Designed by none other than Amuro Rey, the RX-93 Nu Gundam was hurriedly built by Anaheim Electronics and deployed just in time to see action during the Second Neo Zeon Conflict of UC 0093. Designed to take maximum advantage of Amuro's Newtype abilities, Nu Gundam was equipped with a psycoframe and six Fin Funnels, which feature both offensive (beam cannon) and defensive (they can link together to emit a powerful beam shield) capibilities. Nu Gundam was the tallest Gundam ever built (aside from Psyco Gundams, but I like to think of them as mobile armors), as sometime before UC 0123 mobile suits were scaled down in size (Gundam F91 clocks in at a head height of 15.2 meters compaired to Nu Gundam's 22 meters). Upon it's completion, it was almost immediately taken into battle with Amuro Rey as it's pilot, defending Londo Bell's flagship, the Ra Cailum. Eventually it would square off with Char Aznable's Sazabi, in a titanic clash between the original dueling Newtypes.

The Master Grade Nu Gundam is widely considered to be the best Master Grade kit yet designed, and with good reason. Thanks to some screws, a few diecast metal parts (in the ankles and crotch) and a mecha design that isn't incredibly flashy, this kit winds up more solid than any other Master Grade I have yet to put together. It's also one of the tallest Master Grades, even without the very large Fin Funnel assembly on it's back. Nu was really a joy to build, everything fits together so well and it's such a bloody cool mecha design (personal bias?). Almost zero seam lines are visible upon completion, with the exception of the head (which, as far as Gundam-type designs go, I've never seen done seamlessly) and just a bit on the lower leg. I'd have to say that the only disappointing part of the Nu kit is the shield, which can only be clipped onto the left forearm, as it has no handle and the left forearm lacks a place for it to clip onto (although you might be able to get it to hold if you really wanted it too). The only lose part of the suit would definitely be the booster coverings on the back lower part of the legs, one of mine is completely flaccid. Fortunately though, that doesn't really make much of a difference, it looks fine the way it is, in my humble opinion. As far as paint goes, the only part that utterly requires it is the Hyper Bazooka (which is not pictured specifically because I tried to paint it), as the barrel is completely white (missing the midnight blue highlights). Otherwise the only parts that I painted were the eyes and the yellow highlights around the various yellow thrusters (located all over the suit). I used a yellow Gundam paint marker, which worked out extremely well, in my opinion, especially around the thrusters located in the midnight blue calf sections of the legs. The yellow Gundam marker is a slightly different shade yellow than the thrusters, but I think it serves to help highlight the thrusters. The only part that I don't buy that as an excuse is on the Fin Funnels, where I had to paint the outer yellow bars (right where the the Funnels crease, the outer bars were molded in white). You can almost see the color difference in the pictures, but under normal lighting conditions it's really not that big a deal. My biggest screw up, Amuro's red triangular-ish symbol on the left shoulder. Normally it's supposed to have a little line coming off the left side, but after I applied the decal at some point I accidentally scratched it and part of that lower line off. Through some act of god I managed to clean the lower line up with my red Gundam marker to the point that it looks okay, I didn't want to risk trying to completely redraw the other line though. It doesn't hold up to close scrutiny, but all things considered it didn't come out too bad. I really love all the detail they put into the knee area. On the front they have working hydraulics, and on the back they have fabric-ish loom that looks really cool. Nu is easily my favorite mecha design and my favorite model.