Kimi The Builder

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The right kit to help revive a broken spirit

Are you surprised to see a review coming from me now? Hahaha, I know, I know, I find myself quite surprised by it as well that I finally managed to, if I were, to be honest. 

It took alot of my willpower to convince myself to pick up the nippers again and finish the work that I have been postponing for months. But as soon as I did, that was enough to make me look forward to the upcoming Gunpla blog backlog on the list.  

Obviously, I will take the time to talk about why here. So, without further ado, let us get into it, shall we? 

But first some history lessons.

The history and development of the AGX-04 Gerbera-Tetra

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• Model Name:  AGX-04
• Classification: Prototype Assault Mobile Suit
• Weapon systems: 4x110mm Machine Cannon, 2 Beam Saber, 1 X-04 Beam Machine Gun.  
• Height: 18.0 m
• Armour Material: Luna Titanium
• Powerplant: Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor (1710kW)
• Total Thrust: 21,6000 kg or 316000 (w/Sturm Booster)
• Effective Sensor Radius: Unknown
• Crew: 1 pilot 

Previously we’ve talked about the history and development of the infamous GP02 Gundam Physalis, but now it’s time we talk about the lesser-known GP variant, the GP04 Gerbera-Tetra.

Because of all the GP MS variants, the Gerbera-Tetra probably has one of the most compelling backstories out of the four other MS units developed under the GP Project banner. 

So, let us now talk about how it came to be, shall we? 

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As you may already know, the Gerbera-Tetra started its life as an MS project developed by mostly former Zeon MS engineers under the direct supervision of Anaheim Electronics, just like the other MS under the GP project. But unlike the rest of the MS under Anaheim Electronics’s GP Project, the Gerbera Gundam is the only one that gets its development input fully from the Zeon MS Engineers. Interestingly enough, we even heard rumors that the Gerbera-Tetra design came from the same Zeon Engineers that worked on the MS-18E Kämpfer. That is why it may explain why the Gerbera Gundam (its initial version), despite being classified as a Prototype General Purpose MS, its development emphasizes more offensive than just being an all-rounder. 

But instead of creating more of the same thing, they made the Gerbera Gundam into a more improved version of the Kämpfer using the latest Anaheim tech. Not to mention, they as well made the Gerbera Gundam to be a bit more flexible when compared to the Kämpfer, which is more specialized. 

One of the main reasons they decided to do this is they saw how Zeons late MS units performed against their mass production GM MS’s.

Seeing how important it is for their main client, the Earth Federation, to maintain its MS supremacy, Anaheim Electronics decided to hire most of the former Zeon MS Engineers with their new MS projects.

In its original iteration, the Gerbera Gundam (the earlier iteration) shares the same equipment and weapons as the Gundam GP01. The only difference between the two MS’s besides their looks, the Gundam GP-01 can be easily upgraded and reequipped for any mission, while the Gerbera Gundam is more of a one-trick pony.

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That is one of the reasons why Anaheim Electronics decided to cancel the Gerbera Gundam project in the middle of its development and redirected most of its personnel into the development of the rest.

But after being approached by the Delaz Fleet (one of the more prominent Zeon Remnants factions) representatives in procuring supplies and new MS, some elements in Anaheim decided to transfer the Gerbera Gundam ownership over to the Delaz Fleet. To hide their involvement, they redesigned the looks and changed the codename from Gerbera Gundam to Gerbera-Tetra. But they as well went to further upgrade and improve upon the MS concept.

Because of this, that is why the Gerbera Gundam designers opted to go full Zeon here with the redesign. For this version, you can start to see its MS-18E Kämpfer inspirations in some of its design elements. Not to mention, they as well finally fully configured the Gerbera-Tetra to be a full Prototype Assault MS. They even went as far as to give it a different weapons configuration to its original iteration. Because instead of getting the same Beam Rifle as the GP-01’S, the Gerbera-Tetra gets an experimental Beam Machine Gun, they as well placed four 100mm machine Guns on both of the Gerbera-Tetra’s arms. They even went as far as to give it a newly designed Stürm Booster unit to increase its operational range and to ensure the Gerbera-Tetra could reach the front lines quickly and without using its own fuel supply. 

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Ironically, eventhough the Delaz Fleet had the Gerbera-Tetra to help fight against the Earth Federation, the MS itself wasn’t used to fight the Earth Federation. Why? Well is because Cima Garahau, the pilot of the Gerbera-Tetra instead, defected to the Earth Federation side to stop Delaz Fleet’s insane plan to drop another colony to earth. 

However, the Gerbera-Tetra was mistakenly identified as the enemy by the pilot of the RX-78GP03 Dendrobium and shot down. It was unknown if the pilot survived, but the Gerbera-Tetra was confirmed to be lost. 

Unfortunately, there are no other instances of the Gerbera-Tetra survived the Stardust incident.

Now, let’s move on to the review, shall we?  

The Review. Part 1: The build

The one thing that stands out for me as I take the time to reminisce the time that I spent working on this is how much I loved working on this kit. Yes, granted, I admit that I took quite some time to complete it. But that is because I have to go through alot of pretty heavy stuff in this past couple of months.  

But yes, every time I do spend on working on this, I did have a lot of fun with it, and the reason is that they got alot of things right here. 

