The Pharact is Elan Ceres’ mecha in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. Powerful and graceful, it’s a Gundam typical of the 2022 show with an elegant frame that abstractly takes inspiration from anime forms (in this case, a bird of prey). But does the HG Gundam Pharact offer an enjoyable building experience? New Gunpla 101 contributor Alex takes it to task:
First Impressions
For someone who was a little “out” of Gundam in terms of watching anime and building models, The Witch From Mercury was a breath of fresh air for me. While I have mixed feelings on the show itself, I knew for sure that I loved its mobile suit designs. Read on to see what I thought of the HG WFM FP/A-77 Gundam Pharact, piloted by Elan Ceres.
Taking a look inside the box, there aren’t any surprises. It’s a typical modern Bandai kit with multiple sprues in various colors and a small foil sticker sheet. Seasoned Gunpla builders new to the Witch From Mercury line might find it interesting that there are no polycaps. All the joints are constructed from a pseudo-inner frame assembly that forms the core of the build. The color-illustrated manual is a nice surprise also. I hope this becomes a standard going forward across all Bandai model kits.
Color and Design
The Pharact’s unconventional design is pretty refreshing for someone who has built a lot of standard Universal Century Gundam designs. It’s super lanky and skinny, while the dark colors and sharp head sculpt give it a really sinister vibe.The orange-yellow details provide wonderfully contrasting accents, and the foil red stickers underneath clear windows create a big impact with minimal effort from the builder. Besides the red foils, the only other sticker is a gray one that goes in the forehead window, but I chose not to apply it to show off the sculpted detail there. It’s a very color-accurate model out of the box. I really enjoy the raven motif the Pharact has going on, between its Beak Foot talons and the Corax booster pack.
I found a fun little surprise during the build! The head sports a very typical Gundam goatee design that gets covered up with another, beaklike piece to extend the face. I found this secret chin amusing.
Difficulty
Like the other Witch From Mercury kits, the Pharact comes together nice and easy. However, the dark plastic main body and gate placement might prove tricky to clean up for builders. I was in a bit of a rush, so I didn’t clean all of the gates up to my usual standard for a snap build. The four thin V-fins on the Pharact’s head might prove to be a pain to clean up, but just work slowly and be careful. The brittle plastic used for the windowed parts might be tough on your nicer cutters, so I’d recommend using cheaper general-use side cutters for these.
Articulation
When it comes to posing, the Pharact does pretty much anything you’d want it to. Modern Gunpla posing is great: most joints are either connected to large swivels or universal joints, which makes for easy posing compared to older builds. However, the plastic-on-plastic connections are a little fragile. They won’t break, but give them a little rough handling and parts will pop out their sockets.
I’d recommend getting an action base for this model because of the focus on its delicate, unbalanced Beak Foot as a gimmick. I personally had some trouble because of the flimsiness of the polycapless connections, but the range of motion is fairly good.
The giant backpack piece, which also covers the shoulders like a cowl, has plenty of arms to adjust to your liking. There’s a swivel at the backpack connection point for each of the arms, and the thruster pods rotate freely on a peg. Posing this kit was fairly annoying because of parts constantly popping off. I’m not sure if it’s just an issue with my kit or if the design is just flawed, but it is frustrating regardless.
The backpack being able to swing on its segmented arms and open up to reveal bits and thrusters makes for a nice display, but I would recommend taking it off and posing it separately to avoid a headache.
Extras (weapons, hands, effect parts)
As for accessories, the Pharact doesn’t come with much. Just a splayed-open left hand, some beam effects, and its signature Beam Arquebus. The Gund-Bits are attached to the main body during the build, so I won’t really count them as separate accessories here. Sadly, if you want the Pharact’s Beam Calivers that you can see in the show, you’re out of luck—they come separately in a P-bandai expansion set. The neon green beam sabers are great, very reminiscent of 90’s designs like the Gundam X.
If you’re wondering where the handles are, they’re stored in one of the coolest features of the kit: its hollow forearms. This is a great gimmick that immediately calls back to the GP-03 from Stardust Memory. It’s a simple function that’s a lot of fun. Just keep in mind that the handles are a little tough to dig out of the peg holding them.
The gimmicks are probably the strongest draw of the kit. In addition to the beam saber storage, the backpack opens up to reveal dual thrusters on each shoulder pod and the wings can be adjusted in various configurations to show Gund-Bits underneath. Yes, they do come off, but sadly don’t do much without the add-on Weapon Display Base.
Final Verdict
The HG Witch From Mercury line has produced some very easy-to-build and sharp looking kits. It’s a shame fiddling with the Pharact is so irritating, because I love the design and its pilot. The full loadout only being accessible through a limited run P-Bandai kit is also incredibly irksome for those that want a screen-accurate display. Overall, the Pharact isn’t a bad kit, it just has a lot of minor issues that stack up. The design is really nice, and the gimmicks function well. I’d recommend it if you’re a fan of the show or its designs. Once you settle on the perfect pose, it’ll look great on the shelf.
Alex has been an avid mecha and model kit enthusiast for years. His favorite series are Gundam 00 and Gundam Seed, but his true mecha love is Macross. Hobby-wise, Alex primarily builds HGs and RG, but enjoys scratch building, kit-bashing, and painting miniatures as well. Find Alex’s Gunpla and other hobby pursuits at @ShrimpSickness on all platforms.
