LM-HG Mass Production Evangelion Review

So my fourth birthday kit of my fifteenth birthday isn't actually a Gundam. It's the Mass Production Eva from the anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion", which is currently my favorite TV show to date. I could go on about how much I love the show and how much I relate to the characters, but we're not here for that. Bandai used to make a line of kits called LM-HG, or Limited Model High Grade, which was an old line of non-scale HG kits of robots from various mecha anime series. They usually came in only one color and almost always require a lot of paint, seamline coverage, and overall effort to look decent. The LM-HG Evangelions are the most popular and the most well engineered of the LM-HG's, and unlike most LM-HG's, has color separation OOB, and are decently articulate.

The LM-HG Mass Production Evas are very, very rare nowadays, and haven't had a restock in ages like all other LM-HG kits. Although recently there was a restock on some LM-HG Eva kits, so Bandai could potentially restock this. Now remember, don't get this confused with the LM-HG Mass Production Evangelion Final Battle Version, that's a different kit that is both more articulate, comes with more, and overall the better kit to get. The downside to it, is that it's twice as rare than this guy, so don't hesitate to get the regular version if you really want an MP Eva. So when I ran into this unexpectedly at a random hobby store I immediately jumped on it. The box was a bit damaged due to the fact that it survived 19 years, but I honestly didn't care, and yes the model kit is even older than I am, sorta makes it seem like it's more valuable than it already is.

Box:

This is one of my favorite boxart yet. You get all 9 Mass Production Evas in this show, with one being the actual model flying over in the background and one in the face. All with Shinji and Asuka yelling to evoke a battle between them.

Parts

You get 6 white runners, two that are universal runners that all LM-HG Evas use...

...a black universal runner...

...and a white universal runner made in PE as well as actual polycaps.

I actually had two of my runners bent due to unknown causes. I assume it's got something to do with time and heat bending the runners somehow, but surprisingly the acutal parts weren't affected and were in 100% top shape! Lucky me!

You also get 2 white runners that both only hold one HUGE wing part.

Lastly, you also get a PVC runner that holds the old PVC non-scale human figures. In this kit, you get Asuka in her casual sundress and Kaji, and just so you know, they are not the pilot, these Evas are piloted by dummy plugs.

Manual:

The manual is smaller than your average HG Gunpla Manual, and works like a book as opposed to a pamphlet.

Inside it, you actually get this interesting news article-like page in black and white. It has some information on the characters that you get with this kit in the form of the PVC figures. I can't read anything, but I assume it also gives you information on the movie and the Mass Production Eva. Besides this, you get your average part count, instructions, and the colorguide. Interestingly, there are no direct color pictures to help you, so you'll have to read Japanese or refer to the pictures for the exact colors.

Completed Product:

The completed kit gives a decent representation of the Mass Production Eva, although there is clearly a bit of work that needs to be done, especially if you don't use stickers. For one, without stickers, the kit is essentially just white and black for the entire kit. All other colors including the lips and grey areas on the arms are stickers. Even so, it still misses color apps, mainly just black, most noticably in the segmented torso areas.

Articulation:

His head in the show is connected to the body on a giant neck, so there are obviously gaps that form whenever you move the kit's head.

As you can see, the part behind the neck does go forward to make it look slightly more natural, it doesn't help much though. Although his head does move forward as you can see.

He can also look to the side that much, but besides that, his head articulation is very limited.

His shoulders are on ball joints that only go that far up, and they don't swivel either.

If you've built a LM-HG Eva kit before, you'll know that most of them have a pre-molded PVC/PPE arm with gears in them that lets them bend their elbows without having visible joints, the tradeoff being that the arm could barely move. The Mass Production Eva on the other hand, doesn't even have this, his arm is just one whole solid block with absolutely no elbow bend whatsoever, which is a huge shame. The Final Battle Ver. has the PVC/PPE arm though, so if you really need to pose, you can try to find that one instead, but finding this kit is hard enough.

His torso is segmented on multiple joints, which gives him very nice torso movement. He can lean back a small bit and ab crunch very far forward, and can move side to side (not pictured).

