Gunpla Grades Explained: HG, RG, MG, PG and More (2026)

Gunpla grades explained in one line: the grade tells you the scale of the kit and how far Bandai went with parts, inner frame and gimmicks, and it sets the price band. Everything below comes from Bandai's own item pages, its Japanese "What is Gunpla" page and dated US shop listings, all read on October 11, 2026. Prices in yen are Bandai's Japan prices before tax; US prices name the shop.

TL;DR: EG and HG are 1/144 and the easy starting points. RG is also 1/144 but with more detailed part structure. MG and RE/100 are 1/100; MG has a full inner frame, RE/100 aims for an easier build at the same size. PG is 1/60 and the top line. MGEX and PG UNLEASHED are premium sub-lines. SD and 30MM are separate families. New builders should start with EG or a recent HG.

Header photo: Real Grade Zaku II kit in its box. Gravis / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Key Takeaways

• Grade = scale + build depth. HG and RG share 1/144, MG and RE/100 share 1/100, PG is 1/60.
• No glue, no paint required. Bandai's Japanese Gunpla page credits snap-fit and multi-color molding for that.
• Japan prices of the example kits on October 11, 2026: EG ¥700 to ¥1,000, HG ¥1,200 to ¥2,900, RG ¥3,500 to ¥4,200, MG ¥3,900 to ¥6,500, PG ¥25,000, PG UNLEASHED ¥60,000 (before tax).
• US prices are higher and move. An RG Wing Gundam Zero was $54.95 at Gundam Planet; the PG UNLEASHED Nu Gundam was $689.99 at USA Gundam Store.
• Start low. Bandai's beginner pages say some items, including Entry Grade, need no tools.

Overview: what a "grade" means on Bandai's site

Bandai sells Gunpla in brands it calls grades. Its English site lists them by name: HG [HIGH GRADE], RG [REAL GRADE], MG [MASTER GRADE], PG [PERFECT GRADE], RE/100 [REBORN ONE HUNDRED], MGEX [MASTER GRADE EXTREME], MASTER GRADE SD and FULL MECHANICS, among others. Bandai's English beginner pages say it makes more than 4,000 model kits from more than 20 characters, so the grade is the first filter most buyers use.

Two things stay the same across every grade. Bandai's Japanese page says snap-fit construction and multi-color molding mean no glue is needed and the kit is colorful without paint. And every kit starts as parts on runners (the plastic frames, also called sprues) that you cut free.

Inner-frame runners of a Real Grade Zaku II. Photo: Gravis / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What changes from grade to grade is scale, part count, how much of the inner structure is modeled, and price. The chart below shows the scale and Japan price of one or two current example kits per grade.

Diagram: PlamoDesk. Data: Bandai Hobby Site item pages, checked October 11, 2026.

Entry Grade (EG): 1/144, built for no-tool builds

Entry Grade is Bandai's starter line at 1/144. Bandai's English beginner page says "Some items including ENTRY GRADE do not need any tools". The EG 1/144 Wing Gundam item page shows how: "No stickers required!" and a "Touch gate specification that can be easily removed by hand without using pliers." That kit listed at ¥1,000 for its October 11, 2025 release, with an age mark of 8 and over.

EG kits are cheap even in the US. The EG Strike Rouge (Official images) lists at ¥800 in Japan, and Bandai sells it as "easy assembly × high quality". The kits US shops actually had on October 11, 2026 are in the budget guide linked under "Beginner Kit Guides" below.

Who it suits: a first build, a gift for someone who has never held nippers, or a quick build between bigger kits.

High Grade (HG): the 1/144 standard

Bandai's Japanese page describes HG as "a brand that can be called the standard of Gunpla at 1/144 scale" (our translation of 「1/144スケールでガンプラのスタンダードと呼べるブランド」) and says its lineup is the largest of any brand. New HG kits keep arriving: two from the 2026 schedule are below, and the December 2026 schedule lists four more items carrying the HG name, though those are Super Robot Wars and Macross kits rather than Gundams.

