Gunpla Build - High Grade Shenlong Gundam

After years of slow but steady releases, there are now modern High Grade model kits for all five of the original Gundam Wing protagonist mobile suits.

It started with the High Grade Wing Gundam all the way back in 2013, then Sandrock in 2019, Heavyarms in 2020, and Deathscythe in 2021. Now, in 2022, the set is complete, with the release of the High Grade Shenlong Gundam:

If you’d had told me even five years ago that I’d be excited about the release of this model kit, I wouldn’t believe you. Yet there I was, preordering it back in April, and spending all of September (and later October) wondering when it would ship. I’ve gone from hating (almost) all of these mobile suit designs, to liking them quite a bit. Imagine that!

About the Mobile Suit

Here’s the description straight from this model kit’s instructions:

The XXXG-01S Shenlong Gundam is a Gundam that was deployed in Operation Meteor by the L5 colony group in AC 195. This unit has particularly high mobility and maneuverability, and it demonstrates its abilities in close combat. Its unique operability and versatility allow it to operate in any environment, enable underwater activities. These characteristics were due to the designs created by Master O, who specializes in MS drive systems.

It is equipped with armaments intended for close combat, such as the Beam Glaive. It also displays high combat capabilities in mid-range combat due to being equipped with a Dragon Fang, a compound weapon with an extending/retracting function.

Although it has built-in Vulcan Guns in its head, they are loaded with a small number of rounds and cannot be used over long periods of time. Fighting Sights that are used to collect data during battles are equipped on the front of the shoulder armor parts.

The Shenlong Gundam descended to Earth, launched attacks on targets such as the OZ fleet, and carried out attacks on OZ's lunar base after returning to space.

Shenlong (along with its headstrong pilot) spends most of its time waging a one-mecha war against its enemies, only rarely teaming up with any of the other four Gundam pilots.

It continues to fight even after the five pilots are blackmailed into laying down their arms.

And it fights some more once the pilots all head back into outer space.

Shenlong eventually faces crippling damage, and is rebuilt into the Altron Gundam.

Shenlong missing an arm after getting hit with a beam cannon

Depiction in Media

Generally speaking, Shenlong follows the same basic path as the other four Gundams. It has a few scenes where it gets to act really cool against enemy mooks, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t feel like it gets all that much screen time. Most of its scenes just … blur together. The only time it really feels memorable is when it is using its flamethrower, and the one early episode where it gets to fire a gigantic cannon:

Also, like the other four, it is initially portrayed as an unstoppable killing machine, at least until the writers decide to drop its plot armor, at which point it falls apart like a wet tissue.

That being said, it manages to remain in operation longer than the others. Whether that speaks to its high performance or the quality of its pilot is up for debate, but it is something noteworthy about it.

About the Visual Design

Among the five Gundams, Shenlong feels the most out of place.

Consider its color scheme. The five Gundams generally follow the scheme as the Shuffle Alliance from G Gundam: the leader of the group (in this case Heero Yuy) gets the “protagonist” color scheme of red/white/blue/yellow, and everyone else uses their own unique scheme.

The Shenlong is the one exception to this pattern. It also uses the standard protagonist color scheme, and the result feels jarring. It gives me the impression that they ran out of ideas, or that maybe it was originally slated to be the “main” mecha of the group, or that maybe it was a concept from some unmade Gundam project. Whatever the reason may be, it throws off the balance and harmony of the gang to have one of the five trying to copy another for seemingly no reason.

Then there is the fact that, along with Sandrock, Shenlong’s design feels like it would be more at home in G Gundam than Gundam Wing. Specifically, it looks like a successor to the Dragon Gundam. They look similar, they have similar weapons and abilities, and they both have Chinese pilots.

No One Likes Shenlong?

Maybe I’m wrong, but in the decades since _Gundam Wing_’s original broadcast, I’ve gotten the impression that Shenlong is the least popular of the five Gundams. I know that some of this is due to Wufei being the least popular pilot (by a mile), but I also wonder if some of it has to do with the general design of the mobile suit itself.

Personally, if I was to assess the Shenlong on its own, separate from its pilot (or its role in an ensemble show), I think it’s a pretty solid design. It’s got a really strong “warrior” vibe, and its combination of beam glaive and Dragon Fang gives it options for short and medium range combat. Its shield is useful, but also small and (probably) lightweight. It’s a versatile design, moreso than even some of its pals like Sandrock and Deathscythe (which don’t have very solid medium-range weapons).

Again, if it were the central mobile suit in a different show, I think it would have a much different fan reception. As it stands, my opinion of it is definitely higher than it used to be, (though I still think the other four Gundams are more interesting from a visual perspective).

About the Model Kit

I’ve seen some early reviews of this kit, and this is what I’ve surmised:

  • The kit uses green decals on the shoulders, and they don’t look very good. Thankfully this is easy to paint.
  • The kit uses different kinds of plastic for each color, with the red parts being a bit glossier than the white (which instead of a matte finish right out of the box). I’ll have to think carefully as to how I want to topcoat everything.
  • The kit uses the same kinds of joints as the other High Grade Wing kits that Bandai’s been slowly cranking out for the last few years. Not only does this mean they have similar articulation, but you can literally swap body parts.
  • The Dragon Fang gimmick appears to work by essentially chaining a bunch of arm joints together. You don’t have to do any sort of “partsformation” to make the gimmick work, but you can do so if you want to make it longer, since the kit comes with two extension pieces.

We’ll have to see how it all comes together, but this all sounds promising.

Other Thoughts

  • It’s not just Shenlong and Sandrock that feel like holdover G Gundam designs. Wing Gundam bears a lot of similarity to the Heaven’s Sword (at least in its Bird mode), and Epyon is awfully similar to Master Gundam.
  • Now that we have all five of the original Gundam Wing Gundams, I wonder if Bandai will continue to put out other new Wing kits in 1144 scale. We have modern Real Grade versions of Wing Zero, Wing Gundam, and Tallgeese, and we also have High Grades of the Leo, Mercurius, and Vayeate (though those latter two are P-Bandai exclusives). The only really high profile mobile suits that are missing are Epyon, and maybe the Ares or Virgo. I have a feeling we may get a Real Grade of the former sooner rather than later, and I wouldn’t be shocked if a High Grade Ares is in the cards a few years down the line.
  • I’m also curious if we’ll see a modern High Grade version of Deathscythe Hell. The Livelance Heaven from Battlelogue basically is a modern Deathscythe Hell with a color swap, so they have all the components they’d need to do it. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t made it into a P-Bandai kit already.