Gunpla Grades, What Are They?

Why are there so many type of Gunpla? And what does this code HG, RG, PG means? Here I would like to give a brief explanation of my knowledge of the various and most common Gunpla Grades.

What are you guys looking at?

HG (High Grade)

This would be the basic grade for a scaled model. Good for beginners to intermediate builders or you just want a small scale size Gunpla with affordable budget.

High Grade Gundam Barbatos

Size Scale : 1/144
Total parts : 50 to 100
Details : Good
Price : Low
Difficulty : Beginner to Intermediate

MG (Master Grade)

A medium size Gunpla with high detail and articulation. Most people prefer this grade because of the fun factor in building it, very good end result and more or less still affordable price.

Master Grade Sazabi Ver. Ka

Size Scale : 1/100
Total parts : 100 to 250
Details : Very Good
Price : High
Difficulty : Intermediate to High

PG (Perfect Grade)

The pinnacle of technology by Bandai for the Gunpla. A very challenging grade to setup with such big size and hefty price tag. They probably release one new model every one to two year for this grade.

Perfect Grade Gundam Unicorn Banshee Norn Destroy Mode

Size Scale : 1/60
Total Parts : 250 to 500
Details : Very Good
Price : Very High
Difficulty : High

RG (Real Grade)

This is quite a new lineup from Bandai which tries to incorporate the price/size of HG, with details/articulation from MG and PG. It also includes pre build skeletal frames which boost the articulation capability.

Real Grade Sinanju

Size Scale : 1/144
Total Parts : 100 to 250
Details : Very Good
Price : Medium
Difficulty : Intermediate to High

SD EX (EX Standard)

A non scale version of Gunpla which really suits for beginners for its easy to build and low price tag. Even with its very low number of parts to build this guys can still do some really good posing and they actually do look cool.

Gundam Unicorn Destroy Mode SD EX

Size Scale : Non Scale
Total parts : 20 to 40
Details : Good
Price : Low
Difficulty : Low

There are many other variants but I think this should cover the most common ones. Currently, my favorite grade to build is Real Grade. It has such good details and articulation, high fun factor in building and still affordable. Well of course I would choose Master or Perfect Grade, but the pricing limits me to buy them frequently.

Lets take a look at some more size comparison!

From a lower perspective

Size does matter

Left to right: SD EX, HG, RG, MG, PG. Even Sazabi, which can be considered big for Master Grade still looks small compare to Perfect Grade