• HG 1/144 Gundam Virsago (Official images): ¥2,900, October 2026, age 8 and over. The page says it "Recreates the extension gimmick of the Strike Claw."
• HG Gundam Leopard (Official images): ¥2,200, August 8, 2026, described as "now available in the latest HG format!"

In the US, USA Gundam Store listed the HGAC 1/144 #174 Wing Gundam Zero at $21.99 on October 11, 2026. HG kits carry Bandai's 8-and-over age mark in the examples above, against 15 and over for RG and MG.

Who it suits: almost everyone, from a second kit onward. New HG kits show up on the monthly schedule, which the Gunpla release calendar tracks month by month.

Real Grade (RG): 1/144 with finer part structure

Bandai's Japanese page says RG "pursues 'being genuine', achieving detailed part structure and surface texture" (our translation). Wikipedia notes that Real Grade was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Gunpla. The scale is the same as HG; the difference is in how finely the parts are divided.

• RG Wing Gundam Zero (Official images): ¥4,200, September 27, 2025, age 15 and over. Bandai calls it "three-dimensional with a completely new model!" Gundam Planet listed it at $54.95 on October 11, 2026.
• RG Shining Gundam (Official images): ¥3,500, June 28, 2025. Its page also carries a note worth knowing about: "Due to various reasons, we have changed the release month of the product." USA Gundam Store had the RG 1/144 #42 Shining at $42.99 (regular $44.99).

Note the age mark: RG kits above are 15 and over, HG kits 8 and over. That is Bandai's own signal about small parts.

Builders say the same in shop reviews. On Gundam Planet's RG RX-78-2 Ver.2.0 page, a customer review by "The C." (March 31, 2026) says: "The build is good, but the parts are very small and sometimes delicate, so proceed with caution if you are connecting something incorrectly." Another reviewer on the same page, Rylan (March 16, 2026), wrote that a first RG, the Char's Zaku II, "made me hesitant to buy another RG", then called the RX-78-2 "my favorite kit I have built yet". One grade can feel very different from kit to kit.

Who it suits: builders who liked HG and want more detail without the shelf space of 1/100.

Master Grade (MG) and Ver.Ka: 1/100 with an inner frame

Wikipedia dates the 1/100 Master Grade line to 1995. Bandai's Japanese page describes MG as "built around a precise internal frame, pursuing best proportions and free movable gimmicks" (our translation). That inner frame is the main difference from HG: you build a skeleton, then armor it.

One runner molded in several colors, the technique Bandai credits for paint-free kits. Photo: Gravis / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Current MG examples from Bandai's pages:

Ver.Ka, a subline of MG kits, dates to 2002 according to Wikipedia. In US shops, USA Gundam Store listed the MG 1/100 Wing Gundam Zero (EW) at $43.99 (regular $45.99) on October 11, 2026.

Who it suits: builders with a few HG kits behind them who want a longer build and a bigger figure.

MGEX: Master Grade Extreme

MGEX launched with the MGEX 1/100 Unicorn Gundam Ver.Ka (Official images), which Bandai introduced as "a new brand that challenges MS's "extreme expression"". That kit listed at ¥23,000 for September 12, 2020. The MGEX Strike Freedom (Official images) followed at ¥15,500 on November 19, 2022. Both are 1/100 like MG, at ¥15,500 to ¥23,000 against ¥3,900 to ¥6,500 for the regular MG kits listed above.

Perfect Grade (PG) and PG UNLEASHED: 1/60

Wikipedia dates the 1/60 Perfect Grade line to 1998. Bandai's Japanese page calls PG "the highest-peak brand that embodies the ultimate form of Gunpla" and adds that it allows no compromise in internal structure or exterior modeling (our translations).

