What Is a High Grade (HG) Gunpla Kit?

A High Grade (HG) kit is Bandai’s 1/144 scale Gunpla line and the most common place to start. Parts are molded in color and snap together without glue, so a straight build looks close to the show. HG kits have fewer parts than Real Grade or Master Grade, which makes them the easiest of the main grades.

Bandai started the High Grade line in 1990, according to both Wikipedia and Gunpla 101. Gunpla 101 points out the name is a leftover: High Grade kits were Bandai’s most complex models when they launched, and the grades above them came later. Today HG is the entry point of the main ladder.

What you get in an HG kit

An HG box holds a handful of runners, the plastic frames that carry the parts, plus a sticker sheet and an assembly manual. Bandai’s own guide to building is short:

1. Check the parts against the manual before you start.
2. Cut each part from the runner as its step comes up.
3. Smooth any rough edge left by the cut.
4. Snap the parts together, checking which way each one faces.
5. Add the stickers or decals, using tweezers for small ones.

Bandai says its kits use color molding, so several colors come in one set of parts and you do not need paint to get the look right. On older or simpler HGs you may still find a few areas covered by stickers rather than separate colored parts.

How hard is an HG kit to build?

Of the main grades, HG is the easiest. Gunpla 101 notes that High Grade kits are no longer considered complex and make good beginner kits, and it ranks Real Grade and Master Grade as much harder. The parts are small but not tiny, and there is usually no separate inner frame, so a build moves quickly.

What changes from kit to kit is age. Wikipedia points out that each line improves over time, so a High Grade from the 2020s is far more detailed and poseable than one from the 2000s. If you are choosing between two HG versions of the same suit, the newer one is usually the better build.

High Grade (HG) 1/144 kits

Shop high Grade (HG) 1/144 kits→

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HG, HGUC and the series lines

Bandai sorts its High Grade range by the anime series each suit comes from. On its HG page you can filter by series, from the original Mobile Suit Gundam to The Witch from Mercury and Iron-Blooded Orphans. HGUC stands for HG Universal Century, the name Bandai gives the High Grade line for suits from the Universal Century timeline, the setting of the original show. Other HG lines carry the name of their series on the box.

For a first kit, pick the suit you like most. A design you care about keeps you going through the build, and the grade code tells you the difficulty.

HG compared with the other grades

The HG vs RG vs MG comparison goes through the differences, and Gunpla scales explained shows how big each kit stands.

Making an HG look better

An HG kit built straight from the box looks good. Three cheap steps make it look finished: clean the nub marks where parts met the runner (see sanding Gunpla), panel line the recessed lines, and spray a top coat to flatten the plastic shine. Start with the Gunpla grades overview if you are still choosing a grade.