By Loran
I don’t know why but I’ve had the urge to build Gundam Master Grades lately. Last week I got this bizarre urge to paint up the F91 I’ve had built for 5 years, and the other day, I decided hey, I should slap together the Qubeley my friend gave me years ago. This was brought on by seeing some beautiful customized MG Qubeley on tumblr, and I thought, “great, now I want to do mine.” I guess seeing pictures of beautifully-made Gunpla is a pretty good motivator. Too bad whatever I come up with in the end won’t be half as pretty…
Honestly, who doesn’t love the Qubeley? Even if you don’t like Haman, you can’t deny how damn pretty this suit is. Back in 2001, I had the HGUC of the Qubeley Mark II, but sadly, well, the years weren’t too good to it. It doesn’t help that I wasn’t the best painter back then, but I digress. The Master Grade Qubeley came out only two years after the HGUC, so there are a lot of similarities in design and aesthetic between the two, for better or for worse. Personally, I think they made it too early. They should have waited until the Zeta movies were out, but I guess that would’ve been quite a long wait…
I always forget how big this thing is. The shoulder binders make it a huge shelf space eater. See, and people wonder why I don’t normally do Master Grades. But, that only makes it all the more impressive. Being big only accentuates the beauty of the Qubeley.
There isn’t too much to the Qubeley’s articulation. It’s a case of “beauty has a price”; because of its design, it can’t really get many functional joints. It just has so much going on. The Gelgoog has a similar problem. It’s all looks, but no functionality. If the articulation were to be enhanced, the design would have to suffer…
One thing I really like about this kit is the cockpit. The “cover” is mounted on polycap joints, which is far superior to the HGUC’s fragile plastic-on-plastic, which I recall breaking…
The binders on this kit can actually lock together, though I can’t exactly remember what configuration closed binders were used for? Still, it’s a nice touch, even if they’re a bit finicky.
And speaking of finicky, my god, the Funnels on this kit are a huge pain. Each one is mounted on its own polycap joint, and the joints love to move around. I personally liked the plastic joints the HGUC had more, even if it made the funnels easier to lose.
This model is molded in a beautiful pearly color. It’s not as nice as the Extra Pearl version, but still pretty cool. Too bad mine’s gonna get covered in paint! Well, okay, it’s going to get a pearl coat over it, but still.
With the exception of two tubes on its back, the color distribution is near perfect. The eyes need paint, yes, but that’s standard fare for Master Grades.
The beam sabers double as the suit’s guns. Be careful when putting them together, I accidentally broke the peg on one of mine and had to glue it together.
Three sets of hands are included: open and sprawled, fists for holding the sabers, and jointed fingers. I just love the sprawled out hands. It really drives home the Qubeley’s sassiness. I’m not too big on the jointed fingers, though. They just feel too fragile.
Overall the MG Qubeley is a good kit. Not a great kit, just a good one. It feels more like a big High Grade than a full Master Grade. That’s not exactly a bad thing, but I just expected a little more. If you like the Qubeley, then there’s no sense in passing this up. Just don’t expect something on the level of the Zeta 2.0 or whatever. If you want one from FPNYC, I’d suggest asking, since as an older kit, it won’t be in stock as often!
