Gunpla Grades Explained: HG vs RG vs MG vs PG, and Where to Start

The one thing the box doesn't tell you

Every Gunpla box leads with a grade — HG, RG, MG, PG — and it is natural to read those letters as a difficulty ladder. They aren't. Grades are Bandai's product lines, and they mix three separate things: the model's scale, how much engineering is packed inside it, and price. The single most common beginner mismatch is assuming smaller means simpler. It doesn't: the fiddliest mainstream grade and the beginner-friendliest mainstream grade are the same physical size.

Here is the whole system, taken from Bandai's own catalog pages rather than the part-count folklore that circulates in hobby blogs. (Bandai doesn't actually publish part counts — treat any you read as a guess.)

The grade ladder at a glance

All of it is glue-free snap-fit. Everything above Entry Grade needs a hobby nipper to cut parts from the runners; nothing needs paint to look like the box art.

Entry Grade: the actual starting point

Entry Grade is Bandai's deliberate onboarding line, and the company is explicit about it: the EG RX-78-2 needs no paint, no stickers and no nippers, because its "touch gate" runners let you snap parts free by hand. It costs about as much as a fast-food lunch, and regulars on r/Gunpla argue that even listing nippers as a recommended tool for EG overstates what it needs. If you have never touched a model kit — or you're buying for a kid, since EG and HG both carry Bandai's 8+ rating — this is the zero-risk first build.

High Grade: where most collections actually live

HG is the backbone of Gunpla: 1/144 scale, around 2,200 yen in Japan for a mainstream release, with the widest selection of mobile suits by far. The community's standing advice is to pick a recent HG — kits engineered in the last decade, like the Iron-Blooded Orphans or Witch from Mercury lines, build dramatically better than older tooling. Something like the HG Barbatos Lupus Rex finishes around five inches tall, ships as five runners plus a sticker sheet, and is a very typical second build after an EG — or a fine first one if you already own nippers.

Real Grade: the trap step

Here is the counterintuitive part. RG is the same 1/144 scale as HG, but Bandai packs a fully articulated internal frame into that tiny footprint — which means the individual parts are far smaller and more delicate than anything in an HG or MG box. Across r/Gunpla threads, RG is repeatedly flagged as the wrong second step: builders describe tiny fragile parts and floppy joints, and a recurring recommendation is to build an MG before an RG, because MG parts are physically larger and easier to handle.

The RG Strike Freedom is the perfect example of the trade-off: the finished gold-framed model is genuinely admired, and the same threads that praise its looks complain about a floppy, brittle frame and parts dropping off during posing. It's a looks-first kit for someone with a few builds behind them — not a first RG, and not a first kit.

Master Grade: bigger parts, deeper build

MG moves up to 1/100 scale, 4,400–7,500 yen, always with an inner frame. Because everything is physically larger, many builders find an MG easier to handle than an RG despite the longer build. This is also where Bandai's designer sub-label lives: "Ver.Ka" marks kits styled by mechanical designer Hajime Katoki, which typically ship with water-slide decals instead of just stickers. The MG Nu Gundam Ver.Ka is the canonical example — six individually articulated fin funnels, armor panels that open over the psycho-frame, and finger joints derived from PG engineering.

MGEX and PG: showcases, not next steps

Don't treat the top of the price list as a progression rung. MGEX is a two-kit premium line — Bandai describes the MGEX Strike Freedom as pursuing "the highest peak of metal expression," with metallic molding colors, etched seals and a runner stand included just to manage the sprue count — and it carries a 15+ age rating. PG is 1/60 scale at 18,000–60,000 yen, and the LED lighting the box art shows is generally a separate purchase. Both are display centerpieces you buy because you already love the hobby.

The build order that works

1. EG RX-78-2 — tool-free proof of concept.
2. A modern HG — from the last decade of tooling; this is the hobby's bread and butter.
3. An MG — bigger parts, inner frame, longer build.
4. Then RG — once small parts don't scare you.
5. MGEX / PG — when you want a centerpiece.

Three habits that prevent ugly kits

• Cut in two passes. Nip well away from the part first, then trim the remaining nub with a second close cut or a hobby knife, and sand out the white stress mark. Cutting flush in one pass is what causes stress whitening — this is the single most repeated piece of finishing advice on r/Gunpla.
• Wash parts before stickers. Mold-release oil on fresh runners is the usual reason stickers peel.
• Handle foil stickers with tweezers. Finger oils and metal burnishing tools are the two standard ways to ruin them; press them into recesses with something soft.

If you're weighing model kits more broadly — plastic against wood or steel — our model kits guide covers where Gunpla sits next to Tamiya and Star Wars kits, and the Metal Earth difficulty guide covers the steel end of the desk.