• PG Perfect Strike Gundam (Official images): ¥25,000, February 22, 2020, age 15 and over. "Gunmetal is used for the internal frame and chrome expression is used for the plating part."
• PG UNLEASHED Nu Gundam (Official images): ¥60,000, January 31, 2026. Bandai calls it "The first three-dimensional representation on 1/60 scale" of the suit's internal structure. USA Gundam Store listed it at $689.99 on October 11, 2026.

Who it suits: experienced builders with a budget and a shelf for it. Not a first kit.

RE/100 and Full Mechanics: 1/100 without the MG frame

Bandai's Japanese page describes RE/100 as 1/100 scale, "same size as MG, but with refined part design that balances ease of building with impact" (our translation). The RE/100 Vigna-Zirah (Official images) listed at ¥4,000 in November 2019.

FULL MECHANICS is another 1/100 line on Bandai's brand list. The Full Mechanics Raider Gundam (Official images) (¥5,000, May 21, 2022) has a transformation mechanism, and the Boost Raider Gundam (Official images) (¥6,200, December 2024) can "transform into an MA form reminiscent of a bird of prey!"

SD lines: MGSD, SD Cross Silhouette and SD EX-Standard

SD (super-deformed) kits are chibi versions. Wikipedia sums up the classic SD kit as easy to build with original gimmicks, but with very limited articulation and in need of paint and detailing. Bandai now sells several SD lines:

• MGSD, the high-end SD line. The MGSD Destiny Gundam (Official images) (¥4,500, February 21, 2026) is "The fifth installment of the SD high-end brand "MGSD"." The MGSD Aerial (Official images) (¥3,900) has an internal frame with metallic silver parts.
• SD Gundam Cross Silhouette, with two frames in one box. The Mighty Strike Freedom (Official images) (¥1,800) includes "a tall proportion (CS) and short proportion (SD)" frame.
• SD Gundam EX-Standard, the smallest price: the Rising Freedom (Official images) listed at ¥600.

Not Gunpla grades, but close: 30MM, HiRM and Figure-rise Standard

30 Minutes Missions (30MM) is part of Bandai's 30 Minutes family. Wikipedia describes the wider 30 Minutes label as a non-Gundam line that began in 2019 and focuses on easy-to-build, highly customizable kits. Bandai's 30MM DAEMON X MACHINA TS The Unspeakable (Official images) page (¥3,800, September 26, 2026) says it "adopts the common standard of the 30MM series and is customizable just like in the game." Small items like the 30MM EXA Vehicle (Space Craft Ver.) Black (Official images) cost ¥780.

HiRM kits show up in US shops, but we found no official Bandai Hobby page for the line on October 11, 2026, so we are not stating its scale here. Newtype listed a Hi-RM God Gundam at $141.95 (out of stock) that day.

Figure-rise Standard is a character-figure kit line, not a mecha grade, according to Wikipedia. Bandai's Japanese site has a Figure-rise Standard brand page.

Analysis: which grade fits which builder

Putting the official descriptions and the prices side by side gives a simple ladder.

1. First kit: EG. Bandai says some items, including Entry Grade, need no tools; under ¥1,000 in Japan.
2. Second to tenth kit: HG. Bandai's own "standard" with its largest lineup, around ¥1,200 to ¥2,900 for the examples above.
3. More detail at the same size: RG, at 15+ and roughly ¥3,500 to ¥4,200. Expect many small parts.
4. A longer build with a skeleton: MG at 1/100, roughly ¥3,900 to ¥6,500 for the examples above.
5. Showpieces: MGEX and PG, from ¥15,500 to ¥60,000 before tax.

Two caveats apply. We found no difficulty rating for the grades on the Bandai pages we read, so "harder" is builders' experience, not an official label. And US prices do not follow yen prices one to one: the RG Wing Gundam Zero listed at ¥4,200 in Japan and $54.95 at Gundam Planet the same day. Tools also add to the first-kit cost, from about $12 for a starter nipper.

Beginner Kit Guides

• Best Beginner Gunpla Kits by Budget (2026): EG, HG, RG and MG kits that US shops listed under $20, $40 and $70 on October 11, 2026.