His thighs swivel a bit but does get limited by the armor. His knees are on a double joint and can go up quite high, so he's got some great leg articulation.

His kneecap is on a swing-out joint, that allows it to fold in.

His feet pivot a little but not amazingly much, and have a small toe joint.

Yeah, he's not the most poseable guy, especially in the arms.

You really can't do much with the arms.

His legs are quite nice though.

Accessories:

He comes with a nice amount of stuff, although he doesn't come with as much accessories that LM-HG Evas usually come with, as regular Eva units come one of two grey "accessory runners" which have essentially all the weapons of the Eva and the units. it shares the runner with.

First up is hands and he comes with one right holding hand. Surprisingly, this hand is completely useless, and can't actually hold any of his weapons. The reason is that it comes on a universal runner, and on regular Eva kits, it's meant to hold the Lance of Longinus that comes on the grey accessory runner, and since this kit doesn't have it, it's just a fist.

Instead, the Eva actually uses it's trigger finger hand to hold all of it's weapons! Yes, all as in not only the pallet gun, but also the sword, which is quite interesting. Sadly, although they fit in there, the fit is by no means secure, and the weapons tend to flop around a LOT in the hand.

The kit comes with a Heavy Spear, which is the Replica Spear of Longinus in sword mode, however it comes in the completely wrong colors and will need grey/black paint. It's a freaking huge weapon though and is as tall and takes up the entire side of a runner.

He can slash it, although if the arms had elbows, it could probably help with the posing...a lot.

He also comes with the Pallet Gun, granted he's not supposed to actually have it, but the black universal runner comes with it, so you can give him the gun if you wanted to.

Although like I said before, very loose.

Lastly, he comes with his GIANT wings that...well...let him fly.

You just pull off two panels and one small spine part off his back to reveal a few polycaps.

You then put each wing's ball joint into their corresponding polycap.

After that, you put the middle wing section into the little peghole.

Lastly, you align them all up, note that the wings don't peg into each other, but they hold together nicely.

Now with his wings out, I can easily say that my god he is big. You should know that the wings should be mostly black though, and you'll need paint to get it color accurate.

Here's the HG Guntank for a size Comparison.

Now that's what I call shelf presence. O_O

You also get this alternate head piece to make him look up or to use in flying poses.

I have no idea how you'll possibly get this guy on an action base though, he doesn't have a peg connector nor does he come with some sort of base adaptor, so I tried to use it in a taking off pose.

Look at all the extra useless plastic stuff you get from this kit! If you have other LM-HG Eva kits, you could either use these for spare parts, or mix and match for unnatural combinations.

Finally, you get unpainted figures of Casual Sundress Asuka and Kaji. I like them, although you'll want to get rid of some mold flash OOB.

Verdict:

Okay, it's an old kit and it definitely shows it's age. It's got quite a few missing color applications and will require paint for complete anime accuracy. Moreover, it's articulation is quite limited in the upper body and the kit has quite bad seamlines, so if seamlines bother you, you'll want to fix those up. If you have to have a more poseable kit, try to find the Final Battle Version for a decent price, and good luck with doing so. Like I said, both kits are both quite rare, especially the Final Battle Version, so if you desperately want a Mass Production Evangelion, and don't mind the lack of articulation, definitely consider picking the regular version up, because like I said, this thing is rare. Still, that may not hold true as Bandai has restocked other LM-HG Eva kits recently, so who knows, maybe we'll see this guy get released again soon. Overall, i'd recommend this to fans of the anime, people who desperately want an MP Eva to display, people who want something that has a large shelf presence, and people who collect very valuable figures.

Pros:

- Giant wings make for very intimidating and powerful shelf presence. (!)

- Comes with PVC figures of casual sundress Asuka and Kaji.

Cons:

- Will require some paint for 100% anime accuracy. (!)
- Articulation is very limited in the head and arms. (!)

- Seamlines don't look very nice.

Neutral:

- Currently very rare and valuable.