HG 1/144 Cherudim Gundam GNHW/R

This is the “upgraded” Cherudim from 00 S2 in which the Gundam got a set of coolsome rifle bits to go along with its shield bits. I don’t particularly like this Gundam’s design but thought I’d pick it up to complete my HG 1/144 GNHW set. I think it looks a tad better than its predecessor, Dynames, though… but I wish it came with a cloak shield too.

Out of the Box

Not too many runners (six) and the usual amount of foil stickers for the GN condensers. Nothing surprising here.

Picture shows blue holoscreen…

But it comes clear instead u_u. Well, at least they got the rifle bits in clear blue.

So before I start on anything, I just get the painting out of the way first.

BODY UNIT

Color accuracy so far so good. Simple and easy construction.

HEAD UNIT

The red part doesn’t actually flip open you see… it’s more like you have to remove it then put it back in to make it open. Panted the lens/sensor thing on the forehead silver because I didn’t have a blue that can go over the gray nicely. I also clipped off the blunt tips from the back of the v-fins and the yellow antenna to make them look sharper.

ARM UNITS

For such a small model, it has some seriously thick nubs… mostly on the shield bits. There is just like no way to deal with them nicely without sanding and painting… not to mention the nubs are also in very open and obvious spots. Cleaning the nubs off the shield bits was like a Gunpla nightmare…

LEG UNITS

My least favorite part of Cherudim’s design- the feet. It just looks funky. Nothing noteworthy to mention about the legs here… except it bends well?

WAIST UNIT

The crotch piece is the only solid red part for this whole entire model xD. Like the other HG 00 models, the waist allows the legs to “swing” forward and backward to allow for some better articulation and poses. Connector for action base is underneath. While its ass thruster (solar furnace?) is not as obvious as Dynames, I still think it looks ridiculous.

WEAPONS

GN Rifle that can break in two and form another rifle.

I think it looks nice ^^

GN Pistols… I was gonna paint the body gunmetal but the paint had gone bad -_-. The white isn’t so bad… I think it is still better than that light blue it was supposed to have. Even though the model comes with two pairs, I only assembled one.

They look oh so cool! But they are also a bit on the fragile side as they can split open with a little force… and they don’t hold together all that well. Some of the bits literally just sit inside the slot so it can just fall off with a single touch.

Awesome! Clear display stand for the shield bits!

COMPLETED MODEL

Even though the rifle bits look more tacked on than the 0-Raiser on the 00, I still think it looks cool and the extra armaments make it look more competent for battle than just a long rifle and a set of pistols that barely do any damage the majority of the time.

Everything so far so good… and then I realized I messed up the arrangement on the back’s rifle bits ^^;.

TARGET LOCK-ON!

This Gundam could use a set of hands that are dedicated to holding its weapons because with the stock hands, the rifle just sit inside the hole… and fall right now.

I do away with the rifle bits after this because I think they are just in the way since the model doesn’t come with any stand to display them.

Articulation is pretty good and posing it is relatively easy but the legs are a bit on the bleh side (doesn’t hold its ground too well); they are kinda weak and doesn’t work as smooth as the HG 1/144 00 or Servavee Gundam.

GN SNIPER RIFLE II: VULCAN MODE

Please pardon the color for the next few photos… >_>

The rifle is a bit better in this form because it is secured by the bottom part… however, it still swings around because the hand is not actually holding the handle.

I haven’t noticed any weight issues so far with the model beside the rifle bits.

GN PISTOLS

GN TOMAHAWWKKK!

The hands can hold the pistols much better as there is little room for it to wiggle or spin around.

I’d still give the best dual-pistol-welding action to the Strike Noir ^^;

I’m not very good with gun poses…

pewpewpew

SHIELD BITS

Strike Shield would’ve been a more appropriate name if it wasn’t already taken…

The SRX screen must be some sort of inside-joke with Lockon’s seiyuu (Shinichiro Miki aka Ryuusei Date). Why else would a Gundam need a giant upside-down “Banpresto” targeting screen OUTSIDE of its face? Anyway, You can arrange the stand in many ways so if you are creative (unlike me), then you can make some pretty nifty formations. Again, wish they included one for the rifle bits as well so they aren’t just stationed on the Gundam…

VERDICT

While the model itself is pretty decent, I can’t help but to feel just a little disappointed about it when compared to its teammates (HG 00-Raiser and Seravee GNHW/B). Aside from not being able to utilize its rifle bit gimmick due to a lack of stand, There aren’t too much stuff to fault here. The other big issues are the hands not being able to hold the GN Rifle properly and the larger-and-more-noticeable nubmarks throughout this model. At the end, the playing part isn’t important for me at all since I just display my models after reviewing them and so the rifle bits give it something more to look at. However, I would add that you are not missing much if you are deciding between the regular and this GNHW version of Cherudim. Heck, this review was pretty much for the regular Cherudim since I didn’t use the rifle bits haha.

“ANEW! STOPPPP!” “I GOT YOU LOCKED-ON, LOCKON!”

…

“I love you… I trust you… hikari demo yami demo…”

“SETSUNA F***ING SEIEI!!! YOU KILLED ANEWWWW!”

“Bros before hoes yo!”

“YOU BASTARD! I WAS GONNA RENEW HER! SHE WAS GONNA RETURN TO MEEH!”

“I see what you did there”

“I KILL YOU! I EAT YOUR HEART!”

“RAISER KICK!”

“So what if I killed your girl? You got nothing on me! That dinky ax won’t do you any good against my spatulas…”

“… …”

“So setsuna has gone rogue… Lockon, I’ll back you up. I owe one to the first Lockon <3”

“Tieria, you bastard! Fine… be that way…”

“GN PARTICLE HYPER BAZOOKA FULL-POWER HYPER BURST CANNON BLASTER MODE… READY… FI…!”

“You take way too long to yell out your attack! Just die!”

“****!”

“Your fight is with me! CHERUDIM UPPERCUT!!!”

“Missed! HA!”

“KICK!”

“TIERIA! LET’S DO THIS! RELEASE PATTERN OOC!”

“ROGER!”

“GN FIELD ACTIVATE! GN DRIVE FULL POWER!”

“WE ARE INVINCIBLE BENEATH THE HEAVENS!”

“GN GENOCIDER MODE ACTIVATE!”

“LOCKON! YOU’LL BE THE ONE TO PULL THE TRIGGER!”

“ROGER THAT!”

“ICHIGEKI HISSATSU! TENJOU TENGE! HYPER GN BUSTER CANON!!! HASSHAAAAAAA!!!”

“oh crap! I can’t go Trans-Am cuz Z doesn’t have that model of me! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“This is how Celestial Being rolls…”