More Grade Guides

• Gunpla Tools for Beginners: what to buy first, from a $12 nipper up.
• How to Spot Bootleg Gunpla: why a too-cheap MG or PG listing is worth a second look.

Our take

Based on Bandai's own descriptions and the prices above, the grade decision is mostly about scale and patience, not quality: every grade snaps together without glue. Start with EG or a recent HG, move to RG only if you enjoy small parts, and treat MG as the step up in size. MGEX and PG are worth it only when you already know you like long builds. If a kit you want is only in one grade, buy that grade; the official item page will tell you the scale and age mark before you pay.

How we checked this

On October 11, 2026 we read Bandai's Japanese "What is Gunpla" page, its English beginner pages and the item pages of every kit named above, copying price, release date and age mark. Yen prices are Japan prices without tax, as each item page states. Grade history (1995, 1998, 2002, 2019) comes from Wikipedia and is labeled as such. US prices come from USA Gundam Store, Gundam Planet and Newtype listings read the same day. The builder quotes are customer reviews on Gundam Planet's product page, read in full that day; Reddit was not readable from our side, so no Reddit post is quoted. A second fact check against the source table was done before publishing. The full source table has 66 rows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Gunpla grades in order? By scale and build depth, the main lines are Entry Grade (EG) and High Grade (HG) at 1/144, Real Grade (RG) also at 1/144 but with more detailed part structure, Master Grade (MG) and RE/100 at 1/100, and Perfect Grade (PG) at 1/60. MGEX and PG UNLEASHED sit above MG and PG. SD kits are super-deformed and sit outside that ladder.

Which Gunpla grade should a beginner buy first? An Entry Grade or a recent High Grade kit. Bandai's English beginner pages say some items, including Entry Grade, need no tools, and its Japanese page calls HG the standard of Gunpla at 1/144. The starter kits US shops listed on October 11, 2026 ran from $8.99 to $28.95.

Is Real Grade harder than Master Grade? Often it feels that way. RG packs a lot of small parts into a 1/144 kit, while MG spreads its inner frame over a bigger 1/100 body. We found no difficulty rating on Bandai's pages, so treat this as builders' experience: a Gundam Planet reviewer called the RG RX-78-2 parts very small and sometimes delicate.

Do Gunpla kits need glue or paint? No. Bandai's Japanese Gunpla page says snap-fit and multi-color molding mean no adhesive is needed and the kit comes out colorful without painting. Paint, panel lining and top coat are optional finishing steps.

What scale is a Perfect Grade kit? 1/60. Perfect Grade started in 1998 according to Wikipedia, and Bandai calls PG its highest-peak brand. The PG UNLEASHED Nu Gundam listed at 60,000 yen before tax in Japan for its January 31, 2026 release.

Are 30 Minutes Missions kits Gunpla? Not in Bandai's own filing. 30MM sits in the 30 Minutes Missions family of the 30 Minutes series, not under GUNPLA, but it is built the same snap-fit way. Bandai's 30MM item pages say the kits adopt the common standard of the 30MM series and are customizable.

Related Reading

• Gunpla Release Schedule 2026: how Bandai's monthly schedule works and what it does not tell US buyers.
• Gunpla Releasing in November 2026: all 18 items on the November schedule, with grade and yen price.
• Gunpla release calendar: every kit for the next three months, with a calendar feed.

References

• What is Gunpla (Japanese), Bandai Hobby Site: grade definitions for HG, RG, MG, PG and RE/100
• Bandai Hobby Site (English) and item pages linked in each section
• Bandai Hobby beginner pages and assembly tips
• Gunpla, Wikipedia: line history (MG 1995, PG 1998, Ver.Ka 2002, 30 Minutes 2019)
• US listings: USA Gundam Store, Gundam Planet, Newtype, checked October 11, 2026
• Builder quotes: customer reviews on Gundam Planet: RG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.2.0, read October 11, 2026