This is my first build from way back in the early 2000s. Like many in the US at the time, I hardly knew anything about Gundam, much less anything about Gunpla.

He’s rough around the edges, but he’s survived 20 years!

First, a quick look at the contents of the box. Apparently the kit was printed in September 2000, about a month before Endless Waltz aired in the US. The runners were almost certainly butchered by scissors or wire cutters instead of proper nippers. The assembly instructions are split across two different brochures, which is… interesting, to me, based on my experience with more modern kits.

Everything is pretty much exactly as I left it back probably 20 years ago (though maybe 15 years ago, when I would’ve boxed it up and put it away).

Now for the kit itself…

Obviously, I didn’t know what I was doing with this thing. Nubs and poorly applied stickers aplenty.

I’m not sure if it’s a product of poor building or it being an old kit (or some of both) but every single point of articulation on this thing is incredibly loose. The shoulders flop around and the arms/legs are impossible to keep posed. It’s also too heavy to stand by itself if the Active Cloak is attached.

One thing I definitely know is due to it being a really old kit is the lack of color separation in the parts. Almost all the coloring is accomplished with stickers. And let’s not even talk about the YELLOW Beam Scissors.

All in all, this kit is… less than impressive, compared to modern kits. Originally I was planning to try to clean it up, but I think I might leave it as-is. Like a time capsule, of sorts, to represent where I started.

Maybe one day I’ll try to track down another one of these and do a re-build. Or even better, maybe Bandai will keep going with the HGAC line and will eventually release a modern HG Deathscythe Hell Custom (EW Ver.)