MGEX [MASTER GRADE EXTREME]: every kit, month and Japan price

What MGEX is

MGEX [MASTER GRADE EXTREME] started in September 2020 with the MGEX 1/100 Unicorn Gundam Ver.Ka, which Bandai's English page announces with "Gunpla 40th Anniversary! A high-end brand is born in MG!" The same page calls MGEX "a new brand that challenges MS's 'extreme expression'" based on the theme set for each machine. The kits are 1/100, the same scale as MG, and the theme changes from suit to suit.

For the Unicorn the theme was light: an LED unit makes the eyes and psycho frame glow in red and green at the press of a button, and it runs on three AA batteries sold separately. Bandai adds that Hajime Katoki supervised the proportions.

The second release, the MGEX Strike Freedom Gundam of November 2022, repeats the idea: Bandai describes it as a high-end brand that challenges the extreme expression of each mobile suit based on its theme. Its theme was metal: six finishes, including etched seals, on the inner frame, which Bandai says has the largest frame-linked movable gimmick in MG history.

Price

MGEX costs several times a regular MG. Bandai's English item pages list the MGEX Unicorn Gundam Ver.Ka at 23,000 yen and the MGEX Strike Freedom Gundam at 15,500 yen, both before tax, against 4,900 yen for the MG RX-78-2 Ver.3.0 and 6,500 yen for the MG Barbatos Lupus. The Unicorn's price is close to the 25,000 yen PG Perfect Strike Gundam, a 1/60 kit.

Because the line is so small, the table below is short and every MGEX is easy to compare by month and Bandai's current Japanese price.

Who should buy an MGEX

MGEX is for builders who already enjoy MG kits and want a showpiece of one specific suit at 1/100 without moving up to the size of a 1/60 PG. If your suit has no MGEX, the regular MG or a Ver.Ka edition is the usual alternative. It is not a beginner kit.