Admittedly, when I worked on this kit, I did notice that Bandai didn’t really stray away from their HGUC “simple, fun, and easily upgradable” formula in creating this kit. That means the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra is a kit where everyone at all skill levels could pick this one up with no issues. I noticed that Bandai designed the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra’s parts to be very easy to work on, and not to mention, they as well designed it to be as simple as they can be here. 

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But what makes this different from all the other older HGUC kits that I have worked on so far is that the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra feels like they finally perfected the “simple, fun, and easily upgradable” formula. How do I know this? Well, that is because I could see how they designed some of the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra’s parts. Despite maintaining its simplicity, they managed to make almost all parts fit in a way it made sense to the MS design. Not to mention, I as well noticed that most of the seam lines on the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra made sense design-wise, and there is, admittedly, almost no need for one to take that extra step in fixing anything here.

Not to mention, I as well noticed that most of the nubs are in places where it’s not that hard to deal with here. Even if one did manage to screw up with handling the nubs, the issue is small and easy enough for one to try and hide it by applying a small amount of paint. 

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I sincerely believe that is really a mark of a great and thoughtful design from Bandai’s HGUC design team. 

Part 2: Articulation and looks 

You can also see the awesomeness of the design of the parts through how the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra articulates. Because for a kit that has alot of chunky bits, I’m surprised that I could still move the limbs quite well here. Well, with some obvious limitations, yes, but the articulation was alot better than I was expecting it to be. Because despite its limitations, you can still pose the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra in alot of pretty badass poses. Which, admittedly, is something I wasn’t expecting at all at first.

What’s more, even with the Strum booster installed, I was surprised to see that the whole kit could stand without needing any support. Although admittedly, if you want to really properly pose this kit in all of its glory, it is best to get a working Action Base if you’re planning to do so.  

But that is not the only thing that I liked about this HGUC kit because I also find myself quite a fan of this HGUC Gerbera-Tetra overall looks. 

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Why?

Well, that is because I feel that they managed to make it look good-looking and uncomplicated. I like that Bandai’s HGUC design team didn’t go nuts with over-designing the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra, and I did have a lot of fun panel lining and highlighting some of the details on this kit. Heck, I do believe that even if you were to keep the look as is, without putting any panel lining work on it, the HGUC Gerbera-Tetra would still look badass.

Admittedly, I find that to be quite impressive.

But therein lies as well some of the things that I’m bothered with this HGUC kit. Because despite its good looks, I admit that I did have to put in some paintwork to make it look good. There were alot of bits on this kit that is unpainted and do need to put in a bit of work if you want it to look good. But frankly, I wasn’t bothered that I had to paint some of the bits up. 

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I was far more bothered that I knew Bandai could’ve put in the effort to create a sticker part or designed a whole new section to cover the said unpainted bits up. So yeah, it was a bit frustrating to see them being a bit lazy on some of the parts here. 

The other thing that I’m bothered with is that despite how well they designed the parts, there are a few places where the seam lines on some parts of the kit looked quite bad (hence why I said almost all earlier). But admittedly, the seam line issue on this kit isn’t that bad because I could fix it without taking too much of my time. 

Plus, you can still hide the seamlines by posing the kit in a certain way. So, yeah, the seamline issue isn’t all that bad if we were, to be honest. 

Part 3: Price and My Final Thoughts

Overall, this HGUC kit is one of the most impressive kits that I’ve worked on so far. But then again, I haven’t been working on alot of Gunplas this year, so I admit that I might be a bit biased. 

But even with that said, objectively speaking, this is a pretty decent HGUC kit. For an HGUC kit that is currently retailing at RM 69.00 (USD 16.68/EUR 14.10), it is as well one that I feel is worth getting for the amount of Gunpla that you’re getting here. Plus, it is a kit that is good for builders at any skill level, and it will look good regardless of what you have in mind with it. 

But most importantly, it is a kit that manages to put a smile on my face through these troubled times, and that is enough for me.

May these resurgent feelings that I have now will keep on inspiring me to work on more Gunplas after this. 

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With that concludes my review of this HGUC AGX-04 Gerbera-Tetra (HGUC) for today. Finally, after a long wait, I now get to move on to another project. It has been quite a rough year and one that has been one of the most depressing ones that I had to go through.

But I’m glad that eventhough I did have to take quite a long time to put the final touches on this, but yet I still find myself enjoying every moment of it.  

Hopefully, finishing this one will inspire me to work on the next one a tad bit faster than this one, haha. 

Oh yes, I as well changed the format of the review! I had alot of fun working on the new format, and I hope you guys had fun going through it as well! 😀

But regardless, it would be awesome if I could hear your honest thoughts on this format of the review! 😀

Anyways, we will be back again this coming Thursday (hopefully) with a new blog post. So, please do look forward to that! 

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We are as well open to any good and bad feedback, so feel free to write away.

Hopefully, by sharing our love and passion for building and writing about gunplas or other plamos here, we hope that it’ll help to inspire all of here to pick up on the hobby. Or better yet, reignite your love and passion for the hobby.

Anyways, we shall see all of you again soon, and we as well hope that you all here have a splendid day and week ahead! Oh as well, do have an excellent time building your awesome gunplas there and until next time.

Ciao!