The “RX-93 ν Gundam”, the little letter pronounced as the greek letter “Nu”, is one of the most popular Gundam designs and was voted Nr. 1 in Japan.
This was designed and piloted by Amuro Ray in the movie ‘Char’s Counterattack’, the protagonist of the original late 70’s show and the counter to Char’s Sazabi (and is also the predecessor to Unicorn Gundam).
Being Ver.Ka, this is a more modern interpretation by Katoki that is slimmer, less rounded (many hard edges) and has a gentler slope on the chest.
It is widely considered the “true” Nu Gundam design today.
Aesthetics:
It’s a huge Gundam, much taller than the average.
While there is some cleanup, nubs are mostly hidden, so technically undergated.
There are soft stickers for color correction - They work well, but it is a let down.
The psycommu frame is green with shiny stickers under it, so it looks bright and reflective. Annoying to put on, but it looks good.
There is a huge sheet of waterslide decals and while you should use them, you can simply panel line the kit and leave it at that.
The transformed mode looks nice, very much like Unicorn Gundam’s exposed inside frame, to a lesser degree.
Mechanics:
The armor splits to reveal the inner green frame parts. Unfortunately some of it is a partsformation, meaning you need to remove 10 plates and store them - The two playes around the thrusters are loose and can come off easily.
Arm mounted beam saber that opens.
Selective parts for the backpack, to store either a beam saber and one wing of funnels or two wings (or split the one wing).
Articulation is very good, but the model suffers under its own weight, especially with the funnels attached, which messes with the balance harshly.
The fingers are fully articulated, which looks great but holds onto things poorly, though there are tabs on weapons to make up for it.
Equipment:
1 standard beam saber
1 fancy beam saber with a pommel dagger beam - sadly both beams fit loosely
1 Beam Rifle
1 Hyper Bazooka that extends and stores vertically along the spine
6 folding funnels that attach to one another and on the back
1 stand/base in the A (for Amuro) logo that fits the model securely and comes with 6 arms that can pose and hold the funnels.
Conclusion:
It’s a great looking and prominent model, which will look great in your collection, even as a center piece.
It does feel a little repetitive to build due to the many sticker/frame parts and especially the six funnels, but despite that it is still very, very good.
The six arms for the funnels are brittle and delicate, due to the transparent plastic used. One of mine broke easily and it is not easily repaired with plastic cement.
It’s a little dated, but it’s a high quality kit despite some of the older tech, such as the part removal transformation, weak connections between the funnels and the color correcting stickers.
Should you get this or the Real Grade?
They look different from one another and while you can open parts on it, you have to paint the green inner frame yourself on the RG.
Due to the size and age difference, the RG poses better and suffers much less from the weight + better tech, such as holding the funnels better. It is also a more competent build.
If you are experienced, I recommend either or both, but for beginners I’d say go with the RG, at least to begin with.
If you think one looks better than the other or you just want the larger one, go with what you prefer :)
