HG 1/144 R-Jarja

This is the High Grade 1/144 R-Jarja. :) This mobile suit comes to us from Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, and is piloted by Chara Soon. One of many mobile suits developed by Neo Zeon during the First Neo Zeon War, the R-Jarja was intended for use by high-ranking officers (also known as "Knights" in Neo Zeon). It was created by refurbishing a mobile suit that inherited the design concept of the old Principality of Zeon's Gyan from the One Year War. Like the Gyan, the R-Jarja focuses on close combat as seen by its armament which consisted of a beam rifle with a heat bayonet, a customized beam saber, two variable shields - shoulder-mounted shields that can rotate to protect the rear, sides or front, and two missile pods mounted in the variable shields.

This is one of those kits that eluded me for a while. It’s taken five years of looking, but I finally got my hands on this one. And I have to say, I like it! I’ve always really liked the close quarters combat type mobile suits, and you can’t go wrong with the knight theme. The articulation is about what you’d expect from a 2019 kit, and the needs very little extra paint to get it looking how it does on the box. Even if you don’t add paint, though, it still looks great with just the stickers.

I really only have one problem with this kit. I don’t know if all of them are like this, or if it’s just the one I got, but the right arm has a really annoying habit of popping off when I try to move that arm upward. It’s not a huge deal, since it can be popped right back on, but it definitely gets annoying.

All in all, I think that this is a pretty nice kit. I find that the Gundam ZZ kits tend to be very eye catching, and this one is no different. If you’re looking for something that’s a bit unique among Gunpla to add to your collection, I definitely recommend this one, because it’s definitely pretty cool.