one has recesses for the "angry" eyes we'll see later. There isn't really anything to accommodate all the other eye stickers. Nothing with rectangular or oval recesses. Nothing just completely smooth. Obviously I could throw these stickers over either of the faceplates we've got an just ignore the recesses... But that feels like I'm wasting the two obvious options. I would've loved to at least have a third, completely blank faceplate in the box.
So - here's everything we get in the box. The Beargguy itself, the bow backpack, an alternate backpack adapter, two faceplates, a couple beam effects, and a couple arm extension segments.
It's a very simple, chonky build. The articulation isn't great. The limbs are very stumpy and barely have any movement to them.
But, I mean, it's a robot teddy bear... I certainly wasn't expecting any crazy dynamic poses out of it.
The kit's simple, stocky, solid design does mean that it poses very well with what we've got. It's very easy, for example, to get it up on just one leg.
And then we've got the "angry" faceplate. It's kind of hilarious how simply changing the eyes can completely alter the expression.
The beam effect part can be attached to the arms - I dunno if it's supposed to be a laser blast or a beam saber. It looks fine... But I'm not sure I really buy this Beargguy being threatening.
Since it's based on the HGUC Acguy we get the arm extension gimmick. It does exactly what you'd expect... But, again, I'm not sure it really works for this Beargguy.
You can also open up the mouth and put the beam effect in there, which looks a little better than sticking it on the arms.
And I should probably mention that the ears, of all things, are articulated. They can move towards the front or back and they can pivot - which adds to the expressiveness of this kit.
This is a very simple, very weird, very cute kit. It definitely stands out on the shelf... Definitely doesn't fit in with all the terrifying weapons of war I'm typically building. But that's part of the fun! It's just so very unique.
A little gift from @jaybuilds. It's a Petitgguy based on my WaruMonzaemon design! Very cute, very thoughtful. Not quite to scale, but that's fine.
I do want to eventually build my own WaruMonzaemon that's compatible with the MetalGreymon I made, but that's a project for the distant future, I feel. For now, this little shoulder buddy is more than enough.
